It's all a bunch of words that government gleefully ignores. Nothing matters to them other than the Communist Manifesto...their prayer book. No flowers, just weeds.
Sure, the "government" ignores those words, but the vaunted people? What about them? The "government" ignores its own rule book because "the people" are clueless and cowardly when it comes to their own G-damned freedom and their obligation to guard it.
The Dutch liked it. They copied it into their Act of Abjuration, divorcing the king of Spain:
"[If a king fails to] defend them from oppression and violence as the shepherd his sheep.... but, on the contrary, oppresses them, seeking opportunities to infringe their ancient customs and privileges, exacting from them slavish compliance, then he is no longer a prince..... And particularly when this is done deliberately, unauthorized by the states, [the people] may not only disallow his authority, but legally proceed to the choice of another prince for their defense."
Oh wait a minute. Our was in 1776 and the Netherlands did theirs in 1581. Hmm. Could be coinky-dinky though.
Lisa, I will have to plead ignorance. About 12 years ago I read in passing that the Dutch declaration of Independence (I like their word 'abjuration!) resembled the American. I thought of asking my Dutch friend to translate it, back then, but didn't. Anyway, you can get it from Google in English, as I did today. There's almost 400 years between the two documents and I have no idea if "our guys" were in cahoots with the Dutch.
(I sure do know that the Brits were all kissy-kissy with Wm of Orange but that was in the 1680s.) Oh, come to think of it, I learned that the Mayflower, en route to Plymouth MA, in 1620, made a stop in Holland to pick up Puritan passengers. Could be meaningful.
God forbid anyone surmise that I have special knowledge of the Dec. I do not. But I have ordinary knowledge of it. Please see my article yesterday at Substack, "Understanding the Dec and the Con." I lack the skill to link it here. (I cannot even FIND my substack; I got your notice by email.) Swearda God there are septuagenarians running around who are helpless. Rappaport is professedly an octogenarian, but most likely he knows computers inside out.
No, I don't think the word "plagiarize" is apt. Everyone is allowed to copy ideas.
Thank you for a kind answer and I will try to find your substack. I'm right behind you. I'm 59. I think our founders knew a good idea when they saw it.
Flowery writing blossoming from the fecund gardens of imagination; cultivated by adventurous and daring spirits whom toil under scorching rays. Their endeavours thrust language into life and full bloom...
It is the most beautiful document of freedom and just struggle spinning off the absence of it that has ever been conceived. If only we could tweak it some for today and let it fly once again.
Jon, I apologize for throwing a wet blanket. Very unpatriotic of me. But here to save the day is the Virginia Reso of 1798, all ours, deeply ours:
"That the General Assembly doth particularly protest against the palpable and alarming infractions of the constitution, in the two late cases of the 'alien and sedition acts,' [Horrescendo!] passed at the last session of Congress; the first of which exercises a power no where delegated to the federal government; and which by uniting legislative and judicial powers, to those of executive, subverts the general principles of free government, as well as the particular organization and positive provisions of the federal constitution: and the other of which acts, exercises in like manner a power not delegated by the constitution, but on the contrary expressly and positively forbidden by one of the amendments thereto; a power which more than any other ought to produce universal alarm, because it is levelled against that right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed, the only effectual guardian of every other right."
Yes the control and flow of ideas started immediately upon our declaration of freedom on up to the current time. Quite ironic in “the land of the free”.
Brilliant Document. It seems astounding that anyone ever believed "the King" ruled by divine right, and for centuries they were allowed to get away with countless atrocities against the governed.
Ah, the Declaration of Independence--if only her sublimely penned truths were "self-evident" for all.
Lovers of freedom can never tire of those melodic and meaningful phrases embued with such soul-stirring energy and emotion. I'm awestruck by how familiar words, crafted with intent, moved men anciently to pledge their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor."
What's startling is that the words inspire me today, more than two centuries later, to take bold action to save our threatened Republic.
We, too, are under the repressive rule of a "king": an alliance of unelected bureaucrats, global elites, and corrupt corporatists who are enslaving us individually and collectively. The oppression is likewise suffocating and unbearable.
I pledge to read the Declaration of Independence daily until it resonates so deeply I shake off my lethargy, indolence, and complacency, not just hypothetically, but to the point where I am compelled to courageously do my part to re-establish this Grand American Experiment in self-rule. With each reading, I will ponder, examine, and define what I claim to defend; I want the Heart of a Patriot.
May God grant us discernment and fortitude in taking up this worthy endeavor. The price of reclaiming liberty will be inevitably high; may God heal the wounds received in battle, console those who lose loved ones, and unite us with shared vision and purpose as we confront well armed enemy forces.
Stormclouds of tyranny are breaking overhead with thunderous claps of thunder; only the brave will keep the banner aloft and press on. May God have mercy on us all.
As Edwin Vieira writes, there is nothing magical about a republic vs. a monarchy. If both honor the natural rights of Man -- as declared for a "candid world" via the American Declaration -- either will do. If both violate those natural rights? It's moot.
