IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
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 harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
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:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
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.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

Senator Bernie Sanders announced recently that he is seeking the Democratic Parties nomination for president.  He joins Hillary Clinton, Rand Paul, and others who also seek to become temporary residents of government housing in a depressed metropolitan district.

Just to boost the political signal a bit, here are the slogans for the various campaigns:

• Bernie Sanders – Hippies of the world unite!  You have nothing to lose except your love beads!
• Hillary Clinton – Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
• Rand Paul – I am not my father!  Unless you really like my dad, in which case, wink wink.
• Jeb Bush – Third Bush is the charm!
• Martin O’Malley – Hey, I did a great job with Baltimore!
• Marco Rubio – The Second Coming of Reagan, Without All That Oratory and Junk
• Ted Cruz – Hey, electing a first term senator worked really well last time!
• Rick Perry – It’s my turn, dammit!
• Elizabeth Warren – It’s not really your money, you know that, right?
• Carly Fiorina – I’ve run a major American company into the ground, and now it’s your turn!
• Ben Carson – I like guns now. No, really.  Who are you going to believe, me or your lying memory?
• Donald Trump – If elected, I will drive all the poor people from Washington D.C. and build casinos

And finally, there’s this one:

• DaddyBear – Bringing heads and pikes together for America!

My Congressman, Republican Thomas Massie, posted this to his FaceBook feed a few minutes ago:

The media has failed to fully explain what happened with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bills yesterday so I’ll offer my “front row seat” description. Please SHARE:

In December while Senator Reid was still majority leader in the Senate, Congress passed, and the President signed, a bill called the CR/Omnibus that funded all government for a year except for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Republican leadership in the House decided it would be best to fund DHS only until February 27th. We were promised this would allow a republican controlled Senate and House to craft a funding bill for DHS that would defund, and thereby stop, the President’s executive action on illegal immigration. This promise was instrumental in securing republican votes for the December CR/Omnibus.

Several weeks ago, per the plan, the House passed a full year funding bill for DHS that would have prevented the President’s executive action on illegal immigration from being implemented. This was hardly mentioned in the media. For their part, the Senate engaged in brinksmanship and waited until yesterday, February 27th, to pass their version of a bill to fund DHS for the year. For what it’s worth, the Senate bill would do absolutely nothing to stop the President’s executive action.

When the Senate and House both pass different versions of the same bill (in this case a DHS funding bill), and neither agrees to the text of the other chamber’s bill, typically the leadership of the two chambers appoint conferees who meet in a conference and hammer out a compromise bill. This compromise bill, also known as a conference bill, then returns to both chambers for an up or down vote.

Yesterday at 2:43pm the House took a good faith vote to go to conference and negotiate with the Senate. In a conference, it is understood that neither side will get everything it wants. A vote against going to conference is sometimes characterized in the media as obstructing the legislative process. I voted to go to conference, while every Democrat voted against going to conference. The motion to go to conference passed the House, but the Senate was unable or unwilling to pass a motion to go to conference. It is disappointing to me that the media didn’t report this important breakdown in the legislative process. (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2015/roll102.xml)

Faced with a Senate that refused to negotiate, House leadership acquiesced and offered on the floor a bill identical to the Senate bill that did nothing to stop the President’s executive action on illegal immigration. However, this proposal limited DHS funding to 3 weeks instead of the full year. 52 House republicans, myself included, voted against the 3 week spending bill because it contained no guarantee that the Senate would vote to go to conference to negotiate a compromise bill before the temporary funding ran out. Although passage of the 3 week spending bill would have signaled retreat on the part of the Republicans, Democrats calculated that if they defeated the temporary spending bill, they could get the full year Senate bill passed yesterday, so they voted against the 3 week bill as well. The bill failed yesterday evening at 5:13pm. (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2015/roll104.xml)

Immediately after this bill died, conservatives in the House offered to vote for a 3 week DHS funding bill if it contained the modest requirement that the Senate come to conference to negotiate a long term compromise bill. House republican leadership rejected the proposal from conservatives.

