{"id":174214,"date":"2023-07-04T10:46:36","date_gmt":"2023-07-04T14:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=174214"},"modified":"2023-07-04T10:47:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T14:47:57","slug":"happy-insurrection-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=174214","title":{"rendered":"

HAPPY<\/span> INSURRECTION<\/span> DAY<\/span> !<\/span> !<\/span> !<\/span><\/b><\/h1>"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Maharrey
\nSchiffGold.com.<\/p>\n

Today we celebrate insurrection.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. I don\u2019t mean the fake Jan. 6, 2021, \u201cinsurrection.\u201d I\u2019m talking about the bonafide insurrection staged by American colonists against the British government.<\/p>\n

We call July 4 \u201cIndependence Day.\u201d But the British called it an act of rebellion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n

You see, insurrection is in the eye of the beholder.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Technically, the British were right.\u00a0Encyclopedia Britannica<\/em>\u00a0defines insurrection as \u201can organized and usually violent act of revolt or rebellion against an established government or governing authority of a nation-state or other political entity by a group of its citizens or subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of insurrection offends modern sensibilities, and it is certainly an extreme last resort.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not always unjustified.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, Americans tend to be passive when it comes to resisting government. When we get mad, we protest. When we get really mad, we try to vote the bums out (and usually end up with more bums) or sue in federal court (basically asking the government to fix the government).<\/p>\n

But this certainly wasn\u2019t the mindset of the founding generation. Americans in that day believed tyranny should be resisted.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tensions between the British government and the colonists came to a head with the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765. The colonists viewed it as a Parliamentary overreach and a violation of their rights as British citizens. John Hancock encapsulated the spirit of the day.<\/p>\n

The people of this country will never suffer themselves to be made slaves of by submission to the damned act.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This wasn\u2019t blind rebellion. It was rooted in the idea that government doesn\u2019t control the people. People control the government. Mercy Otis Warren summed it up this way.<\/p>\n

The origin of all power is in the people, and they have an incontestable right to check the creatures of their own creation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Under the (unwritten) British constitution, the colonists had a certain level of self-governance. They believed that only their local representatives (colonial assemblies) could levy taxes. Thus the phrase, \u201cNo taxation without representation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Americans\u2019 grievances weren\u2019t really about taxes. They were more fundamentally about what they perceived as a violation of their rights as British citizens under their constitution.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a nutshell, a constitutional crisis led to the American Revolution.<\/p>\n

The colonists realized as James Otis Jr. warned,\u00a0\u201cSo long as people will submit to arbitrary measures, so long will they find masters.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Otis went on to say nothing destroys liberty \u201cmore than a prevailing opinion that it is better to tamely submit than nobly assert and vindicate our privileges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the prevailing opinion seems to be rooted in resignation. Americans spend more time asking government for permission than they do resisting.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking back, it\u2019s pretty clear American colonists weren\u2019t keen on asking King George or Parliament for permission. And when they got fed up with George\u2019s taxes and Parliament constantly whittling away their rights under the British constitution, they just waved buh-bye.<\/p>\n

At its core, the American Revolution was an assertion of the people\u2019s most fundamental right<\/strong>. In the Declaration of Independence, they declared that people have the right to \u201calter or abolish\u201d their form of government\u00a0 and establish a new one \u201cwhenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure the likes of Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson would have been labeled \u201canti-government extremists\u201d and de-platformed by social media had it existed in 1776.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a truth that will probably get\u00a0me<\/em>\u00a0labeled an extremist \u2013 on July 4, we not only celebrate insurrection; we cheer on secession.<\/p>\n

Independence Day is a secession holiday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sorry, Mr. Lincoln.<\/p>\n

Secession became a dirty word thanks to the Civil War and its association with slavery, but the right to alter or abolish a government and form a new one is the foundation of American political thought. It is rooted in the idea that the people are sovereign and not the government.<\/p>\n

In the British system, the government was supreme. It made its own rules and the people were expected to submit. In the early years, the colonies enjoyed a great deal of autonomy. Colonial assemblies handled local governance. The colonists came to believe this was their constitutional right. But over time, Parliament asserted more and more control. Ultimately, even as it repealed the Stamp Act, it declared it had the right to legislate and bind the colonies in \u201call cases whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American colonists said, \u201cWait a minute! Government wasn\u2019t meant to lord over us; it was meant to serve us and work toward very limited ends.\u201d This is why the United States has a written Constitution that starts with the words \u201cwe the people.\u201d It sets the rules and limits for government.<\/p>\n

The government isn\u2019t in charge of us. We\u2019re in charge of the government.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or that\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These days\u2026well, look around and you decide.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most Americans have a general familiarity with the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence, but many have never taken the time to\u00a0read the entire document<\/a>. Thomas Jefferson used most of his ink listing grievances against the British crown. Once Jefferson established the right of the American colonies to secede from Britain and form new governments, he endeavored to justify such a move.<\/p>\n

I find the list of grievances enlightening when placed in a modern context.\u00a0<\/strong>Reading through the Declaration, I get the distinct impression it might be time for another revolution (although I would prefer this one be without guns \u2013 perhaps a revolution of thought). Here are just a few of the American grievances. Just replace \u201che\u201d (the King of Great Britain) with Washington D.C. and you\u2019ll get the idea.<\/p>\n

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.<\/em><\/p>\n

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.<\/em><\/p>\n

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation.<\/em><\/p>\n

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. (Federal agents of every variety)<\/em><\/p>\n

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.<\/em><\/p>\n

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

And that brings us to the key sentence of the Declaration.<\/p>\n

These United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be\u00a0Free and Independent States.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Free and independent states.<\/p>\n

Not vassals of Washington DC.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not the subjects of King Biden.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not under the thumb of a big centralized government in Washington DC.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly what the colonists fought to get rid of.<\/p>\n

Just some food for thought as you watch your fireworks this weekend.<\/p>\n

___
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