Its been a while since Ive read the Declaration of Independence and this time I did pause, first at Natures god, wondering who that is. Christian Scripture says the natural man is a heathen so is natures god for the natural man? Is it Mother Nature? Or is it the god of the secret societies who were promoting the Enlightenment movement of that time and wanted to legislate the Creator Triune God Jehovah-Jesus as no longer being their King?
Back then at least the rabble rousers had weaponry on par with the tyrants. Today not so much, because what was create behind the closed doors of the Constitutional Convention a few years later created the tyrannical government we have today. When the 2nd amendment was written, it said we have the right to bear arms...Websters 1828 defines "arms" as
1. Weapons of offense, or armor for defense and protection of the body.
2. War; hostility.
Arms and the man I sing.
To be in arms to be in a state of hostility, or in a military life.
To arms is a phrase which denotes a taking arms for war or hostility; particularly, a summoning to war.
To take arms is to arm for attack or defense.
Bred to arms denotes that a person has been educated to the profession of a soldier.
3. The ensigns armorial of a family; consisting of figures and colors borne in shields, banners, etc., as marks of dignity and distinction, and descending from father to son.
4. In law, arms are any thing which a man takes in his hand in anger, to strike or assault another.
5. In botany, one of the seven species of fulcra or props of plants, enumerated by Linne and others. The different species of arms or armor, are prickles, thorns, forks and stings, which seem intended to protect the plants from injury by animals.
Sire arms are such as may be charged with powder, as cannon, muskets, mortars, etc.
A stand of arms consists of a musket, bayonet, cartridge-box and belt, with a sword. But for common soldiers a sword is not necessary.
In falconry, arms are the legs of a hawk from the thigh to the foot. (end quote)
Yet somehow in the last several decades, Arms means something we hunt with using approved weaponry by the STATE. Seems the thought police mostly want people to see arms as something attached to our bodies as limbs.
Part-0 of this series added:
https://jonrappoport.substack.com/p/when-writing-acts-as-a-big-time-sleeeping-pill
You are what you eat ….and most incontestably and indisputably, you are what you read……
It's all a bunch of words that government gleefully ignores. Nothing matters to them other than the Communist Manifesto...their prayer book. No flowers, just weeds.
Sure, the "government" ignores those words, but the vaunted people? What about them? The "government" ignores its own rule book because "the people" are clueless and cowardly when it comes to their own G-damned freedom and their obligation to guard it.
The Dutch liked it. They copied it into their Act of Abjuration, divorcing the king of Spain:
"[If a king fails to] defend them from oppression and violence as the shepherd his sheep.... but, on the contrary, oppresses them, seeking opportunities to infringe their ancient customs and privileges, exacting from them slavish compliance, then he is no longer a prince..... And particularly when this is done deliberately, unauthorized by the states, [the people] may not only disallow his authority, but legally proceed to the choice of another prince for their defense."
Oh wait a minute. Our was in 1776 and the Netherlands did theirs in 1581. Hmm. Could be coinky-dinky though.
And yet who but the founders read it and understood it and found it applied to the US. Are you saying they plagiarized? Huh.
Lisa, I will have to plead ignorance. About 12 years ago I read in passing that the Dutch declaration of Independence (I like their word 'abjuration!) resembled the American. I thought of asking my Dutch friend to translate it, back then, but didn't. Anyway, you can get it from Google in English, as I did today. There's almost 400 years between the two documents and I have no idea if "our guys" were in cahoots with the Dutch.
(I sure do know that the Brits were all kissy-kissy with Wm of Orange but that was in the 1680s.) Oh, come to think of it, I learned that the Mayflower, en route to Plymouth MA, in 1620, made a stop in Holland to pick up Puritan passengers. Could be meaningful.
God forbid anyone surmise that I have special knowledge of the Dec. I do not. But I have ordinary knowledge of it. Please see my article yesterday at Substack, "Understanding the Dec and the Con." I lack the skill to link it here. (I cannot even FIND my substack; I got your notice by email.) Swearda God there are septuagenarians running around who are helpless. Rappaport is professedly an octogenarian, but most likely he knows computers inside out.
No, I don't think the word "plagiarize" is apt. Everyone is allowed to copy ideas.
Thank you for a kind answer and I will try to find your substack. I'm right behind you. I'm 59. I think our founders knew a good idea when they saw it.
Beautiful document..filled with such truth and direction. Makes my heart song. Please GOD that this becomes real again.
reading this today brought me to tears....astoundingly wondorous
I'm reading his Age of Reason now for the very first time. Holy smokes. What a treat. I can't believe it. It's that good.
Thank you for reminding me that I've wanted to read this for quite some time. I immediately went to get it - 99 cents on Kindle. Can't wait to start!!
Flowery writing blossoming from the fecund gardens of imagination; cultivated by adventurous and daring spirits whom toil under scorching rays. Their endeavours thrust language into life and full bloom...
Have you read Patrick Henrys Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death? That is one string of pearls.
I try to avoid cliches too. That pushes me to be authentic.
It is the most beautiful document of freedom and just struggle spinning off the absence of it that has ever been conceived. If only we could tweak it some for today and let it fly once again.
