If America is to be what the Revolution envisioned on July 4, 1776, a nation governed by laws, then the American people must speak out and defend that vision, writes Dennis Kucinich.
(Dennis Kucinich/Substack)
By Dennis Kucinich
Substack
In 1776, Thomas Paine set a revolutionary tone rejecting the King: “But where, say some, is the King of America? … as far as we approve of monarchy… in America the law is king.”
The American Revolution replaced the authority of a sovereign with the authority of a written Constitution and a people who govern themselves. Paine’s vision was the bedrock of the American Revolution, a declaration that no person — not a king, not a president, not a general — would stand above the law.
Today, nearly 250 years later, that vision is dimming, not because the words have faded, but because the institutions meant to uphold them have withered. And at the heart of this erosion is a truth too many fear to speak: we are witnessing the collapse of the implicit moral principles of the Declaration, the American promise of liberty under law.
The conduct of America’s current chief executive recalls the cadence of the usurpations of George III, iterated in the July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence. We have arrived at a George III moment.
July 4, 2025: A People’s Declaration
President Donald Trump watching as the American flag is raised on a newly-installed flagpole on the South Lawn of the White House, June 18, 2025. (White House / Daniel Torok)
When in the course of constitutional history, it becomes evident that the executive has turned from protector to predator of the republic, a decent respect for the original Declaration requires a recounting of the abuses, usurpations and betrayals now taking place and a statement of recommitment to those primary principles celebrated each Independence Day.
We reaffirm the Letter of the Declaration of Independence from 1776, as contrasted with the 2025 assault on the government of American people.
1776: “All… are created equal,” the principle of inherent Equality. 2025: Trump has acted contrary to this ideal. He has dismantled Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs across the federal government, military and public education systems, undermining the nation’s legislated commitment to equality and pluralism, in great tension with the Equal Protection Clause, of the 14th Amendment. He has attempted to make illegitimate the social and political strivings of generations of Americans, and has punished institutions seeking to uphold principles of equality.
1776: “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted….” This declarative principle is mirrored in Article I, U.S. Constitution; the government derives powers from consent of the governed. Government exists to serve the people, not the personal will of the Executive.
2025: President Trump has:
Declared wars without congressional consent, in direct violation of Article I, Section 8: Congress alone has power to declare war, as well as its derivative, the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
He has initiated aggressive mass roundups of immigrants and citizens alike, resulting in detention of lawful residents and amid citizens being detained in error, undermining the Fifth and 14th Amendments, the due process clause and habeas corpus protections under Article I, Section 9.
F.B.I. agents arresting Judge Hannah Dugan in Milwaukee on April 25 for interfering in an administrative arrest. (F.B.I./Wikimedia Commons/ Public Domain)
He has engaged in retaliatory defunding of academic institutions and students, undermining free speech and academic freedom, using an inherently misleading definition of “anti-Semitism” as a tool to suppress lawful speech on college campuses, punishing dissent, in an open assault on the First Amendment.
1776: “He has refused his Assent to Laws…”
2025: This president has engaged in unilateral military actions, bypassing Congress, disregarding constitutional and legislative checks on executive authority.
1776: “He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States…”
2025: The president has sanctioned indiscriminate roundups by masked agents, kidnappings, detentions and deportations violating due process, equal protection and established immigration law.
Demonstrators outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, D.C., after federal agents targeted pro-Palestine student activist Mahmoud Khalil for deportation. (Diane Krauthamer, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
1776: “He has obstructed the Administration of Justice…”
2025: The president’s attacks on the federal judiciary have represent transparent political interference in the deliberations of the judiciary, a separate but equal branch of government, established by Article III of the Constitution
1776: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices…”
2025: The president’s appointment of central administrative vigilantes, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, (DOGE) destructive of the Appointments Clause and the Civil Service Act. Illegally and indiscriminately removed thousands of apolitical civil servants from their jobs.
Trump with Elon Musk and a Tesla outside the White House on March 11. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley, Public Domain)
1776: “He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies…”
2025: The president deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, without a request from the state, in violation of the 10th Amendment and contrary to the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. §1385), which forbids the use of federal troops for domestic law enforcement.
California National Guard, on Trump’s orders, facing off against protestors in Los Angeles on June 10, 2025. (U.S. Northern Command/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)
1776: “He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power…”
2025: Through ordering the use of the military for civilian enforcement, the president has eroded the separation between the military and civil authority.
1776: “He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution…”
2025: Through his unilateral action which has drawn the United States into foreign policy entanglements, the president skirted the Foreign Assistance Act by committing U.S. resources absent explicit congressional authorization and negated customary international law and jeopardized the safety and security of our nation.
