Critical Independence Theory

When I first noticed that the US was one of the few former British colonies to wage a bloody war of independence, while many other colonies in the empire figured a less bloody way out, I started to suspect something wasn’t adding up. Maybe the US founders were too hot-headed, as partially right as their grievances may have been. Maybe they sucked at negotiating a smarter way forward. Maybe the US was not the architect of democracy it crowned itself in 1776. But more disturbingly, maybe it wasn’t as interested in unalienable rights as it proclaimed in its declaration of independence. 

I mean let’s be clear about one thing: the monarchy in 1776 was far from perfect. In fact as ways to lead large masses of people go it was on thin ice and borrowed time. 

And yet as monarchies go, the House of Hanover with its four Georges was fairly savvy. 

Peeling back the onion:

The Kingdom already had a Parliament. America was not God’s gift to democracy, even if to be fair it did move the needle significantly to the left. Great Britain’s parliament dated back to 1707. And that parliament was actually a merger of two parliaments dating back to the 1200s (England and Scotland).

There were two houses in that parliament: Lords and Commons. As the names imply, the monarchy controlled the ruling House of Lords.  Commons had influence, but not exactly in control. And yet, wisely, they were allowed to exist. By a monarchy that understood it could not hold on to absolute power forever.

In 1832 the Reform Act in Britain turned the tables, and democracy experienced another seismic shift. Without a single shot fired. No fireworks needed, no PR stunt. The House of Commons roared.

Almost immediately the British Parliament, led by the House of Commons, abolished slavery. 30 years prior to the United States. Once again, not a shot fired. 

Unintentionally I’m sure, the United States Declaration of Independence was set up for a fatal flaw from the start. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” 

Not all founders of America were slaveowners. In fact less than you’d expect from the time. And yet the majority were. Exactly two-thirds. Makes you wonder about that “two-thirds majority” ratio inscribed from the start. Article V.

The cynic in my brain now believes that the mighty American Declaration of Independence was just another oligarchic tantrum in the history of human civilization.  No, we don’t want to play by anyone else’s rules. Look at all this rich land. We don’t need you anymore, go away. There’s a new sheriff in town. I’m the new king now. Er, president. 

And yet the fair-minded side of my conscience refuses to throw out the baby, when throwing out the dirty bathwater. The US has contributed amazing wonders to our world. Even in a parallel universe, without a bloody revolution, it very likely would still be a beacon of civilization. And as it flirts with fascism today, dancing with the devil it has never known, history will still remember it kindly. 

Progress is scrappy. Civilization is painfully slow. Evolution can only be fathomed as a freeze frame.

“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.”

Take heed, Republican & Democratic parties: the course of human events is coming around full circle.