What gives the Constitution and therefore our Republic it’s validity? Early on in school (when government and civics was still taught) one premise was that the government derived it’s legitimacy from the governed. While true, it is a partial truth. No government that imposes itself on anyone is a government. It is a tyranny, a dictatorship. Any government that rules the private lives of it’s residents and prevents them, by any means, of emigrating to a different country is a concentration camp, a master/slave relationship. It is a geographical region where there are suppressed subjects in place of sovereign citizens. Consent of the governed is an essential element of a valid government.
But there is much more than that. The Citizens of said country have to agree that this form of government is for the good of all, not certain select groups, not a minority of it’s citizens, but for all.
Let me give an example, perhaps an analogy stretched to the breaking point;
Suppose that a husband and wife said “Come be our kids; we’ll adopt you. You can play video games all day long, eat all the ice cream you want, drink beer, smoke pot. You don’t have to go to school, you don’t have to do any housework. You can do anything you want.”
I believe that most kids from about the age of 10 and older would petition to have parents like that. They would believe it would release them from the tyrannical rule of parents that restricted their ‘freedom’.
The consent of the kids alone would certainly not be sufficient to validate that parenting style. As any of you that have attempted to raise children know, there is sometimes conflict between parental authority and the offspring's desire.
And this analogy is not as farfetched as you would immediately imagine. Look up the term “Bread and circuses” and see if you can learn anything from that deeply embedded phrase in many cultures.
See if you find any similarities between the Roman bread and circuses and our current situation.
So first element- the consent of the governed. But an essential part of the Constitution’s validity is why the change was needed. Thus, the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence could be seen as a motion filed in court for dissolution of a marriage or business. It lists the offenses that cause the filing party to be granted relief from association with the named partner. In this case, the colonies becoming a completely separate entity from England.
Without the Declaration of Independence, there is no reason on record for the colonies to separate from King and Country. At best, our country would be a region in rebellion, a collection of malcontents and rioters with no solution. Tilting at windmills with no answer (at least not a practical or even workable solution) merely railing against what is. At worst, we would be a collection of traitorous people descended from a long line of traitors.
But the Declaration of Independence establishes the offenses that justify our rejecting the behavior of England towards the Colonies.
Perhaps if there was a CPS (in this case, Colonial Protective Services) we would still be speaking the King’s English and having tea and biscuits. But I doubt it.
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.
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