Tuesday, July 2, 2019

The New Declaration



The New Declaration of Independence
(Rewritten slightly by C.A. Matthews)

IN THE STREETS, JULY 4, 2019
The unanimous Declaration of We The People

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with an oppressive class, the oligarchy, 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 human beings 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, democratic rule should be instituted among humanity, 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 a new democratic system of 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.  This system of government is commonly known as democratic socialism, a system that puts the rights and happiness of the working classes above those who would enslave them economically in a system that takes away from the workers and gives more rights and economic power to a small elitist class. 

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that such perverse governments that support only a small proportion of the populace at the expense of the majority long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that people are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. This happens because apathy has been bred into our society by the ruling elites, and the weakening of the power to vote for all citizens has been ongoing since the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and recently evident in legislation to force photo identification at the polls and the use of Crosscheck to illegally void voters from the registry. 

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism--such is witnessed in our society today-- 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 the working classes; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former corrupt system of government. The history of the present corrupt cabal of the one-percent is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these workers. 

To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.


The oligarchs have refused their Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.


The oligarchs have forbidden their Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, such as Medicare For All and free provision of education, preschool through college. The ruling elite has utterly neglected to attend to these important measures and many innocents have died due to little to no adequate healthcare, and many have suffered working long hours for  slave-wages because they have found themselves in immense debt from attending college.


The oligarchs have refused to pass other Laws condemning the gerrymandering of large districts of people, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.


The oligarchs have blocked Net Neutrality and misused digital technology for the sole purpose of spying on the citizens for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with their measures.


The oligarchs have dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly through worthless legislation,  keeping them enthralled to the lobbyist class to do their bidding to spread the disease of capitalism and oppressing the rights of the people, especially women and their right to bodily autonomy.


The oligarchs have refused for a long time, after the passage of Citizens United, to cause others of a higher moral character to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of representing the ninety-nine percent, have returned to the People at large meaningless and deadly laws; the workers remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of polluted and unsafe work spaces and unhealthy air, food and water for them and their families.

The oligarchs have endeavoured to prevent immigration and asylum-seeking; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising concentration camps where children are separated from their families and all are housed in filthy, unsafe and horrendous conditions. 


The oligarchs have obstructed the Administration of Justice by stacking the courts with corrupt cronies of the capitalists who treat people of color, the poor, the foreigner and women in particular harshly in the extreme.


The oligarchs have made Judges dependent on their Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries, thereby encouraging them to decide cases not on their merits but on how cases may be used to further enrich the elite classes.


The oligarchs have erected a multitude of New Offices in the Department of Homeland Security, and sent hither swarms of capitalists to harass our people and make their lives even harsher, by encouraging small businesses to close their doors by offering tax breaks to large corporations that undersell them, thus creating food deserts and further defunding public schools in the inner cities.


The oligarchs have kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. They continue to wage Wars for Oil that profit the elites at the expense of the lives and health of the workers.


The oligarchs have affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. We live with militarized policing agencies who are often at the beck and call of Big Oil and other capitalists.


The oligarchs have combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving their Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:


For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us in the disguise of our local police:


For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants--especially cold-blooded murders of persons of color and other protected statuses:


For cutting off our Trade with certain parts of the world and instituting unfair trade and labor practices that profit global capitalists at the expense of  workers worldwide:


For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent by giving the elites tax breaks and other loopholes wherein they profit from the corrupt system, i.e. through government bailouts and corporate welfare:


For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury and keeping those who cannot make bail imprisoned for long lengths of time without charge:


For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences, such as in the case of  the journalist Julian Assange and others wrongfully imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay:


For taking away our City Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments, such as denying the right to citizens' initiative to protect our Great Lake Erie for further contamination from corporate polluters:


For blocking our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever, no matter what the people declare are their wishes, such as in the case of a woman's right of choice.


The oligarchs have plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people by the foolish denial of the climate crisis that is harshly affecting the whole of the planet.


The oligarchs have at this time transported Armies to foreign lands to accomplish works of death, desolation, and tyranny, i.e. by attempting to overthrow a duly elected government in Venezuela, and have already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

The oligarchs have constrained our fellow Citizens by making it so difficult to earn a living that some have felt to bear Arms for obscene police actions, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.


