We are doing the most patriotic thing.....

La Junta Tribune Democrat

Letters to the Editor, July 6, 2009

Declaration of Independence

In recognition of July 4^th I read through the Declaration of Independence. In it our foregathers proclaimed 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 that, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

I thought about the irony of our situation here in Southeastern Colorado on July 4^th, 2009. The signers of the Declaration would be shocked to learn that 17,000 American citizens face a threat to their livelihoods, their homes, their lands, their pursuit of happiness, not from the oppressive tyranny of an English King, but from their own military. How appalled they would be to learn that even though every City and County in our part of the State, and both houses of our State Legislature have expressed their opposition to it, the Army continue to harass us with their plan to federalize 6.9 million acres of private and state land, and to depopulate the entire southeastern corner of the state, in order to created a huge, live-fire range. How ashamed they would be to learn that this power is not “derived from the consent of the governed,” but comes by way of the economic influence of huge military contractors.

Most people are familiar with the first couple of paragraphs of the Declaration, but it is instructive to read through to the list of specific grievances against the English King. Among them are that he had, “sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” That he allowed, “Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.” And that he had, “affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.”

As I reflect upon the values embodied in The Declaration of Independence it strikes me that the most patriotic thing that we can do to honor our forefathers is stand together in opposition to the federalization of our state’s lands and the militarization of our state’s economy.

Doug Holdread

Trinidad