Wednesday, November 29, 2017

The Declaration of Independence is the Foundation of Modern Ethics (Actual Intelligent Design)

The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights together constitute the Grand Moral Compromise — the negotiated peace treaty between Religion and Science that ended the medieval crime of heresy in exchange for guaranteed religious freedom, and that made Lawful Democracy with Religious Freedom the single best existing ethical form of human government. All other forms of government have lost their moral basis since this declaration of government by consent of the people. Half of the world has agreed to this compromise; the other half remains at war with itself.

What follows is, first, a derivation of why this compromise is required for any moral society — from first postulates, in the manner of Spinoza's "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus" and other Political Philosophers of the Enlightenment — and second, an annotated reproduction of the Declaration of Independence itself, with "King of Great Britain" replaced by "President of the United States," and 30 footnotes mapping each 1776 grievance to a specific action of the present administration. Originally written late in the second year of the first Trump administration, further perfidy has been memorialized and updated into the footnotes. The 250-year-old document reads as if it were drafted last week. It would not be unreasonable to conclude that this is by design.




The Settlement of the War between Science and Religion.
Why the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are

more important than you realize.

Blue is for the arguments a rational person would accept.
Red is for the argument a religious person would accept.
Purple is for the arguments both would accept.




Table of Contents

I. The Grand Moral Compromise
The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights document the Grand Moral Compromise
II. Why Thriving Democracies Are Required
We feel safer if more countries are democracies.
III. The First Amendment Read as a Treaty
Again, look at the wording of Amendment I…
IV. The Bill of Rights as the Government's Duties
Let's examine the Second Amendment…
V. The Declaration of Independence — Re-Annotated for the Present Despot
37 separate grievances, all of which have reoccurred.
VI. Original Signatories
The founding Fathers have signed this declaration. It is our duty to uphold it.
VII. Today's Grievances
The grievances documented below are the most egregious acts of the current regime. 
VIII. The Outcome of Such Punishments on the people
This will end. Whether it ends peacefully or in blood is up to this illegitimate regime.





I. The Grand Moral Compromise

 The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights document the Grand Moral Compromise between Religion and Science that created the secular world by defining the morals and ethics of governments and their relationship with the people. The most moral and ethical form of government is declared to be a Lawful Democracy with Religious Freedom. These two documents define this from first postulates [O] and dictate the method to form a government.

The Grand Moral Compromise was defined in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the Bill of Rights: it is the agreement that abolished the crime of heresy in return for freedom of all religions, including science, the fairest way to evaluate evidence.

Half [G] of the world has agreed to this Grand Moral Compromise, the rest are still at war with themselves: religion against religion; and all against science, which is treated as just another religion to be persecuted and only tolerated because of the progress it enables. In the Far East, most of the societies have banished religion. In the Middle East and Africa, religions have banished science as well as other religions.

Of these three systems:
a) religious and scientific freedom,
b) one religion,
c) scientific dominance;
which makes the most sense? Which system will improve the wellbeing of the people in this world?

see "A Clash of Civilizations" (2021) for a more detailed discussion of this fault line between democracies and autocracies.

We claim that without the Grand Moral Compromise of Religious Freedom and Freedom of Speech , Lawful Democracy; cannot thrive; and without Lawful Democracy, societies cannot thrive. Without thriving Democratic societies, the world will not thrive. Without the people's consent the world ill descend into a war of dominance and oppression. To allow this state of the world to exist is unethical and immoral.

This theme is developed at length in "The Power of Trump" (2020).

II. Why Thriving Democracies Are Required

 We feel safer if more countries are democracies. [N] But why? Because a vote of the people can peacefully modify their own government. We can appeal directly to the people, independently of their elected government, and they can decide to change their government. This is the fundamental principle of the Declaration of Independence. Groups of people are allowed to voluntarily decide to band together to support these principles. If your opponent's people can't do this, it is an integral part of the assumption of the Grand Moral Compromise that it is ethically required to aid in the quest to allow all of the people in the world to be treated equally under the rule of law, with the right to peaceably assemble and petition their government. Rule by oppression must be replaced by rule by persuasion.

 We, as a people, as a collection of states, as a country or union, have morally and ethically rejected any system that does not allow the people to govern themselves. If the people are not allowed to govern themselves, it doesn't matter if Science or a particular Religion is ascendant. Without the Grand Moral Compromise that mandates religious freedom, freedom of speech and the right of the people to govern themselves, any government inevitably descends into corruption. Even under democracy, the government can still descend into corruption if the people do not exercise their rights. [C] This is why it is critical to enforce the rights of the people as listed in the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. [D]

For details see "Political Corruption" (2025) and "We Are at a Crossroads" (2025)
Without Lawful Democracy with Freedom of Religion the people live under a totalitarian system without rights and in fear; whether this system is based on Science or Religion, Communism or Feudalism, makes no difference if the people cannot self-determine how they wish to be governed. The Declaration of Independence claims that it is ethical and moral for that government to be abolished by the people. [H] This is the fundamental foundation of modern secular society. Consent of the governed, not lip service to consent of the governed, but unforced consent, is required. This is why any society that does not support Lawful Democracy with Religious Freedom is fundamentally unethical and immoral. It can sustain itself for a long period (centuries) but it is illegitimate and eventually crumbles. The effort to maintain an unstable system is expensive and this type of government will not be as efficient as a Lawful Democracy with Religious Freedom. [E]


III. The First Amendment Read as a Treaty

 Again, look at the wording of Amendment I (the First Amendment) in the Bill of Rights. It continues in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and is a compromise between Science and Religion: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. First there is the statement of the Grand Moral Compromise: no persecution or prosecution of religion in turn for allowing heresy (public disagreement.) And the government agrees to the same thing: they must allow public disagreement without persecution or prosecution.

