The Declaration of Independence: A Closer Look

by Chuck McGlawn

While the foundations and underpinnings of “natural law” are taking root in the fertile soil of the "New World", they are, at the same time, being read and studied by the Founding Fathers who ushered in a completely new attitude towards RIGHTS, which took on the name “UNALIENABLE RIGHTS”, or “INALIENABLE RIGHTS”. The precise elements, the exact formulation and perfect timing all coalesced to give birth to this completely new concept in man’s attitude toward RIGHTS and a brand new governance based on that attitude. In short, we had arrived at that time in our philosophical evolution that man felt that he had the capacity for self-government.This time in our philosophical evolution made the concept of  “might makes right” ready to be discarded into the trash heap of history. This is the period when we realized that “the divine right of Kings” no longer held any significance, and the people no longer needed a monarch supposedly put in power by God to guide us through life.This was a gigantic step forward in man's attitude towards RIGHTS.

This was not only a completely new attitude toward RIGHTS; it also spawned a completely new relationship between man and his government. This step in the evolution has literally redefined nationhood, even though historians have not realized, or have chosen to ignore this giant step forward in the evolution of humankind. For the first time in the history of nationhood, the nation would be the servant of man, and not the reverse. The thirteen original colonies were to remain sovereign, linked only by the Articles of Confederation and later the Constitution.  

If you have any doubts as that last statement I invite you to read very carefully the last paragraph, copied from Wikipedia, you will find it at the bottom of this article.

This entire miracle is laid-out in just one paragraph of the Declaration of Independence; it is a paragraph that I have come to believe that even the author did not completely understand. The Declaration of Independence is the thread that stitched together thirteen independent States into one nation, and serves as the “Mission Statement” for that nation. It lays out the basic plan as to what our founding fathers wanted to accomplish with the government that would be created if we fought off the British Monarchy. The Declaration of Independence was the red flag waved in front of the bull to excite the bull to attack. It was the Declaration of Independence that energized enough of the colonist to think they could take on the British Empire.

Let us dissect and take a closer look at the components of that paragraph of the Declaration of Independence through eyes that are 232 years farther along the evolutionary process. Let us start with, We hold these truths to be self-evident… This statement indicates that the underpinnings of these concepts were well established, and were almost universally understood by 1776. The statement basically says, “If you look around you will come to the same conclusion. The Declaration of Independence continues with, …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. WOW, what a powerfully insightful sentence. It lays out man’s rights, (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness) with the dictum that these rights are natural rights granted by nature or the Creator. That they cannot be taken way. Not even by the government being created. They are “unalienable” And that these truths are confirmed simply by observation of natural law.

Let us look just a little closer. I am questioning the use of the words “among these…” Because you have three and only three RIGHTS. Simply by being born you have the right to LIFE. Moreover, you have the RIGHT to do with that life anything you want to do that is called LIBERTY. Furthermore you have the RIGHT to plan and conduct that life in a way that you think will maximize your happiness. Can you think of any more RIGHTS that the three so eloquently listed could be among? (These RIGHTS are all yours, so long as what you do does not interfere with another's right to do what he or she wants to do with their life).

Next, the framers make a vitally important assertion. “That to secure these rights”, (notice here that these are rights that we had even before we had governments to "secure" them.) “Governments are instituted among Men”. Please note here exactly what is being said, that “We The People” are going to engaged in a contract with our (soon to be formed) government to “secure” (that is to protect) our rights. It is also important to note that men make government, and therefore men precede government. This means that our National Government is the agent to and servant of the States and the men that created the States. Putting the States and man in the positions of power, and not the reverse.

Now the framers are going to designate from where our national government gets its powers, and at the same time put an important limitation on that governmental power. The Declaration of Independence says, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed.” There you have it. If government gets its power from the governed, it follows that man cannot create a government and give to that government powers that man himself does not have. Let me say that again. . If our national government gets its power from the governed, then the government cannot have powers that man himself does not have. Now we are talking here about a whole new concept in governance, where independent States, thirteen to be exact, create the framework of a nation.

