[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 167 (Thursday, October 26, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2051-E2052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A NEW DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

                                 ______


                          HON. PHILIP M. CRANE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 26, 1995

  Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring a certain document to 
the attention of the House. The document is entitled ``A New 
Declaration of Independence'' and was authored by Bill Zimmermannn, a 
long-time constituent and friend. I think a careful reading of 

[[Page E2052]]
this work would serve all the members of this body quite well.
  The document follows:

          Rally for Freedom--A New Declaration of Independence

       When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary 
     for a people to dissolve the political bonds which have 
     unnecessarily restricted them, and to assume the Freedom and 
     Individual Responsibility which the Laws of Nature and of 
     Nature's God placed on them in the first instance, a decent 
     respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should 
     declare the causes which impel this action.
       We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
     entitled to equal opportunity, that they are endowed by the 
     Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are 
     Life, Liberty, and Property.
       To secure these rights, our Government was instituted by 
     Free Men, deriving its power from the consent of the 
     governed.
       Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of the 
     rights of Free People, it is the right of the People to alter 
     it as seems most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
       Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Government long 
     established should not be changed for light and transient 
     causes; and accordingly, all experience has shown, that 
     mankind is more disposed to suffer while evils are 
     sufferable, than to right them by abolishing the forms to 
     which they are accustomed.
       But when a long train of socialistic abuses, invariably 
     pursuing the same objective, threatens to reduce them under a 
     tyranny, it is their right, it is their duty to change their 
     government, and to provide new Guards for their future 
     Security.
       Such has been the patient suffering of our citizens; and 
     such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter 
     their system of Government.
       They, the Federal Government, have usurped authority never 
     assigned to them by our Constitution, on the basis of which 
     they have passed laws which are destroying our Society, our 
     Economy, and our future as Free Individuals.
       They have erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent 
     swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their 
     substance.
       They have spent the fruits of our labors without thought of 
     the future. They have imposed harsh and unusual taxes, even 
     with representation.
       We, therefore, the sovereign citizens of the United States 
     of America, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for 
     the Rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the 
     Authority of Future Generations of Sovereign Citizens of 
     America, solemnly publish and declare, that We Command that, 
     during the next seven years, Congress shall pass no New Law, 
     but shall confine its activities to such as will enable it 
     only to Review, Revise, and Repeal such old laws as have 
     oppressed and confounded our citizens, and reduced their 
     Freedom, their Initiative, and their area of Responsibility, 
     to the detriment of our nation.
       We further Command that the Supreme Court and all other 
     Federal Courts base their decisions on strict interpretation 
     of our Constitution, and considering that the words ``general 
     Welfare'' refer only to the nation as a whole and not to the 
     welfare of citizens as individuals or as groups smaller than 
     the whole. Having decided questions of Justice under the law, 
     it should not be necessary for the courts to assume a 
     continuing burden of administration and enforcement of those 
     decisions.
       For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance 
     on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge 
     our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

                          ____________________