Oh America, happy birthday. Happy remembering how we declared our independence from the world’s most powerful rule.

Happy remembering how we proclaimed our freedom from the very idea of empire, when we declared, “all humans are equal,” when we pronounced that governments get their powers from the consent of the governed, when we deemed it our right and duty to overthrow any rulers who impose on us empire and the ideas of empire.

Today, on this your birthday, we declare again our independence from empire and from the notions of empire;

from the notion that the need to control requires that some dominate others, we declare our independence,

from the belief that the rulers may use us to achieve their goals, we declare our independence,

from the prejudice that nature equips men better than women to dominate, and some races and classes to dominate, we declare our independence,

from the assumption that imperial ends justify the use of any means, we declare our independence,

from the dogma that violence is redemptive, that violence is the only language enemies understand, we declare our independence. read more…