Now, let us ask two questions to clarify the thinking about the power of government. Remember we are only talking about the National Government. The State, the County and the City governments do not enter into these limitations. Question #1, does man have the RIGHT to defend his own life and property? The answer to that question is YES.  Therefore, man can institute a National Government and share with that Government the power to protect life and property. In fact, that is the justification for the military for national DEFENSE, a police force for property protection. and a court system to adjudicate crimes against man and property.

Question #2, [And I am serious here.] Does man (that is an individual man) have the RIGHT to take money from your pocket, and give it to someone else that he thinks needs it more? The answer to that question is NO. Please note, if an individual man does not have the RIGHT to take money from one and give it to another. Then how could a collection of individual men derive such a power?) Therefore, it would follow that if man does not have that right then he cannot create a National Government, and give to that National Government the power to take money from one and give it to another that the government thinks needs it more.

This means our National Government can tax us to perform the job of National Defense and create a Judicial system. The National Government has no power to extract taxes from you to educate children, no matter how badly you may think children need educating. It means that our national government can have no power to extract taxes from you to fund social welfare, no matter how needy you think some people are. This restriction on the National Government does not prevent the individual States and Counties and Cities from taxing to support those activities.

As long as we are talking about the National Government, it also can have no power to extract taxes for health care providing, business promoting. Our National Government should not be involved in, Park building, educational standards setting, régime changing, weather reporting, democracy spreading. The National Government’s job description does not include database keeping, farmer saving, speed limit setting, toilet designing, e-mail reading, phone tapping, or the dozens of other things that the National Government is either financing or regulating.

The future of our already grossly eroded RIGHTS is grim indeed. With the two major parties competing with each other to buy your votes with increased spending and increased regulation, individual RIGHTS will continue to wane. Things are going to get worse before they get better. Let me quickly add, things will get better. History, moving ever forward, does not ever make a U-Turn.

Here is the last paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. Read it carefully.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Did you catch it? Do you see something that you have never seen before? If no, please contact this author either for some well needed “eye-opening” exercises or to join me in spreading this revelation.

The Primary Function of Our National Government by Chuck McGlawn

Sun, 04/03/2011 - 6:05pm, by Chuck McGlawn 07/29/2006

Wars are raging in Iraq and Afghanistan. The powder keg in the Middle East is threatening to set the world aflame. One cannot deny that US citizen security is at an all-time low. This might be the perfect time to ponder, just what was the primary function of the federal government?

Let us go to one of our basic documents the Declaration of Independence to answer this question. To paraphrase the Declaration of Independence, (which was the Mission Statement for the soon to be ratified Articles of Confederation and later the US Constitution) humankind, has the right (these are humankind’s natural rights) to LIFE, LIBERTY and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS. The Declaration of Independence launched a whole new relationship between the people and their National Government. For the first time a National Government is created by man to secure (that is to protect) those rights of LIFE, LIBERTY and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS. Most importantly, the Declaration of Independence stipulates that government gets it power from the governed.

Our Government is failing the citizens of the US big time. The attack on the World Trade Center was clear proof of that. While our military is off to far-away-places, with strange sounding names, involved in preemptive strikes, regime change, “democracy” spreading, setting itself up as the policemen of the world (or school-yard bully, I really cannot tell which). The job they are supposed to be doing, that being to protect our lives, our liberties and our pursuit of happiness goes unfilled.

Our Government cannot claim budgetary restrictions. In the last fifty years, the US Government has spent trillions of dollars developing an offensive military force. Much of this became obsolete before it could be used. When any fifth grader, with a proper education could tell you that our government is only empowered to develop a defensive military force.

Bring our troops home, not only from Iraq and Afghanistan, but also from the over 100 nations we now occupy. Muster-out all the troops except enough for an invincible defensive force. Half of the money required to house and pay our troops abroad returned to the taxpayer. Returning in excess of 75 Billion dollars to the taxpayers, would trigger a spending frenzy that would launch an economic upturn unprecedented in America’s history. The resulting increased Federal tax revenues returned to the taxpayers, would further fuel the skyrocketing expansion of our economy.

