Imagine the Declaration of Independence 2.0

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for the People to withdraw their consent from a government that has abandoned them, a decent respect to the opinions of humankind requires that we declare the causes which impel us to separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

• That all people are born equal in dignity and worth;
• That government exists solely to protect life, liberty, and the common good;
• That when government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new governance deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed.

The Government of the United States has ceased to represent the People and has instead entrenched the power of capital, corporations, and elites.

Therefore, we the undersigned declare that the present U.S. Government has lost its legitimacy, for reasons including but not limited to:

1. Abandoning the majority of its citizens through austerity measures that strip communities of healthcare, housing, and education.
2. Permitting unregulated artificial intelligence that destroys livelihoods, concentrates wealth, and undermines democracy.
3. Rescinding protections for clean air, water, and soil, placing corporate profit above the survival of future generations.
4. Dismantling social safety nets and emergency responses even as climate-fueled fires, hurricanes, and floods intensify.
5. Forcing millions off healthcare and leaving families vulnerable to preventable suffering and death.
6. Attacking the rights of workers, loosening labor laws, and enabling mass unemployment without recourse or compensation.
7. Eroding civil liberties and human rights, including the internment of citizens in camps under the guise of security or control.
8. Entrenching corporate money in politics through Citizens United and related rulings, ensuring the wealthy few rule over the many.
9. Suppressing democracy itself, by ignoring the voices and needs of the majority and consolidating power into the hands of a minority elite.

In other words, the U.S. federal government has forgone its primary purpose of existence: to protect life, liberty, and the common good.

Therefore:
We, the People, no longer recognize the legitimacy of the United States Government in its present form.

We declare the formation of a People’s Union, to act in the interest of justice, equality, and survival.

We pledge ourselves to the creation of a new democratic system, one rooted in ecological sustainability, economic fairness, and the dignity of every person.

In witness thereof, we affix our names, not as subjects to a failed state, but as free citizens, determined to secure a future worthy of humanity.