Declaration Project

When in the course of the human experience, it becomes necessary for one people to eradicate the ignorance and complacency which have allowed bullshit to thrive, and to assume among the powers of the earth the ability of the people to recognize and condemn the political manipulation that smothers reason, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to this realization.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men have equal political potential, that they are endowed by their creator with the ability to formulate their own beliefs and express their opinions freely – that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed – whenever any government and the associated media takes advantage of this right, it is the rights of the people to fight this abomination and institute a culture of awareness and political participation.  Prudence, indeed, will dictate that institutions should not be condemned in such a way for light and transient reasons, but when a long train of abuses and usurpations have been committed to take advantage of the ill informed and to mute the informed, it is the people’s responsibility to speak out and provide safeguards for logic and reason. 

The history of the American political machine is a history of trickery and lies, all in the attempt to attain great power over the citizens of these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

Politicians routinely spread misinformation, with the knowledge that many of those listening have no desire to find the truth.

They take advantage of the general political and global ignorance that proliferates in these states by appealing solely to emotion, with policy as an afterthought.

They disguise ideas and policies detrimental to liberty and to society by deceiving the people into believing they stand for the traditional American values.

These policies are informed almost entirely by the wishes of their obscenely wealthy donors whose only goal is to further enlarge that wealth.

The media often sensationalizes otherwise unimportant news, striving to capture the hearts of mindless, superficial citizens,

The mediay often project complete falsehoods with the knowledge that, since they are the sole source of information to their viewers, they will not be questioned.

They polarize the American people through biased news coverage and make civilized discourse inconceivable for the sole purpose of boosting ratings and meeting their bottom line.  

In every stage of these applications of bullshit, we, the crusaders for political transparency, have attempted to raise awareness. Our repeated endeavors, however, have been answered only by repeated ignorance. A society in which the leadership is so manipulative and the people so easily manipulated does not deserve to be called a democracy.

We, therefore, the concerned citizens of the United States of America, united under our censure of bullshit, are appealing to the people of this country – in the name of the the original democratic goals intended by the founding fathers – to do away with their passive denial, and consciously rise from the muck of ignorance to stay vigilant against the political lies and misinformation that in the past misled them.  

To achieve this, the people must receive their news from sources that report facts, not opinions.

The people must keep the lines of dialogue and debate open for all of the citizenry to share ideas and learn from each other.

The people must be open to all reasonable opinions and stand strong against ideas laiden with bullshit.

The people must stand up to the rich and the powerful, and look these bullshitographers in the eye and convey to them that the people will not be fooled by their lies.  

The people must alter the political environment from one of anger and deceit to one of virtue and respect for all.

The people must be active contributors to the political process and make informed decisions about whom they elect.  

This is what the people must do.

It will not be easy to eradicate the forces of bullshit, but with a firm reliance on the undeniable power of education and awareness, we mutually pledge to promote the cognizance necessary to institute a widespread political culture of honesty, transparency and truth so that our country can thrive once again.

— Noah Eckstein, Colin Fennelly, Keegan McKenna, and Ethan Riddell, Students @ Harwood Union High School, Moretown, Vermont