Photo by Valeriana Solaris | CC BY 2.0
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.
The United States Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776
In 2003 the American historian of Korea Bruce Cumings wrote that whether or not we would have another terrible war with North Korea was to be decided by a “capricious Administration that listens to nobody,” i.e., that of George W. Bush. And here we are again, put in the same position by the same party backing another capricious administration that is in charge of making the call—violence or diplomacy. But many observers feel that the recent hiring of the Three Bludgeoneers Gina Haspel, Michael Pompeo, and John Bolton seems downright “mad,” in the sense of the Mad Hatter in the story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
The safety and happiness of the People was the stated purpose of the new government that was established in 1776 in the United States. The word “the People,” unjustly, did not then include Native Americans, African slaves, or other members of homo sapiens in other countries, but at the time the idea that the ruled have the right to “to alter or to abolish” the rulers’ regime when it does not promote their safety and happiness was a…