As the nation celebrated its 240th year since it declared its independence from England, the Declaration of Independence was read around the country. That brilliant document contained more than inspiring words. It was the founding document that birthed a nation that valued liberty and refused to submit to tyranny.

Threats to independence today

While the road to independence was paved with hardships and heartaches, the enemy our Founders faced were clear and well-defined. They knew who they were fighting and why. 240 years later, the road for the American patriot is not as clear and our enemies are not as well-defined, nor are our reasons obvious to all.

Our modern day enemy hides from plain view behind judge’s robes, in our halls of Congress, in our municipal enclaves, behind complicit congressional investigations that have proven useless as well as costly, FBI investigations that rubber-stamp criminal behavior, and a Department of Justice that arrogantly arranges for fixes in plain sight. Additionally, the enemies of We the People are protected by a cabal of substantial power that uses the airwaves and print media to control the narrative, conquer our thoughts, and subvert our will. To add insult to injury, our children are indoctrinated in classrooms that we pay for.

Unanswered petitions

And like our Founders before us, we find that our numerous petitions for redress have been unanswered while the tyranny of those in power has continued to grow under the misapprehension that We the People maintain our sovereignty under a system of law that no longer exists. But our enemies have not remained hidden from the eyes of all, although they have found solace in the siren’s lullaby grounded in prosperity and our desire not to disturb the status quo. As this evil enemy has metastasized throughout all aspects of our lives, its existence has become harder and harder to ignore – even for those that have remained willfully blind. If there was any doubt that this country no longer operates under a system law grounded in sanity, the FBI’s failure to recommend prosecution for the many crimes of Hillary Clinton has made it undeniable.

So, like our Founders, we find that we are also suffering from a long train of abuses and usurpations designed to eviscerate the principles of liberty this nation was founded upon. And like our Founders recognized, it is remains our right – yes, even our duty, to throw off such government.

Proclaim, reclaim, restore

Therefore, during this week when we celebrate the declaration of our liberties as bestowed upon us by Almighty God, it is more than appropriate that once again we proclaim our grievances publicly and then proceed to reclaim and restore our independence from despotic tyrants and ideologues. While the road to restore our independence is different from that of our Founders, there is an initial course that seems logical and doable, which begins with a declaration that patriots can rally behind that mirrors our first revolution to secure the blessings liberty.

The clarion call expressed on July 4, 1776, is as indisputably applicable to our modern culture as it was 240 years ago. However, a modernization that reflects the obfuscation of the enemy within us is necessary. At the beginning of the great awakening of 2009 when grassroots activists of all kinds sprang into action, I wrote such a Declaration. Since then, several friends who have helped revise and edit the original work should be acknowledged. They are Chaplain Nick Purpura, Senator Richard LaRossa, and Mr. Dwight Kehoe. Now, in the perilous times that lay ahead from the phone and pen of a despotic lame duck president and his would-be successor, republishing this piece seems in order. Please use it as you are led, with the understanding that the Good Lord often requires His people to proclaim what needs to be righteously reclaimed before He begins to restore.

Declaration of Restoration

When in the course of history it becomes necessary for citizens to join together to restore the foundational principles established to govern them, these people are justified and they are compelled to unite in order to enforce the rights to which they are constitutionally and providentially entitled.

The self-evident truths

We hold these truths to be well-defined within our Constitution and all foundational documents, that all men are created equal and possess certain God-given rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We further declare and recognize that our government was instituted to secure these rights and that the only rights our government has are constitutionally limited, and are derived from the consent of its citizens.

Whenever our government strays from protecting our rights and usurps our liberties and fortunes, it becomes the responsibility of the People to hold the government accountable in a manner that restores and protects our safety, our fortunes, and our liberties for ourselves and for generations to come.

A long train of abuses

History has shown that the human race is more likely to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to stand up against the abuses to which they have become accustomed. But when a long train of abuses has usurped their liberties and their fortunes under tyrannical despots, corrupt legislatures, and ideologue judges, it is the right of the citizens; it is their duty, to restore the former safeguards in order to ensure their future security.

