LEARNING: History & Education | Independence Day, 2005

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON

A Posting in "GordonTalk" and  "Comments from Left Field"

My Fellow Friends of Liberty,

As I wrote in the Declaration of Independence, a tyrant can be recognized by his "long train of abuses and usurpations"; and by that very standard, your "King George" -- whom I so entitle because, by the vote-counting machinations of his well-placed friends, he has been no more elected to govern than was that scoundrel in the Ukraine -- your King George is guilty of tyranny -- not simply implementing perhaps well-meaning but misdirected policy -- but tyranny, and notoriously so.

As the Declaration continued, "let Facts be submitted to a candid world." When considering the facts I will presently submit, please ask yourselves, my fellow Americans, would not any leader thus characterized be also, quite truly, called tyrant?

After having made blatantly false and misleading statements to the people and, impeachably, to the Congress of the United States as well as to our allies and the other united nations of the world, he has waged war on a sovereign nation, in violation of International law -- yet another in a long train of deceptive and outright hostile acts of so-called diplomacy that are making our beloved country a pariah amongst nations.

He has broken faith with his loyal troops, by violating the terms of their contracts of service, keeping them in arms and in harm's way in a state of involuntary servitude for indefinite periods, not prescribed by law.

He has sent forces into battle -- at a time and place of his own choosing -- without the means and materiel necessary for their well-being and survival, at the cost of thousands of lives and limbs and eyes and minds of the best amongst you.

He has destroyed a nation with no plan within the realm of reason to rebuild that nation, at the cost of untold tens of thousands of lives etcetera of a foreign and largely innocent population, whom he purports to liberate but most likely will subjugate; the government of that nation surviving at his pleasure -- semi-autonomous at best, anarchical at worst -- the natural resources of that nation raped to enrich those who prop-up his regime.

He has unleashed the forces of violence and terror upon that nation and upon our troops within that nation, passions inflamed worldwide by his holding of men of foreign -- as well as native -- birth for indefinite periods without charge, without access to legal counsel, without due process of law, and systematically subject to treatment that the world has condemned as no less than torture.

He has gutted the protections of our cherished liberties at home, which he claims to send our troops abroad to defend.

One or more of his closest minions have publicly revealed the identity of an agent of espionage in your employ -- thus putting her sources abroad at grave risk (undoubtedly costing several their very lives) and crippling vital efforts to root out those who would do this nation grievous harm -- all to effect a political vendetta, an act so heinous as to border on no less than treason.

He has impoverished and will impoverish millions of our countrymen with the enactment of laws and regulations -- and the emasculation of other laws and regulations -- in order to enrich those already rich and with the effect of hobbling our economy.

He has raided the national Treasury and taken funds set aside for the care and upkeep of the elderly and the infirm and once again given the proceeds to the wealthiest and most powerful amongst you.

He actively seeks to increase such burdens upon the poor and the old and the ill and all who are less powerful for generations to come.

He is indifferent to the suffering of millions who cannot afford to care for their health; indeed, he assists those powerful interests exploiting the misfortune of others.

He has allowed vast tracts of the nation's lands and forests and seashores to be laid to waste, providing a temporary increase in wealth for his powerful friends at the price of irreparable harm to the priceless heritage of our nation.

He has by law and regulation and by appointments judicial sought and all-too-often achieved reductions of protections and assistance for -- and I, Thomas Jefferson, must offer my deepest apologies for my own shortcomings in this area, in my day -- protections and assistance for women and people of color and any and all other citizens whose share of power has by tradition and prejudice been less than that which is rightfully their due.

He has fostered a general and despicable climate of intolerance and outright hostility towards anyone who is in anyway "different" in the exercise of their personal -- yet harmless -- freedoms, particularly in matters religious. He seeks -- through actions that speak louder than any words he may utter to the contrary -- to tear down the wall separating Church and State.

He professes to speak for the Almighty in both small and grand affairs of State, thus truly serving neither God nor Country.

I could continue, but to what purpose? If these reasons are insufficient for King George to be condemned a tyrant, then what more can one say? As Doctor Franklin once wrote, "a word to the wise is sufficient..." And no number of words to the unwise is ever enough.

Choose and act wisely, my fellow friends of liberty. History is littered with the ruins of nations that forgot the most essential element of governance: That which is fairest is verily the wisest.

Your obedient servant,

Thomas Jefferson

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