The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 277marized in this way. The Creatorhas endowed men with certainrights. Governments exist for thepurpose of securing these rightsto those under them. When agovernmentrather than performingthese ends primarily begins destroyingthem, and· indicates by along term trend that it cannot bebrought back to its purpose, "it isthe Right of the People to alter orabolish it...." This is the nub ofthe argument.A Majority Form of ActionThere is much that is left outof the simple statement of the doctrineof the right of revolutioncontained in the, Declaration of Independence.There was no need tospell it out on this occasion, andmany of the restrictions are implicit.The oppressions must afflictthe people generally; they must,therefore, be by a power alien tothe generality of the people. Andthe right to revolt belongs, at theleast, only to a majority, probablyonly to a consensus, and, ideally,to the people generally. This is tosay that a mino'flity does not havea right to revolution. The wholeidea of a minority having such aright is shot through with contradictions.The minority could onlyeffect this "right" by overcomingthe majority. If a minority had a"right" to alter or abolish a governmentand to erect another inits stead, it would be a "right" toimpose its will on a majority.Do minorities not have rights,then? Assuredly, they do, or soJefferson and many of his contemporariesthought. All men haverights; but the recourse to revolutionbelongs only to the preponderanceof the people. But suppose aminority (or, for that matter, acombination of several minorities)is oppressed and persecuted, whatrecourse do the members have ?The Founders believed that themembers of a minority have rightsas individuals which should be protectedin the system along with therights of those who happen to belongto the majority or consensus.For example, they have the rightto persuade others of the justiceof their cause - that is, to becomethe majority. Freedom of speechand of the press are devices forassuring the opportunity of exercisingthe right of persuasion. Butsuppose all fails within the systemto relieve the oppression? What isthe ultimate recourse of a minority?The ultimate recourse of anoppressed minority is migration.The right to migrate for a minorityis the corollary of the right torevolution for a majority.Metaphysical FoundationsThe right of revolution is metaphysical,not existential (and nonemay logically claim such a right