I was proud to publish this special piece by my friend Judge J. Michael Luttig, and the overwhelming reaction from readers praising the piece has been inspiring. So here it is again for those of you who might have missed it during the busy holiday weekend.
🎙️ To listen to an audio version read by Judge Luttig, click here.
📺 To watch Judge Luttig discuss the piece with me, click here. (You can also watch Luttig on MSNBC this morning with Ali Velshi at 11 AM ET.)
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— Ryan Lizza
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another . . . a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, do solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown.
For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
— Declaration of Independence
On July 4, 1776, our fellow Americans declared their independence from the British empire and its ruling monarchy. Thus began the American Revolutionary War against Great Britain to secure America’s independence from the tyrannical rule of King George III. On that first Independence Day almost two hundred and fifty years ago, America freed itself forever from the bondage and oppression of tyrannical rule by monarchs and kings. There would never be another king in the United States of America.
Eleven years later, on September 17, 1787, the Constitution of the United States was signed by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia, and in 1789, thirteen years after the American Colonists declared their independence from the British empire, the Constitution became the charter of government of the United States and the guarantor of our rights, liberties, and freedoms. The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Great Charter, became part of the Constitution in 1791.
Today, the United States of America is the beacon of freedom to the world and the Constitution of the United States the envy of the world.
The genius of the American experiment in self-governance is that “We the People,” not the government, possess all power and we govern ourselves by representational democracy. We entrust our power to our government to exercise on our behalf in the interests of our nation. To ensure that our government faithfully exercises the power we entrust it with, we the American people ordained and established government by law, instead of by kings.
In America, the rule of law is king.
Let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.
— Thomas Paine, 1776
When the tyrannical reign of King George III became destructive of the ends of government by law under which all persons are equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights, the American Colonists declared their independence from the British King, chronicling 27 grievances of self-evident truths about tyranny as reasons for their declaration of independence.
On this July 4, 2025, the eve of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of America’s declaration of independence and the founding of this Nation, “We the People” hold to be self-evident these 27 truths about freedom—and about tyranny.
— All persons are endowed with certain rights, liberties, and freedoms that are unalienable and that are the bulwark against tyranny by government.
For, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
— Government should secure, protect, and preserve our unalienable rights, liberties, and freedoms.
For, the King “has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection.”
— Government is instituted and its powers derived from the consent of we, the governed, in order that government will secure, protect, and preserve our rights, liberties, and freedoms.
For, “To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” and “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it” and “to institute new Government . . . laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
— Government power is limited, and government is obligated to conform its every act to the requirements of law, which acknowledges our creation as equals and enshrines our equal and unalienable rights, liberties, and freedoms.
For, the King gave “his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.”
— Every person’s rights, liberties, and freedoms—as well as the rights of the majority and minority—are best secured and safeguarded by separation of the respective powers of the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary. By separation of the powers of each of the branches of government from the powers of the others, the powers of each of the three coequal branches of government are limited and checked and balanced by the powers of the others.
For, the King “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,” he “has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance,” and he “has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.”
— Each, the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary should exercise only the powers respectively enumerated and conferred upon it by the Constitution or otherwise by law, thereby both avoiding and guarding against encroachment upon the powers of the other two branches of government.
For, the King “has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. 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.” He also “has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.” The King “obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers” and “he has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.”
— Government should provide for the common defense, protect the homeland, support our allies abroad, and prevent foreign interference in the affairs of the nation.
For, the King “abolished 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.”
— Government should wage war against foreign enemies only when authorized by the Congress of the United States in a Declaration of War.
For, the King “has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.”
— Government should only wage war against foreign enemies, not misperceived domestic enemies. The people are not the enemy of the government. Rather, the government that regards the people as its enemy is itself the enemy of the people.
For, the King “has excited domestic insurrections amongst us” and “has abdicated Government here . . . by waging War against us.” The King “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.”
— Government should respect the need for the separation of military from civil authority and the need to limit military to military purpose and not to civil purpose.
For, the King “has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.”
— Government should respect that America is a nation of immigrants from foreign lands.
For, “We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here” yet the King “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.”
— Government should respect the need for free and open trade with the world.
For, the King has “given his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.”
— Every person should have the right to petition government and petition the government for redress of oppressions without government answer of injury.
“For, in every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned the King 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.”
— Every person should have the right to dissent from government and to protest government peacefully.
For, where tyranny and despotism demand allegiance to tyrant and to uniformity, democracy and freedom from tyranny demand the opposite – allegiance to country and to differences of people and opinion. “When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce a People under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
— Every person should have the right to speak freely and to associate freely with others without fear that government will punish them for the exercise of their right to speak and associate freely.
— No person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, the promise and guarantee against arbitrary government by tyrants, monarchs, and kings.
For, the King “abolished the free System of English Laws . . . and established therein an Arbitrary government.”
— Every person is equal under law, enjoys the same privileges and protections of law, and is subject to the same constraints and penalties of law.
For, “all men are created equal [and] are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
— No person is above the law. The law applies equally to all persons elected or appointed to serve the American people in their government as it does to all other persons, and all elected or appointed representatives of the people are accountable under law for their offenses against the people as every other person is accountable for their offenses.
“For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other . . . Let a crown be placed thereon. . . . But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.”
— No person elected or appointed to represent the people enjoys the royal prerogatives of a king. America was impelled to seek its separation and independence from the tyranny of a king.
For, the King “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: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.” The King “has abolished 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.”
— Every person should be equally franchised as provided by the Constitution and able to vote freely for their representatives to government in free and fair elections.
For, the King “has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance” and “he has refused to pass other Laws . . . unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.”
— Every candidate for elected public office should pledge to the American people that they will accept, respect, and honor, the will of the people expressed in the results of the people’s free and fair elections and that they will honor the peaceful transfer of power from one office holder to the next.
For, we the people hold all power and “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” We the people established government by law, instead of by men, in order that our representatives could not, like the king, subjugate us to their will. Our representatives are subjugated to our will by Constitution and Law. “Lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.”
— All persons should have access to independent courts of law to vindicate their rights and interests, and the courts of law should be neither political nor beholden to either the Legislature or Executive.
For, the King “obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers” and he made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.”
— All persons suspected and accused of criminal offense should be protected from government abuse by the Constitution’s limitations on searches and seizures, due process, equal protection, the privilege against self-incrimination and by the prohibitions on selective and vindictive prosecutions, double jeopardy, and cruel and unusual punishments.
— No person should be tried for criminal offense except by jury of peers.
For, the King “deprived us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury.”
— No person should be investigated or investigated and prosecuted for offenses against the nation except in accordance with law.
— No person should be investigated by the Executive on pretext or investigated and prosecuted by the Executive on pretext in revenge and retaliation for different opinion or politics from the Executive or for personal offense taken by the Executive.
For, the King “transported us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences” and “quartered large bodies of armed troops among us and protected them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.”
— All persons should have the right to counsel who is independent of the government and uninfluenced and uninfluenceable by the government, and whose highest responsibility in the representation of their client is to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution against abuse by the government.
For, the King “tried us for pretended offences” and “protected . . . murderers by a mock Trial, from punishment.”
On this Independence Day, July 4, 2025, these self-evident truths of freedom—and of tyranny—are solemnly declared and published.
249 years later these principles MUST be recognized and accepted. Do we have two or three Republican Senators who can lead us out of the wilderness in which we're now wandering.
Thank you so very much for this wonderful analysis. Thank you for sharing your expertise with ordinary Americans like me. I read every word. I so admire you.