The slave holding, property owning white males who guided the formation of the United States, some of whom affixed their signatures to a document approved by Congress in July, 1776 and signed by delegates on a later date, listed the provocations of the time and explained their reasons for taking action.
Leap forward 250 years and the document resonates. While provocations have continually existed for the past thirteen months, when a noteworthy provocation takes place it's worth noting.
Here is some text for thought, with timely edits:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [people] 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 [People], 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 [hu]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 [States]; 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 [President of the United States] 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 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...
[...]
He has made [Immigration] Judges dependent on his Will alone...
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 [executive orders and pardons], from punishment for any Murders [and crimes] which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off [or impeding] our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: [tariffs are taxes]
[...]
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 excited domestic insurrections amongst us[...]
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.
[...]
You can view the entire Declaration of Independence at https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript.
As the current pretender to the throne coopts the 250th anniversary, think about its real meaning and how that applies today. Perhaps it is time.