A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, on June 21 ahead of an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities under Operation Midnight Hammer. (U.S. Air Force – DVIDS, Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)
1776: “For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world…”
2025: Through the imposition of trade sanctions without congressional input, the president has violated the Commerce Clause (Article I, Section 8) of the U.S. Constitution.
1776: “For depriving us … of the benefits of Trial by Jury.”
2025: The president has been instrumental in the denial of due process in immigration proceedings, including denying access to counsel and meaningful review.
1776: “For transporting us beyond Seas…”
2025: He has ordered deportation, willy nilly, and expedited removals to foreign jurisdictions, which denies access to judicial review, violating international law obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 13.
1776: “For suspending our own Legislatures…”
2025: Through aggressive executive action and regulatory fiat in congressional jurisdiction, the president has diminished the practical role of Congress.
1776: “He has excited domestic insurrections…”
2025: He has used military force to suppress protest movements, labeling them insurrectionist, in conflict with 1st and 10th Amendment constitutional protections.
The Ideals of the American Revolution
A presidency, whose actions unfortunately so neatly align with the historical definitions of tyranny, as articulated in the Declaration of Independence, cannot be reconciled or trusted with the sacred values of constitutional governance.
We therefore reaffirm our allegiance not to a person, not to an office, but to the Constitution of the United States of America and to the principles of 1776. Once again, here in 2025, let us “mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortune, our sacred honor,” as did those patriots of so many years ago.
The ideals of the American Revolution, stated boldly in the Declaration of Independence, ordained in the Preamble, established in the Constitution, and firmly emphasized in the Bill of Rights, require the rights of the people are paramount, and that governmental power be held in check.
Laws must govern even the governors, lest law, bent by fear, ambition and partisan loyalty becomes a sword of repression.
If America is to remain what the Revolution envisioned in 1776, a nation governed by laws, then we the people must speak out, we must act and defend that vision.
Our freedom ultimately depends upon an enlightened, active citizenry. Otherwise we betray the past and surrender the future, and the nation fails.
This article is from the author’s Substack and reprinted with permission.
Views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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Most men and women police officers and sheriff deputies in America will look at this list of unconstitutional offenses and remark: “That’s quite the rap sheet!”
July 4, 1776: “All hail,” the passage of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This document announced the separation of the 13 North American colonies from Great Britain. July 4, 2025, M.I.A., in the Divided $tates of Corporate America, “the implicit moral principles of the Declaration, the American promise of liberty under law.”
July 5, 2025, “The Missing Years” 1993-2024. Two hundred forty-nine years later, “with regard to the war in Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, in 2016, the U.S. dropped 26,171 bombs. An average of 72 bombs every day-the equivalent of three an hour, on seven (7) countries. Everybody, knows, the USG/Nato v. Russia war in Ukraine began in February, 2014; &, today, July 5, 2025, the war,“ROARS!” Ya wanna a “piece” of this?” And, Lebanon?
*“History did not begin on 7 October 2023.” From the river to the sea, “the root of all the violence, including the violence of October 7th, is Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and its subjugation of the Palestinian people.” Arundhati Roy.
Everybody, knows, year after year, for f/eons, more than “The Law” has been violated, perverted, twisted by the US Presidents, 42-47, the M.I.C., the US Treasury, the US’ National Intere$ts, Corporations; & the US Congress, are the criminals, AND, “Living Free” from accountability, pursuing “Life, Liberty & Happiness.” Concluding, all these “holier than thou,” Documents, the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, the Minsk Agreements, Obamacare, “Do Not Apply,” in the year 2025 & onwards!!! Also, inapplicable, “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.” Sounds SFO. In action, today, is like golf, yesterday, when “g.o.l.f.” meant “gentlemen, only; ladies, fuhgeddabout it!!!”
From Bubba’s betrayal into Tush-Heiny’s “killing fields” through *“The Obamafication of America,” the process a country goes through when a man is elected leader of that country & destroys it from the inside out.,” is f/MADness.” The Mutually Agreed Deception, Destruction, Death, processed thru the Malarky Factory; &, delivered, to “we, the people,” on a “golden” platter, *“Trumpland.” “The dynamiting, by the Trump administration, of decayed and corrupt institutions will mark the end of the American experiment and the shift from inverted totalitarianism to dictatorship.” Chris Hedges. No doubt, “we hold “these truths” are self-evident.”
And, 249 years, later, “all men are not created equal.” It’s crystal clear. As clear as it is that “outta the gate,” Russia rocks the Queen.Ukraine is the Pawn. Et tu, USG/NATO? The “BBB” aka “Trumpland USA” — Mr. Fish.
No doubt, “we, the people,” are being “Snuffed Out!” I, LeoSun, hold this truth to be self-evident.”
