A declaration is an affirmation. Independence means self-government. They could have called it, The Affirmation of Self-Government. However I am sure we can all agree, The Declaration of Independence, sounds way more cool! Our founding document, announces and asserts our affirmation of self-government; freedom and liberty for all.

The SPIRIT of 1776 was the HOLY SPIRIT and is our TRUE NORTH!

My fellow lovers of liberty, hold fast to the American dream, visualize a better world without so much violence, official lawlessness and oppression, believe it into reality. The free market is a more powerful and efficient regulator than government. Downsize DC, make that LEAP of faith to let ethics, compassion and the free market rule! Get tough on violent crime!

You know, money and drugs have been demonized and made to seem evil but in truth both can be powerful forces for good. Clearly it is not the drugs or money that are wicked, it is how they are used by people. The love of money to the point of moral bankruptcy and the use of drugs to the point of abuse can be a danger to society and life threatening to the individual.

Morally bankrupt Drug War II results in ruined lives, destroyed families, increased violence and wasted taxes! Don’t be fooled by any drug warrior politicians’ vision of a "kinder, gentler America."

The DEA acknowledged agents left Daniel Chong, 24, a senior in engineering at UC San Diego, alone in a federal holding cell four to five days with no toilet, no food or water after he was swept up in a drug raid. He was put in a cell on April 21 and forgotten....until they found him and called paramedics on April 25. Strangely some meth was left in his cell accidentally. Talk about a cluster of flub-ups!

"The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons," affirmed Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Harassing disabled, sick and dying citizens is an Un-American activity! Honest Abe noted, "The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly."

Could the California DEA officers possibly have taken his comment to heart? The injustice is plain as the noses on our faces in the recent raids on medical cannabis businesses. Or... are these raids on state sanctioned dispensaries about intimidation and silencing proponents of change to better, safer policy for society and the individual?

Whichever, they could be key in causing the shift to saner policy to hit the fan. "We are getting very close to a tipping point on this issue," declared Richard Lee, one of 2013's Rebels with Just Cause. Sign the petition to STOP federal attacks on medical cannabis patients!

Many marijuana smokers are like our friend, Willie Nelson, who admits he used cannabis to wean himself from the bottle. "Many have turned their lives around by putting down the bottle and picking up the marijuana pipe," writes Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, in a recent Dallas Morning News letter to the editor.

The friends and families of recovering alcoholics no longer live in dread of their belligerent, down right cantankerous, often violent behavior under the influence of alcohol. Their loved ones no longer have the worry of them drunken driving; killing themselves and/or others in an auto accident.

The former alcohol users wake up without debilitating hangovers and are no longer at risk of drinking themselves to death. Because of their safer choice in medication, they now lead more productive, healthier, less stressful lives.

It is overkill and morally bankrupt to punish nonviolent adults for making a safer health choice, cannabis or marijuana, compared to other legal medicinal/social drugs. "Forcing pot smokers to relapse into alcoholism is not a good use of tax dollars," Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, noted in his recent DMN, LTE.

Most substance abuse problems stem from traumatic life experiences. Science says all addicts have a genetic inclination and have suffered a trauma trigger. The drug war is a persecution of tortured children, a cultural inquisition! Drug abuse is a deficiency disease. People don't quit their drug of choice until the body is making the missing chemicals in sufficient quantities.

"People that have PTSD claim that the only thing that helps them is smoking marijuana, so chances are that cannabinoid treatment may help them." Dr. Mechoulam, the first to synthesize THC.

"I think people in this country, when they see a patient in pain, will not deny that person a medication just because the drug has abuse potential," said Dr. John Halpern, a Harvard psychiatrist who is testing the effect of MDMA - assisted psychotherapy in late-stage cancer patients. MDMA, LSD and other psychotropics may yet prove to be be of tremendous value in psychotherapy.

The people believe in self-government and self-medication. All drug use is medical use. Social use to relax, to relieve stress is self-medication. Addiction does not respond well to punitive laws. Less than 1% of the US are actually addicted to anything illegal. Use resources to catch more violent and sexual predators, to process DNA and the back log of rape kits or to incarcerate those morally bankrupt, selling drugs to children or driving intoxicated.

Our soft on public safety, out-of-control, historically ignorant drug policy attracts those who want to milk this insane system for all it is worth. Ethical policy will attract more of those who will make our system run with the milk of human kindness.

