Is it all over in America? This is a question that has been
asked, I suppose, since its founding. It is reported that when
Ben Franklin was asked after the Constitutional Convention in
1787, if America was a republic or a monarchy he replied, “A
republic…If you can keep it.” So, even at the birth of our
nation, there were doubts as to the feasibility of a government
whose powers were reserved to “We, the People.” Never had a great
nation survived without a group or groups of individuals seizing
the reins and using governmental power to strip the rights from
the people.
Fear of governmental abuse was so great in many of the Founders
that in addition to clearly spelling out the duties of the three
branches of our government in the Constitution, they added the
Bill of Rights to restrain possible depredations by future
generations. Yet some were opposed to this addition, arguing that
the enumeration of certain rights that were sacrosanct would
leave others open to attack. They need not have worried. Their
prescient redundancy has not served its purpose; not for a lack
of brilliancy on the part of its crafters, but for the sloth of
its heirs.
Most of the Founders knew that in order to secure their liberty,
future Americans would have to be just as vigilant and zealous in
regard to their God-given rights as the were. As Samuel Adams put
it: “No people will tamely surrender their liberties, nor can any
be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and virtue is
preserved. On the contrary, when people are universally ignorant,
and debauched in their manners, they will sink under their own
weight without the aid of foreign invaders.”
Over the years, the worst fears of Franklin and Adams have been
realized. The intentional dumbing-down of American citizens and
the ridicule of virtue and the objective truths on which this
nation was founded have been afoot for generations. Yet, one
can’t help feel that there are still some things inherent to most
Americans; that the love of freedom still beats in the national
breast, though unheard in many quarters amidst the cacophony of
media propaganda and populist sloganeering.
What is needed to stem the tide of encroaching cradle-to-grave
government control of our lives is a series of hard questions put
to the American people, to shake them out of their complacency
and ignorance. Simply put and honestly asked, these are but a few
suggestions for those who would hope to hold back the wave of
Socialism that is well-past licking at our shores.
Should the government be involved in private industry? If people
who have spent years in these industries can’t make a go of them
— in no small part due to government regulation and interference
— can the government itself? In the past eight years, men like
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, an MBA and CEO respectively, were
held up to ridicule and abuse, while the present administration
is fat with folks who have never earned a paycheck in the private
sector in their lives. Yet we are expecting them to save the
banking and auto industries. Does this make any sense?
Is the freedom to practice one’s religion publicly as well as
privately protected explicitly under the First Amendment? One has
only to scan his daily newspaper for stories of students unable
to pray at graduation, or schools that cannot mention the word
Christmas, in order to know the answer to this one. Should this
blatant usurpation continue?
Should there be such things as “hate crime” laws which punish
thought? Do certain groups of citizens deserve special rights
based on their sexual proclivities? Are hate crime laws in
actuality designed to silence those who would speak out against
the granting of such special rights?
Do you trust strangers to raise your children? Recent
rulings against homeschoolers and the mandatory teaching of
homosexual “lifestyles” in public school should make the skin of
every American parent crawl. Do parents have the right to raise
their children as they see fit?
Does anyone who has eyes and a memory believe that appeasement
will work with Islamofascists? President Obama has made it a
priority to assure the Muslim world that we like them; we really
like them. Do you feel that this naive approach will work with
those who have sworn death to all non-believers and send their
women and children out to commit homicide bombings?
Is healthcare the number one issue in America? If so, should we
follow the disastrous
examples of Canada and Europe where, for example, the British
provide coronary-bypass surgery or angioplasty to heart patients
at only one-fourth the U.S. rate? Or might we go to the root of
the problem by seeking to bring down costs by limiting frivolous
malpractice lawsuits?
Do you believe that Americans must be punished by radically
altering their lifestyles for an issue like global warming that
is based, at best, on faulty science? Can a movement that blames
cow flatulence for changes in the Earth’s atmosphere be taken
seriously? Should we continue to finance our enemies in the
Middle East and elsewhere by buying oil from them that can be
easily drilled here at home?
How these questions are answered by the American people will
manifest itself in the coming elections. And there is reason for
hope. The people of California have rejected higher taxes and the
incursions of the gay lobbyists who seek to couch their sexual
preferences as a “civil rights” issue. The news from across the
pond is also encouraging. Socialists are
losing ground in Europe; suffering defeats in Germany,
France, the UK, Italy, Spain and Poland.
We must not only persist in asking these and many more questions;
we must demand answers. We must restore the power of critical
thinking to the American people and encourage them to use it in
the public square in order to preserve our cherished way of life.
As Dr. Franklin said, “Without freedom of thought there can be no
such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty,
without freedom of speech.”
