Friday, July 03, 2026

Declaration of Independence, still applicable?

Today is the 250'th anniversary of one of the most important documents in the West.

Some of the text is timeless: "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" and so on. Those apply.

But there's more. I rarely pay attention to the list of facts "submitted to a candid world." Quite a few were specific to the occasion, and aren't so timeless.

How well does the recitation of injuries map into a modern situation?

Just for the fun of it, suppose we pick the PoV of citizens of random small EU country other than Belgium, and for George III read the EU establishment. And take the worst-case/worst-face for the local situation, whether it is completely justified or not. Are there parallels for the old complaints in the new situation?

  • He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. I don't know the details well enough to guess.
  • He has forbidden his Governors 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. I don't know the details well enough to guess. There's no pool of land to draw from in Europe, so there's no exact parallel.
  • 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. I don't know the details well enough to guess.
  • He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. There are other ways of "fatiguing them into compliance;" e.g. lawsuits and judicial rulings.
  • He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. Over-ridden, yes. Very much so.
  • He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; 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 from without, and convulsions within. I don't know that details well enough to guess at what might be comparable to this.
  • He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. Just the opposite – importing large quantities of foreigners without regard for whether they integrate well into the existing society, and making the current citizens reponsible for their care.
  • He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. Over-riding local legislatures and judiciaries, certainly.
  • He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. When agreement with the masters is a criteria for appointment...
  • He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. I think we can all find examples there and here.
  • He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. Not so much. Ignoring the necessity for a military, yes.
  • He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. Not so much. Which, given European history, is refreshing.
  • 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: This sounds very much like EU.
  • For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: The current version would be quartering large bodies of foreigners among us.
  • For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: This seems to be a problem, if reports are to believed.
  • For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: Not sure this applies. It might, but I don't know the regulatory details.
  • For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: The individual countries impose their own taxes. Regulations, though...
  • For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: The UK famously decided to remove this right from many cases.
  • For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences "Transportation" isn't a current punishment, but "pretended offences" such as mean tweets seem to be treated like "careless speech" in wartime.
  • For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, 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: I don't know of a parallel.
  • For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: As noted above, this seems parallel to EU
  • For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. Not strictly parallel; the individual legislatures exist.
  • He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. Maybe the no-go zones?
  • He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. No obvious parallel.
  • He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries 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 the Head of a civilized nation. For mercenaries put colonists and it might apply.
  • He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. No obvious parallel.
  • He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. Not Indians exactly, no.
  • 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 whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. I don't know the details well enough to find a parallel to this.

With some revisions it might apply. But "mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."