All of this growth would create such a shortage of labor, that US businesses would have to run full-page ads in Mexico and other Central American nations for willing laborers.

Some (just some) of the increased tax revenues accruing to State and City governments could fund State and City Police Intelligence Agencies. These agencies could then develop DEFENSIVE plans that fit the needs of the geographic area where the increased tax revenues occur. States would no longer be dependent on the failed one-size-fits-all defense measures planned by the Federal Government. The rest of the State and City tax revenues returned to taxpayers would be additional economic stimulus.

Oh, and the other half of the money being spent to house US troops abroad could be put out to private bid on National defensive weapons systems weapon systems so diverse, so cutting edge and so state of the art that another 9/11 style attack would be hugely reduced. Then, a national policy that no longer had its nose stuck into every nations business, and citizen security would be at an all time high.

Fifty Reasons Why Everyone Wins with the Fair-Tax

1. It allows you to keep 100% of your paycheck, with nothing withheld
for Social Security and Medicare payments.

2. It eliminates the regressive payroll tax that hurts the poor.
Currently, every one of us is taxed a minimum of 7.65% on our first-dollar of
wages up to $90,000, if we earn that much.

3. It assures that the wealthiest Americans will be voluntarily helping
to fund social security with every last dollar they spend above the
poverty level. Today, earnings are subject to payroll taxes only up to
$90,000. The wealthiest Americans therefore do not pay into the system
above that amount. If their earnings are from investments, no earnings
fund the Social Security system. Under the FairTax, a single purchase
(regardless of the source of the earnings) can result in greater
contributions to the Social Security system than would be paid by an individual
under the payroll tax of today.

4. It provides funding for Social Security and Medicare at a level
equal to or greater than at present, with a stronger and broader tax base.

5. It secures the future of Social Security and Medicare because all
spenders fund it and not just the workers.

6. It eliminates all personal income taxes, payroll taxes, corporate
income taxes, gift taxes, death taxes, and capital gains taxes.

7. It eliminates the income tax and the IRS. Members of Congress and
the public overwhelmingly agree that the current internal revenue code is
cumbersome, intrusive, coercive, and inefficient.

8. It is revenue neutral with the present income tax system, funding
the federal budget at current levels.

9. It will remove an average of 22% of the cost of American made goods
by removing the built-in payroll tax (the other 7.65% of earnings that
employers pay) and other business taxes that are now passed to
consumers as an "embedded" tax of approximately 22% due to the cascading of
income and payroll taxes paid by U.S. employers, at every step of
production, to the U.S. Treasury.

10. It doesn't tax used items ? clothes, cars, homes. Only new items
are taxed when sold by a business to an individual.

11. It is progressive, a "prebate" of the tax amount up to the poverty
level is given to everyone. This means that those spending below the
poverty level have a net gain because the "prebate" exceeds the amount
paid in taxes. (Under the present system they pay the payroll tax even if
they get a full refund of income tax withheld.)

12. It eliminates 90% of the cost of compliance. American families and
American businesses waste an estimated $250 ? $600 billion per year
doing the paperwork necessary to comply with the tax code. That is roughly
$1,000 ? $2,000 annually for every man, woman and child in the U.S.

13. It creates an opportunity for our products to leave this country
costing an average of 25% less, thus increasing our exports, lower our
deficit balance of trade, and increasing employment at home.

14. It encourages investment in companies located in the U.S., thus
providing a home for money already in the US and attracting more. The U.S.
will be the most attractive tax-free haven in the world for doing
business. American companies will return from offshore and overseas.

15. It encourages repatriation to the U.S. of money held by U.S.
individuals and companies now in foreign countries, with no tax consequence.

16. All 290 million Americans and 51 million visiting tourists fund
Social Security and Medicare with their purchases. Today only 110 million
workers fund these programs via deductions from their paychecks.

17. The broader tax base includes the ten percent of our economy, an
estimated $1 trillion, that today is underground or under the table.
Under the FairTax, the illegal drug dealer will pay his tax just like the
rest of us when he buys his sunglasses, BMW, and other items, as will
those who do business for cash.

