liberalism vs the foundational principles of the american republic
The mainstream media, the academic elite, and the rest of the self-proclaimed intelligentsia continually bemoan the fact that our society is so polarized. "Why can't we be united?" they say. "Why do conservatives constantly try to divide us?" they say, usually after conservatives refuse to give in to some silly liberal demand. Some people say that we all have the same goals, that liberals and conservatives both want the same things--we just have different ideas about how to get there. I disagree. I don't believe that liberals and conservatives have the same goals. In a nutshell, the difference between liberals and conservatives is this: true conservatives believe in and support the founding principles of the United States of America. Liberals do not. That sounds pretty harsh, doesn't it? It's true, though. Modern liberalism loathes the foundational principles our great nation was founded upon, and the modern left is doing everything in its power to subvert those principles and destroy that foundation. Modern liberalism (secular progressivism) is the sworn enemy of the foundational principles of the American republic, and there can be no compromise with that enemy. I'll explain what I mean.
First, so that we are all on the same page, let's talk about what the foundational principles of the American republic are. There are 16 basic principles, and they are as follows:
1. God made all men equal--equal in His eyes and equal under human law.
2. All men are endowed by God with certain natural rights that can't be taken away from us. Among those rights are life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness.
3. In order to secure those rights, men institute government. Government gets its power from the people, a concept known as popular sovereignty.
4. When any government fails to secure those God-given rights, the people have the right to change that government, or to abolish it and to create a new one that will secure those rights.
5. These God-given rights are most likely to be secured if the government is constrained by a written constitution.
6. Our Constitution guarantees a republican form of government.
7. The republic will not survive without a religious and moral citizenry who in turn elect virtuous leaders.
8. Because religion, morality, and knowledge are necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged.
9. Our national government can only have those powers delegated to it by the Constitution. All other powers are reserved for the States and their citizens. This is called federalism.
10. The national government will be divided into 3 branches. This is called separation of powers.
11. A system of checks and balances will be created to prevent any one of those branches from abusing its power.
12. The judicial branch is intended to be the weakest of the 3 branches.
13. Majority rules, but not at the expense of the rights of the minority.
14. Life and liberty are secure only as long as property rights are secured.
15. Prosperity is highest in a free-market economy with minimal government regulations and low taxes.
16. The Constitution identifies specific individual rights that are to be protected. Those that are not identified for protection are not assumed to be under the jurisdiction of government--they are retained by the people.
What I intend to do over the next 16 days is to discuss each of these foundational principles of the American republic in some detail. I will show you where these principles come from and how they were built into the framework of this governmental system created by the Founding Fathers. I will also show you how modern liberalism is opposed to each of these principles, what they are doing to destroy that particular principle, and what our response as Christian conservatives should be. This should be fun! I'm a teacher of U.S. Government by trade, so I get a kick out of this!
First, so that we are all on the same page, let's talk about what the foundational principles of the American republic are. There are 16 basic principles, and they are as follows:
1. God made all men equal--equal in His eyes and equal under human law.
2. All men are endowed by God with certain natural rights that can't be taken away from us. Among those rights are life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness.
3. In order to secure those rights, men institute government. Government gets its power from the people, a concept known as popular sovereignty.
4. When any government fails to secure those God-given rights, the people have the right to change that government, or to abolish it and to create a new one that will secure those rights.
5. These God-given rights are most likely to be secured if the government is constrained by a written constitution.
6. Our Constitution guarantees a republican form of government.
7. The republic will not survive without a religious and moral citizenry who in turn elect virtuous leaders.
8. Because religion, morality, and knowledge are necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged.
9. Our national government can only have those powers delegated to it by the Constitution. All other powers are reserved for the States and their citizens. This is called federalism.
10. The national government will be divided into 3 branches. This is called separation of powers.
11. A system of checks and balances will be created to prevent any one of those branches from abusing its power.
12. The judicial branch is intended to be the weakest of the 3 branches.
13. Majority rules, but not at the expense of the rights of the minority.
14. Life and liberty are secure only as long as property rights are secured.
15. Prosperity is highest in a free-market economy with minimal government regulations and low taxes.
16. The Constitution identifies specific individual rights that are to be protected. Those that are not identified for protection are not assumed to be under the jurisdiction of government--they are retained by the people.
