As The Declaration of Independence tells us, (back in the 1700's, when this was written), the American Colonies were suffering the fruits of rapine, pillage, torture, and murder at the hands of their "legitimately constituted Government", Great Britain.
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 shewn, 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
As the Declaration of Independence goes on to specify, they did much, and suffered even more, to prevent the War of Independence that ultimately took the lives of thousands and thousands on both sides.
Unfortunately, the British turned a deaf ear to the appeals of the colonists, and as a result, they were compelled by necessity to separate themselves from the British Crown.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, 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 these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare,
That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they 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.
(The Declaration of Independence, 1776)
This fundamental doctrine has been at the cornerstone of American democratic freedom - that a people, any people, have the right to decide for themselves what kind of government they wish to have; and that when any person, place, thing, government, principality, or power seeks to deny them this freedom, then the rights and liberties of the Entire Free World are at risk.
In the 1940's, Nazi Fascism threatened mankind. To help in the defense of all mankind the free world banded together to fight, die, and ultimately defeat this fascist threat.
Again and again mankind has been called upon to respect, protect, and defend people who would be holden under the yoke of tyrannical and despotic governments. Again and again mankind has been asked to "mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor" in the defense of democratic ideals the world over.
And so it is in the Ukraine.
Here we have a government who, daily, makes a disgrace of everything we hold dear.
They have:
- Openly declared themselves Neo-Fascists and have openly repudiated any claim to decency or democratic government.
- Engaged in horrible repression and "ethnic cleansing" of anyone who is not, (in their opinion), a "pure Ukrainian".
- Committed horrific human atrocities, torture, and death upon anyone who dares contradict their atrocious ways.
- It is a matter of open public record that they have, on several occasions, herded scores of people into buildings, locked all the windows and doors, and then set the buildings ablaze; roasting alive everyone inside. Gangs of thugs surrounded the buildings with the sole purpose of clubbing to death anyone who might - by the grace of God - escape the terrible blaze within.
- They have utterly refused to recognize the right of simple existence to anyone who dares speak any language but Ukrainian within their borders.
- They have actually and literally outlawed the existence of any other ethnic groups within Ukrainian borders.
- It is a tradition, not unlike our own, that veterans of the Second World War occasionally present themselves in the uniform of their service, wearing whatever medals and honors they earned, as a token of respect and honor for those that died in the service of all mankind.
- In the Ukraine, anyone who does that nowadays is either jailed, clubbed, tortured, or killed. Aged veterans of the Second World War have been driven from their homes, had their property and possessions pillaged and burned, and if they didn't manage to escape with the clothes on their backs, they paid the ultimate price at the hands of the generations that they fought and bled to defend.
About a year or so ago, back when this all began, the people of the Crimean peninsula were horrified at what the so-called "government" in Kiev was doing. They decided - in the grand and noble tradition of self-government - to have nothing more to do with those self-serving Neo-Fascist thugs who claimed the right to govern them.
As a result, they decided to divorce themselves from the Fascist government in Kiev.
Almost exactly a year ago today, they held an open, public, and internationally supervised referendum to decide if they wanted to remain with the Ukraine, become an independent and self-governing country, or join Russia. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of joining the Russian Federation. It wasn't coerced, it wasn't forced, and it was supervised and sanctioned by a number of neutral, third-party nations who verified the legitimacy, honesty, and fairness of the electoral process.
The people in the Eastern Ukraine faced the same problems. They were being harassed, discriminated against, tortured, and brutally murdered - all in the name of "ethnic cleansing". And, like their Crimean brethren, they decided that they needed to separate themselves from the Neo-Fascists in Kiev.
And what was their reward?
The "government" in Kiev declared them "terrorists", and waged a war of aggression on them.
These people are mostly miners, farmers, and simple tradespeople. There was not one single case of their performing even one single act of terrorism. In fact, if the badge of "terrorist" is to be hung on anyone, it should be hung on the people of the Ukraine, for they, they themselves, burned, pillaged, tortured, raped, and murdered anyone who fell into their grasp.
They did not distinguish between man, woman or child. Neither age nor gender stayed their hand. They did not discriminate between hospital, school, kindergarten, or church. They deliberately shelled, bombed, burned, and destroyed entire residential districts - bombing high-rise apartment buildings and private homes to the ground - in an attempt to beat these people into submission.
And, like every tyrant before them, like every fascist regime in the past, they have failed. They have failed to beat into submission people who wish to be free. They have failed to beat into submission a people who were willing to fight, even die, to protect those freedoms that we, ourselves, have declared to be "self-evident".
It's time we remember that fundamental promise we made to the world more than 200 years ago:
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.
And why not?
Jim (JR)
