Dmitry Chernikov’s Blog

On the 4th of July Americans commemorate the events that occurred between 1775 and 1783, known together as the Revolutionary War. Yet what is being celebrated? Not, obviously, the resistance to Great Britain’s dominion, for all that is ancient history. For most people, I think it’s clear, it is the glory of the “Republic.” America! That’s the country we are all loyal to. Love it or leave it, etc.

Folks who are more sophisticated than the mass-men singing hymns to the Leviathan, instead emphasize not the federal government but the Constitutional limitations on it, such as: the division and equality of powers; the Bill of Rights; federalism, state rights, the 10th Amendment, nullification, and interposition; local self-government; and such like. The wisdom of the founders is definitely worth bringing to mind. But even that is not the entire story, because the federal government has remained formally limited but in fact tyrannical.

The revolutionaries were not loyal to the American government which did not exist. They were loyal to Washington and the military chain of command during the war as a means to attaining their purpose, freedom, but not as an end in itself. What they were loyal to simpliciter was the secessionist movement and their cause of attaining independence. They were loyal to an idea, namely, the idea that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends [Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness], it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Each time the Independence Day rolls in, Americans should be reminded to ask themselves and their neighbors: “Should we continue to suffer under the present regime? Has the ‘train of abuses and usurpations’ become intolerable? Should we (1) abolish the federal government (e.g., by calling a national constitutional convention), or (2) secede from the United States, or (3) establish our town as a free city, outside of both federal and state jurisdictions, or something similar? It is these questions which should be on everyone’s minds.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Liberty, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.