Such is the condition prevalent in these United States of America, and such is now the condition which makes it necessary to exercise the privileges granted to our citizens to restore our government to the form prescribed, preserved, and protected within our Constitution – knowing full well that it is not the responsibility of the government to rule over its citizens but it is the responsibility of citizens to rule over government.

It is for this reason that many are gathering across the nation to reclaim the very form of government wherein prosperity and freedom co-existed, wherein liberty of conscience and freedom of speech thrived, and wherein citizens worshiped freely and lived peaceably.

Failure is not an option!

This is not a protest movement designed by those without compassion and driven by greed. This movement exists to preserve our freedoms and to protect our liberties.

Failure will result in more than economic chaos or financial ruin.

Failure will usher in a new age, an age of change, an age that will mark the death of the American Dream and the grand experiment of a Constitutional Republic designed to protect the rights of its citizens.

History is watching what we do and what we accomplish.

Success will require unity by putting aside our differences to work together for the greater good. It will also require diligence and commitment – all the while knowing full well that failure is only one election away.

This movement will not determine our credit rating or our financial viability; it will determine whether or not we earn the right to exist as a free nation.

List of grievances

The History of the late 20th and early 21st century is a history of repeated violations and usurpations of the principles of government outlined within our foundational documents. Specifically, the Constitutional crimes we find objectionable and herewith protest against are following:

Whereas, the Federal government has imposed taxes upon its citizens that are not within its Constitutional powers, prior to its improper amendment, and has used these funds for expenditures outside of its powers as enumerated within the Constitution.

Whereas,the Federal government has not provided for regular commerce by levying absurd taxes and regulations on corporations, by adopting uber environmental restrictions that are prohibitive and unnecessary, and by adopting free trade agreements with foreign governments that promote and favor foreign goods and services over national goods and services.

Whereas, the Federal government has nationalized private enterprises and implemented socialistic policies in violation of all principles and directives within our foundational documents.

Whereas, the Judicial system has usurped its role to adjudicate according to first principles and has created legislation based on precedent and ideology, and Congress and the Executive branches have allowed this condition to exist unchecked and unbalanced.

Whereas, the Federal government as well as several states have disregarded our First Amendment right of free speech by imposing upon us Hate Crime Bills that silence opposing views and violate our liberty of conscience.

State governments just as guilty

Whereas, certain state governments have sought to usurp our First Amendment right not to inhibit the free enterprise of religion by imposing upon the church and all business entities a new definition for marriage that proclaims it to be a civil right and not a choice, which definition must be honored by all existing states, and these usurpations of conscience have not been checked federally.

Whereas,the Judiciary branch has usurped our First Amendment right to peaceably assemble, specifically by restraining such right in the vicinity of certain clinics in accordance with biased ideologies, while law and order entities have allowed violent protesters to dominate and obstruct environs of their choice.

Whereas, all branches have allowed abortion to be administered to minors without parental notification, thereby infringing upon the God-given rights of parents.

Whereas, government at all levels has pursued endless measures to limit and infringe upon our right to bear arms in violation of the Second Amendment.

Whereas, governments at all levels and private industry have perverted the original intent behind eminent domain laws, thereby depriving citizens of their personal realty.

Whereas, the federal and judiciary branches of government have repeatedly violated, usurped and disregarded the powers delegated exclusively to the states and the Congress has allowed these atrocities to continue.

The petition

Therefore, We the People of these United States, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do hereby petition all branches of government to cease and desist from this unconstitutional and deplorable behavior immediately and to restore the principles this country was founded upon.

AND as in times of crisis past, with a firm reliance on our sovereign Jehovah God, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor to protect our liberties, rights, and way of life for ourselves and generations to come through the restoration of our Constitution and all foundational documents.

May God continue to bless these United States of America.

Reprint from The Daily Rant. Copyright 2016 Mychal Massie, who has granted permission.