Most citizens are familiar with the eloquent opening and closing lines of the Declaration of Independence. Less known but more powerful is the rapid-fire listing of the “long train of abuses” of the American colony by King George III.

In the biting, angry style of the original Declaration, here is an array of abuses suffered under President Bush – who also happens to be the third Chief of State named George. Many of his abuses surfaced after the most obvious one of all, the fraudulent rationale George the Third advanced for the invasion of Iraq.

He has consistently misled the public with claims of “success” and promises of “victory” in the war.

He has stubbornly maintained the naive notion that we could establish a democratic system in Iraq that would spread through the Middle East, contrary to cultures thousands of years old.

He has sanctioned the brutality of torture of “suspects” by American personnel and then brazenly denied that we were torturing anybody.

He has compounded the shame of the practice of torture by the shadowy process of “rendition,” by which the United States delivered suspects to other nations known to torture prisoners.

He and his administration have hidden their intentions and practices behind such euphemisms for torture as Vice President Cheney’s phrase “robust interrogation.”

He has resisted the scientific evidence of the causes and threats of global warming.

He has appointed incompetents to high office, including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who seems never to have heard of the guiding concept of “a government of laws, not men,” and FEMA director “Brownie,” of the Gulf coast hurricane disaster.

He has stood by benignly while the United States plunged trillions of dollars more deeply into the national debt.

He has widened the gap between rich and poor with tax policies and structures favoring millionaires and billionaires while neglecting citizens at the lower rungs of the economic ladder.

He has used the presidential pulpit to oversimplify, not educate; to rationalize, not clarify; to perfect slogans, not articulate sensible insights; to manipulate, not lead.

He has insulted his audiences with a smirking, snickering style indicating his dismay that the people are not smart enough to “get it,” which means to agree with him.

He has been caught in so many mistakes of judgment and action – with an arrogant refusal to acknowledge them – that the trust of Americans and the people of other nations has plummeted to new lows.

He has done far too little to reduce the obscenely massive arsenals of nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction still wielded by the United States and Russia, instead choosing photo ops for the signing of such meaningless agreements as the “Treaty of Moscow,” containing far more loopholes than law.

He has espoused “pre-emptive war,” the frightening principle that the United States would be justified in taking military action against any nasty nation that the president thinks maybe, perhaps, might be planning to attack us.

He has seriously wounded his own Republican Party, severely diminished the dignity of the Presidency more than at any time since Nixon, and demoralized millions of patriotic Americans who want to be proud of their country.

Perhaps most damning, he has violated his oath of office as president, in which he swore to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.” Instead, he has arbitrarily stomped on such constitutional provisions as the right to a speedy and fair trial and protection of a citizen’s privacy against surveillance not authorized by a court.

What can any citizen do about George the Third, with a year and a half to go in office?

Forget impeachment. How about adopting a personal Declaration of Independence – independence from his deceptions and his cynical manipulation?

How? With the public action that any politician dreads the most: the chilly scorn of indifference. Don’t watch his press conferences, listen to his radio addresses or notice his photo ops. Turn him off. Boycott Bush.

The news media and the growing number of political leaders appalled by his behavior can mount the overt challenges to his actions and words.

Winthrop Griffith, of Blue Hill, is an independent writer and author who worked in Washington, D.C., for 15 years, primarily as a Senate staff professional.