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The Third Sentence
by A.X. Perez
[email protected]

Attribute to L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise

With the Second and Fourth of July coming up it is worth remembering what exactly the Declaration of Independence is all about.

The Declaration of Independence is a document stating why the Americans were rebelling against British Rule and why they were justified in doing so. In doing so Mr. Jefferson summed up the Social Contract Theory in three sentences, some of the greatest rhetoric in human history.

(Digression: I feel these words are divinely inspired, as in the Paraclete descended on Jefferson when he was writing them. I do not say this lightly or with intention to mock believers or non believers):

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.

Lately I have seen writings by both conservatives and soi disant "progressives" emphasizing the first two sentences and calling for people to submit to the authority of the state. However, the Declaration of Independence is not about these two sentences, it is about the third sentence, emphasized in this message in red. It's about why sometimes good little boys and girls need to be very naughty, that there is a time to confound these buggers and misbehave. (Thank you Joss Whedon)

1776 was such a time. It seems another such time is coming if it is not already here.

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