Irony?: We Could Use Our Founding Fathers Exact Argument For Independence Today

In an examination of history, the founding fathers of the United States were possibly the the most talented and intelligent collection of men that have ever gathered to lay the framework for a new government. Their foresight in writing laws that were both definitive enough to instill order, yet ambiguous enough to allow flexibility over time demonstrated tremendous foresight. We currently find ourselves, ironically, facing almost all of the same offenses that our founding fathers listed as their reasons for succeeding from Great Britain.

In prelude to listing a few of the main arguments used for succession, an understanding of the revolutionaries socially motivating themes are important to understand. The founding fathers had an understanding that the people had ambitions and complaints that were not being met by Great Britain. They essentially felt as if they had no voice in the outcome of their livelihood.

This is all starting to sound a little familiar isn’t it? A democracy stops serving its people when it fails to perform almost all duties its representatives were elected to perform. The founding fathers were also protesting a system of nobility. In their time, you had to be born into a family of specific social status to be considered for any position of importance. Today, it costs about 2 million dollars for a House of Representatives seat and 11 million dollars for a seat in the Senate. This could be defined as nothing more than a modern capitalist monarchy.

The founding fathers also claimed, “Taxation without representation” as a major reason for revolution. Polls indicate that Americans are not only unhappy with how their tax dollars are being spent, they feel as if the system allows them no control over this, despite whomever they elect.

The rebuttal argument the government will use is, “If you don’t like a politician, you can vote them out.” This is clearly a transparent lie. Due to the large amounts of money needed to win a congressional office, normal people are excluded from running their own government.

Finally, one of the major arguments for succession by our founding fathers was, “The right of British Troops to search a privately owned residence without a warrant.” A warrant is important for the following reason: if a government employee that wants to search you property they must demonstrate probable cause to do so. Imagine if a local police officer had a personal problem with you that had nothing to do with you violating the law (maybe you slept with his girlfriend), a warrant forces an third party judge to review the evidence against you, so that you are not harassed for no reason.

Under the Patriot Act, government employees can write their own warrant without a judge and barge right into your house. Even worse, they can tell you friends that it is illegal for you to reveal that they were questioned about you. The most disgusting part of this law is that if you feel the agents violated your rights, it is even illegal for you to seek legal counsel (a lawyer) about the matter. This is exactly what the founding fathers detested and the same exact conditions are now legal under this act today.

I am not a radical or someone calling for an overthrow of the government. I am simply calling for a return to rules that allowed us to be so unique in the world.

Happy Independence Day, NTZ readers.

Zoo Keeper