As a people, as a group of people, as a group of groups, as countries and unions; we have decided that we will be treated equally and be ruled equally under the law: by persuasion not compulsion. The Grand Moral Compromise allows groups to amass whatever resources they can lawfully acquire, the government enforces the laws equally on everyone, and no religion, no group, no people, are persecuted or prosecuted for what they say or believe or who they are. Everyone and every group, including the government, competes in the marketplace of ideas equally. [I]

For how this has gone wrong during the third century of our republic see "Capitalism is not inherently bad — Limited Liability Corporations Are (2023)

Remember, we can only be prosecuted by laws that apply to everyone equally, so we are not allowed to be favored or persecuted by the government (this precludes illiberal democracy and treating minorities differently.) There is no reason to treat anyone differently, to persecute anyone, since we are all created equally in the eyes of the law, in the eyes of the Lord, and in the eyes of the people. Religions receive guarantees of these freedoms, but give up their right to claim that heresy is against the law. Scientists (along with everyone else) receive the right to speak the truth as they see fit and to publish and circulate that truth without being punished for it, and to peacefully discuss the truth with others and with the government, without fear of prosecution.

The Grand Moral Compromise was the trade of Religious Freedom for everyone in return for allowing everyone to be a heretic. You can see that this is a built-in fundamental consequence of the Freedom of Religion. If every Religion is free to exist, prosecuting heresy is a contradiction that would lead to eternal strife, one could even say "Hell on Earth," [F] as some fundamental claim of one religion will be always be heretical to another religion. Hence Freedom of Religion and heresy cannot exist in a single, peaceful society. The Scientific world view requires there be no heresy: no persecution for discussions of any idea (religious or not.) This is critical for determining the truth from evidence. Without this Grand Moral Compromise neither Science nor Religion as an institution can survive.

This was the greatest compromise between warring factions of a society in the history of the world. Instead of being ruled by Royalty, to have one Religious faction in charge, we decided to rule ourselves. This was the end of feudalism and eventually the end of slavery. This grew out of the Scientific and Industrial Revolution. The philosophers of the day [J] came to the conclusion that there was a way to justify and reason about rights and governments that was independent of any particular religion or group of people. It was all derived logically from the premise that we are all individuals with equal rights. [M]

This is one of the things that most of the rest of the world does not understand. Or maybe they do understand and the rulers are afraid of the idea that will end their immoral reigns. Where else in the world did they have a devastating civil war over this idea? When you are forging a new society some things must change.

How do you force this new government to come into existence with the consent of the governed?


IV. The Bill of Rights as the Government's Duties

Let's examine the Second Amendment, the reminder that the people make up the militia (the unit of force) and that they and the states reserve the right to bear arms and the states have the right to militias to protect their freedom and security (Life and Liberty.) Since they were states (groups of people) they don't need the Pursuit of Happiness, only individual people need the Pursuit of Happiness. The people will not be rendered unarmed. The federal government cannot take away the state's arms or the people's arms.

So not only do the people have the right to govern themselves, they have the right to defend those rights by force. [K]

Then the Third Amendment: No forced quartering of troops, you must support troops through laws and civil agreements.

The Fourth Amendment: No search and seizure of private property without a duly executed warrant. [A]

The Fifth Amendment: We are a society of laws that must be applied to all equally .

The Sixth Amendment: Right to a trial by an impartial jury with counsel and witnesses when accused by the government .

The Seventh Amendment: Right to a trial of your peers for civil suits when accused by another person. [B]

The Eighth Amendment: No cruel and unusual punishment, bail or fines. [P]

The Ninth Amendment: There are other rights that the people retain, not mentioned here.

The Tenth Amendment: the government only has those rights designated to it in the Constitution and no others, those other rights remain with the states and the people.

The Declaration of Independence is the document that justifies a free and independent government of the people, by the people and for the people; [L] while the Bill of Rights are the requirements that define the responsibilities of the government, which is outlined in another document: the Constitution of the United States.


V. The Declaration of Independence — Re-Annotated for the Present Despot

The Declaration of Independence justifies American exceptionalism and its spread to half of the world's population in the last 250 years. See how much relevance this document has today.  The reader may judge whether 1776's George III or 2026's despot fits the description better. 
Note: Trump's lawyers have indicated they believe he is 'above the law'; the Supreme Court has agreed. This is antithetical to the fundamental axioms of our moral code and our Constitution. This is unacceptable, immoral and unethical.

