We hold some truths to be self-evident,
We hold some rights to be inalienable, inherent, intrinsic, innate ...
immutable.

One such truth is this:

Just Power over a Free People is derived from the Consent of the Governed.

Power not so derived is inherently unjust.
People not so governed are intrinsically un-free.

The right of the free citizens of a democracy
to grant or deny their consent
to the laws under which they must live
is a right, and a power,
that is inalienably, inherently, intrinsically
innately their own.

A free people cannot abdicate their responsibility,
cannot delegate their consent to others,
cannot allow themselves to be controlled
“in all cases whatsoever,” and still remain free.

As our forefathers warned their British brethren,
any attempt to exercise such power,
or to allow it to be exercised,
without their active input,
without their continuing and explicit consent,
constitutes dependence, subjugation, and yes, slavery.

To govern a people in such a manner means that,
inherently, intrinsically,
that people is not free.

The right of a free people
to consent to the power that governs them
cannot be given away by their forbears,
nor can it be assumed away by their fellow citizens.
In that right, in that power of consent, granted or withheld,
is the essence of their freedom.

No more than race, gender, or age, or other inherent qualities,
neither can the location or the zip code of citizens’ dwellings
be a legitimate delimiter or qualifier
of those citizens’ innate rights to grant or deny consent
to the laws under which they must live.

Even though un-exercised and denied,
unrecognized and disrespected,
yet the inherent right to grant or withhold consent
is the only means available
to justify and legitimize power over a free people.

Just power over a free people flows only from the people themselves,
and is justified by the people’s active, continuing consent, freely given.

Powers not granted to those governing
by the consent of those governed
are reserved to the people.

Power not consented to by a free people lacks legitimacy.
When the right to grant or deny that consent is suppressed,
when power is exercised in the absence of such consent,
to the extent that such power is imposed,
that power is inherently unjust and illegitimate.

Nothing can be said or done by the various parties to change that fact.

No contracts, no clauses, no codicils, no covenants, no compromises, no compacts, no congresses, no constitutions, even, that incorporate such provisions as
“exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever” over a community of people,
while denying those same people representation,
thus denying them even the opportunity
to either grant or withhold their consent . . .
none of these can be a legitimate means
for the exercise of power over a free people.

We hold that this Truth is Self-evident because of the following:

A people governed in such a manner, an otherwise intrinsically free people,
governed by a legislative body in which they have no representation,
which legislative body nevertheless asserts over them
“exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever”,
imposing laws to which the people have not only not granted consent,
but not even been given the opportunity to grant such consent . . .
A people governed in such a manner are inherently un-free.