FT 16.13/16.14/16.15 - Symbolic Resolutions Megathread

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Mr. Speaker:

For too long we have allowed the Southern reactionaries and their bourgeoise enablers to claim the proud legacy of our republic. The history of Atlasia is a history of revolution: again, and again, and again down through the ages the enemies of slavery —of racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia —indeed the enemies of all systems of inequality and oppression —have waged a holy and unceasing war against the forces of darkness, of hate, of division, and of fear. The history of Atlasia is the history of the dismantling of the old feudal order and the creation of a democratic society —a project which continues in spite of the best efforts of those on the wrong side of history to suppress the voice of the people and divide them against each other.

Two-hundred forty-four years ago, the fifty-six delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted unanimously to declare their independence from the empire of Great Britain. This undertaking, begun in accordance with the noblest of principles —that all men are created equal —became the immediate target of reactionary attempts to co-opt the spirit of revolution, and to pervert it for their own ends. In the first of a long train of injuries against the cause of liberty, they demanded the recision of a clause of that declaration proclaiming the evil of slavery, in one fell stroke denying the humanity of their brothers and sisters of African descent who even they were engaged in the spirited defense of their liberties. These twelve score and four years later, the time has come to amend their error by adopting the language of Thomas Jefferson condemning a society what frameth mischief by a law.

We must never permit right-wing revisionists and lawless rioters to erase our history for the convenience of a modern audience. The struggle for justice is the heart of our past and the course of our future; rather than a white-washed, dumbed-down, empty celebration of a colorless past that never existed, let us revive the true history of our republic and embrace the ideals which led countless generations in pursuit of a more-perfect Union. Let us recommit to the struggle for human rights and human dignity, that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

I move for a vote.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

FT 16.13 – Nay for the record, aye for the lols.

FT 16.14 – Aye!

FT 16.15 – Aye!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

1865 Will Commence Again Resolution

Whereas, Fremont offers the most freedom to it's residents;

Whereas, Fremont has been known to fully support and encourage it's residents to exercise their Constitutional right to keep and bear arms;

Whereas, Fremont has been known to fully support and encourage it's residents to exercise their Constitutional right to free expression;

Whereas, Fremont, along with all of Atlasia, celebrates Independence Day on July 4th;

Be it resolved, that the Fremont Government:

1. Encourages Fremonters to celebrate Independence Day by practicing target shooting on disused statues of Confederate generals at designated locations.

2. Encourages the legal and safe use of low potency explosives in Independence Day celebrations.

3. Encourages Fremont residents to proudly display Atlasian, Fremont, state, and/or minority/Pride flags.

4. Encourages Fremont residents to safely burn or otherwise desecrate pro-Confederate, racist, or anti-LGBTQ paraphernalia and/or literature.

A RESOLUTION
to renew our revolutionary heritage

Section 1 (Title)
i. The title of this act shall be, the "Spirit of '76 Resolution."

Section 2 (Preamble)
i. WHEREAS, on the fourth day of July 1776, a declaration was adopted by the Second Continental Congress including, among other things, the following, to wit:

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.

ii. WHEREAS, at the time of its ratification, and by every age and generation since, this sentiment was understood to be wholly inimical to the institution of slavery;
iii. WHEREAS, the author of the declaration arranged the original draft of that document to condemn that institution in terms powerful and explicit; but
iv. WHEREAS, by the intrigue of certain delegates representative of the Southern Slave Power, these expressions were removed;
v. WHEREAS, this original contradiction, between the stated principles and subversive acts of the state, is the source of the struggle for human liberty which has continued twelve score and four years;

Section 3 (Resolves)
i. WE, THEREFORE, the representatives of the commonwealth of Frémont, in parliament assembled, do solemnly publish and declare, that the following deleted passage of the Declaration of American Independence be ratified by these states, from this date retroactively.

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.  This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where Men should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce.  And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he has obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed again the Liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.

ii. And wherefore may we achieve a more enlightened understanding of our history, and a general appreciation for the principles upon which the republican experiment is —and is not —maintained, without reference to modern revisionism which seeks to refute the moral sensibilities of the founding generation, in order to excuse their own disregard for the rights of their fellow citizens, we further urge that these resolves be published alongside the Declaration in commemoration of the anniversary of American independence, with note of their authorship and deletion.

(As ASV is still on LOA, I hope that the speaker will not mind if I sign these now while we still have an hour left of the Fourth.)