18. It allows families to save more for home ownership, education, and
retirement. An average family making $50,000 will have $7,500 more
spendable income.

19. It makes educational tuition a tax-free expenditure of tax-free
income.

20. It makes American products more competitive overseas by removing
the embedded tax from them, thus lowering their prices, which compensates
for low foreign wages.

21. It makes American products more competitive at home by removing the
embedded tax from them, compensating for the low cost of imported
products not burdened by taxes imposed by exporting countries.

22. It removes the need for formal 401-K's, IRAs, HSA, etc. Anyone will
be able to set up any kind of savings or investment account without
regard to taxes or the government.

23. It frees churches and other non-profit organizations from the
expense of filing tax returns and paying their half of Social Security and
Medicare payments for employees. There will no longer be any 501.c.3 or
501.c.4 non-profit tax status, because there will be no more tax to be
exempt from.

24. It restores to churches and non-profit organizations the 1st
Amendment right to engage in free speech, without fear of losing their
tax-free status.

25. It gives individuals and businesses the right to donate as much as
they want to in a given year to charitable causes.

26. It restores the 4th Amendment, protecting against unreasonable
searches and seizures, from which the IRS presently is exempt.

27. It restores the 5th Amendment, which guarantees the right to due
process. Under current systems the IRS has their own courts with their
own set of rules not included in the 5th.

28. It cleans up a major flaw in campaign financing, eliminating
campaign donations for "tax favors".

29. It eliminates wrangling in Congress over tax cuts, the tax code,
and who is or is not paying a fair share of the tax bill.

30. It encourages work by letting workers keep 100% of their earnings
and giving a rebate, to boot, making the notion that the more you work,
the more money you have, a reality, unlike the current system where
welfare is lost when you go to work, so your first dollars earned after
taxes just offset what you were currently getting in welfare, making you
no better off.

31. It allows more of the lower income families to become home owners
by allowing a second job income above their current income (all tax
free) to be applied to a mortgage. Money for down payments for homes is
also saved totally tax free so that it will accumulate faster.

32. It allows families to retain farms and businesses in the hands of
those who built them through the elimination of the death tax.

33. It allows families to help each other out tax-free, by eliminating
the gift tax.

34. It encourages individuals to self-insure, making the health system
more direct pay (no 3rd party pay), thus bringing costs down.

35. Without FICA to pay, most states, counties, municipalities, and
school districts will see a large increase in their state budget revenues,
additionally lowering the overall tax burden (State & Federal) for most
Americans.

36. It assures that no American will find, at the end of the year, a
need to get a loan to pay taxes as an alternative to penalties, interest,
or cheating.

37. It restores individual privacy. The government no longer needs to
know where you work, what you are earning, and what you are doing with
it.

38. It eliminates the need to have a "marriage" clarification declaring
who you live with, as that has no bearing at all on a state or federal
sales tax.

39. It eliminates the need for courts to decide which divorced parent
gets to take the tax deduction for children.

40. It reduces production costs for farmers and other subsidized
businesses, leading to a reduction in subsidies, thus reducing the federal
budget.

41. It eliminates the administrative costs incurred by states in
collection of state sales taxes because states will piggyback the state tax
collection onto the national tax collection, for which they are
compensated by the FairTax ?% administrative cost give-back. [Doesn't this go
to the retailers?]

42. It results in a windfall profit for many of those holding taxable
corporate high interest bonds at the time of passage of FairTax, since
they will not be taxed under FairTax. (A higher interest rate is usually
paid to entice investors to buy the corporate bonds rather than go with
the lower interest, but tax free, municipal bonds, now.)

43. It shifts the tax to consumption, which consumption tables over
time show is more stable than income, therefore the tax revenue stream is
likely to be a more stable and predictable amount.

44. It results in Federal Reserve rates being based on current
consumption, which is rather stable, instead of future earnings, which are less
predictable, resulting in surer inflation prevention.

45. It allows for better planning by businesses, because they no longer
have to consider tax implications for everything they do.

