Our Right to Freely Speak and to Declare our Independence from the Corrupting Bonds of Big Money
At approximately Noon on Good Friday, April 21, Doris "Granny D" Haddock entered the Capitol Rotunda to make the following statement. She was joined by distinguished authors and leaders of the American environmental movement.
Here is her prepared statement:
Dear Friends,
The First Amendment to the Constitution says that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
We are peaceably assembled here, in this our hall, to freely speak, to petition our Government. Our grievance is that we no longer have proper representation. Our elected leaders are consumed by the need to raise election funds from special interests, and they no longer are able to represent the needs of the people or of our ravaged earth.
We must declare our independence from the corrupting bonds of big money in our election campaigns by reforming our campaign finance system. We must alter our government. As a people, we know how to declare our independence and authorize alterations of our government. Here is how we did so in Congress, July 4, 1776:
“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.”
“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.”
Dear friends, we would never seek to abolish now what has become our dear United States. But it is our constant intention that it should be a government of, by and for the people, not the special interests. Our right to alter our government must be used to sweep these halls clean of greedy interests so that people may use this government in service to each other's needs and to protect the condition of our earth. This we declare.
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Thank you very much.
While she was reading the passage from the Declaration of Independence, Ms. Haddock was arrested and manacled by Capitol Police. She was taken to the Capitol Police jail with 29 supporters, some of whom were merely standing near her. They were formally charged and released Friday evening. The trial date is set for 9 a.m., May 24 (a six month prison term is possible under the police charge). She was not harmed in the event, although a mature gentleman standing with her suffered a serious head gash when he fell on the pavement and, his wrists bound behind him, could not break his fall. He remained untreated for nearly four hours.