Declaration of Thanksgiving 2020
“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 entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” (https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript)
The brave men who signed our Declaration of Independence quoted above were not quick to defy the rule of King George, and if you read through the entirety of that famous document you’ll see the reasons behind their decision. They signed that declaration knowing that it fully committed them to the cause of freedom, defying a supremely powerful military empire and entrusting their future to “the protection of divine Providence”. There was no turning back from their cause, and they understood that everything was on the line when they wrote: “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
In the same way, I don’t encourage civil disobedience lightly without considering the gravity and potential consequence of defying legally appointed authorities. I’m not saying it’s time to rise up in any physical way, and I’m not suggesting we draft a modern day Declaration of Independence, but I do believe we should look to the greatest law of this land and willfully disobey any unjust edicts that restrict our rights under the U.S. Constitution regardless of the origination: the President, Congress, state governors or legislatures.
In the United States, the Constitution is the highest law crafted by man and the first ten amendments are known as The Bill of Rights. The First and Tenth Amendments speak volumes in the context of our current pandemic distress, where executive orders have shut down churches and now tell us how we are allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving. Let’s look at a couple of those rights:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
…
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
There are eight amendments between the two which I’ve copied in their entirety above, but just take a look at those two brief statements and consider: is there any legitimate basis for government to shut down the gathering of people who choose to worship? Certainly, they can educate us on how to limit the spread of a contagion, but it is entirely up to us on how to respond. Government was made for the people and not people for the government.
So if in celebration of Thanksgiving to my God or as a matter of decision by family members, we choose to gather with more people than the state believes safe, it is our right to do so. We may choose to limit the number gathered or to have other safeguards, but it is our choice. I’m not encouraging anyone to be foolish or rebellious, but I am saying explicitly that the government has no legitimate right to make these decisions for us. Take precautions as you see fit but do not grant the state more authority in our lives than our greatest law in the land has already established.
And in the days and years ahead if that greatest of human laws should somehow be dissolved replaced by a new “constitution”, there is still and shall remain a law higher even than any law of man. It is that same Legal Authority that empowered the brave signatories of our Declaration of Independence. It is that Higher Power that we must always obey first, always with respect and consideration for others, “We must obey God rather than people” (Acts 5:29)
There may be consequences for civil disobedience, but we owe it to those brave men who put everything on the line to establish this great nation, and we owe it to our children and our children’s children to fight for their liberty. We owe it to our future selves as well to be mindful and bold in each present moment to the protection of our liberties so we will have a clear answer when asked how we responded to the governmental threat on our civil liberties.
My Declaration of Thanksgiving is simply this:
I am grateful to have been born and raised in this land and acknowledge my responsibility to live in the freedom bestowed to me at birth by the Constitution of the United States and its Bill of Rights, resisting all influences to relinquish those liberties for both my sake and for the benefit of all my countrymen. I choose to exercise my First Amendment rights in gratitude this Thanksgiving of 2020 in civil disregard for any executive order restricting how I celebrate Thanksgiving.
copyright ©2020 Mitchell Malloy (http://mitchellmalloyblogspot.com/)