The Declaration of Independence
The full text is included here as a reference for the reader. The Grievances that are most telling are summarized with references following this hallowed document.
Constitution of the United States

Declaration of Independence [1]

I N CONGRESS, J ULY 4, 1776[2]

A declaration by the representatives of the United States of America, In General Congress Assembled.

W hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God [R] entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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,[Q] — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,[S] — 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. [T] Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that 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.[U]

— Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; 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][V] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. [9] To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.[W]

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.[10]

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.[11]

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.[12]

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.[13]

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.[14]

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.[15]

He has endeavored 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, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.[16]

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.[17]

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.[18]

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.[19]

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.[20]

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.[21]

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.[22]

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.[23]

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.[24]

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.[25]

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury.[26]

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.[27]

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies.[28]

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.[29]

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.[30]

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.[31]

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.[32]

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete 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.[33]

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.[34]

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.[35]

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.[36]

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British [American] brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.[37]


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 [Current President] and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain [Current Regime], 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.


VI. Original Signatories

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins,  William Ellery
North Carolina:
William Hooper,  Joseph Hewes,  John Penn


VII. Today's Grievances

Current Signatories: The people of the United States, more of whom wish to impeach, convict, disqualify and prosecute our current despot and his evil regime than support his treasonous actions.

The grievances documented below are the most egregious acts of the current regime. The entire world has witnessed that King George's offenses mostly pale by comparison to those forced upon the people by the current President of the United States. A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that the people should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
  • Suspending our own Legislators and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
    • He has ruled by Executive Order, ignoring legislation. 
    • He has ignored the War Powers Act.
    • The Supreme Court has overruled the Legislature and transferred power to itself.
      • SCOTUS has made up, from whole cloth, the "Major Questions Doctrine" which is a bald faced attempt to overturn the will of the Legislatures.
      • SCOTUS has reinterpreted the second amendment to be contrary to the Founders intention.
      • Most egregiously, SCOTUS has ruled in all manners as a partisan and religious supporter of the regime, favoring the racist White Christian Nationalist ideology to the detriment of the people and the Constitution.
  • For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.
    • SCOTUS has gutted the Voting Acts Rights and Civil Rights under false pretenses with specious reasoning permitting the regime to ignore the will of the people and disenfranchised the people including minority voters with gerrymandering that is against the 13th, 14th, 15th and 19th amendments.
  • He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.
    • He has constituted the Immigration and Customs Enforcement into his private militia. 
    • They have arrested and murdered innocent American citizens.
    • He has refused to use the courts to punish them, but has rewarded the cold-blooded murderers.
  • He has endeavored 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, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
    • He has imprisoned LEGAL aliens and citizens in concentration camps without Due Process, deporting many illegally to foreign countries where they have suffered cruel and unusual punishments. 
    • He has unilaterally declared LEGAL immigrants ILLEGAL and is attempting to overturn the 14th amendment.
  • For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.
    • He has unconstitutionally instilled tariffs on imports from the entire world, which even SCOTUS has declared null and void. 
    • He has ignored SCOTUS and continues to declare tariffs against the world to collect a tax on the people without their consent.
  • He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us
    • He incited his followers to overthrow the Constitutionally enshrined counting of the Electoral College votes, then pardoned the treasonous felons who were responsible and now proposes to reward the treasonous insurrectionists with the people's money.
  • Most egregiously, he has ruled as a corrupt King, required fealty and extracted wealth from the people for his illegal, immoral, unethical and unconstitutional actions.
    • He sells exemptions to his tariffs to all comers for his own benefit.
    • He has sold pardons to all comers for paltry sums of cash.
    • He has used our Military to steal the natural resources of foreign countries and deposited the plunder into his personal accounts.
    • He has sued himself for actions he himself has caused and has used his office to corruptly extract wealth from the people into his family businesses and his personal accounts.
    • He has abrogated international agreements and sold our Military to the highest foreign bidders.
    • He has solicited emoluments in public.
    • He has openly solicited bribes, accepting payments for personal favors and arrogantly displayed his corruption as a despot. 
This must end. This will end.


VIII. The Outcome of Such Punishments on the people

This will end. Whether it ends peacefully or in blood is up to this illegitimate regime.

The Grand Moral Compromise contains no clause for its defense. This covenant must be renewed or it lapses. The covenant can only hold if men of every generation take up their pen to remind their countrymen what was agreed to and to declare the American Dream of freedom and self-representation shall not perish from this Earth. The Founders have left its defense to every successive generation. Every generation has had to renew the treaty with their own blood because the impulse to burn the heretic never dies, it only sleeps. The nightmare of Royalty has reared its deadly fangs again. It is up to the people to reimpose our God-given and unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
  • The Grand Moral Compromise of Freedom of Religion for Freedom of Speech has been abrogated. All of mankind has witnessed this regime's corrupt attempt to dissolve our Constitution and the Rule of Law.
  • This regime has broken the Promise of the Declaration of Independence. The tolerant have tolerated the intolerant for far too long. The people have suffered under the regime's corrupt hand and meekly tolerated its grievances for far too long. No longer.
  • Therefore it is time to call for an end to this illegal, immoral, corrupt and treasonous government by the self-declared King.
A Constitutional Convention or Civil War are the only foreseeable permanent solutions. Which do the people prefer? As the founding Fathers declare explicitly in the Declaration of Independence:

It is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such a Government.

thanks for reading,
-Dr. Mike
original 20 Dec 2017; two years and wo weeks before Trump's attempt to overthrow the duly elected government of these United States of America
updated 19 May 2026; as He attempts to reward the insurrectionists with the people's money.


