The Declaration of Independence is one of the most influential documents in human history, right up there with the Magna Carta and the Communist Manifesto. The main reason for this is it stands as the mission statement of the American empire, so its influence is imposed on the world. The same can probably be said for the Magna Carta, which we know about because of the British Empire and by extension, the Anglosphere which dominates the modern world.
The power of the Declaration lies in the opening sentence of the second paragraph, which is the legitimizing authority for the American empire. If an action or position can be couched in terms of equality or the defense of unalienable rights, it is justified. It is one of the deadliest sentences ever written, right up there with Rousseau’s “Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”
Despite the massive abuse that has flowed from that unfortunate bit of rhetorical flourish, the document itself is an amazing expression of European political morality that should be at the center of dissident thought. Within it lies the moral framework that binds a people to their ruler, but also the moral imperative of breaking that bond when the ruler is corrupt or tyrannical. In this age of liberal tyranny, it is a highly useful starting point for the moral opposition to liberal democracy.
A central question of this age is can you have a peaceful and prosperous society without a well-defined people? If the answer is no, which surely seems to be the case, then the obvious question is can a people exist without a ruler committed to the preservation of the people? In this age, the rulers are committed to abdicating their responsibilities to the people on the grounds that there is no such thing as a people, at least there is no such thing as our people.
Since self-preservation is the primary duty of all life, the first duty of a human group with a common identity is the preservation of the group. Logically, a ruler that violates his duty to that prime directive, putting the very existence of the people into question, is a lethal threat to the people. Just as it is the duty of a life forms to do what they must to preserve their existence, it follows that it is the duty of a people to use any means necessary to preserve itself. It is self-evident.
The real value in the Declaration today is in its radicalism. In the 18th century the claim that a ruler has a duty to his people was not radical. It was assumed. The claim of natural rights could be viewed as radical for the age, but these ideas were in wide circulation at the time. Today, however they are radical. In fact, we are rapidly approaching a point where uttering these ideas in public will lead agents of the state to put you on a secret list. We are in a dark age now.
This week I have the usual variety of items in the now standard format. Spreaker has the full show. I am up on Google Play now, so the Android commies can take me along when out disrespecting the country. I am on iTunes, which means the Apple Nazis can listen to me on their Hitler phones. The anarchists can catch me on iHeart Radio. I am now on Deezer, for our European haters and Stitcher for the weirdos. YouTube also has the full podcast. Of course, there is a download link below.
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This Week’s Show
Contents
- 00:00: Opening
- 02:00: Me Talking A Lot
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https://youtu.be/rTtWCXunrdo