What I intend to do over the next 16 days is to discuss each of these foundational principles of the American republic in some detail. I will show you where these principles come from and how they were built into the framework of this governmental system created by the Founding Fathers. I will also show you how modern liberalism is opposed to each of these principles, what they are doing to destroy that particular principle, and what our response as Christian conservatives should be. This should be fun! I'm a teacher of U.S. Government by trade, so I get a kick out of this!
posted by hondo at 10:14 PM
6 Comments:
Hidden among the truths taken directly from the Constitution and Decalration of Independence are severla items that wopuld have to be classified as nothing more than personal opinion. Item 7 is the first of these, as the founders of our nation never mentioned religion as being necessary for good government. Number 8 is also opinion as it is based upon #7. Outright falsehood in #12, as the three branches were conceived with different but equally important powers.Finally, #15, "free-market economy", never a part of the founding priciples of our country, but a nice vague idea that seems to mean individuals must obey the laws but corporations can do whatever they want, and the government will not enforce laws which would cause a corporation to loose money.
You say all these things, yet....
You say all these nice things yet you utter fail to grasp that your "core" convictions are shared by many people, of your faith, of other faiths, and of no religious faith. These "core" convictions are also to be found in secular humanism. You fail utterly to understand the "Bill of Rights" which in its definition casts down utterly the notion of there being only one supreme religion by which we all must abide. We as a nation must abide by the rules of Men not of God.
You say you believe in equality and liberty, yet you also would deny others many right that others feel are self-evident to all.
You would deny two women to raise a child together in marriage or even in civil union, deny women entirely the choice to decide for themselves about terminating a pregnancy, and deny women access to birth control. You want to eliminate sex education in public schools or by any publicly funded organization.
You want censorship in TV and radio and movies for anything related to human sexuality all the while turning the other way when it comes to extreme violence and bloody brutality in the name of God or Country.
You want censorship in TV and radio and movies for anything that might question your definition of religion while, again, turning the other way when it comes to stereotypical portrayals of all other religions.
You want to suppress science and ban books from public school and public libraries that, again, may offer views that are alternative to or differ from Bible-based views.
You want one religion, yours, taught in public schools. You want one source of prayer, one source of doctrine, held up above all others.
You want your religion's "Top 10 List" or rules hanging on the walls of our courtrooms, rooms in which you want judges to be able to sentence all manner of men, women and children to death in direct violation of one of the very rules you want hanging. (Which in your hypocrisy you say the commandment is about "murder" not just "kill" -- an abomination of the literal word of God if the Bible is the literal word of God.) [1]
You have certainly convinced yourself that your "core" values are of "family" and are "Godly" and are "good," yet your actions have not convinced me.
What are you actions toward the least among us? Those in poverty? In jail? In the throes of addiction? Those who cross the desert to reach our country?
What government services should there be for these people? The down-trodden, the fallen, those who have lost their way. Why should not our government -- of the people, by the people and for the people -- help those in need?
What should be done about corporations, banks and insurance companies, exploiting, preying on and abandoning those of us least able to defend themselves? What of tax breaks for the rich and subsidies for corporations who more often than not take care only of themselves?
I could go on, but I tire.
I tire of your self-righteousness, your hypocrisy, your intolerance, your ignorance.
And I find it hard to forgive you even though you know not what you do.
I shall ask you, though, before I go. If we are a "Christian Nation," why are we currently at War?
One might, I realize late, that in my preceding comment I mean you personally when I say "you."
I mean instead the general Christian person in this country, those currently known as Neo-Con and Religious Right; the Limbaughs the Hannitys the Coulters the Perles and, indeed, the Bushs, the Cheneys and the Boltons, and, of course, the Dobsons, the Falwells and the Robertsons.
Anonymous, I don't know who your high school government teacher was, but he/she did a lousy job of teaching you about America's foundational principles. Please allow me to educate you.