46. It makes higher employment or better compensation possible in the
small business sector where today it costs approximately three dollars
in compliance costs to pay one dollar in payroll and income taxes.

47. It moves many now providing tax preparation, advice, accounting,
planning, and records maintenance into an expansive economy where they
will be producing goods and services. There they can add to the standard
of living of all Americans and likely earn more than they do currently,
instead of shuffling paper for the government (and not contributing
anything economically to society).

48. It relieves citizens of the risk of facing the shift in burden of
proof that is so common with the current system, i.e., the taxpayer is
guilty unless innocence can be proved, when even IRS staff sometimes
give conflicting interpretations.

49. It's simple, unambiguous, and certain, the opposite of the current
tax code.

50. It's good for the environment. It reportedly would save about
300,000 trees a year that are needed to produce the paper for the IRS
compliance and tax forms, enough to reach around the equator placed end to
end 28 times. Also, since it taxes only new items, it would encourage
buying tax-free pre-owned cars, clothes, furniture, houses, etc. Reuse is
good for the environment, too.

PLEASE CONSIDER THIS ALSO:

22% of the price of all that you buy currently is tax / tax compliance cost. When that cost goes away (under the Fair Tax) the price of your $1.00 item (purchased at Wal-Mart, for example) drops in price to 78 cents (without damaging the profit margin).

1.23 X 78 cents = 96 cents.

Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Even with the 23% Fair Tax added on, your originally $1.00 item is now 4 cents cheaper.

The Declaration of Independence as a Mission Statement

By Chuck McGlawn
Let us describe the appearance of a penny. This is going to be an “open book test”. (so get yourself a penny.) First, it is copper in appearance. On the heads, side there is a likeness of President Lincoln. There is also the phrase “In God We Trust”, and there is a mint date, and mint location and the word “Liberty”. On the tails side is a likeness of the Lincoln Memorial, the phrases, “UNITED STATES of AMERICA”, “E PLURIBUS UNUM” and lastly the denomination, “ONE CENT”

Now that is not a complete description of the penny, it doesn’t take into consideration that Lincoln’s likeness is in profile. It does not describe the slight ridge that borders the coin, and a dozen or more details both obvious and subtle, that could be included in the description of a penny. We just want to show that if you had a penny right in front of you, you could do a fairly good job of describing that penny. In addition, we believe that most any sixth grader, even a sixth grader with a public school education, could understand that description, and could go to a box of coins and easily pick out pennies by using just the description above.

The Declaration of Independence Imposes the Proper Function of our National Government.
What does this have to do with defining the proper function of our National Government? We believe, if you had the basic documents right in front of you that you could describe the proper function of our National Government just as completely. Moreover, when you completed that description of our government, any sixth grader could understand its description, and would know the proper function of our National government.

What we are now going to give you is the description of our National government, as it is defined and limited by some elements of our basic documents. The Declaration of Independence is the “Mission Statement”. It lays out the basic plan as to what our founding fathers planned to accomplish as a Nation.

The Declaration of Independence says, “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….” There, in one powerfully insightful sentence, you have Man’s rights. (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness) You have the dictum that these rights are granted by the Creator. In addition, they cannot be taken way. Not even by the government being created. Moreover, that all of this is a truth that is confirmed by observation of natural law.

We make an assumption here, that if you have RIGHTS, we mean real rights, then everyone else must have those same rights as well.

Let’s continue. The Declaration says that you have, “…certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” I contend that you have three and only three RIGHTS. Simply by being born you have the right to LIFE. And you have the RIGHT to do with that LIFE anything you want to do. That is called LIBERTY. In addition, you have the right to plan and conduct that LIFE in a way that YOU think will maximize your Happiness. (These are all yours with only one limitation. That nothing you do can interfere with another’s right to do what he or she wants to do with their LIFE).
The next line in the Declaration of Independence (And remember, this is the Mission Statement and the blueprint for our National Government.) the framers make a vitally important assertion. “…That to secure these rights…”, (notice here that these are rights that we had even before we had empowered a government to "secure" our natural rights.) “…governments are instituted among Men…”. Please note here exactly what is being said, that “We The People” are going to engaged in a contract with our (soon to be formed) government and the National Government’s job is going to be “…to secure (protect) these rights.” It is also important to note that men make government, and therefore precede government. This means that government is the agent to and servant of man, and not the reverse.

