A 4th of July Tribute?

The 236th Year of American Independence: Freedom Imperiled

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
The Unanimous Declaration of the 13 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, 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.

On this day, 236 years ago in Philadelphia, the revolutionary Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson was proclaimed throughout what was to become the United States of America. One of the most memorable freedom documents of all time, it proclaimed every human being’s right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

 Founding Father, and second president of the United States, John Adams also gave us words to consider today: “you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”

Both of these founders, friends until the end, died within hours of each other on July 4, 1826.
 Ten days earlier, Jefferson, from his home in Monticello, sent a remarkable letter to the citizens of Washington, D.C., saying he was too ill to honor their invitation to their 50th anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence.

 Though addressed to the citizens of Washington, Jefferson speaks across the years to all generations of Americans – to you and to me.

I urge you to read his eloquent letter here.

 This letter is considered one of the most sublime exaltations of individual and national liberty ever written. Jefferson’s personal vision of the Declaration of Independence he helped to write, and his vision of the American nation are vivid examples to the world of the blessings of self-government.
 In this last letter, Jefferson expressed his wish that “the annual return of this day will forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.”

What Would He Think Now?

I shudder to think what Jefferson would say about what has happened to these cherished rights in modern America.

 Ask yourself, have we as a nation and as a people shown an undiminished devotion to the rights Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton and so many others fought for – rights for which over a million Americans have died defending in all our wars?

 How could our third president comprehend that a conservative 43rd president and a liberal 44th president have both forsaken the constitutional rights about which Jefferson spoke in the Declaration so eloquently?

Tragic Policies

Too many Americans don’t seem to realize that misguided artisan violations of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights, under both President Bush and President Obama, have turned the destruction of our rights and liberties into government policies. To list only a few:

• President Obama targets American citizens for: a) assassination; b) indefinite detention; c) unprecedented violations of the right to privacy with warrantless wiretapping and government mining of electronic communications
 • Attorney General Eric Holder supports the president’s “right” to order the murder of U.S. citizens without trial or due process, claiming: “’Due process’ and ‘judicial process’ are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.”
 • On May 19, 2012 by a vote of 238-to-182, the U.S. House agreed with the Senate and the president that the U.S. military has the power to arrest and hold U.S citizens indefinitely without charges or trial. Former President Jimmy Carter denounced this law as a violation of the right to freedom of expression and the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, both of which are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.
 • On March 16, 2012 President Obama signed Executive Order 13603 on National Defense Resources Preparedness, giving him emergency control of virtually everything in the nation and the dictatorial power to issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources and to act as “necessary and appropriate.”
 • Financial privacy is dead in America, killed by the PATRIOT Act that forced bankers to act as government spies.
 • Unreasonable restrictions have impeded Americans’ rights to conduct business offshore to the point foreign banks and businesses reject U.S. clients.
 • The Drug Enforcement Administration, experts at breaking down doors in the night and champions of the failed multi-billion dollar drug war, now wants to put automatic license plate reading (ALPR) devices on public Interstate highways where they will sweep up records of Americans’ travel and store it for two years. The DEA is pushing to deploy a test in Utah, and has already done so in states on the U.S.-Mexican border.
 • The Federal Aviation Administration allows local police departments to use aerial surveillance drones that can peer inside windows, and even through solid barriers. A Defense Department report says the Pentagon and Dept. of Homeland Security need "routine access to U.S. airspace" in order "to execute a wide range of missions including... surveillance and tracking operations."

This is but a small sample of what is going on all around us every day.

 Americans fought and won independence from Great Britain against enormous odds. But now, politicians from both parties are destroying more of our liberties than King George III and the British ever did.

Undiminished Devotion Needed Now

On this 236th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, 186 years after Jefferson expressed his dying wish that “the annual return of this day would forever refresh our recollections of these rights and an undiminished devotion to them,” no honest, observant American can say that we have truly honored his wishes. Unless America changes its course, we have failed.

 Yet, is not too late for Americans to reclaim and reassert the rights for which so many gave their last full measure of devotion.

May we as a people have the strength and will to change our course – and may God bless America – now more than ever.

 Faithfully yours,
 Bob Bauman
Offshore and Asset Protection Editor