[A] Which is why it is impossible to justify any laws that allow police to seize property (civil seizure) and any Supreme Court ruling which attempts to allow this should be considered a reason to change that court. Some things are not morally, ethically or constitutionally acceptable. as documented by Justices Sotomayor's dissent↩

[B] Which is why it is impossible to justify forced arbitration and abrogation of this inalienable right in a contract. (The most conservative justice, Thomas, agrees.) Any Supreme court that has convinced themselves otherwise, must be reformed. Some things are not morally, ethically or constitutionally acceptable as documented by Justices Conor and Rehnquist.↩

[C] Churchill said it, but it was a quote of someone else, who, we know not (possibly Aristotle): the least worst form of government. As Benjamin Franklin said, documented in James McHenry's Diary: "It's a Republic, if you can keep it." Reminding us that we must be ever vigilant in protecting our freedoms. Every generation has been tested and succeeded so far.↩

[D] This is why it is critical to investigate the use of these documents in the present environment. It is time to exercise the rights listed here and ask ourselves: are those rights being violated? This entire post documents the recent violations of those rights. Democracy is under attack. They are and it is time to petition the government for a redress of these grievances.↩

[E] Do you think the rulers of the countries that do not support Lawful Democracies with Religious Freedom will ever agree to this, even though it has been shown to be true for over 250 years? Not until forced to, they are too greedy to risk losing one cent of control.↩

[F] The phrase last peaked in 1950 with the invention of the hydrogen bomb which was literally capable of bringing most visions of hell (or worse) to the earth; and has been trending upwards ever since, surpassing its last peak in 2000 and continuing upward (maybe a break in 2008 but I believe it has soared to new heights in the last decades.) We usually assume that more mentions of "Hell on Earth" is a bad thing.↩

[G] As documented in the Democracy Index  or The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index 2024. As of 2024 the layout of governments has changed and we have 6 more democracies but 7 more authoritarian states. The world appears to be splitting.

  • Democracies: 25,
  • Flawed Democracies: 48,
  • Hybrids: 36,
  • Authoritarian: 58

It's always the case that somebody else can be better at the thing you start... look at the history of companies and innovation, all of the smartest people in the world are not in your group. We should learn from the world's examples: Parliaments, votes of no confidence, proportional representation; all things the founders were silent on but have shown how democracies can protect themselves from despots.↩

See "Constitutional Axioms for the Next American Republic: Preventing Systematic Capture by a Grieved Minority (2023)"  for a more complete exposition.

[H] By the people. Which people? The people who are citizens of a country. This is the point of the United Nations: to define countries. Who can be a country and who is a member of that country. There is a point to having national borders. And by the people, we mean all the people. There is no place for an illiberal democracy in the present day. All are equal in the eyes of the law, regardless of what the Supreme Court declares. The Declaration of Independence is VERY CLEAR on this point.↩

[I] There are problems with the unfettered marketplace of ideas just like there are issues with unfettered marketplaces in real life. We have governments enforce rules on real markets so they are fair and truthful.  Look at the laws surrounding IPOs and stock and bond offerings. It seems that the marketplace of ideas is just as important and impactful on our lives as the marketplaces for individual products or services, and thus requires regulation on the axis of fairness and truthfulness. First fairness: The human voice must be allowed to speak and not be shouted down, especially in politics, the market of ideas must be open to anyone, but it must not be monopolized by anyone. Monopolies are inherently dangerous for democracies. This is a thorny issue, but can be solved. On the axis of Truthfulness: How can we do this? Fiction must be allowed to be transmitted; non-Fiction must also be allowed to be transmitted (free speech), but the difference between faith (belief in things that I cannot prove), truth (belief in things that I can prove), and lies (saying things that can be disproved) must be evident. It must not be hidden. Propaganda it dangerous for democracy. This is a slippery slope of suppression, but, forcing speech into functional definitions of truth is a well defined problem that has been solved to a large extent (See Wikipedia's governing rules as an example, a flawed first attempt.) It would be worthwhile to attempt this categorization of every statement, every tweet, every Facebook post and every public utterance. It also  reasonable to designate the group the statement comes from: who paid for it so that biases and any conflicts of interest become apparent to all. No hiding behind others: own what you believe.↩

[J] Indeed, the Enlightenment is probably the single greatest Age of Philosophy, world-wide. Early modern philosophy led to the Declaration of Independence and has expanded to mee the needs of today:

I) Rationalism (heyday: 1640-1700): Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz; also Arnauld, Malebranche, and Wolff. And many, many others.