He’s not saying it’s the only piece out there of the same substance, he’s using it as an example to prove a point in writing.
And I do see a big difference in the Virginia Reso versus the declaration, it’s written differently. I see it.
Jon, I apologize for throwing a wet blanket. Very unpatriotic of me. But here to save the day is the Virginia Reso of 1798, all ours, deeply ours:
"That the General Assembly doth particularly protest against the palpable and alarming infractions of the constitution, in the two late cases of the 'alien and sedition acts,' [Horrescendo!] passed at the last session of Congress; the first of which exercises a power no where delegated to the federal government; and which by uniting legislative and judicial powers, to those of executive, subverts the general principles of free government, as well as the particular organization and positive provisions of the federal constitution: and the other of which acts, exercises in like manner a power not delegated by the constitution, but on the contrary expressly and positively forbidden by one of the amendments thereto; a power which more than any other ought to produce universal alarm, because it is levelled against that right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed, the only effectual guardian of every other right."
Yes the control and flow of ideas started immediately upon our declaration of freedom on up to the current time. Quite ironic in “the land of the free”.
I wonder if the same thing took place in the Netherlands, apres 1581.
Oh it’s been that way for all human history. Now that so many worldviews are now available since the “Enlightenment” the filter is quite evident. 😉
Brilliant Document. It seems astounding that anyone ever believed "the King" ruled by divine right, and for centuries they were allowed to get away with countless atrocities against the governed.
Ah, the Declaration of Independence--if only her sublimely penned truths were "self-evident" for all.
Lovers of freedom can never tire of those melodic and meaningful phrases embued with such soul-stirring energy and emotion. I'm awestruck by how familiar words, crafted with intent, moved men anciently to pledge their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor."
What's startling is that the words inspire me today, more than two centuries later, to take bold action to save our threatened Republic.
We, too, are under the repressive rule of a "king": an alliance of unelected bureaucrats, global elites, and corrupt corporatists who are enslaving us individually and collectively. The oppression is likewise suffocating and unbearable.
I pledge to read the Declaration of Independence daily until it resonates so deeply I shake off my lethargy, indolence, and complacency, not just hypothetically, but to the point where I am compelled to courageously do my part to re-establish this Grand American Experiment in self-rule. With each reading, I will ponder, examine, and define what I claim to defend; I want the Heart of a Patriot.
May God grant us discernment and fortitude in taking up this worthy endeavor. The price of reclaiming liberty will be inevitably high; may God heal the wounds received in battle, console those who lose loved ones, and unite us with shared vision and purpose as we confront well armed enemy forces.
Stormclouds of tyranny are breaking overhead with thunderous claps of thunder; only the brave will keep the banner aloft and press on. May God have mercy on us all.
As Edwin Vieira writes, there is nothing magical about a republic vs. a monarchy. If both honor the natural rights of Man -- as declared for a "candid world" via the American Declaration -- either will do. If both violate those natural rights? It's moot.
I cite Vieira here: https://shethinksliberty.substack.com/p/everyday-is-the-day-to-remember-reaffirm?utm_source=publication-search
Jazz, Jefferson and Paine. The finest outpourings produced by the US. May they long prevail.
Hi Jon,
Its been a while since Ive read the Declaration of Independence and this time I did pause, first at Natures god, wondering who that is. Christian Scripture says the natural man is a heathen so is natures god for the natural man? Is it Mother Nature? Or is it the god of the secret societies who were promoting the Enlightenment movement of that time and wanted to legislate the Creator Triune God Jehovah-Jesus as no longer being their King?
Back then at least the rabble rousers had weaponry on par with the tyrants. Today not so much, because what was create behind the closed doors of the Constitutional Convention a few years later created the tyrannical government we have today. When the 2nd amendment was written, it said we have the right to bear arms...Websters 1828 defines "arms" as
(quote) https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/arms
'ARMS, noun plural [Latin arma.]
1. Weapons of offense, or armor for defense and protection of the body.
2. War; hostility.
Arms and the man I sing.
To be in arms to be in a state of hostility, or in a military life.
To arms is a phrase which denotes a taking arms for war or hostility; particularly, a summoning to war.
To take arms is to arm for attack or defense.
Bred to arms denotes that a person has been educated to the profession of a soldier.
3. The ensigns armorial of a family; consisting of figures and colors borne in shields, banners, etc., as marks of dignity and distinction, and descending from father to son.
4. In law, arms are any thing which a man takes in his hand in anger, to strike or assault another.
5. In botany, one of the seven species of fulcra or props of plants, enumerated by Linne and others. The different species of arms or armor, are prickles, thorns, forks and stings, which seem intended to protect the plants from injury by animals.
Sire arms are such as may be charged with powder, as cannon, muskets, mortars, etc.
A stand of arms consists of a musket, bayonet, cartridge-box and belt, with a sword. But for common soldiers a sword is not necessary.
In falconry, arms are the legs of a hawk from the thigh to the foot. (end quote)
Yet somehow in the last several decades, Arms means something we hunt with using approved weaponry by the STATE. Seems the thought police mostly want people to see arms as something attached to our bodies as limbs.
current Websters dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arms