Are We Really Free? Maybe It’s Time for a Personal Declaration of Independence

By Daisy Luther

Some time between throwing some burgers on the grill and shooting off fireworks with a beer in one hand and a lighter in the other, ask yourself this question:

How free and independent are you?

How independent are any of us, really? We like to think we live in the “free-est” nation in the world, but do we really?  Think about it.

• You never own your home outright, even when the mortgage is paid off. Every year, you must make your extortion payment to the city or trust me, you won’t be living in that house for long.
• The same thing with your car. If you don’t pay your annual extortion payment on your vehicle and pay a hundred bucks for a tiny sticker that gives you permission to drive it, it will be promptly towed away by the city with the government’s blessing. Then, like a hostage negotiation gone wrong, you’ll have to pay even more money to cover their theft and storage of YOUR vehicle.
• On a regular basis, you must pay a fee and ask the government for permission to do any number of things, such as driving a car, traveling outside the country, running a business, adding another bathroom to your home, or even catching a fish for dinner.
• Permits and licenses are big revenue generators from start to finish – and if you proceed without asking permission, they will extort more money from you in the form of fines. If you refuse to pay the fines (or if you can’t) they’ll kidnap you and lock you in a cage, where you’ll be forced to perform manual labor for 10 cents an hour for whatever length of time the legal authorities feel is sufficient to teach you a lesson.
• There are places in our nation where you can’t use your property the way you want. There are areas where you cannot collect the water that falls on your land. There are places where you aren’t allowed to detach your home from the grid. There are places that dictate where your vegetable garden can grow (or even if you’re allowed to have one), places that won’t allow you to hang your clothes out to dry, and places that make it illegal to sleep in your car.

The bottom line is, some places in the United States are freer than others, but we’re all still serfs paying fealty to lords.

I’m sick of it.

Did you know that, as a business owner, when I write a paycheck of $1200 to an employee, it costs me $1399.91 and that she only ends up with $1042.12? Think about what we could all do with an extra $357.79 per pay period. I bet we wouldn’t go out fighting wars on other people’s soil with it. I bet we wouldn’t enrich politicians and weapons manufacturers with it and special interest groups with it.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of it.

I’m sick of being taxed locally on the business I created using absolutely no municipal resources, of being taxed on the wages I pay to my employees, of being taxed on the car that the bank and I own, of being asked for a list of personal property so the local government can tax me on that too.

Sick.

Of.

It.

And it goes far beyond taxation.

Our government isn’t really made up of the elected officials that it purports. It’s made up, mostly, by people who sell their souls to huge corporations that have an interest in beneficial (to them) laws being passed and laws that would harm their businesses shut down before they ever reach the desk of the presidents.

As well, the supposed watchdog entities, like the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Department of Agriculture are populated and led by those who have been hand-picked to support corporations, no matter what the detriment to the American people whom they pretend to protect. If Congress was like NASCAR, the members would have to wear uniforms emblazoned with their sponsors. However, Washington DC does not have the transparency of professional car racing, so we must guess at the sponsors of our “representatives.”

We are buried under silly laws with the sole purpose of generating revenue or adding to the slave labor force in the for-profit prison system. We must work most of our waking hours to be able to pay for our basic necessities. We are convinced repeatedly through entertainment and social media that we must have things that our ancestors would never have considered owning, much less requiring.

They have most people convinced that they must follow the food pyramid, the vaccine schedule, and the rules that force us to have licenses for every darned thing we do. We must pay for and be granted permission to feed ourselves, transport ourselves, build shelters for ourselves, unite in matrimony, and even to own pets.

We’re ruled by fear and manipulation.

Like some kind of frighteningly authoritarian parent, they assure us that it’s for our own safety, these breaches in our independence and that we must comply or face the consequences.  They ground us by taking away our licenses. They send us to our rooms that just happen to be located in for-profit prisons. They don’t “allow” us to pursue life, liberty, and happiness because once we taste that sweet freedom, we won’t want to be under their oppressive thumbs anymore.

But some of us have seen the corporate government for what it is: a bully that reigns through fear of reprisal and grievous harm. They hold over us these fears:

• We will die if we don’t eat things that were inspected and approved by them.
• We will be jailed, fined, or have our children taken from us if we don’t toe the line, vaccinate them as ordered, medicate them as recommended.
• We are unable to figure things out for ourselves because we are not “experts” and therefore we must suppress our own judgments and bow to their far greater knowledge.
• We will die if we don’t follow their expert health and nutrition advice.
• We’ll be murdered by scary foreign terrorists if we don’t allow the TSA to fondle our private parts and perform x-rays that show us naked before we fly.