II) Empiricism (heyday: 1690-1780): Locke, Berkeley, Hume; also Hobbes and Pain. And many, many others.

III) The German and Scottish Synthesis (1750–1831): Smith, Immanuel Kant, Ferguson, Reid, Hegel, Feuerbach, Nietzsche and Marx. And many, many others.

IV) American Positivism (1870-1950): Pierce, James, Mill, Bentham and Dewey. And many others.

V) Analytical Philosophy (1900-1960); Russel, Gödel and Ayer. And many others.

VI) The post modern philosophers of the Religion Without Lies, the New Atheists, the logical descendants of the philosophers of the time of the Declaration of Independence would be: Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennett and Harris. And many, many others.↩

[K] Although defending yourself against a nation state is probably not tenable today. Your only hope is to use your power to persuade and petition your government and to spread your story to others. If you can get the army and national guard to support you, there is no reason to worry about the government. Resistance is not futile. Unless the government is willing to install one overseer per 50 people, they cannot maintain order.↩

[L] From the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln, which is still the best summary of what the new philosophy of the Final Great Awakening proclaims.↩

See: "The Final Great Awakening: Religion Without Lies (2021)" and "Religion Without Lies (2025)."  for more details.

[M] A postulate is something that must be taken on faith. The postulates that underlie the new religion and humanist philosophy are few and far between, analogous to the five postulates of Euclidean Geometry. See footnote [O]. It is true that you can change the postulates of morality to describe alternate geometries and it is unclear which geometry applies to our actual universe. Likewise assuming different postulates or abandoning one of the postulates about governments allows you to create alternate universes where the wellbeing of the people is less than ideal.↩

[N] We are safer when we have more democracies. The world has become safer because we have chosen more Democracies. Here's a chart by country by time: Democracy Index.↩

Chart showing democracy index by country over time

[O] The derivation of ethical government in the style of Spinoza:

  • Postulate 1: Humans seek wellbeing
  • Postulate 2: Wellbeing requires self-determination.
  • Postulate 3: Self-determination at scale requires a mechanism for collective consent.
    • Lemma 1: That mechanism is democracy.
  • Postulate 4: Religious belief is a primary domain of self-determination.
    • Lemma 2: Therefore democracy must protect religious freedom.
    • Lemma 3: Without free speech, the elimination of prosecution of heresy, Religions will be at war with each other, preventing the wellbeing of all.↩

[P] Worldwide the use of monetary bail is essentially non-existent and unusual and hence should not be used by this government.↩

[Q] We see two reasons for these unalienable rights of equal treatment and rule of law:
1. They are 'self-evident' (acceptable postulates from a Scientific view) or
2. They are endowed by their Creator ( Religious believers must agree, too.)

Both Scientific world views and Religious world views could agree that these things are true: All men have unalienable rights that the government could not take away; and that these were not their only rights. They also agreed to equal treatment under the rule of law , Science and Religion agreed that some of the most important rights were:

  • Life,
  • Liberty, and the
  • Pursuit of Happiness.

In order to experience Liberty we have the police and the army and the first and second amendment. The first amendment ensures that I am not persecuted for my religion or for what I believe to be true and proclaim, the whole point of Science. Again, there is agreement on both sides and compromise: Religion would prefer there to be the concept of heresy that was punishable (sometimes by death), but Science is adamant that their can be no such thing as heresy. Religions agree that they will renounce the concept of heresy if everyone else will promise not to favor/persecute any particular religion. Thus Religions are now protected from persecution by the government, and since the 14th amendment we are protected from persecution by the states.

This is one of the greatest compromises of human history. Over the past two hundred and fifty years the idea of democracy (instead of Kings or dictators or single party states) has swept up half the world, most of it has been driven by the power of this compromise. It's a mutual agreement that the fight is a non-violent attempt at persuasion and any time it isn't non-violent: it must be by the rule of law and everyone must still be treated equally, the 'Copernican view of ethics' that nobody is special: I will subject myself to the same laws that you are subject to.

In order to pursue Happiness: We have the entire Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments. Be it carefully noted that the states only give up those powers explicitly outlined in the constitution to the federal government, and no others. However, it mentions that it is really the people that retain these rights. This is important as the people still retain these rights independent of the states. In order to pursue Life: This is why we need universal health insurance.↩

See "Nobody Gets Left Behind. Nobody" (2026) for the full argument.

[R] Laws of Nature and Nature's God. Both Scientific and Religious believers agreed that these laws were sacrosanct: all men are created equal and must be treated the same under the rule of law. And that the people must be allowed to peacefully petition the government.  John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government." They are declaring that this Declaration of Independence is itself legal and ethical. American Religions agreed to this, and all logical men have also agreed.↩

[S] From the consent of the governed, not God, not the Laws of nature. This is where everyone must agree for the same reason: they are alive and wish to be in control of their own life.↩

[T] Any form of government... self-governance is a fundamental right of human beings and cannot be taken away from them.↩

[U] People will suffer rather than fight a war to be free. To actually fight means the infringements were particularly egregious and unexpected.↩

[V] This clarification is NOT a mistake. When anyone threatens our form of government, they can be stopped by consent of the governed, the whole point of the document. The current despot, President Donald Trump, is again terrorizing these United States. This will not end well.↩

[W] And if no redress is forthcoming... the only and last resorts are a constitutional convention or a revolution.↩

Declaration Grievance Annotations↩

[1] The official text of the Declaration of Independence.↩

[2] The new re-declaration can come at any time. For instance now: 30 November 2017. Or now: 23 March 2026. There is a method to do this. It's called a constitutional convention. We've done it before, we can do it again. It was way better than a civil war. It's time to get ready to do it again.↩

See "Nobody Gets Left Behind. Nobody" (2026) for the full argument.

