If he does nothing else in his career, J. J. Spaun, on June 15, 2025, earned a thundering footnote in the lore of professional golf. His U.S. Open victory was the stuff of legends, giving him instant notoriety. Unlike Spaun and other celebs in politics and entertainment, very few everyday Americans merit that kind of attention. But most of them couldn’t care less about achieving a place in history, preferring to joyously pocket $4.3 million for a week’s work, fade happily into the sunset and never look back. You on the other hand readily confess. You covet owning a footnote in history, however obscure — a footnote perhaps to be stumbled upon, solely, by a great, great, nerdy grandchild obsessed with ancestral trivia. Leaving behind some evidence, some relic of self is an ego driven notion, especially for people roaming life’s 4th quarter, grimly hanging on to some sense of purpose. Considering your vocation, this footnote must come in the form of prophecy — a commentary on the human condition. How dull a subject is that? And who cares? And what could be more arrogant than daring to comment on a subject that for at least 30 centuries has already consumed the most illustrious brains in human history? Think of them — Hegel, Socrates, Plutarch, Plato, Dostoevsky, Voltaire, Franklin — you get the idea — millions of words devoted to exploring and defining the indefinable human condition. Well, you can partially excuse your arrogance by limiting your contribution to a mere 981 words.

In 1776, some exceptional men founded a country that for the very first time set forth the precept of Individual Sovereignty — which is the basis of Individual Liberty. Nothing astonishing about that except that it changed the world — forever. Simply and directly stated, this precept is the engine that united a self-reliant people and built the rarest of nations. Against all odds, 249 years later, that engine still functions. But there also exists an active, adverse precept — a global doctrine — that repudiates and continuously strives to eradicate individual liberty. It has a name — Group Identity — a toxic ideology based on autocratic coercion, the hallmark of almost every regime in the world. There you have it, Matilda — a proclamation that accuses Group Identity as Mankind’s Supreme, Existential Evil — a fatal transgressor responsible for the nonstop butchery of the human race — a butchery that continues to this very day, at this very hour. But for this exercise you must put aside all discussion of tribes, empires, kingdoms, monarchies, dictatorships and aristocracies that existed prior to July 4, 1776.  On that day, 56* men signed a declaration that ordained individual liberty as the foundation of a new nation. Thomas Jefferson said his work “was intended to be an expression of the American mind.” But he was dissatisfied that the Declaration suffered 86 edits, and was angered by the removal of his clause that rebuked King George for the slave trade on the American colonies. You seriously doubt that one percent of Black America is privy to that historical detail.

Subsequently, The Constitution was ratified, giving primary power to the States. Individual sovereignty was off and running. But a mere 27 years later, that individualism was delivered a death blow when, in direct violation of The Constitution, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall judged and confirmed the Supremacy of the Federal Government over State sovereignty.

If John Marshall was the author of Federal Supremacy, he had a lot of help during his reign and in all the decades since. Everybody knows the Federal Government is one massive train wreck. With or without Trump, Individual Sovereignty will not survive because the people don’t know what it means; and if they do know, they don’t want it. In a nutshell, individual liberty means you stand alone. You are free to work, or not, be responsible and accountable for your own life, to live where you want, to succeed and save, or piss away your earnings and  fail, to own property, own business, worship, bear arms, love or hate — without government patronage and financial aid. In other words, free to make your bed and lie in it.

Similarly, people don’t know the meaning of Group Identity — a politically correct definition for Gang. America is packed with gangs. Criminal gangs, Political gangs. Neighborhood gangs. Racial gangs. Gender-based gangs. People are free to become gang members. But freedom ends there, because your allegiance is not to your own identity, but to the gang. Think Mafia. Think political party, and you understand. Think skin color, gender and race; and you understand. Think political extortion.

Free individuals ask nothing from the Federal Government except  to be left alone. However,  group identity special interests do want and do expect a free ride in the form of direct subsidies, housing, food, healthcare and affirmative action,  The gangs in Washington always respond enthusiastically to all manner of welfare and civil rights demands. They divvy up the public treasury and get a free ticket to voter loyalty.

Sovereign Individuals will not be subjugated. Like nuns, gang members take vows of obedience. Ask any member of the KKK,  Nazi, Politburo, CCP or U.S. Democrat parties.

Sovereign Individuals can certainly be evil and do evil things. But individual crimes most often have local boundaries — homicide. assault, battery, theft,  felonies, business fraud, etc.

By contrast, Group Identity, so often defined by political ideology, is the author of all war. Catastrophic destruction and genocide are its trademarks.

No surprise, your footnote, in truth, is not original and therefore will go unpublished. But you nonetheless lay claim to the prophecy, circa, July 4, 2025: “The  adoption of individual sovereignty and rejection of Group Identity by all nations and races will see the world embark on a new renaissance, defined by lasting peace and righteousness.”

Or, as someone once said — live by the Golden Rule.

* Note: On July 4, 1776, 50 members of the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence. Months later, six (6) members added their names. Ed.

www.conventionofstates.com