June 9, 2008
Support the Constitution and Put Your "John Hancock" in the New York Times!
This Independence Day, show your support for restoring America's promise of justice and the rule of law, as envisioned in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, by signing "A Declaration for Our Times."
BORDC is running the Declaration (see text below) as a signature ad in the New York Times the week of July 4. We are also producing audio and video recordings of the Declaration that you can ask local radio and Public Access TV stations to run as Public Service Announcements.
Your name among hundreds of others from across the country will show America the breadth of support for demanding that our representatives uphold their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution. And it will inspire others to support civic education, dialogue, and action in their communities by pledging their support for the People's Campaign for the Constitution.
To sign on, go to http://www.constitutioncampaign.org/ad. We ask individual signers to donate $25 or more, and organizations to donate $50-$500 to help us cover the $30,000 cost for the half-page ad. You may contribute online or by mailing a check.
Please show your support for the Constitution AND help us reach our ambitious goal by signing on to the ad by Sunday, June 29, and urge your friends to do the same.
Thank you for all you do.
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
info@bordc.org
http://bordc.org
Text of the Declaration signature ad (artwork coming
soon at www.constitutioncampaign.org.):
When in the course of human events the government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the Right of the People to alter it and demand restoration of those Constitutional Principles that have so long assured their Liberty, Safety, and Happiness.
Therefore, on the anniversary of our Independence, we offer this new declaration for our times.
The history of this president is one of arbitrary usurpations of power, the effect of which is to establish tyranny through false promises of greater security.
He has created a multitude of new programs and sent swarms of petty officers to spy on Americans in a misguided effort to combat foreign terrorism. He has invested these agents with sweeping new powers to monitor our conversations and ransack our personal papers and effects without judicial supervision or any reason to believe - as the Constitution requires - that a crime has been committed.
He has further claimed the power to disregard legislation that Congress has passed.
He has suspended the laws and treaties against torture, authorized the kidnapping of mere suspects, and transported hundreds of prisoners beyond seas so that no independent judiciary could question the legality of their mistreatment.
He and his supporters in Congress have granted amnesty to the officials who unleashed torture and humiliation upon helpless prisoners, to the disgrace of our nation.
He has denied these prisoners access to attorneys, family, and friends, and has claimed the right to try them before military tribunals specifically designed to disregard the most basic principles of law.
He has imprisoned thousands of lawful immigrants for months without charges, under brutal conditions, until his agents, rather than independent courts, decided that they posed no threat.
He has wrapped his usurpations of power and his deprivations of liberty in thick cloaks of secrecy, thereby showing contempt for the rule of law and the proper functions of Congress, the courts, and the press.
At every stage of these oppressions we have sought redress, but our petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
We, therefore, resolve to resist these usurpations by all lawful means at our disposal. To this end, we insist that the powers of our national government be shared by all branches of government and not concentrated in one alone. And we call upon Congress, the courts, and the press to reassert their constitutional functions vigorously and restore the promise that is America.
To these ends, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
By Christopher Pyle, with apologies to Thomas Jefferson