Reply #33

Article 1. That all Government of right originates from the People, is founded in compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole; and they have, at all times, the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their Form of Government in such manner as they may deem expedient.

Art. 6. That all persons invested with the Legislative or Executive powers of Government are the Trustees of the Public, and, as such, accountable for their conduct: Wherefore, whenever the ends of Government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the People may, and of right ought, to reform the old, or establish a new Government; the doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.

People have a natural right to choose their own form of government, amend their present government, separate from an undesired government, or resist, with violence, a coercive government. It is a dangerous state which seeks to separate the people from the necessary tools of resistance. I do not recognize the validity of any court judgement, treaty, law, or philosophy which defines me and my neighbors as subjects, without the right to chart our own course. Lincoln destroyed our civil liberty during that war because he had greater resources -- not because he had a right to.