This morning, a friend posted The Declaration of Independence on social media, urging everyone to read it—not only for the historical significance, but also for the eloquence of the writing. The last time I read it was probably a decade ago, so I definitely read it with new eyes. It quickly became evident that the list of grievances against King George III applied to much of what’s happening today. I decided to revise the entire document to be relevant during these scary times. In fact, it’s terrifying how little I had to change—illustrating how far this country has fallen. Its government currently exhibits the same behavior that inspired the original revolution that formed our Nation.

First is The New Declaration of Independence in full, then afterward, compare the grievances against our current oppressive regime with the original—line-by-line. Reflect on how little had to be changed.

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In Solidarity, July 4, 2020.

An overdue Declaration of the people of these United States of America, When 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 Creator entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of humankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people 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 People, 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 humankind 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.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these United States; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present US Government, especially under the Trump Administration, is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

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

He has forbidden his Legislators 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.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people; indeed, he has abolished laws protecting the health and livelihood of multiple marginalized people.

He has called to end mail-in voting and create voting places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the reasonable access of the public, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into foregoing their civic duty to vote.

He has dissolved Independent Inquiries repeatedly, for opposing his ideology and invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to allow others to investigate him; 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 manipulation from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the immigration into these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; outright forbidding their migrations hither, and creating horrific conditions in Concentration Camps where immigrants are locked in cages for years.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws, by appointing unfit Judges and Lawyers, and by silencing those who would accuse him of any criminal wrongdoing either by coercion, intimidation, or financial graft.

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

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their dignity and security.

He has deployed among us, in times of peace, the National Guard without regard to our Constitution.

He has threatened to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

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:

For Militarizing large bodies of armed police among us:

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

For inhibiting our Trade and Treaties with all parts of the world:

For imposing a disparity of Taxes and Social Aid on us without our Consent:

For consistently and publicly spouting falsehoods, abject bigotry, salacious attacks, and petty outbursts, incongruous of a US President, thereby repeatedly humiliating this Nation on a Global Scale:

For engaging in multiple counts of sexual misconduct:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For brutalizing us for peaceful assembly and transporting us to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing multiple agreements and safeguards for the future of our Planet, establishing therein an Arbitrary government of his choosing, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these United States:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and behaving fundamentally against the very Constitution of these United States:

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

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection during a Deadly Pandemic and waging War against us and our Civil Liberties.

He has plundered our economy, ravaged our Free Press, burnt international bridges toward peace, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time inciting large Armies of White Supremacists to complete the works of death, terror, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy rising to parallel the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized nation.

Through the use of police brutality, he has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive in the Streets, Gassed them for executing their Constitutional Right to Assemble, and became the executioner of their friends and compatriots.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless White Supremacists, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

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 President whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our American Compatriots. 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 Constitutional Rights. 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 humankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the People 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 United States, solemnly publish and declare, That these United States are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to a this Tyrannical Administration, and that all political connection between them and the Inherent Corruption in the current US Government, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy Revolution, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, alter their Government, enforce the embodiment of their Constitution, 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 natural Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

A Small Sample of Sources: Washington Post. 2. 3. 4. 5. New York Times. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Vox. 2. The Guardian. 2. 3. The Independent. CNN. 2. 3. Associated Press. 2. 3. NBC. 2. 3. The Atlantic.
Frankly, far too many to cite.

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Compare with the Original Declaration of Independence below:

In Congress, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous An overdue Declaration of the thirteen people of these United States of America, When 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 Creator entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind humankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men people 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 People, 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 humankind 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.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies United States; 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 US Government, especially under the Trump Administration, is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

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

He has forbidden his Governors Legislators 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.

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. indeed, he has abolished laws protecting the health and livelihood of multiple marginalized people.

He has called together legislative bodies at end mail-in voting and create voting places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their reasonable access of the public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures foregoing their civic duty to vote.

He has dissolved Representative Houses Independent Inquiries repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his ideology and invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause allow others to be elected investigate him; 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 manipulation from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of the immigration into these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage outright forbidding their migrations hither, and raising the creating horrific conditions in new Concentration Camps Appropriations of Lands where immigrants are locked in cages for years.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers, by appointing unfit Judges and Lawyers, and by silencing those who would accuse him of any criminal wrongdoing either by coercion, intimidation, or financial graft.

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

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance dignity and security.

He has kept deployed among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies the National Guard without the Consent of our legislatures regard to our Constitution.

He has affected threatened to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

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:

For Quartering Militarizing large bodies of armed troops police among us:

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

For cutting off inhibiting our Trade and Treaties with all parts of the world:

For imposing imposing a disparity of Taxes and Social Aid on us without our Consent:

For consistently and publicly spouting falsehoods, abject bigotry, salacious attacks, and petty outbursts, incongruous of a US President, thereby repeatedly humiliating this Nation on a Global Scale:

For engaging in multiple counts of sexual misconduct:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For brutalizing us for peaceful assembly and transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province multiple agreements and safeguards for the future of our Planet, 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 United States:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering behaving fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: very Constitution of these United States:

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

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection during a Deadly Pandemic and waging War against us and our Civil Liberties.

He has plundered our seas economy, ravaged our Coasts Free Press, burnt our towns International bridges toward peace, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting inciting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries White Supremacists to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized nation.

Through the use of Police Brutality, he has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become in the Streets, Gassed them for executing their Constitutional Right to Assemble, and became the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

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

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 President whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish American brethren Compatriots. 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 Constitutional Rights. 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.

We, therefore, the Representatives People 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 United States, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies States are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown this Tyrannical Administration, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain Inherent Corruption in the current US Government, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War Revolution, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce alter their Government, enforce the embodiment of their Constitution, 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 natural Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

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Thank you, Brian—my incredible partner, for your help brainstorming and navigating some tricky wording. I love you.