SECTION NINE
  POETRY PAGE SEVEN

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COLUMN FIFTY-THREE, NOVEMBER 1, 2000
(Copyright © 2000 Al Aronowitz)


(Photo by Myles Aronowitz)
(Copyright © 1998 Myles Aronowitz)

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE THIS TIME

 

Give me liberty or give me death.
                         Patrick Henry

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
                   The Bill of Rights, 1st Amendment  

Pray for the dead; fight like hell for the living.
                                         Mother Jones

 

When in the course of human events
it becomes necessary for one people  

to dissolve the political bonds which
have connected them with another  

and to assume among the powers
of the earth the separate and equal

station to which the Laws of Nature
and of Nature's God entitle them,  

a decent respect to the opinions
of humankind requires that they  

declare the causes which impel
them to separation. We hold these  

truths to be self-evident, that ALL
people ALL people, not just property  

owners not just the wealthy not just
the military not just the power-elite,
ALL People are created equal, that they

are endowed with certain Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty,
 

and the pursuit of Happiness.--
That to secure these rights,
 

Governments derive their powers
from the consent of the governed,--
 

That whenever Government becomes
destructive 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 effect the Safety and Happiness
of the people it represents. Governments  

long established should not be changed
for light and transient causes; and  

experience shows that humankind is
more disposed to suffer than to right themselves  

by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed. But when a Long Train of  

abuses continues to reduce them under
Absolute Despotism it is Their Right it is  

Their Duty to throw off such Government |
and to provide new Guards for future  

security.--Such has been our patient
sufferance and such is now the necessity  

which constrains us to alter our Systems
of Government. The history of the present  

U. S. Government is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct  

object the establishment of an absolute
Tyranny over us. To prove this, let Facts  

be submitted to an Awake World:  

Government has called together legislative bodies
at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant
for the sole purpose of fatiguing us into compliance.  

Government has made Judges and Legislators and
Presidents dependent on Its Will alone for the tenure
of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.  

Government, the largest employer in these so-called
UNITED States, continues to erect a multitude of New  

Offices, and send swarms of Bureaucrats and Police to
harrass us and EAT OUT our substance.  

Government has kept among us, in times of peace,
Standing Armies and Larger and Larger and More and
More Violent Police Forces without our Consent.  

Government has affected to render the Military and
The Police independent of and superior to the Civil
power to the Wishes and The Will of The People.  

Government has joined with The Police and The Military
to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,  

and unacknowledged by our laws giving Assent to their
Acts of pretended Legislation:  

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops and police among us:  

For protecting those same troops and police, by mock Trials, from
punishment for any Murders and Brutality which they should commit
on the Inhabitants of these States:  

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:  

For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury,
even if that Jury be rigged:  

For trying us for pretended offences,
including running from The Police,  

whether we're running from The Police or not,
For waging War against us.  

Government has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts,
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.  

Government is at this time completing works of death,
desolation and tyranny already begun with circumstances  

of Cruelty and Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous
ages, and totally unworthy of any so-called civilized nation.  

The First discovery in determining whether a nation and its
government is civilized or not is to find out how that nation  

and its government cares for those who can't care for
themselves. Does the U. S. Government take care of those

who can't take care of themselves?  

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 Government whose character
is thus marked by every act which may  

define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler
of a free people. We, therefore, the people  

of the land called The United States of
America, appealing to the Supreme  

Judge of the world for the rectitude of
our intentions, do solemnly publish and  

declare that we are and of Right ought
to be Free and Independent; that we are  

Absolved from all Allegiance to the United
States Government and that all political  

connection between us and the United
States Government is and ought to be  

totally dissolved and that as Free and
Independent people we have full Power  

to conclude Peace, contract Alliances,
establish Commerce, aid in every conceivable  

way to help Heal The Earth, in All
aspects of Its Being, including ALL  

Human, Plant, and Animal Life recognizing
the interconnectedness of ALL Life and  

that only through non-violent Cooperative
Concerted Efforts and Open Discourse  

amongst ALL Peoples can any semblance
of Peace, Justice, and Harmony ever be achieved  

recognizing also that only through Tolerance and
Empathy, allowing others to live their lives according  

to their traditions and desires while simultaneously
attempting to place ourselves into the other person's  

shoes, imagining and feeling what life might be like
for them,  and to do all other Acts and Things which  

Independent People may of right do. And for the
support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on  

the protection of divine Providence, we mutually
pledge allegiance to Each Other Our Lives, Our
Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor.  

Ron Whitehead
january 1, 2000
earth  ##  

* * *

THE SHAPE OF WATER

clouds on a sunny day
what is the shape of mind?
is mind contained in brain?
or is mind as vast
as clouds on a sunny day
water in a distant sea
a drop of rain
in the Indian Ocean
in the Straits of Magellan
The Mediterranean
what is the shape of mind?  

clouds on a sunny day
what is the shape of water?
is water contained in pond?
or is water as vast
as clouds on a sunny day
dream of a distant land
a thought of mind
in the Sahara sands
in the Gobi dunes
Death Valley
is mind the shape of water?

the shape of water    

Ron Whitehead
july 2000
Kentucky  ##

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