On Aug. 2, 1776, a group of 56 courageous patriots signed the Declaration of Independence – a document listing 27 complaints against King George that constituted proof of the right of rebellion.

These brave colonists described “causes which impelled them to separation,” which ranged from the king dissolving Representative Houses to “quartering large bodies of armed troops among Us”; for imposing taxes on us without their consent to burning our towns and destroying the lives of our people. “United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States,” they wrote.

The declaration ends with the famous phrase, “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

These signers of the declaration put it all on the line for their beliefs. They understood they were taking on the entire British Empire, and they paid a heavy price: five of the signers were captured by the British during the course of the Revolutionary War; 12 had their homes ransacked and burned; two lost sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. These men sacrificed much for a cause greater than their own.

Flash forward to 2020 and a group of New Hampshire individuals who claim the same righteous path as our Founding Fathers, calling to dissolve our state’s government because of tyranny by the governor in his response to our public health crisis. They even produced their own declaration, lifting identical language from the 1776 document. They have declared themselves “patriots.” It would be laughable if it wasn’t so concerning.

Their document plagiarizes the original declaration. It files a list of grievances against their own King George (Gov. Chris Sununu): allowing people to vote absentee because of the COVID-19 virus; declaring a state of emergence due to the COVID-19 pandemic; temporarily closing businesses and schools; asking people to wear masks to protect each other from the spread of the COVID-19 virus – essentially the executive orders that have come from the governor during this extended state of emergency.

The 2020 signers boldly state the Nov. 3 election is “void” due to fraud, and the state ought to be totally dissolved. Dissolved.

In the most bizarre twist, six of the signers are state representatives, who were duly were elected in November election. That’s right – six House members have condemned the very election they won.

One would think when this declaration was formally delivered to the New Hampshire secretary of state it would have included letters of resignation from these six state reps. True patriots, like our Founding Fathers, must be willing to sacrifice everything for what they believe.

Not this crew. These erstwhile signers would prefer to have it both ways. They refuse to give up their seats in the New Hampshire House of Representatives – the very government body they refuse to recognize.

Perhaps instead of trying to find ways to disrupt our statewide attempts to halt the spread of COVID-19, these state representatives should emulate another Founding Father, George Washington, who quarantined his troops during the smallpox epidemic of 1777-78, then saved his starving men by leading them through a program of inoculation.

True patriotism and leadership are more than plagiarizing famous words and shouting false claims about attacks on liberty with firearms in hand. Leadership is being willing to stand by your convictions no matter what the personal cost. It’s about how you can better the community.

The six state representatives who signed this document are more like Tokyo Rose than Thomas Jefferson. Our Founding Fathers would be ashamed of their actions.

It would be funny if their tactics and intent weren’t so dangerous.

(Katherine Rogers of Concord represents Merrimack District 28 in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.)