Pine Nuts: King George grievances resonate even today
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Sun, 07/14/2024 - 7:23pm
As we continue to confront the delicacy of our American democracy, even I, who am no prophet, foresee a new dispensation dawning over America.
Granted, a benevolent autocracy might be the laziest way to govern, but if you are older than 20 years of age, you can foresee the inevitable tragedy of tyranny and oppression inherent in autocracy.
No, my mate, democracy remains the best possible form of government, and tattered as Old Glory appears to be, we cannot let our democracy slip away.
I used to have the honor of reading the Declaration of Independence on the Village Green on the Fourth of July, and it became my responsibility to trim the number of grievances toward King George, to coincide with the timing of a Marine Corps flyover.
Timing was all important, and when it worked, well, it gives me chicken skin to think about it…
How could we have guessed that in 2024 one little caveat from that wonderful document would jump out at us: “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes…”
I shall record a few of the 1776 grievances here to see if they might reveal a harbinger of possible perils to come…
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He 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 obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people...
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws.
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury.
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us.
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 Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
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.
Wow! How prescient, that our grievances of 1776 should herald cause to sound the alarm of the threat of similar abuses in this Year of Our Lord, 2024.
— For more than 35 years, in more than 4,000 performances, columnist and Chautauquan McAvoy Layne has been dedicated to preserving the wit and wisdom of “The Wild Humorist of the Pacific Slope,” Mark Twain. As Layne puts it: “It’s like being a Monday through Friday preacher, whose sermon, though not reverently pious, is fervently American."
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