First, you said that the Founding Fathers never mentioned religion or a religious and moral citizenry as being necessary to good government. You are incorrect. John Adams said, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Charles Carroll (signer of the Declaration of Independence) said, "Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments." George Washington said, "...reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." Look at http://www.eadshome.com/QuotesoftheFounders.htm
for more on this subject. Oh, and by the way, you questioned #8? That is a word-for-word quote from the Northwest Ordinance. Look it up.
Next, you stated that #12 is an outright falsehood. Again, you are incorrect. The Founding Fathers absolutely, without a doubt, considered the judicial branch to be the weakest of the three, and intended it to be so. That is a fact beyond dispute. Don't take my word for that, however. Take the word of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, as you may or may not be aware, was one of the authors of "The Federalist Papers"--sort of the "owner's manual" for the Constitution. Ponder this direct quote from The Federalist #78:
"Whoever attentively considers the different departments of power must perceive, that, in a government in which they are separated from each other, the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them. The Executive not only dispenses the honors, but holds the sword of the community. The legislature not only commands the purse, but prescribes the rules by which the duties and rights of every citizen are to be regulated. The judiciary, on the contrary, has no influence over either the sword or the purse; no direction either of the strength or of the wealth of the society; and can take no active resolution whatever. It may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments." That seems pretty clear to me!
Last, you say that a free market economy was never a founding principle of our country. Wrong again! Look at the Declaration of Independence. It says, "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." When the Founding Fathers talked about the pursuit of happiness, they were talking about property rights. To their way of thinking, a person's property rights were a gift from God and couldn't be messed with by government. In other words, "we the people" have the God-given right to earn a living, to save, to accumulate wealth, and to pursue the American dream (pursue happiness) without being jerked around by government. That is what the free market is all about, and it was a core belief of the founders.
Here endeth the lesson. I hope you found it educational.
Ga--You spout off on a wide range of topics. I'll touch on a few.
First, you say that secular progressives believe in those 16 core principles. Ah, no you don't! You don't believe in equality under the law. Look at affirmative action/quotas. You don't believe that government was created by the people to safeguard our God-given liberties. You believe that government decides what rights we do or don't have. You don't believe that we the people have the right to alter or abolish our government if it tramples on our God-given rights. Attempts to legislatively limit the power of the federal judiciary to interfere in our lives (a delegated power of Congress, by the way) has been met with liberal hysteria. You don't believe in any of the principles I outlined pertaining to religion and morality because you disagree with the Founding Fathers about the role of religion in a republic. I could go on, but you get the point.
Next, you make some pretty outrageous statements about the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights says that Congress shall not establish a national religion, nor shall they interfere with the way I choose to express my religious beliefs. That's all it says. What's all this hoo-hah about "utterly casting down..."? Take a deep breath, Ga and settle down!
Let's try to take the rest of your points as quickly as possible. You talk about the "right" of gays to marry and raise children. There is no such unrestricted right to marry. We have all kinds of laws restricting marriage, and they are all constitutional. You are talking about the gay rights lobby trying to force the majority, against our will, to alter the centuries-old definition of marriage. Who is against freedom? You talk about "choice" in terms of abortion, utterly ignoring the fact that you are talking about murder. Yes, I am against murder. You talk about sex education in the schools. Yes, I want that stopped. If you progressives won't let kids pray in school, then it's only fair to keep your cockamamie liberal ideas about human sexuality out of the schools. You throw out the word "censorship" as if there is some constitutional prohibition against it. There's not. It is perfectly legal to censor obscenity. You say that I want to suppress science. I suppose you are referring to the junk sciences of global warming and evolution? That's not science, pal. Science refers to things that have been proven, not political beliefs. You say that I want one religion (Christianity) taught in the schools. Actually, I don't. I don't want any religion taught in the schools, and that includes the religion of secular humanism. You wacky liberals won't go for that, though.
That's where I will stop. It's late and I fear that it is useless trying to talk sense to you. God bless you and yours!
By the way, you ask why a Christian nation goes to war? To protect our life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Pretty simple!
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