Incarceration costs seven times treatment. Restore public and law enforcement safety! Change to ethical policy and show fiscal responsibility! Spend more on effective education instead of ineffective incarceration.

"Asset forfeiture is a mockery of the Bill of Rights. There is no presumption of innocence, no need to prove you guilty (or even charge you with a crime), no right to a jury trial, no right to confront your accuser, no right to a court-appointed attorney (even if the government has just stolen all your money), and no right to compensation for the property that's been taken." Harry Browne (1933-2006), Downsize DC co-founder. Forfeiture is a medieval practice of monarchical tyrants, reintroduced in America thanks to the Drug Wars; I (Alcohol Prohibition) and II (Drug Prohibition).

I am afraid; murderers and other violent predators roam free, while we police nonviolent adult social, medicinal and religious drug use. That's real soft on public safety, soft-in-the-head, out-of-control, historically ignorant policy.

Citizens Against Homicide highlights nationwide homicide, suspicious death and cover-up cases for families seeking justice. A 2009 drama, Citizen Jane, is based on the true story of the organization's founder Jane Alexander.

One 2012 Rebel with Just Cause is journalist and poet Javier Sicilia, whose son was killed in drug prohibition-related violence inspiring him to galvanize Mexican society and awaken international debate. In the summer of 2011, tens of thousands marched across Mexico to protest the drug war and the 50,000 drug prohibition related deaths in the previous five years.

Americans are not the only rebels with just cause but it is our patriotic duty to rebel against big government corruption and oppression.

Save lives instead of ruining them. Restore Justice, the guardian of liberty! End ALL federal drug laws. You can use Downsize DC's super-quick system to send one letter that will go to all three of your elected representatives. Save the American Dream, self-government; freedom from big government corruption and oppression!

The Innocence Project has exposed the racism, homophobia, anarchy and incompetence in our out-of-control "justice" system. Watch, "The Exonerated," you'll get the picture. Taking the chance of executing an innocent person makes no sense, "because of the expense of litigation and the appeals process, it costs, on average, $2.3 million to execute a prisoner in Texas—about three times the cost of incarcerating someone for forty years." End the death penalty!

Science should trump politics! We have to have a scientific basis for investigation findings and our laws; otherwise, it’s no different than witch-hunting.

Cindy Sheehan has refused to pay war taxes since Casey was killed in 2004. The IRS took her to court after 8 years, the judge's response to her lawyer's list of her reasons for not supporting war, "It seems like a very civil response to a very uncivil action." Listen to Clearing the FOG Radio Show and like them on Facebook. Kevin Zeese, the other 2012 Rebel with Just Cause is a co-host. Join the Take back the American Dream Conference.

Are we building our dream or a nightmare? "Websites such as The Real 2012 Delegate Count are more accurate than most sources in the mainstream media, but even that site has been underestimating the true number of Ron Paul delegates." Paul is still very much in the race. "At this point, there is still a legitimate chance that Ron Paul will be able to win enough delegates to deny Mitt Romney the nomination on the first ballot at the Republican national convention in Tampa. If Romney does not have the 1,144 delegates that he needs on the first ballot, then it becomes a brokered convention and anything becomes possible at that point."

Morally bankrupt financiers, empire builders and leaders in their pockets make capitalism abhorrent with their predatory capitalism. Predatory capitalism due to big government interference and protection destroys people. Benign or ethical capitalism, America's founders' vision of the free market, creates a world of abundance for all.

"Strike the root!" Be brave, that's how we end terror. All we have to do is stop being afraid, and stop acting out of fear. True patriots never forget America is the home of the free and the brave.

Revolution is Easy! Exercising your political might is just a click away. Thanks for all you do for reform!

Save lives instead of ruining them. Join LEAP! It is a LEAP year!! Join COP and DownSizeDC!

Get tough on violent crime! Restore Justice, the guardian of liberty!

Track your Senators' and Representative's votes by e-mail.

Changing who's in charge will not affect much. The real cause of this huge quagmire of failed policy is the beast, big government, that money hungry beast, Uncle Sam! Ma Freedom tells it like it is! The beauty of it is when we focus on down-sizing our government we regain our roots of self-government and secure the blessings of liberty for future generations and ourselves.

Compiled and written by Colleen McCool