No Kings Then, No Kings Today

Declaring Our Independence: No Kings then, No Kings Today

By Louise Rothman-Riemer, LWVBA Co-President

250 years ago, in July of 1776, our founding fathers sent a Declaration of Independence to King George III of England.  Among the grievances enumerated in this critical founding document, many might well be applied to what has been happening today under the current Administration.

For 250 years our democracy has been evolving to accept and acknowledge the reality and importance of being more inclusive, and as a result of this acknowledgement and understanding of the damaging ways of our past we have expanded the blessing of liberty and equality to all of our many peoples and their differing perspectives, backgrounds and origins. The League of Women Voters as an organization has acknowledged its own prejudices that at our very founding racist Suffragist leaders excluded peoples of color from participating equally .

While there is no direct comparison to what has been going on since 2025 and  the inauguration of Donald J. Trump many of the 1776 grievances sound familiar to many of us.

Our Declaration of Independence  contains one  of the most important sentences ever written: 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.”

Today we have a president and his supporters who care little about “We the People” as much as they care about themselves and other extremely wealthy business cronies. It is with great concern to the League of Women Voters when we see them trying to exclude from the vote those who do not agree with them or are not white.

Let us look at some of those grievances outlined in our “Declaration of Independence” against George III. Do they not sound way too familiar? 

For example: “

He has refused his Asset to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good…

He has forbidden Governors (Congress) to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and 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 endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose, obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigner; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriation of Lands…

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices….

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation…

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences…

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

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burn our town, and destroyed the lives of our people…

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us…

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.”

What is important about these seeming parallels is the direction the current Administration has and is taking which flies in the face of what we resolved to be in 1776. A government of the people, not a government of a person!

Today the attack on our democracy is the most destructive and dangerous we have faced in the last two centuries. The current Administration, especially in its attack on immigrants and people of color has created a palpable sense of fear and distrust of our government and the security of our governmental processes based often on misinformation and disparagement of many of our institutions. It is essential that we stand up against this rising tide of fascism supported by the current Administration.

Voting is essential to our democracy and when people are fearful of exercising their vote; we are in deep trouble! The League of Women Voters has been working to raise the consciousness of all voters that Democracy requires constant vigilance to preserve freedoms for all. Today many have grievances like those our founders had against a king who felt his words and his actions were more important than the needs and desires of the people who were being governed. We the People must be heard, but only if we speak up loud and clear.