Rights and Reality

I don't know why I have to explain this repeatedly. The Declaration was a memo to George III, Parliament, and a majority of American colonists who did not like the idea of upsetting their existing relations of obligation and comfortable privilege. In Common Sense, Thomas Paine blew a raspberry at Quakers in particular -- fat, prosperous Tories. The Committee of Safety in Boston had similar problems. Merchants and the governor saw themselves as Englishmen. A handful of lawyers, tradesmen, and clergy refused to accept limitation on the freedom and self-government that was created by accident in Massachusetts Bay Colony. I don't want to discuss that in detail. Suffice it to say that all American colonies had democratic assemblies, necessitated by the great distance from English authorities, absence of representation in Parliament, and colonial circumstances that required immediate attention, like Indian wars, heretics, and trade with the West Indies. Arbitrary, bizarre taxes were imposed, withdrawn, and reimposed on the colonies by Parliament and enforced by Royal tax judges sent from London. "An act against natural equity is void," James Otis thundered in tax court. He was clubbed unconscious by tax bailiffs and suffered brain damage. Sam Adams had to replace him as leader of the Committee of Safety. Sons of Liberty threw a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor. A company of Redcoats arrived and fired on Boston protestors.

Bottom line, the Declaration was calculated to foment united action. Ignore its assertion of natural human rights, a glittering generality without definition. It relied on Biblical faith in celestial Commandments that John Locke said justified authority of moral government. The best way to read the Declaration is to study its itemized indictment of George III, who was alleged to have terminated the obligation of colonial loyalty to the Crown because he failed to preserve their rights as Englishmen. We celebrate the wrong date. The Declaration was adopted July 2, 1776 by a congress of revolutionaries, chaired by a bootlegger.

Without the French fleet, we would have lost the War of Independence. Washington was a terrible general. At the conclusion of eight years of conflict, all of the colonies and Congress were bankrupt and deeply in debt to lenders and suppliers who were paid in worthless scrip (Continental paper dollars). Each colony saw itself as an independent state, and each had a separate "foreign" policy with respect to other states. Some were friendly to England, others to France. The Articles of Confederation were a toothless, unenforceable system of levies on state governments. States refused to pay troops who fought in the Revolution. They refused to pay Continental debt. They taxed each other's commerce. Dissolution into rival alliances was threatened, and all 13 states suffered worsening economic weakness.

Two young lawyers were alarmed, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. They petitioned Washington to convene a conference in Annapolis to discuss amendments to the Articles of national government. Some states sent delegates, most did not. Those who attended had no authority to agree anything, but they pledged to meet again in Philadelphia at a convention of all 13 states. Washington chaired the convention of 1787. Madison recorded a meticulous journal of their debates. Hamilton argued for monarchy, rejected immediately, and he left in disgrace. The two other New York delegates said they had no authority to consider a new constitution and likewise left after a single week of sitting there like bumps on a log. Slave States refused to yield, despite the logic and moral authority of Northern abolishionists. If slavery was outlawed, the South would secede. Small States wanted legislative power equal to Large States. George Washington said nothing as presiding officer. Ben Franklin was too feeble to stand and speak. His ideas, generally ignored, were read aloud by a friend.

After 55 days of stifling summer heat in a closed chamber, drinking barrels of whiskey every night, they mooted compromise upon compromise, fractions of advantage to be blurred and fudged by constitutional complexity. No one wanted to sign the resulting document. Franklin spoke and implored them to sign it because the economic and political crisis was desperate, and if no constitution was adopted, the United States would fail and dissolve, easy prey for England and France to divide and conquer. Hamilton returned to sign on behalf of New York.

Public debate for and against ratification raged for two years. In New York, a special state convention voted 30-27 to ratify, a decision tipped by two swing votes. In Virginia, the vote was 89-79, another skinny margin of only six delegates. Who knows what corrupt promises were made to win those votes?

What did the U.S. Constitution provide? Slavery. A post office. Minted gold dollars. Checks and balances to frustrate legislation. Tariffs. Excise taxes. Frequent elections. No inalienable rights, other than due process and compensation for property the government might take. Did it prevent civil war? No. Did it solve the problem of Continental debt? No. The only thing it established instantly and permanently was political parties, Federalists versus Democrats, spoils of office, and "gerrymandering" by Elbridge Gerry, delegate from Massachusetts, sly architect of a salamander shaped Congressional district to guarantee his election.

It's too much to recite all the waste, fraud, idiocy, and tragedy in U.S. history. It began with unpayable debt, roiled by slim majorities who ran roughshod over nearly equal "minority" political opponents, everyone in favor of more debt, more government, more payola. In reality, the people of America had no voice, past or present, no right to resist whatever the political elite decided to impose by horse trading or expedient improvizations. Removal of Indians. Land grants for Union Pacific. Ejection of Mormons from Nevada. Carpetbaggers. Segregation. Billions for Stalin. Stalemate in Korea. Duck and cover. Assassinations. Riots. Genocide in Vietnam. Alliance with Israel. Invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

None of it was necessary. Self government is liberty. If you continue to vote for politicians, they will tax and regulate every aspect of life, borrow and spend, stupify and indoctrinate your children, throw trillions at idle "consumers" and tens of trillions at a Green New Deal, relying on a corrupt compromise that had little to do with liberty in 1787 and less today.

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