[9] The SCOTUS has given Trump presidential-immunity which allows him to install tyranny with no recourse by the people: Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. (2024). His usurpation of the CPFB, his destruction of the EPA, the Department of Energy, the State Department, the Department of Education, USAID and his attempts to strike down healthcare, welfare, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are unconstitutional and are anathema to the core of our Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness.↩

[10] Vetoes by President Donald J. Trump. He has refused both the formal power of vetoes and the broader duty of faithful execution: refusing to spend funds Congress appropriated in violation of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 as found in multiple GAO decisions — see GAO Decision B-337202 (HHS / Head Start, July 23, 2025) and GAO Decision B-337203] (NIH, Aug. 5, 2025); refusing to comply with the Federal Circuit's ruling that IEEPA tariffs are unlawful]: V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump, No. 25-1812 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 29, 2025), SCOTUS proceedings; (continuing to collect tariffs because CBP has received no executive-branch directive to stop.) and ordering the dismantling of departments created by statute — the Department of Education (Executive Order 14242) (Pub. L. 96-88) and USAID challenged in AFSA v. Trump, 1:25-cv-00352 (D.D.C.)(Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, 22 U.S.C. § 2151) — without the congressional action the statutes require↩

[11] Trump ignored a deadline for implementing Russian sanctions. He has governed by edict: List of United States federal executive orders and has refused to uphold the existing laws. ↩

[12] North Carolina's deliberate disenfranchisement of black voters, Republicans were wildly successful at suppressing voters in 2016, New rules in 14 critical states exemplify voter disenfranchisement.  SCOTUS has prepared the way in Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013) the structural ruling that gutted §5 of the Voting Rights Act and in Moore v. Harper, 600 U.S. 1 (2023), SCOTUS rejected the strong independent state legislature theory but declined to make partisan gerrymandering federally reviewable, so it continues in practice (see Rucho v. Common Cause, 588 U.S. 684 (2019), under his direct orders. ↩

[13] He has caused our legislators much inconvenience, limiting them to essentially one bill, berating them on Twitter (@POTUS) incessantly, defaming them on TV and in print. His hand-picked Speaker of the House has closed the legislative body down for most of its term. Unsurprisingly, he has also demonized the free press, in direct contradiction to the first Amendment.↩

[14] He has ignored our rights to be represented using Gerrymandering and other devious methods to suppress our vote, AP analysis shows how gerrymandering benefited GOP in 2016. Debate Is Over: Gerrymandering Is Crucial to G.O.P.'s Hold on the House. His Supreme Court Chief Justice has declared the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act are null and void as it is 'another time', even after the congress has passed the law and the President has signed it, declaring it unconstitutional on specious grounds. In fact, the majority of the states in the decree (caused by the civil war) have been sued and successfully prosecuted for violating the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. So Chief Justice John Roberts' justification for voiding both acts is null and void. The actions it was meant to prevent have continued to occur after it was declared null and void, blatantly exposing the perfidy. The Act is still needed, things have not changed enough to declare us to be in a Utopia.↩

[15] He has not reinstituted our governing bodies: Trump's slow pace ofappointments is hurting government; Half of Trump's major federal agencies still only have one Senate approved appointment., Donald Trump Has Not Appointed Nominees to Many Posts.↩

[16] He is discouraging immigration: Federal judge blocks Trump's third travel ban.; ICE arrests over 450 on federal immigration charges, Sanctuary' Cities Targeted by ICE in Immigration Raids as Nearly 500 are arrested. Deportations slow under Trump despite increase in arrests by ICE. Trump quietly puts teeth into his 'extreme vetting' policy. What Is Extreme Vetting? Trump Targets Immigrants in NYC Truck Industry. Estimating the true cost — and worth — of Trump's wall. The border wall would be one of the most expensive projects ever. In his second term it is worse: ICE has been funded with more money than any other army in the world. They continue to break the rules of Due Process and illegally deport people to foreign countries. This must cease.↩

[17] He objects to the courts: ABA deems another Trump judicial nominee 'not qualified'. Second judge rules against Trump's latest travel ban. The Power of the Courts Is Messing Up Politics. V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump, No. 25-1812 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 29, 2025) has affirmed CIT's holding that IEEPA tariffs are unlawful, yet he continued collecting IEEPA tariffs after the injunction.↩

