INTRODUCTION:
“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.”
– Thomas Paine, “Common Sense”, 1776
On this day, 250 years ago, delegates from the thirteen American colonies met as the Second Continental Congress and approved the Declaration of Independence, officially “dissolving the Political Bands” between the former colonies and Great Britain.
This foundational document for our nation laid out the principles upon which legitimate government must be based, and delineated many of the ways in which the government of Great Britain had violated these principles, before declaring their states’ independence from the British Crown.
On July 4th, 2026, it is time for us to do something similar. Here, we first lay out the principles upon which this nation was founded, and then list some of the most egregious ways in which this government has repeatedly violated these principles. We then make our declaration:
1. That based on the very principles upon which this nation was founded, its government has forfeited any legitimacy it may have had, and,
2. That we do not consent to be governed by this government. Any actions taken by this government to rule over us, to take from us, or to control our activities, are undertaken without our consent.
I. PRINCIPLES
1. The Declaration of Independence famously states:
“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.”
2. The ideas laid out in the Declaration of Independence are founded on the thinking of the Enlightenment philosophers, and in particular that of John Locke, who Thomas Jefferson credits directly. In his “Second Treatise of Government,”, Locke elaborates on some of the characteristics of legitimate government:
“A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another; there being nothing more evident, than that creatures of the same species and rank… should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection…”
and:
“(Man) seeks out, and is willing to join in society with others, who are already united, or have a mind to unite, for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberties and estates, which I call by the general name, property.
“The great and chief end, therefore, of men’s uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property.”
3. The United States Constitution further delineates some of the specific rights that the government is required to uphold and respect. For example:
a. The First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…”;
b. The Fourth Amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”;
c. The Fifth Amendment: “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…”
d. Significantly, the Ninth Amendment says that “(t)he enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people,” and the Tenth Amendment tells us that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Remember, these rights are unalienable. They are not privileges granted by the state, and the state does not have the right to take them away, nor to violate them. The US Constitution is not the source of our rights. It simply recognizes them and seeks to create a framework by which they will be upheld.
The founders of this nation believed, and we affirm, that when a government fails in its sole purpose of protecting the life, liberty and property of those it serves, it forfeits the authority granted to it by those people. When it actively turns against the interests of those it serves, when the government itself becomes a threat to our lives, our liberty, our property, then—by the very standards set out in this nation’s founding documents—it loses all legitimacy, and must be renounced.
We hereby declare that the government of the United States of America has failed to protect the rights of the people of this nation, and further, that the government itself poses a grave threat to these rights, and to our lives, our freedom and our property. As such, we declare this government to be illegitimate.
II. GRIEVANCES:
1. The government of the united states has, since its inception, failed repeatedly to protect the rights of the people of the united states, as outlined in the U.S. Constitution: The Federal government and its agencies, as well as state and local officials and legislators, violate our rights constantly, with little or no consequences to themselves. Some (but by no means all) of the most striking examples include:
a. The TSA (Transportation Security Administration). This is a clear and obvious violation of 4th amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, and its abuses are inflicted upon thousands of Americans daily;
b. The war on drugs. Nowhere does the U.S. Constitution authorize the government to prohibit Americans from using any kind of product or substance. The Federal war on drugs has produced some of the most egregious violations of bodily sovereignty, person and property, and privacy, in this nation’s history, violating both the Fourth and Fifth Amendments;
c. The creation of separate legal classes, and the placing above the law of some individuals, including government officials, politicians, police officers, and in some cases those working on behalf of certain industries or institutions. This is in direct opposition to Locke’s idea of equality under the law, and has resulted in such offenses as the manufacturers of vaccines being immune from legal accountability for the harms caused by their products; the killing of innocent Americans by police officers; and perhaps most horrifying, the killing of patients in hospitals with the use of “covered countermeasures” under the unconstitutional and immoral PREP Act;
d. A massive surveillance state that is a clear violation of Fourth-Amendment protections against unreasonable searches, and includes warrantless spying on all Americans by the National Security Agency;
e. Censorship, in clear violation of the First Amendment. One of the most recent examples being putting pressure on social-media companies to silence information that challenged the government’s narrative about Covid-19;
f. Mandating that individuals be subjected to medical interventions against their will;
g. The practice of “eminent domain,” by which governments seize private property, ostensibly for the “public good,” as provided for in the Constitution. In practice, however, “eminent domain” is often employed for the benefit of private actors allied with the government. We find that, in the absence of freely determined market prices that are the result of consensual, voluntary exchanges, there exists no objective means for determining whether or not a thing be in the best interests of “the public,” and that anyone may declare anything at all to be so. It is therefore counter to the aforementioned principles of legitimate governance to grant this kind of power to any government.