Now comes the most important statement. The Declaration is now going to designate from where our National Government gets its power, and at the same time put an important limitation on that governmental power. The Declaration of Independence says, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” There you have it. If government gets its power from you the governed, it would logically follow that man cannot convey to that government powers that man, himself does not have.

You may be asking, “How does this work exactly?” To demonstrate let us use three examples. #1) Did man have the right to defend his own life before he had a government to help him defend his life? The answer to that question is of coarse yes. So man can institute a government and share with that government the power to protect his life. In fact, that is the justification for a military. Please note here that we do not turn over to government the total power to protect our lives, for if we did that then we would no longer have the right to defend our own lives. I contend that since we have a right to protect our life, and we share some of that power with our National Government we can then tax ourselves to finance a defensive military. Please note, that the military that our taxes finance can only be defensive. Since man, as an individual does not have the RIGHT to initiate force on another to accomplish personal goals, then it follows that he cannot combine with others to create a military and give to that military the power to initiate force to accomplish communal goals.

This precludes creating an executive branch of government that has the power to order the military into preemptive military action. BTW, that includes our present preemptive action in Iraq and Afghanistan. No military action taken since Truman formulated the domino theory has been defensive. Truman spawned the opposition to any hint of Soviet Union expansion anywhere in the world.

#2) Did man have the right to defend his own property before we had a government to defend that property? The answer again is yes. So man can institute a government and share with that government the power to protect his property and with that shared power, the government can establish a police department, and charge that entity with the job of protecting our property. This function of government can also be financed by taxes. However, since the protection of property is a local job the National Government did not exercise the Police power.

Here is the third example. Read the following very carefully. Question: Before we had government did individual man have the right to take money from others, and give it to someone else that they thought needed it more, the answer to that question is a resounding NO, it is called theft. Therefore, it would follow that collectively man cannot create a National Government, and give to that government the power to take money from others and give it to someone else that the government thinks needs it more. This means our National Government can have no power to extract taxes from you to educate children, no matter how badly you may think children need educating. It means that our National Government can have no power to extract taxes from you to fund social welfare, no matter how needy you think some people are. It also can have no power for health care providing, business promoting, Park building. It should not be involved in educational standards setting, régime changing, weather reporting, democracy spreading. It should not be spending tax monies on database keeping, farmer saving, speed limit setting or toilet designing. No matter how large a budget surplus our government may have, it should never spend taxes on mail reading, phone tapping, corporate bailouts, or the dozens of other things that the national government is either financing or regulating.

A closer look at all these things might cause you to ask a question. “Why would our National Government risk alienating citizens by taxing them. The answer reveals the motive. All taxes, with the exception of taxes that finance the proper functions of government, is an attempt on the part of our National Government, to transfer wealth for the purpose of vote buying. Ask yourself this question: Why should the National Government have the power to extract taxes from the States and the citizens within those States, and then use the threat of the withholding of that same money to force those same States to comply with some program that the national government thinks important?

Article IV Section 4 of the US Constitution says, “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government.” It is not likely that you have ever heard this phrase before. If you did, it was unlikely that you were given an explanation as to what it means.

Let me say this, we would be living in a radically different world if the lessons from the Declaration of independence and a clear understanding of Article IV Section 4 were a part of our national consciousness. I contend that as it becomes a part of our national consciousness, we will begin to have a National Government that is limited to the taxing and regulation powers as defined by the Constitution. Then we would have 50 or more States that would be competing for populations like K-Mart and Wal-Mart competes for customers. It would mean that every tax and every regulation would be instituted to provide betterment to the populations of each State. I suggest that at this birthday celebration of our Nation we resolve to make the lessons it teaches an ever growing part of our national conscious.