Some people fear these things and believe these tales so thoroughly, they allow the government to enforce ridiculous, unconstitutional laws “for our own safety.” They say, “Better that I give up my rights as a human being and save the world from a terrorist.”

Whether you call it freedom, liberty, sovereignty, or self-governance, the point remains the same: if you’re reading this, you probably want to determine your own life, whether the result is success or failure. You want to have control over your ability to live, truly live, and not merely exist as a slave to the powers that be.

You can withdraw your consent.

When’s the last time you read – actually read – the Declaration of Independence?

Please allow me to share an excerpt.

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.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –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. 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.

Now, I’m not planning to arm up and head to Washington DC to take over Congress, but I am continuing to withdraw my consent in every way possible.

You have a natural human right to be free.

Human beings are born with natural rights, every single one of us. We have the rights to life, liberty, and property. We have the right to benefit from our own work.

And if that’s not enough, there’s a back-up. You also have constitutionally-protected right to be free.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery.  This means that if you are a slave today, it’s either illegal, or you have voluntarily accepted your servitude.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

You have a Constitutionally protected right to be free. If you aren’t free, then revolution is your motherlovin’ duty.

This isn’t about guns blazing, militias mobilizing, and guerrilla warfare. It’s about small personal acts of independence. The way you lead your life every single day can be a personal Declaration of Independence.  By refusing to concede your natural rights, quietly and resolutely, you are performing a much-needed act of revolution.

Anyone can be part of this revolution.

Many people believe that revolution requires that they lead a march, stand in front of a crowd with a bullhorn, or form a militia. They feel like it’s a job for the Julian Assanges and James Wesley Rawleses of the world.

They’re wrong.  You don’t have to be a person with thousands of followers on Twitter and Facebook.  You don’t have to be a person with a military leadership position on your resume. You need not get yourself arrested on the steps of the White House, go to prison forever for telling an unpopular truth, or stare down a bunch of scary-looking thugs in jackboots.

But you do have to do something.

You can’t just sit there and complain unless you really are just another armchair Rambo.

The way you lead your life every single day can be an act of revolution.  By refusing to concede your natural rights, quietly and resolutely, you are performing an act of revolution. Walking the walk doesn’t always require civil disobedience or militia membership.  It requires your consistent determination not to let others infringe on your own freedom.

It doesn’t matter if you are a soccer mom from the suburbs, a college student in a dormitory, a church-going dad and husband, or a person who has found themselves homeless through the ongoing economic crisis – by living resolutely, you are performing an act of revolution.

Don’t get me wrong – we need the Julians, the militias, and the JWRs.  We need the people who stand in protest.  We need those who expose wrongdoing.  We need the organizers, the shouters, the big personalities, and the leaders. But these are not the only ways to revolt.  If every single person was off organizing their own rally, there’d be no one left to march in it.

What it is imperative upon us to do is to find our compass and follow it.

We must make ourselves immune to control by not needing what “they” hand out.  We have to be armored against the way everyone else lives and choose our own paths.  We must stubbornly refuse to participate in the hoop-jumping that is everyday life in America.  By all of us who believe in liberty doing this, we form an army of stubborn non-participants in the status quo.

Random Acts of Revolution

The most revolutionary act is to be self-sufficient and in need of nothing that the government can provide for you in exchange for some small liberty.  This list of insurrections is by no means comprehensive.