* hxxps://pentransmissions.com/2024/10/15/no-propaganda-on-earth-can-hide-the-wound-that-is-palestine-arundhati-roys-pen-pinter-prize-2024-speech/
* hxxps://consortiumnews.com/2025/06/20/trump-war-the-constitution/
Figleaf 23 has a good point. Still, I believe the current Trump administration presents the closest thing to American fascism we’ve seen since the McCarthy era.
If comparing this rendering of the Declaration with Trump’s explanation of the document is insufficient to move The People, then we are truly and well fucked (of course, such insufficiency would/could come from bigotry, ignorance or indifference). Ultimately, the source of our failures of social responsibility is The People whose informed and active consent is required to moderate those allowed into leadership. No matter how one might parse the several details of the origin of indifference, finally, consent has been given to lawlessness.
Historically, such states have gone through cycles of diminution and destruction, revolution and reconfiguration; only this time, for this nation and this geopolitical environment, there is almost certainly not the time for this cycle to play out. Three great forces are arrayed against us: population pressure, environmental disruption and the terminating power of our weapons. It is unclear if new and innovative solutions can be devised or if only the old patterns will play out to whatever end they result in.
Oh how I wish you’d won your races for president Dennis Kucinich! You rock on so many levels!
Who turned America back into a colony? Who is the colonizer? Who controls the mainstream press? Who controls most members of Congress? While I generally respect Mr. Kucinich, I find this article evading the root of the problem. Very few public figures have the courage to address it head on. They don’t want to be JFK’d.
This, along with Frederick Douglass’s 1852 4th of July speech, should be required reading for every U.S. right winger who claims be be patriotic. Especially those who assert they’re exclusively so.
Also for the Democratic party elite whose corporate sponsorships mean they will do almost anything to avoid facing the truth.
And for all of us who aren’t connected to money and power as a reminder of what our government should be versus the evils of neoclassical (neolib) economic greed and neocon political lust for empire now destroying it.
Given thevast amount of blatant violations of the office of the presidency, why why on earth how on earth is it possible that Trump is still in office? How could he possibly, by any stretch of the imagination continue to be in office? we keep talking about the law and yet there doesn’t seem to be a law that prohibits this most gross That is unbelievably gross Transgressor of the United States To still continue to be in office? It is horrifying dangerous, and in incomprehensible. Trump should be removed from office immediately and should be behind bars. Every other person in his administration should have their passport revoked and exiled they should not ever be allowed back in the United States for their role in subverting US law to this fantastic degree
The Democrats are the facilitators of the ascension of Trump. When socialism gets muffled/gagged, fascism ascends to power, which the Democrats really have no disagreement with.
Yes, it is good that Americans know a little about the results of Mister Jefferson’s committee known as the Declaration of Independence. Most seem to get by with the one quote on Independence Day once a year about the Freedom to Pursue Happiness.
But, this is a highly selective reading from a loyal Democrat who of course did not write this piece when it was pretty much equally applicable to Emperor Biden. And most importantly, it omits, in its support of a massive Federal Government as long as its controlled by (D)’s, the very important bit that comes right after the Right to Pursue Happiness. Thus, perhaps people should read the entire passage instead of the cherry-picked (D) quotes. (If I’m typing it myself, I tend to change “Men” to “People” as a modern update. But for accuracy on Independence Day, here it is as written.)
“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.”
hxxps://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
PS… it has been noticeable since Bill Clinton that most of the ‘grievances” section of Mister Jefferson’s declaration were very applicable to modern America and its modern, bi-partisan King George’s.
The US constitution was written by wealthy land owners and only pertained to wealthy white men. It was hardly a groundbreaking document that conferred rights on all people’s living in the US, certainly not the black slaves, women, Native Americans or immigrants. The wealthy elites have no need of a constitution now that they have full control over our government, news media, military and financial systems. Limiting any constitutionally conferred rights only pertains to the voting public, not to the wealthy elites that control our government.
… thank you for that reminder.
it can’t be stated often enough!
No might want to check into the whole Thomas Payne thing- true many of the signers ended up hating him because he was a true radical and abolitionist. Probably not the only signer To feel that way
This is a peurile article. Most of what it ascribes to Trump were already well established abuses under previous presidents.
Fugkeaf23
Your are correct, just that most presidents only violate a few laws
not all all at once.
the country was formed by rebellion for the purpose of retaining our slave culture.
249 years ago our bill of rights were written to appeal to our best nature
then the constitution was written to rig in favor of the moneyed class
trump is merely a symptom of this line,
The slavery thing was a slave state thing…it was outlawed north of the Mason Dixon line. Attempts to violate or modify the law led to the civil war though probable the northern fear of continued minority rule by the sparsely populated slave states was a big concern. The south went so far as to invade Nicaragua and Cuba ( twice) to make new slave states before settling on making new slave states in areas where there was little or no advantage to owning slaves- Texas for instance
There is definately a lot to find out about this subject. I like all the points you made