* * * * * I think I love New Hampshire > [Art.] 10. [Right of Revolution.] Government being instituted for the > common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not > for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of > men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public > liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are > ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or > establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary > power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and > happiness of mankind. > Via Fans of the Adventures of Brigadier General John Stark [1], “New Hampshire State Constitution, Article 10 [2]” If one had to change the wording on the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution [3], this is what should replace it. And if you think I'm a crazed radical for thinking such thoughts, then I'm in good company (“God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion … What country can preserve its liberties if rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?” –Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence [4] and the Third President of the United States [5]; he's also quoted as saying [6], “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.”) Perhaps a move to New Hampshire [7] is in order? [1] http://community.livejournal.com/brggenjohnstark/6667.html [2] http://www.state.nh.us/constitution/billofrights.html [3] http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html# [4] http://www.archives.gov/national-archives- [5] http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/tj3.html [6] http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/summer/letter.html [7] http://freestateproject.org/ Email author at sean@conman.org