• Question absolutely everything you hear on the news. Always be a skeptic. All major media goes back to just a few conglomerates. Call them out.  When you see coverage that is clearly biased, take a moment to call out the media about it.  Take the time to comment on mainstream media websites and point out the unbalanced coverage.  If you use social media, share this information and post on the media outlet’s social media pages as well.
• Get out of the banking system. By opting to “unbank” or “underbank” there is a limit to what can be easily stolen from you.  When you have physical control of your financial assets, you are not at as high a risk of losing those assets, and therefore, less likely to be dependent on “the system.”
• Educate others.  At the (very high) risk of people thinking you’re crazy, it’s important to let people know WHY you do what you do.  If you object to a municipal policy, speak at a town meeting or send a letter to the editor of your local paper.  If you’re an activist, make a point of explaining the reasons behind your activism. But be calm and rational. By ranting incoherently or by keeping your mouth shut, you influence no one. By providing provable facts, you can open minds and awaken others.
• Grow your own food or buy local.  Every single seed that you plant is a revolutionary act.  Every bit of food that you don’t have to purchase from the grocery store is a battle cry for your personal independence.  When you educate yourself (and others) about  Big Food, Big Agri, and the food safety sell-outs at the FDA, you will clearly see that we are alone in our fight for healthy, nutritious foods.  Refuse to tolerate these attacks on our health and our lifestyles. If you can’t grow your own food, the support local farms. You have the right to food that won’t kill you. Forget CAFOs and industrial crops sprayed with glyphosate. Go local and you’ll be feeding your family foods that are wholesome, nutritious, and unlikely to be subject to recalls like Big Food keeps launching.
• Refuse to comply.  If you know your natural rights, which are guaranteed under the Constitution and its Amendments, then it makes it much harder for “authorities” to bully you.  You don’t have to let them search your home without a warrant, you don’t have to answer questions, and you don’t have to comply with laws that are in conflict with the Constitution. You don’t have to be aggressive or get in a fight with them. You just have to be staunch in your refusal.
• Embrace your right to bear arms.  Be responsible for your own safety and security. 911 should not be your personal security plan. Save yourself.
• Don’t be in debt.  No one can be free if they are in debt. If you are in debt, you are forced to work in whatever conditions are present, for whatever amount is offered, complying with whatever criteria is necessary to keep your job. As well, the high interest rates that you pay only serve to make the bankers more wealthy.  Instead of borrowing, save until you can afford something or realize that if you could actually afford it, you wouldn’t need to borrow money to have it. If you’re already in debt, this article can help you get it paid down fast.
• Be prepared for disaster.  Have enough food, water, and supplies to take care of your family in the event of a natural disaster. Don’t expect FEMA to take care of you. (Learn more here.)
• Be involved in your children’s education.  For some, this means homeschooling or unschooling, and for others, this means being on top of what they are learning in a formal school setting. Join the PTA and actively volunteer if your child goes to school.  Be an advocate for your child and insist that the teachers teach. If your child goes to school, supplement this at home with discourse about current events and outings that help them learn about the world around them.
• Know that any freedom you give up, you will never get back. Remember what we lost in the “Patriot” Act and the Indefinite Detention Act (NDAA)?  Those freedoms aren’t ever coming back unless something more drastic than anything I’ve seen in my lifetime occurs.
• Maintain your privacy. For the love of crickets, don’t be that ignorant fool who says “If I haven’t done anything wrong, I don’t have anything to worry about. You have plenty to worry about. All information can be manipulated to track you, profile you, make you look guilty, and control you. Trust me, when the social credit program rolls out here, you’ll have more to worry about than you ever imagined.
• Stop making excuses for collaborators. The tax collectors who enforce the extortion of your money? The TSA agents who pat you down and dehumanize you? Stop trying to justify their jobs. Stop trying to make it okay.  “These agents are only doing their jobs.” They should be ashamed of themselves for having these jobs. Heck, I’ve even heard people in line at the airport thank the TSA for patting them down. F*ck that. I will not be complicit in my own slavery.

For even more ways to cease your support of a government run amok, check out 50 Ways to Starve the Beast.

As Albert Camus, a French philosopher and author said, “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”

Get out there and be the squeaky wheel.

If you see something wrong, don’t just ignore it. Say something about it, and keep saying something until it changes. Whether this is some process that infringes on your privacy, a job requirement that impedes your health, or another injustice, pursue it relentlessly. Ask questions publicly, write letters, and use social media to bring pressure to encourage a change.

If you’re currently taking the easy way through life, if you recognize yourself as a slave, STOP. You don’t have to continue like that.

According to the Declaration of Independence,  “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

That means that you don’t have to accept the unjust laws. That means you don’t have to quietly take it, muttering under your breath that it isn’t right, but not daring to raise your voice.  That means that “they” are only in control of you if you allow it.

Independence isn’t something you celebrate one day a year. Independence is the way you live your life, every single day, refusing to submit to that which makes you beholden to or less than someone else.

There are nearly 330 million people in the United States. (source)

Only 3% of the population fought in the Revolutionary War, and 10% actively supported them.

If 9,900,000 people quietly and peacefully revolted by withdrawing their consent to be governed by tyrants we could not be silenced.

If 33,000,000 people supported those revolting, we could not be stopped.

The government might be watching us, but we can watch them right back.

Make the way you live your life a revolutionary act. Show people what freedom really means, and may it will catch out.

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Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting blogger who writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, voluntaryism, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, The Organic Prepper, where this article first appeared.  She is widely republished across alternative media and she curates all the most important news links on her aggregate site, PreppersDailyNews.com. Daisy is the best-selling author of 4 books and lives in the mountains of Virginia with her two daughters and an ever-growing menagerie. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

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