The unanimous Declaration of the Undersigned Citizens of Wyoming
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 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 mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - 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.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that 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. - Such has been the patient sufferance of this State of Wyoming; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
The history of the present United States Federal Government is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over this state. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
The Federal Government of the United States:
Has refused to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, the founding document that every federal leader is sworn to follow.
Has through excessive taxation, regulation and legislation stolen the liberty of the citizens of Wyoming that was granted to us by our creator,
Has through speech and deed proven it has forgotten that the Federal Government is subservient to the people, the people are not subservient to the Federal Government,
Has spent our country into insolvency so badly that the only thing preventing immediate national bankruptcy is the borrowing of $4 billion a DAY and the unlimited printing of paper money which steadily and systematically steals value from the money we already hold,
Has become so corrupt from the acceptance of huge sums of money into federal reelection campaign accounts from lobbyists and corporate donors that federal representatives listen and respond to special interests first and normal citizens second, if at all,
Has so corrupted the election process that only citizens with the worst character flaws and best cash-raising skills run for federal office. This leaves normal citizens with representation in name only, making it impossible to get an honest audience for our gravest grievances,
Is filled with men and women in elected and appointed office who openly violate the US Constitution. These men and women have voted to provide benefits, services and actions that are not authorized by the US constitution. These federal employees are not preserving, protecting or defending the US constitution that is a requirement of their employment,
Has employed presidents who have written hundreds of Presidential Executive Orders which have become secret laws without the review of the citizen's Federal Representatives or the judicial system. Many of these Presidential Executive Orders not only violate the US Constitution, but some actually justify suspending the US Constitution by the mere decree of the President,
Has enslaved Wyoming citizens by taxation rates that are so high they require the typical citizen to hand over five months wages from every 12 months earned. This level of taxation has arisen without our consent and is a form of slavery. Whether this taxation has taken 100 years or 100 minutes to reach such punishing levels means naught, slavery is still slavery and no government has power to enslave its citizens,
Has conspired with the major media outlets of the country to control the education and information granted to the citizens to match the desires of the Federal interests. This is clearly apparent by the Federal Government and national media's refusal to discuss the unconstitutionality of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Income Tax and the Federal Government's many other constitutional violations,
Has taken upon itself powers and authorities that are not granted to it in the US Constitution, namely the power to:
tax individual citizens under the threat of imprisonment,
tax private property under the threat of seizing that property,
redistribute the wealth of citizens by unequally taxing some and distributing the proceeds to programs and grants that unequally benefit others who paid less or nothing,
require the States to adhere to Federal demands to get a portion of its own money back,
delegate authority to coin money to another agency, the privately-owned Federal Reserve,
allow the printing of paper money by the Federal Reserve instead of the constitutionally-required minting of gold or silver coins by the federal government,
allow the president of the United States to commit us to war rather than the US Congress, and
open violations of the tenth amendment, taking powers that are granted only to the states and the people.
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 Federal Government, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define it as tyrannical, is unfit to be the ruling organization of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our Federal Representatives. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their Federal Government to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of their service to us. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
We, therefore, the citizens of the Great State of Wyoming, in General Consensus, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of this State, solemnly publish and declare, That these citizens of Wyoming are, and of Right ought to be a Free and Independent State, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the United States Federal Government, and that all political connection between them and the State of Wyoming, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as a Free and Independent State, we have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. - And 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.
Mike Johnson