2. This government has created hundreds (441 according to the Federal Register) of unaccountable agencies, such as the EPA, FDA, IRS, ATF, HHS, DHS, ICE, CIA, FBI, NSA, FEMA, and the DEA.
Such agencies forcibly impose regulations and restrictions on nearly every aspect of the lives of Americans, from how they may conduct business, how they may build their homes and other buildings, what food they may buy and sell, who may or may not practice medicine, and what medicine and medical treatments they may or may not use.
These agencies also routinely impose onerous restrictions on how Americans may use their own property, thus depriving them of some or all economic value of said property. These officially sanctioned violations of property rights are known as “regulatory takings.”
3. This government has imposed taxes upon the population without our consent.
a. Any kind of “head tax”—a tax upon an individual’s property—is in direct violation of the principles stated above, and of the Constitution.
b. In addition to explicit taxation, the government/governments have also taken control of the nation’s money, and have disconnected that money from anything of real value such as gold or silver, thereby debasing that money, such that much of society’s wealth is siphoned off, away from the private men and women who created it, and into the coffers of the state and its business cronies, including military contractors and others.
4. This government has continually waged wars of aggression around the world practically since its inception. The Constitution requires that any act of war must be approved by Congress, however this has not happened since 1942. Since that time, this government has engaged in numerous military actions overseas, yet there have been no Congressional declarations of war.
5. In addition to (and in some cases, including) the acts described above, the government has engaged in actions that go beyond simple tyranny and begin more to resemble acts of war waged against the people of this country. Some examples include:
a. The creation of biological weapons such as the SARS-Cov-2 virus, which are then turned loose upon the population;
b. The promotion of genital mutilation and chemical castration of children;
c. The forcing of biological men into spaces that have historically been reserved for women, including public restrooms, women’s prisons, sports teams and changing rooms;
d. The creation of financial incentives for hospitals and medical professionals to employ deadly protocols on many of their patients, and to be granted immunity for any deaths or harm thereby caused;
e. Geo-engineering, including spraying toxic chemicals into the atmosphere;
f. The subsidy, and protection from liability, of producers of toxic chemicals that are used on food grown by many American farmers;
g. The coercing upon much of the population an experimental mRNA product, which has since been shown to have had harmful and even deadly effects on those who take it, including damaging effects on fertility;
h. Allowing the irradiation of the population with dangerous non-ionizing radiation from cell towers and other EMF-emitting equipment, and in many cases protecting those who inflict these trespasses from legal liability for harms caused;
i. Spending unprecedented quantities of money with no meaningful restraint, essentially creating money out of thin air in order to spend it, thereby debasing the money held by the people of the nation, and stealing their wealth.
III. DECLARATIONS:
1. Because of the above listed long train of abuses, and others not mentioned; Because the limitations on government power imposed by the Constitution are for the most part ignored; and because this government is not founded on the consent of the governed, We hereby declare that the government of the United States of America is illegitimate.
To those who question this declaration, or who believe that it goes too far, that we have not yet reached such a grave state of affairs, we the undersigned must ask: What additional acts must be committed against us, what more violations of our rights must be endured, before we may reasonably make this declaration? Please elaborate, and please be specific in your responses.
2. Legitimate government is based on the consent of the governed and only individuals can give consent.
We the undersigned hereby declare that we only accept as legitimate a government that is based on consent, and that exists solely for the purpose of protecting the lives, liberty and property of those who consent to its governance.
We the undersigned hereby declare that we do not consent to be governed by the government of the united states. Any actions taken by this government to rule over us, to govern our affairs, to make laws for us, to take property from us, or to control our activities in any way, are undertaken without our consent.
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand.”
—Thomas Paine, “Common Sense,” 1776.
Are you ready for a better way?
Signed:
Bretigne Shaffer
Tess Lawrie
Vivienne Wallace
Nicola Robinson
Lisa Lopes
Gretchen Wahlstedt
Sally Oh
Steve Trinward
Laura Anderson
Lara Cameron
Christof Plothe, DO
Gary Shearer
Rand Eastwood
Mike Maharrey
Jeremy R Hammond