[18] He has corrupted Judges and Prosecutors: America's Prosecutors Were Supposed to Be Accountable to Voters,   How unusual are Trump's 'not qualified' judicial nominations? Trump Is Rapidly Reshaping the Judiciary. and the American Bar Association dubs fourth Trump nominee unqualified. See American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary ratings page. Senate Republicans Just Approved the 'Nuclear Option' to Allow for Gorsuch's appointment. Election-year Supreme Court nominations were always governed by consent. His appointment of sycophant, Aileen Cannon, has caused laws to be usurped, covered up criminal behavior as shown by the United States v. Trump, S.D. Fla. case 9:23-cr-80101, dismissal order (July 2024) and he has undeniably resisted the release of the truth by keeping the evidence under seal.↩

[19] He has made up new regulations unilaterally to harass the people, declaring their monuments to no longer to exist, to allow the desecration of holy grounds, to allow for the pollution of the land and the water, to refuse the people fair pay and to shift the tax burden to the poorest people. He has attempted to take away the healthcare of the people and to reduce their Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. He has raided the salaries of the people and given it to his friends and colleagues who have donated to his campaigns, illegally and corruptly. His corruption is legendary. His current attempt to turn ICE into his private army is indefensible, immoral and unconstitutional. It fails to follow Due Process, arbitrarily abrogates the people's rights and must be reconstituted as a force to enforce the laws, not ignore them.↩

[20] He has increased the defense budget by hundreds of billions of dollars without the states' consent. He has deployed these troops throughout the world and killed without explanation. He continues to kill innocents, including Americans, with remote bombs delivered by drones. He has continued to increase the deployment of troops in the United States, including ICE and National Guard troops, that have raided and arrested legal and illegal immigrants as well as citizens (for laughing at him, for peacefully petitioning him and for publicly discussing their views of him.) He has private armies and police under his direct control and proposes more. He has attacked the Departments of Justice and the FBI for doing their legal statutory duties and this term has appointed Cabinet Secretaries that refuse to support their oath of office rather than pledge fealty to him.↩

[21] As shown by all of his deployment of his local gestapo equivalent, ICE, he has changed their rules, and ignored the rule of law as determined by the courts; all to excite his followers and denigrate the people. His gestapo has ignored legal court orders thousands of times and must be disbanded and reconstituted as a lawful organization.↩

[22] He has modified the foreign policy of these United States to favor its enemies: he has withheld military aid to Ukraine as documented in the Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report (House Intelligence Committee, Dec 2019) and has refused to implement sanctions against Russia that were lawfully implemented by the Congress of these United States. He continues to receive emoluments from foreign governments daily in direct contradiction of the constitution (Blumenthal v. Trump (D.D.C. 2018, standing ruling). These include a $400 million jet and money illegally acquired by forcibly taking the resources of other countries and illegally seizing them for his personal use as in Venezuela and Iran, regarding which he has refused to comply with legal subpoenas. Finally and most brazenly he has set up a crypto coin company (DJT) that has been accused of accepting bribes for official acts such as pardons.↩

[23] He has pardoned the oppressor of minorities and lawfully convicted sheriff in Arizona, Joe Arapaio, who has claimed he did not understand his illegality (after paying fines or over $70,000,000 over several years for similar offenses. Arapaio knows, but doesn't care.) He has threatened freedom of speech daily, encouraged police to break the law and ordered the Justice department to prosecute his opponents for legal acts. He has refused the states rights to prosecute murders on their soil by the usurpers of ICE. He has illegally destroyed evidence and issued lies about the murders of Pretti and Goode, both murdered in cold blood, in front of the world. His ICE gestapo has murdered dozens of people, arrested hundreds of citizens and illegally deported thousand of immigrants.↩

[24] He killed the TPP trade deal and claimed that he would renegotiate it unilaterally which he has not done. He has attempted to renegotiate NAFTA as a pretense to killing it. He has instituted a tariff on Puerto Rico of 20% for all goods shipped to the mainland; after ignoring its pleas for help after a devastating hurricane, wherein after 90 days, the island is still devastated and without clean water or electricity; exposing his incompetence and cruelty. He has illegally (as determined by the Supreme Court) and immorally instituted tariffs on the world, placing an illegal tax (again as determined by the Supreme Court) upon the people.↩

[25] With his illegally installed congress via the Republican gerrymandering he has passed a tax act that awards his donors and cronies while punishing the people, without debate or review, and thrown the country into chaos by forcing a $1.5 Trillion debt upon the people to finance his own companies and those of his donors and cronies. He has increased the deficit by over $4 Trillion. He has allowed his representatives to sell tax law to billionaires. His tariffs have instituted a new tax, which the Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional, yet he continues to levy and collect these tariffs under a new obviously bogus statutory claim.↩

[26] He has accused his opponents of illegalities that they have not committed and tried them in the public court. Falsely claiming the previous administration has wire tapped his campaign and threatening to fire his own government employees unless they prosecuted these false claims. He has fired his attorneys general in each of the states, he has fired his own attorney general (Mueller Vol. II §II.E) and he has fired the Director of the FBI (Mueller Vol. II §II.B) who would not prosecute these imaginary acts and was prosecuting illegal acts by his cronies. He has threatened to fire the special prosecutor (Mueller Vol. II §II.D) for exposing his illegalities and conspired with his illegally elected cohorts to denigrate those who follow the rule of law in his administration who refuse to pledge loyalty to him, which is directly repugnant to the constitution. ↩

