Abuses and Usurpations
A high standard being cheapened by liberal nonsense
[W]hen a long train of abuses and usurpations . . . evinces a design to reduce [unalienable Rights, among them Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness] under absolute Despotism, it is [citizens’] right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” — The Declaration of Independence
When a government shows a deliberate, long-term design to strip people of their unalienable rights – Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness – then yes, it becomes not only the right but the duty of free citizens to throw it off and build something better.
The Founders were clear that this threshold is extraordinarily high. They weren’t talking about policy disagreements, election losses, or even deeply flawed leaders. They endured decades of escalating abuses under a distant king who dissolved legislatures, imposed taxes without consent, quartered troops, cut off trade, and denied trials by jury. Only after “a long train of abuses and usurpations” did they conclude the regime itself had become tyrannical.
That’s why they gave us a Constitutional Republic with regular elections, separation of powers, federalism, free speech, and the ballot box as the primary remedies – precisely so we wouldn’t need to resort to revolution every time we dislike who won. The genius of the system is that it lets us “throw off” bad policies or bad leaders peacefully every two or four years.
I worry that when we treat every administration we oppose as the kind of despotism the Founders rebelled against, we cheapen the real standard they set and erode the very republic they risked everything to create. Reasonable people can disagree fiercely on Trump, Biden, borders, spending, or cultural issues without concluding the entire constitutional order has failed and must be overthrown.
– Jason Rogers | Chairman, Washtenaw County GOP