Words Poorly Used #44 — Declaration of Independence

There can hardly be a thing more futile than to declare one’s independence.  If you are truly independent then a declaration is unneeded.  If you are not independent then mere words cannot change that miserable condition.  Furthermore, there is no legal means of achieving independence via a declaration.  If you are a part of a legal institution that severs itself from a superordinate legal institution, you must remain a dependent of the newly severed institution to forestall being conscripted again by the former governing institution.  This is the sleight of hand that was practiced in 1776.  Each body which deliberated and enacted such a declaration was only lopping off the top of the hierarchy, to elevate themselves in its stead.  Every deliberating body in the original thirteen colonies already had its local government, modeled on local government in Mother England.  What was it like the day before the “Declaration of Independence?”  Exactly as it was the day after.  But there was still the pesky Revolutionary War with which to deal.

Kilgore