SpawnPoint

“When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

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. Such has been the patient
Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.

He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable , and distant from the Depository of their Public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and payment of their Salaries.

He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.

He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of, and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by out Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For Cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouringProvince, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by
the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace,
Friends.

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.

JOHN HANCOCK, President

Attest.
CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.

SIGNERS

Adams, John MA Lawyer
Adams, Samuel MA Political leader
Bartlett, Josiah NH Physician, Judge
Braxton, Carter VA Farmer
Carroll, Charles of Carrollton MD Lawyer
Chase, Samuel MD Judge
Clark, Abraham NJ Surveyor
Clymer, George PA Merchant
Ellery, William RI Lawyer
Floyd, William NY Soldier
Franklin, Benjamin PA Printer, Publisher
Gerry, Elbridge MA Merchant
Gwinnett, Button GA Merchant
Hall, Lyman GA Physician
Hancock, John MA Merchant
Harrison, Benjamin VA Farmer
Hart, John NJ Farmer
Hewes, Joseph NC Merchant
Heyward, Thomas Jr. SC Lawyer, Farmer
Hooper, William NC Lawyer
Hopkins, Stephen RI Judge, Educator
Hopkinson, Francis NJ Judge, Author
Huntington, Samuel CT Judge
Jefferson, Thomas VA Lawyer
Lee, Francis Lightfoot VA Farmer
Lee, Richard Henry VA Farmer
Lewis, Francis NY Merchant
Livingston, Philip NY Merchant
Lynch, Thomas Jr. SC Farmer
McKean, Thomas DE Lawyer
Middleton, Arthur SC Farmer
Morris, Lewis NY Farmer
Morris, Robert PA Merchant
Morton, John PA Judge
Nelson, Thomas Jr. VA Farmer
Paca, William MD Judge
Paine, Robert Treat MA Judge
Penn, John NC Lawyer
Read, George DE Judge
Rodney, Caesar DE Judge
Ross, George PA Judge
Rush, Benjamin PA Physician
Rutledge, Edward SC Lawyer
Sherman, Roger CT Lawyer
Smith, James PA Lawyer
Stockton, Richard NJ Lawyer
Stone, Thomas MD Lawyer
Taylor, George PA Ironmaster
Thornton, Matthew NH Physician
Walter, George GA Judge
Whipple, William NH Merchant, Judge
Williams, William CT Merchant
Wilson, James PA Judge
Witherspoon, John NJ Educator
Wolcott, Oliver CT Judge
Wythe, George VA Lawyer”

On Thurs, May 24 2007 - Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki submitted to Iraq’s legislature a list of six ministers to fill the vacancies left after radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr’s political bloc pulled out of the Cabinet. Al-Maliki also announced that additional changes to his Cabinet are in the works. The Cabinet changes are small compared to the shifts in the Iraqi political system that will result from negotiations between the United States and Iran, prospective changes that motivated al-Sadr’s pullout from the al-Maliki government.

What we are seeing is a temporary shift.. cosmetic.. within the cabinet of Iraq. The REAL work going on is the detente between the US and IRAN. I believe we are beginning to see a shift towards a real government in Iraq that has a middle ground between Iranian objectives and a US pullout on our terms.

People usually misunderstand my statements when I refer to RealPolitik (Real Politik). They think it is a misspelling of the word, Politic — or a fancy spin on it. They also misunderstand the definition of “Real” in its use. Lets allow me to expand.

re·al·po·li·tik (rā-äl’pō’lĭ-tēk’) noun.
German : real, practical (from Late Latin reālis, real; + Politik, politics (from French politique, political, policy;

Politics based on practical objectives rather than on ideals. The word does not mean “real” in the English sense but rather connotes “things” — hence a politics of adaptation to things as they are. Realpolitik thus suggests a pragmatic, no-nonsense view and a disregard for ethical considerations. In diplomacy it is often associated with relentless, though realistic, pursuit of the national interest.

Some examples;
The policy of realpolitik was formally introduced to the Nixon White House by Henry Kissinger. In this context, the policy meant dealing with other powerful nations in a practical manner rather than on the basis of political doctrine or ethics — for instance, Nixon’s diplomacy with the People’s Republic of China, despite the U.S.’s opposition to communism and the previous doctrine of containment. Another example is Kissinger’s “green-lighting” of Indonesian dictator Suharto’s invasion of East Timor.
Ideological politics is often practiced by groups who are generally considered as radicals within their own communities. Their attitudes and actions may be characterized as unchanging regardless of the circumstances of their social context. In essence they believe that their actions must be dictated by a universal and unchanging set of rules, and should not be aimed at the achievement of a specific (and more limited) set of goals. In this sense ideological politics is much simpler and thus more attractive for those who are uncomfortable with the complexities and tensions inherent to all human societies. Such groups often reject compromises which they see as the abandonment of their ideals, and so sacrifice short-term political gain in favor of adhering to their principles.

A foreign policy guided by realpolitik can also be described as a

realist foreign policy

. Realpolitik is related to realism and can be regarded as one of its foundations, as both implicate power politics. Realpolitik however is a prescriptive guideline for policy-making (like foreign policy), while realism is a paradigm that includes a wide variety of theories that describe, explain and predict international relations. Realpolitik also focuses on the balance of power among nation-states, which is also a central concern in realism. Both also imply operation according to the belief that politics is based on the pursuit, possession, and application of power. This runs a risk of promoting crimes in times of war.