In July 4, 1998, Al Krebs, a tireless activist for family farms and sustainable agriculture, and Ronnie Dugger, founder of the Alliance, each read separate but similar documents, titled "A Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule" at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Al Kreb's version is below.

We should never celebrate our country's history without remembering how much of it is written in innocent blood and lives lost through genocide, slavery, brutal repression here and illegal interventions in other countries. The old lie, that some lives don't matter, constantly crops up in new forms.

But there are events and ideas worth celebrating, too. We share this address with you as part of history that needs to be preserved and shared: a long history of resistance to money power, crony capitalism, and corporate rule. Let's keep making history! 

A 21st Century Populist Declaration of Independence

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for We the People to dissolve the political bonds which have connected us 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 entitled us, a decent respect to the opinions of humankind requires that the People should declare the causes which impel us to that separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men/women are created equal, that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights Governments—of the people, by the people and for the people—are instituted by the people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Whenever that Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form as the people shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Whenever a long train of abuses and usurpations are designed to reduce us to an absolute Oligarchy, it is Our right, it is Our duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for our future security.

Our nation is in a crisis. Our Constitution is being trashed, our infrastructure is crumbling, the education of our young neglected, the environment trashed, the lives of young men/women are being wasted in an illegal war, and the welfare of our veterans jettisoned. We are creating enemies all over the world while Our government is using fear to stay in power, enriching itself at the expense of present and future generations.

Common sense dictates that any member of Congress with an interest in truth or the Constitution wait until the 2018 midterms before instituting impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. After all, the House now is dominated by Trump's own party, and they don't seem too ruffled by anything he does. But in this latest essay, Ronnie Dugger gives an equally common sense reason for starting the impeachment call (as well as a useful recap of how impeachment works). He writes: 

Ronnie also offers a nice recap of Trump administration acts that will drag the country further to the right, from Neil Gorsuch's appointment to the Supreme Court and likely many right-wing judges now named to the lower courts; hand more economic power over to the rich and their immediate dependents through attacks on Medicare, the ACA repeal, and a revised tax policy; and bring us closer to both boots-on-the-ground war and the possibility of more impulsive missile strikes. The stakes are certainly high enough that the call to get House and possibly Senate "On the record, vote yes, vote no, or abstain!" on the future of a Trump presidency will be a welcome clarification of hundreds of 2018 candidates' stands on executive power and the Constitution.