LONANG Institute BY GERALD R. THOMPSON*
INTRODUCTION
If I were to tell you without qualification that the American people have a God-given right to alter or abolish the U.S. government or any state government and to replace them with something new, how would that strike you? Would you reject the idea because it is only me who is saying it? Does the idea seem too radical, or too extreme? Would it make a difference if you realized that without this type of radical extremist thinking, there wouldnât be a United States of America at all? Letâs put it into context:
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are ⊠endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable RightsâŠ. That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among MenâŠ. That 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. ⊠Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design 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 their future security.
- Â Declaration of Independence (1776).
Still think the idea of a right to alter or abolish any of our present governments is too radical or extreme? Well, some people certainly think so, and theyâve taken steps to make sure nothing like what happened in the American Revolution ever happens again. First, they have taken pains to discredit the Declaration and to restrict the way it is taught in government approved curricula and government sponsored schools (including universities). Second, they have enacted statutes to strongly discourage any âthrowing offâ of the government, to wit:
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