My Declaration of Independence

We have arrived at a moment in history where we must make a choice. Will we be free or will we be subjects to the will of those who believe they know better. I choose to be free.

I understand how we have arrived here. Freedom – for all of its beauty and promise – freedom is frightening. Choosing to be free, to walk your own path, comes without any guarantees. Your path might end in happiness, but there is a risk, a risk that the path ends in misery. It is this uncertainty that tempts us to sacrifice freedom for protection from misery and the promise of happiness. That promise is a lie.

Imagine living subject to another’s will, every choice commanded to you; your job, your house, your food, prescribed to you by a faceless someone. Imagine what happens to your soul when you are not able to live your own life. Is that not misery? I say that our choice is abundantly clear. We can choose the path that offers an opportunity for happiness, or the path that without question leads to misery.

Freedom or slavery. Independence or servitude.

Today I declare myself a free and independent being, capable of rational thought and autonomous action. I denounce the empty promise of security in exchange for liberty.

I claim anything I am independently capable of as a right. I understand that there are consequences to my actions in exercise of those rights and I accept responsibility for those consequences, good or bad.

I do not claim as a right, anything requiring the labor of another. I do not have the right to demand anyone perform labor on my behalf. A right requiring one person to labor for the benefit of another is nothing short of slavery.

I am a descendant of John Gray, the longest surviving veteran of the Revolutionary War.
I am, in fact, a son of the Revolution. A warrior’s blood flows through my veins. A warrior for freedom. It is that blood that compels me to declare my independence, my right to be free, my right to pursue freedom for others.

I will not lie down in the face of tyranny. I will stare back into those empty eyes, and I will see the rot and the weakness, the sinister core hiding behind a veneer of goodwill. My words are weapons and I will not hesitate to use them in the fight for freedom.

On this day, July 4th, 2012, in the footsteps of giants who fought for a society based on individual liberty and sovereignty, I declare my independence.

Let’s roll.