[27] He has continued to keep Guantanamo bay prison open, populating it with more prisoners illegally plucked from the many countries in the world. Holding them without due process, under cruel and unusual punishments. He has threatened to prosecute others and illegally deport them. He has attempted to prosecute the chairman of the Fed for specious reasons, his fired FBI Director for even more specious reasons. He has fired all the lawyers that labored to punish his insurrection and pardoned the traitors. He has ordered several more 'investigations' of his enemies without cause or reason and his Attorney General has supported this unconstitutional usurpation of legal power.↩

[28] He has reduced the size of monuments and opened up the Alaskan wilderness to oil drilling, defoliation and ruin by his donors and cronies to the detriment of the people. He has approved pipelines through sacred lands which have already failed, promising to use American steel but rather it was all a lie and he imported Russian steel from his oligarchs who have financed his extravagant lifestyle. He has abrogated the Dreamer's Act and blamed it on Congress, he has attempted to abrogate the lawful responsibilities of the various departments (the EPA no longer protecting the sanctity and purity of the air and water and poisoning the people, the State Department no longer providing diplomats nor negotiating treaties, The Energy department has reneged on its responsibilities to safeguard our nuclear deterrence and has only given away the rights to despoil the land, and his justice department has prosecuted his enemies without any cause.) He has struck down the lawfully instated Clean Power Act and has caused tens of thousands of premature deaths to the people from the particulates and emissions of these power plants, enriching his cronies while killing the people. He has illegally invaded and blockaded foreign countries and killed or kidnapped their heads of state without any declaration of war by the Congress.

He has refused to appoint many of the required representatives of the people and those he has appointed have been dismantling their departments. He has attempted to appoint judges that are corrupt and unqualified and increased the amount of said judges to overturn the lawful interpretations of statute to be subject to his whims. His party has refused to vote on the duly proposed Supreme Court justices of the previous administration and installed his own judge, recommended only by loyalty to him and not the law. He has ordered his appointees to dismantle their lawful enforcement of the law and allow his cronies to act illegally without fear of prosecution.↩

[29]He has ruled by fiat (his Executive Orders) and refuses to uphold his oath of office as shown by the Supreme court vacating his IEEPA tariffs in Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc., No. 25-250 (Feb. 20, 2026) resisted complying with due process as ordered by the court.↩

[30] He has allowed the Supreme Court to declare laws illegal that are clearly not unconstitutional and have in fact been declared legal previously and prosecuted the people by the same court to allow him to suppress the vote and disenfranchise them. He has instituted a committee to illegally compel the states to divulge their voter information so that he can use it to suppress the vote. He has claimed that the vote was illegally hacked against him when he knows that his Russian oligarchs hacked the vote in his favor.↩

[31]  SCOTUS and the district courts have documented his "administrative error" deportation to a foreign prison and ordering the government to facilitate return. He has threatened to withhold the legal payments to cities and states that follow the law to compel them to break the law. He has illegally given contracts to his cronies to repair and fix the devastation in Puerto Rico at exorbitant cost without the people's consent and refused to allow the duly formed offices of FEMA to treat their ills and devastation as required by law. He has publicly attacked the lawful representatives of the people and removed them from GOP leadership.↩

[32]  He has killed 163+ in 48 boat strikes as on Nov. 2, 2025 and continued these war crimes on the high seas since. He has refused to provide FEMA funds to reconstruct the devastation due to the fire in LA. His EPA has killed the Clean Power Act, which will cause tens of thousands of people a year to die prematurely, opened the arctic and other places so that his cronies can continue to drill and devastate the land. He has indicted Comey and Leticia James on spurious charges and weaponized the DOJ. ↩

[33] He continues to reign terror in Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Venezuela, Cuba and Iran and all across the middle east without the people's or the Congress' consent as required by the constitution.↩

[34] He has recruited minorities into his ICE department to terrorize minorities and immigrants.↩

[35] He has praised white supremacists and Nazis and instigated them to protest and defile the people, to threaten the press, to incite riots and violence against the people and to invade and defile the Capitol itself. He has supported these enemies of the state, more savage than any Indian attacks, spread their lies and hatred and attempted to denigrate those that attempt to protect the people. ↩

[36] See his Twitter (now "X") or "Truth Social" posts where he ignores our peaceful entreaties and spews innuendo and hatred in public against anyone who would disagree with him. He bullies anyone who dares to question his motives and threatens those who would beg only his adherence to the law. He lies more than 20 times per day in public, he installs bots to falsely claims support, he pours his vitriolic fantasies to his propaganda machine that floods the airwaves with false claims and bogus reasoning, appealing only to our baser nature.↩

[37] He has usurped the powers of the Republican Party and assumed the mantle of the land. The party has abdicated its responsibilities to reign him into legal actions and refused to impeach and or censure his actions and words; using the opportunity to pass tax laws to enrich themselves and their donors, to strip the healthcare and food from the people and their children.↩

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