The oligarchs have excited domestic insurrections amongst us, to divide and conquer us by pitting group against group in 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 President, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people and should be impeached.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our brethren throughout the world. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by our on legislatures to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the harsh and sometimes lethal circumstances of immigration and settlement here. 


We, therefore, the Representatives of the Working Class, 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 the ninety-nine percent, solemnly publish and declare, That We the People are, and of Right, ought to be Free and Independent of capitalist tyranny, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the elitist class. 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, what remains of our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

SIGNED: WE THE PEOPLE, THE WORKERS (the 99%) OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


If you'd like to read the actual Declaration of Independence: http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/
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Happy Belated Juneteenth!
 
Related articles

https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/57234-on-reparations-the-question-isnt-if-but-when-and-how

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Can you give a blogger a lift? How about helping them pay for a ride to the upcoming Green Party National Meeting in Salem, Mass. so The Revolution Continues can report on the action? Please donate a buck or two to our travel fund via the Paypal link below. Thanks!




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Families Belong Together
The Trump administration just sent kids BACK to the overcrowded and unsanitary detention camp in Clint, Texas. 

This is the same camp where kids were urgently removed following horrific revelations:

Toddlers denied diapers. Children not being able to shower. No toothbrushes, toothpaste, or even soap.

This is cruel and sadistic. There is no reason children should continue to be held in these inhumane, overcrowded and unsanitary camps. They should be closed, period.

Congress MUST close the camps.


#ClosetheCamps
This week's revelations about the Clint, Texas detention camp are SHOCKING even for this administration.

Attorneys shared first-hand accounts of what it's like to be in those camps: Children coughing everywhere. Sobbing toddlers. Children trying to take care of toddlers. It's unfathomable.

These are human rights abuses plain and simple -- and every day that Congress allows them to stay open is a dereliction of duty. That's why we MUST keep saying it until Congress does it: 


We've mobilized our coalition and are working with local partners to close the camps and will be sure to keep you updated on next steps.

Thanks for all you do,
Sandra Cordero, Director
Families Belong Together


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From Friends of the Earth:

Recently a United Nations report warned that one million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction -- including bees, butterflies and other pollinators. A key driver is the widespread use of toxic pesticides on the food we eat.  

Kroger -- the largest traditional supermarket in the U.S. -- is part of the problem. The retail giant still sells food grown with toxic pesticides.

Today is Kroger’s annual shareholder meeting. It’s the perfect time to pressure the highest decision-makers at the company to stop selling food grown with toxic pesticides. And they need to feel that pressure from you, C.A.. 


Bee-killing neonicotinoids, monarch-harming glyphosate, and brain-damaging chlorpyrifos are still widely used in agriculture. This threatens the pollinators that help us to produce two-thirds of the food crops we eat everyday.

Imagine a world without almonds, cucumbers, apples, blueberries and peaches. That could be the reality if we don’t quickly shift away from toxic pesticides and toward organic food for all.

These pesticides are also putting our health at risk. We tested Kroger apples, spinach, cereal, and beans and found residues of these toxic pesticides. This means that the food our families buy could be laced with brain-damaging and cancer-causing pesticides.

Kroger claims to be a leader in food safety. Its website states that keeping food safe is “part of everything we do and a condition of working with Kroger for our suppliers and partners.” If Kroger is truly committed to selling safe and healthy foods, it needs to take into account the toxic pesticides present in common grocery items, especially its very own Kroger-brand foods. 


We know it’s possible for Kroger to eliminate harmful pesticides in its supply chain. Costco, one of the largest food retailers in the U.S., has already asked its suppliers to phase out neonicotinoids and chlorpyrifos from its fruit, vegetables, and garden plants globally. 

Across the country, concerned people like you are swarming Kroger’s phone lines demanding the company take immediate action and remove pesticide-laced food from its shelves. We can’t do this without you, C.A.. Can we count on your support in this fight?  


Standing with you,
Tiffany Finck-Haynes,
Pesticides and pollinators program manager,
Friends of the Earth

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