I was not damned by birth to be ruled by another man. I was not defaulted into thousands of pages of restrictions upon my freedom. I absolutely was born into the amount of rights I have. I was gifted by birth with the rights God gave me. These rights are not to be abused, questioned, eroded, or compromised for any greater good. And just like you cannot change my God, you cannot change my rights. And just like God didn’t give me the right to abuse, question, erode, or compromise your rights, you do not have the authority to abuse, question, erode, or compromise mine.

It is the ultimate insult to my intelligence and to my freedom when you say you must take any one of my rights to keep me safe, to keep me prosperous, or for the greater good of the country. The compromise on any one of my God given rights is a compromise on all of them. I am either a free man with the right to life, liberty, and my own property or I am not. I cannot be partially free just like I cannot be partially alive. You cannot take my heartbeat away, just a little bit. You cannot somewhat imprison me.

Let me be clear… These ARE NOT negotiations. I AM NOT asking to start a dialogue to discuss where to compromise on which rights of mine you want to abuse versus which rights I want to keep.

This is a declaration.

This is a declaration that I am free.

This is a declaration that I will live as God intended me to be.

This is a declaration that your false ownership of my rights is no more.

Signed,
Matthew Adam Byrd