UPDATE Sunday 6/17: Do we enhance our statement by adding at the end (after "...happiness...") 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.
Let's get this wrapped up today, folks. I want to order my supplies and start collecting signatures.
~~
UPDATE Tuesday: A Comment was left asking about an "Or else..." clause/statement. We originally discussed such language, and I think we have all generally evolved to "Less is more" for our language. Trainer offered what I consider to be perfect reasoning as to why we do not need to incorporate an "Or else..." statement, and I offer it here. Trainer, sorry I didn't ask your permission before posting it here, I hope you don't mind.
Trainer: The consequence is inferred by the recipients of the declaration.
The phrase, "Restore the Constitution," itself is an imperative; a command, requiring compliance. In this case, the command comes from the citizenry, the masters of the government, according to all the founding principles, documents, and evidence available.
Logic dictates that a command issued, if disregarded, answered inappropriately, or ignored, brings about the situation of the application of a consequence.
Let them figure out the consequence, which will already be implied by the "This is the last time I come unarmed" shirts....
~
I'll simply add: ...and our empty holsters.
K
UPDATE: Folks, are we leaning toward something like the above: We the People 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. Restore the Constitution
With signatures beneath?
~~
OK, folks - it is time to seriously discuss and then pull the trigger on the verbiage of the Declaration we sign and present on November 3 at the American Liberty Congress in DC.
I want this project to be as "Big Tent" as possible. It is not merely a III project, though I will certainly count it as a feather in the III cap once it is done. I want to find and involve "real" Tea Party folks. I want NRA folks aboard. I even want to infiltrate the message (Restore the Constitution) into the collective consciousness of those folks who intend to vote for Mittens. Those of us who make it to the steps of the Capitol will be the steel in the spine for the rest of them.
We will be John Parker.
Here is my plan: I will travel this summer and early fall collecting signatures on our Declaration. The Declaration will be in a scroll format to allow as many signatures as possible on a single format. (For folks who want to sign, but are unable to get to the scroll or be in DC in November, we will be using snail mail to circulate paper petitions/Declarations to be added to the package we hand over to our Congressional rep.)
The question: What is the wording for the Declaration?
I have a few points on which I am not willing to yield: First, I will not call for a "new" government, government disbandment, or anything such. The demand will be that elected officials and bureaucrats once again respect their oaths and the parameters of the Constitution, including the BoR and that they respect the intent of the DoI.
We can add "...as ratified..." or "...as amended..." if you wish, or we can leave it open ended so folks don't get bogged down in parsing and counting angels on the head of a pin. I have no problem inserting language that calls current Political Class members as Traitors and/or Enemies of Liberty.
Personally, I think if we get anywhere back to "Respect for the Constitution" we will recapture so much personal Liberty that 99% of the folks in "The Liberty Community" will be happy, even if they hate the Constitution. We can worry about the next step once we have accomplished this step.
I am 99% convinced that the simple phrase "Restore the Constitution" should be the call. It is simple. It is a reference point with which most Americans are familiar (even if they have no clue what it says or means) and it is the source of legitimacy for the Enemies of Liberty - When they claim the Right/Power/Authority to do a bad thing, they refer to the Constitution as their legitimate source - we need to wrestle that back.
I think a simple, bold script of something like: We the People, witnessed by our signatures below and written in our own hand, do demand that every elected official, appointed official and bureaucrat at every level of Government in America, immediately respect the original intent of our Founders and Framers, the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, and the clear parameters of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Now, I whipped that preceeding verbiage out in about 60 seconds. It can be wordsmithed down to a smaller statement. It can be trash-canned.
Or, do you you prefer we take a different direction? Should I see if we can actually have the DoI, Constitution & BoR written as the lede, accented with "Restore the Constitution", then followed by signatures?
Or, would you prefer we use the DoI as a template and replace mentions of the King and the King's violations with our own long train of abuses, followed by signatures?
Or, back to my "simple is better" permise: As a War Cry it is damned hard to beat a very simple title: "Restore the Constitution". We can go simple, or we can go detailed. Just remember our audience - the vast majority of those we will be asking to sign are sound-bite Americans, unsophisticated as to the actual words and extent of the Founding Documents and the intent of the Founders & Framers.
Leaders lead from the front. Leaders do. Walk with me and we will all be Leaders who guide our Countrymen back to Liberty.
Weigh-in folks, please.
Kerodin
III