Faced with DHS funding expiring at midnight, yet unwilling to negotiate in conference, Senate leadership reached out to House republican leadership and minority leader Pelosi. The Senate offered to pass a one week version of their DHS bill that would do nothing to stop the President’s executive action, if minority leader Pelosi would guarantee all of the democrats’ votes in the House. House Democrats were told if they would vote for the temporary measure, then within a week Congress would pass a DHS bill that would allow the President’s executive action on illegal immigration to be carried out. A deal was struck, the Senate passed their version by unanimous consent and adjourned, leaving the House with no other options to avert a lapse in DHS funding. At 9:59pm the House passed the temporary Senate measure, although I joined 54 other conservative republicans in opposing it. (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2015/roll106.xml)

In summary, using the power of the purse to keep the executive branch in check is a legitimate and constitutional strategy, but our republican leadership chose poorly last December when selecting security funding as a point of leverage. Having backed themselves into a corner, last night House republican leadership abandoned their own plan and struck a deal with minority leader Pelosi that gave the President what he wanted for at least another week. In my estimation, the long term prospect of using the power of the purse to stop the President’s unilateral action is bleak now that House leadership has signaled a temporary retreat without gaining a single concession from the Senate.

I support Congressman Massie and those who work to both hold congressional leadership’s feet to the fire and to try to limit the actions of a President who does not feel he is beholden to the other two branches of the government or to the American people.

The Legislature makes the law, the Executive implements the law, and the Judiciary interprets the law.  It’s just that simple.  When one of these branches goes beyond the limits of its power, it is right and proper that the other two branches cut it off.  Rolling over and exposing their soft underbelly is not why the American voter gave Congress back to the Republicans.  Stuff like this will only lead to a lot of us finding something better to do than voting Republican during the next election.

To Senator McConnell and Congressman Boehner, either stand by your guns, or let someone else relieve you.  You need to find a principle you’re willing to defend, or you better get used to being a minority party on a more regular basis.

I received the following news release from my Congressman, Thomas Massie:

U.S. Representative Thomas Massie Announces He Will Not Vote to Re-elect
Speaker Boehner

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Massie issued these reasons to support a new candidate for Speaker of the House:

For years I watched Washington from afar and suspected that something was broken.  Why is it that so many people approve of their congressman, yet they consistently disapprove of Congress?  During my first two years as a congressman I discovered a significant source of the dysfunction.  I watched the House Leadership:

• Schedule a fiscal crisis in a lame duck session on the last legislative day before Christmas to get maximum leverage over rank and file members,

• Mislead members into thinking that a vote on an unpopular bill was postponed, only to then conduct a rushed voice vote on the $10 billion unfunded spending measure with fewer than a dozen members present,

• Give members less than 72 hours to read bills over 1,000 pages long, and

• Remove members from committees simply because they voted for the principles upon which they campaigned.

With a process this broken, is it any wonder that Washington no longer works for the people?  My constituents expect better and America deserves better.  On January 6th, 2015, I will vote for a new Speaker who will consistently articulate a constitutional vision for America and facilitate an inclusive and orderly legislative process that allows Congress to truly reflect the will of the people.

I’ve met Congressman Massie, and both the impression that I got from the short time I spent talking with him and what I have seen in his actions in Congress lead me to believe that what he is saying is true and that he is doing this out of a concern for the welfare of the Congress and the nation.  He goes into more detail in an op-ed, published this weekend.

I ask each of you to read what Congressman Massie says in both pieces, and to consider whether you want John Boehner to continue as Speaker of the House.  If you agree with me that it’s time he was replaced, or if you believe that to do so would not be in our best interest, please reach out to your Representative and let them know.  They need to hear from us in order to do our bidding.  Remember, apathy denotes acceptance, and silence denotes permission.