Today, America is facing a political crisis. Many Americans, content as long as there are nice cars to drive and nice homes to live in, nice restaurants to eat in and good sitcoms on television, are unaware of this crisis. Worse, those who are aware of it may feel powerless or unqualified to do anything about it, or they excuse themselves because they are "too busy." Whatever the reason, too many Americans are content to ignore the events unfolding in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere in our country, events that are daily eroding the freedoms we enjoy.
The statement that “we are less free, more heavily taxed, and worse governed than our ancestors under British rule” [Sobran's The Real News of the Month, “How Tyranny Came to America”] may seem extreme, but it is nevertheless true. Here's another extreme statement, from patriot and Christian Chuck Colson: “We Americans think we enjoy self-government. We have all the trappings of self-government, like elections. But in reality, we have gradually lost many of our rights to govern ourselves. We have the form of self-government, but only some of the substance.”
America is an example to the world, and has been since its inception. If there are similarities between American freedom and the freedoms of other countries, they are the direct result of the American experiment. America has not just made itself free, but much of the world as well. I refer not to Imperialism or foreign wars such as Iraq and Vietnam (which I will defer as topics for another day), but to freedoms such as those obtained through the spread of democratic ideas such as those that led to the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
Thomas Jefferson said, "The last hope of human liberty in this world rests on us." That human liberty is not the exclusive property of Americans, it is the divine endowment of everyone in this world. Unfortunately, oppressive governments have been stealing those divine rights from their unfortunate subjects since the dawn of time. When we as American citizens trifle with the liberty that is our divine endowment, when we lay passively down while our rights are usurped, we hurt not only ourselves and our own generation, but every generation in every part of the world.
Let there be no doubt that we are now engaged in a battle for freedom, just as our founding fathers were engaged in a battle against the British government. This political battle is being fought right here on American soil. Patrick Henry said, "The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave." Let us, as American citizens, be vigilant, active and brave! Let us get involved and let our voices be heard! Today our enemies attack our right to worship, to bear arms, to teach our children the values we were taught, to earn, to keep and to save, and much, much more.
One of the greatest threats to our Republic today is from those who foolishly believe that the greater understanding of men and women in our "enlightened age" somehow qualifies them to rethink and reinterpret everything the founding fathers believed in. If I were to write a letter of instruction to my children, with the intent that they would pass it on to their children and so on for several generations, I would want that letter to be interpreted by my posterity in accordance with the language and intentions with which I wrote it. If I wrote in such a letter that my children should "always live in accordance with the true religion of Jesus Christ, but do not go to extremes," I wouldn't want my great-great-grandchildren to interpret the word "extremes" to mean such ennobling acts as studying God's word, attending church or sharing the gospel, even if such things were considered to be extreme in their time. How could my posterity know what I really meant, even 150 or 200 years after my letter was written? They could study my life, look at my writings and determine how I lived. This would be critical information to have when determining the meaning of my letter. I would be more upset if they used my letter as an excuse not to practice religion than I would be if they simply disregarded it.
Technological advancement does not make us better than our ancestors, nor do the foundational principles of successful government change significantly from one age to another. So-called "enlightenment" that denies the Providence in which our founding fathers believed so strongly is not enlightenment at all. Furthermore, since the founding principle of our Constitution and its predecessor the Declaration of Independence is the fact that men and women are "endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights," a declining belief in and acceptance of God cannot but lead to enslavement by government. If this is enlightenment, give me the barbarism of my revolutionary ancestors.
The founding fathers created provisions for changing the Constitution because they knew progress and growth would necessitate such explicit changes, but they never intended for this document to be simply reinterpreted to fit the false beliefs of their posterity. The INTENT, or SPIRIT of a law is as important as its CONTENT! Regarding the Constitution, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made the bold statement that "Words mean what they mean." Contrast this with President Clinton's legal machinations during his impeachment trial, during which he was quoted as saying, "that depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." Such ridiculous semantic arguments may be acceptable in our most liberal law schools, but they should have no part in the interpretation of our great Constitution.
In 1976, Ezra Benson, former Secretary of Agriculture under President Eisenhower, said, "Yes, in the words of Thomas Paine, 'These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country, but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.' That was said on December 23, 1776. Now, 200 years later, Paine's words are even more apropos to our situation.
The days ahead are sobering and challenging and will require the faith, prayers, loyalty, courage, and moral integrity of every American citizen.”
Much has changed since 1976, and the enemies of our freedom are even greater in number, in activity, in success and acceptance. This cannot be if we are to remain free! Throughout this blog, I intend to sound a voice of reason and of warning. I will discuss historical perspectives and current events, focusing on the Constitutionality of our laws and the original intent of our founding fathers.
God Bless the U.S.A.,
Strategos
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