Independence Day Essay: Happy Insurrection Day!
Posted by freedomforall 10 months ago to Philosophy
Excerpt:
"Today we celebrate insurrection.
No. I don’t mean the fake Jan. 6, 2021, “insurrection.” I’m talking about the bonafide insurrection staged by American colonists against the British government.
We call July 4 “Independence Day.” But the British called it an act of rebellion.
You see, insurrection is in the eye of the beholder.
Technically, the British were right. Encyclopedia Britannica defines insurrection as “an 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.”
The idea of insurrection offends modern sensibilities, and it is certainly an extreme last resort.
But it’s not always unjustified.
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).
But this certainly wasn’t the mindset of the founding generation. Americans in that day believed tyranny should be resisted.
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.
The people of this country will never suffer themselves to be made slaves of by submission to the damned act.”
This wasn’t blind rebellion. It was rooted in the idea that government doesn’t control the people. People control the government. Mercy Otis Warren summed it up this way.
The origin of all power is in the people, and they have an incontestable right to check the creatures of their own creation.”
...
I’m pretty sure the likes of Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson would have been labeled “anti-government extremists” and de-platformed by social media had it existed in 1776.
Here’s a truth that will probably get me labeled an extremist – on July 4, we not only celebrate insurrection; we cheer on secession.
Independence Day is a secession holiday.
Sorry, Mr. Linclon.
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.
...
Most Americans have a general familiarity with the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence, but many have never taken the time to read the entire document. 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.
I find the list of grievances enlightening when placed in a modern context. 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 – perhaps a revolution of thought). Here are just a few of the American grievances. Just replace “he” (the King of Great Britain) with Washington D.C. and you’ll get the idea.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
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.
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. (Federal agents of every variety)
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury.
Sound familiar?
And that brings us to the key sentence of the Declaration.
These United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
Free and independent states.
Not vassals of Washington DC.
Not the subjects of King Biden.
Not under the thumb of a big centralized government in Washington DC.
That’s exactly what the colonists fought to get rid of."
-------------------------------------------------------
DC. NIFO.
"Today we celebrate insurrection.
No. I don’t mean the fake Jan. 6, 2021, “insurrection.” I’m talking about the bonafide insurrection staged by American colonists against the British government.
We call July 4 “Independence Day.” But the British called it an act of rebellion.
You see, insurrection is in the eye of the beholder.
Technically, the British were right. Encyclopedia Britannica defines insurrection as “an 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.”
The idea of insurrection offends modern sensibilities, and it is certainly an extreme last resort.
But it’s not always unjustified.
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).
But this certainly wasn’t the mindset of the founding generation. Americans in that day believed tyranny should be resisted.
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.
The people of this country will never suffer themselves to be made slaves of by submission to the damned act.”
This wasn’t blind rebellion. It was rooted in the idea that government doesn’t control the people. People control the government. Mercy Otis Warren summed it up this way.
The origin of all power is in the people, and they have an incontestable right to check the creatures of their own creation.”
...
I’m pretty sure the likes of Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson would have been labeled “anti-government extremists” and de-platformed by social media had it existed in 1776.
Here’s a truth that will probably get me labeled an extremist – on July 4, we not only celebrate insurrection; we cheer on secession.
Independence Day is a secession holiday.
Sorry, Mr. Linclon.
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.
...
Most Americans have a general familiarity with the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence, but many have never taken the time to read the entire document. 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.
I find the list of grievances enlightening when placed in a modern context. 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 – perhaps a revolution of thought). Here are just a few of the American grievances. Just replace “he” (the King of Great Britain) with Washington D.C. and you’ll get the idea.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
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.
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. (Federal agents of every variety)
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury.
Sound familiar?
And that brings us to the key sentence of the Declaration.
These United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
Free and independent states.
Not vassals of Washington DC.
Not the subjects of King Biden.
Not under the thumb of a big centralized government in Washington DC.
That’s exactly what the colonists fought to get rid of."
-------------------------------------------------------
DC. NIFO.
It should also be pointed out that had America not won the war for Independence, this event would have gone down in history as a failed civil war. And America had to not only win its liberty from Great Britain, but then defend it in 1812 when the British attempted to retake "the wayward colonies."