Declaration of Independence, considered

I am not exactly sure why I thought it was time, but I took the first couple of sections of the Declaration of Independence and slightly updated some of the language, to bring the meaning out more clearly:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

We hold that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among individual people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

We hold that whenever any government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government.  The foundation, principles, and organizations of power of that government being of a form that (to the People) shall seem most likely to ensure their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence dictates that goverments that have been long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.  All experience has shown that people are more disposed to suffer (while evils are sufferable) than to right themselves by abolishing the governments to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations by the Government seems to the People to have the effect of a plan to place them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to overthrow that Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.