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. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
This text is from the American Declaration of Independence. I make that Captain Obvious statement because it is entirely likely that it is unrecognizable to many people today in America. Most people would probably recognize and be able to recite part or all of the first sentence, at least those older among us who were taught this in school. I don't honestly know if they teach it in school anymore, but since it refers to a "Creator" with a capital "C", I'll go out on a limb and guess probably not, or that perhaps it's taught as some quaint throwback to a more ignorant era. That line is a cause for alarm for the left-leaning concerns that run the public education system in America as they are unwilling to allow the Judeo-Christian God into any discussion except for how to remove His influence from our society and culture. Allah, not a big problem, but Yahweh is apparently unacceptable. (Nota bene, leftist infidels: When the enemy of your enemy is your friend, what happens when your mutual enemy is defeated? If you on the left are expecting a peaceful co-existence with fundamentalist Islam in a post-Christian America, I have a Qu'ran to sell you... don't believe me, read it for yourself.)
This, then, leaves us with a problem. If you remove the Creator of the rights the founders held self-evident, then along with Him go the equality and inalienable rights with which He endowed us. Put another way, strike the whole sentence. Obviously you have to replace it with something. With what does the left replace God? Man, of course. In this case, not just Man in general, but only a ruling elite governmental granting of rights will fit the bill. What we end up with has to resemble the following:
We declare that all men should receive the same rights,privileges, compensation and goods, and that these are granted to them by the Government, a Government whose purpose and concern is the furthering of collective society through social justice and the implementation of an egalitarian regulatory structure to ensure that fairness can be properly enforced.
Either God or Man. Either endowed or granted. Either permanent or subject to governmental policy changes. Personal responsibility or Big Brother.
The political left (democrats, liberals, socialists, progressives, whatever they are calling themselves today) ideologically believe that Man is all there is, that Man is evolving and improving, and that freed from the shackles of religion and superstition, will one day become "good", and you simply have to lie to yourself to believe otherwise. The left believes this despite the evidence proving this theory to be 100% wrong 100% of the time. Where I'm from, we call that blind faith. The truth is that freed from moral influence, Man is naturally and unrestrainedly immoral. The left loves to talk about the Crusades as evidence that religion (meaning Christianity) is a corrupting influence. Evil was done in the name of a brand of Christian-based religion in the Crusades, yes, but learn the history and the facts before you trumpet it. Man without Christianity is better? Mao Zedong: 40-70 million dead. Pol Pot: 1.7-2.5 million dead. Josef Stalin: 3 million documented dead (note that ethnic victims were not documented), if you include famine victims it's 20 million. (The numbers are probably higher but sources vary.) Adolf Hitler: 17 million dead including 6 million Jews in an attempt at genocide. The list goes on.
The American left ought to think carefully and move slowly on the whole idea of removing the influence of God from our society, unless this is exactly what they want. There are good reasons to think that what has made America good and great was the influence and blessing of God, and without God nothing but a piece of paper separates us from the godless regimes that kill millions for arbitrary political or racist reasons. When you see a wall, before you take it down it is only wise to consider why it was put there in the first place... Before rebuilding our nation in your secular humanist image, consider the history of Man and what the founding of a nation on biblical principles actually accomplished. If you wish to thumb your nose at God on a personal basis, you have that choice, and He gave you a free country in which to do it. But don't speak for the rest of us by forcing the secularization of the nation when so many more of us don't want it than do. In other words, if you wish to bring condemnation on yourself, no one can stop you, but have the compassion not to bring it on the nation.
The next two sentences of the quote from the Declaration also have a problem in today's America. It's "the consent of the governed". For decades now the courts, Congresses and presidents have been blurring the line between governing and ruling, perhaps never before like what has happened in the past two years. It's as if some previously imperceptible restraint has been removed. The fact of the matter is that the present government barely, if at all, has the actual consent of the governed; it's more that the governed feel helpless to do anything about it. The majority in America today is beholden to and ideologically enslaved by the vocal minorities who hold elected officials hostage to the threat of losing their special-interest voting block. Non-traditional marriage is decreed by activist courts despite the clear voice of the majority of the people. Wars are declared (or "non-wars" are undeclared) and troops sent to die for unclear reasons without the legally-required consent of Congress. Congress and the president collude to force through major unconstitutional legislation an overwhelming majority of the governed oppose... and the courts uphold it. This is not governing, this is ruling. And ruling is what the Godless do.
But look at what else the quote says: "it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government". Why is gun control so popular with the ideological left? Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese Fleet Admiral and Commander-In-Chief during World War II, has probably been wrongly quoted as saying, "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass." Whether he said this or not, the point is that in a nation where the citizenry is armed, invasion and oppression is much more difficult. The founders knew exactly what they were doing with the second amendment; they were cementing the possibilities outlined in the Declaration of Independence; they were putting the future government on notice. There are certainly people on the left who want law-abiding civilians to have no guns because they've been snowed into thinking that would somehow cut down on gun violence, but the ideological reason is to remove the possibility of resistance to out-of-control government. (Please note, I am not personally advocating armed resistance, I'm just pointing out the facts.) The leftists want your guns because they think they can't afford for you to have them if they're going to succeed at their agenda.
And as to the last part of the quote, well, it remains to the reader to determine how close or not we currently are to the situation described:
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
One could certainly argue the case that a "long train of abuses and usurpations" has occurred and is underway. Not so long ago some of the people rose up and created the Tea Party... which appears to have been subsumed and defanged by the establishment Republican party. It forces one to wonder if the current government can be reformed at all.
Happy Independence Day, America. Take some time between the hot dogs and fireworks to remember who you are, and consider how not to become just another chapter in the history of failed states. There's a huge difference between independence from Britain and independence from the Creator of your rights. You're at a crossroads. Consider carefully and decide wisely.
There has never been a time for vigilance in America as today. Stand and be counted... or sit and be ruled.
