Posted on 05/11/2013 12:57:09 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Right constantly claims devotion to our founding documents. The problem: Its policies completely violate them.
Last month, 20 House Republicans, along with staffers from nearly 40 congressional offices attended the first meeting of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus. The three premises behind the Caucus, according to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who emceed the event, are “we’re taxed enough, we spend less than we take in, and we follow the Constitution.” This purported devotion to the founding documents echoes the themes reverberated at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in March, where Sarah Palin and former Rick Santorum declared that the Declaration of Independence has given America “a set of principles and values” — and Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) urged his party to respect the individual “by going forward to the classical and timeless ideas enshrined in our Constitution.”
Naturally, these pronouncements raise a fundamental question — namely, which governmental policies and programs are consistent with the core values and ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Are they the ones proposed by the Tea Party and conservatives? The Declaration of Independence proclaims that: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men …” Slavery having been abolished and women enfranchised, Thomas Jefferson’s powerful words should be read to mean that all human beings are by nature equal as persons.
A student of classic Greek philosophy, Jefferson may have derived this insight from Plato....
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
Yes... I have comments... but they would offend some here so just use your imagination. salon=satan
LLS
Do You D’Amico???
I doubt it.
Poor comprehension skills have doggged Mr. D'Amico for many years.
Jefferson did NOT say that all men are equal. He said that they were created equal and, further, that they should be free to develop their lives and their fortunes without the restraints of government.
It’s hard to express how little I care about what liberals think about us...
Real slick argument. But slick is all it is. This whole article is devoid of any critical thinking.
For example, in this statist’s mind, the pursuit of happiness MUST be GUARANTEED by government. How he reaches that idiotic conclusion makes sense only if you do NOT believe in the sovereignty of the individual and his unique, individual relationship with God. Which of course was the main principle of the founders. They did NOT think collectively.
I’ll let others trash this tripe, I have better things to do.
Viewed through the prism of the Declaration, then, universal background checks for gun purchases, health care reform legislation to cover the uninsured, child care, workplace safety, laws and regulations protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink, and measures to slow or reverse global warming that science tells us is threatening the health of our planet and its human inhabitants, are essential to protect our right to life and abet our pursuit of happiness.
Then, at the end, I learned this bozo was a retired politician and judge from New Joysey. Oy!
Economic rights such as the above are not the same as natural rights which are God given. To grant economic rights to some means violating natural rights of others. How can a government guarantee health care to everyone without violating the rights of doctors and making them slaves? The Founders did not approve of anarchic freedom, where some are free to violate the rights of others, no matter how noble the cause.
short version of what the Salon piece says: All good things come from government; and slavery is awesome, as long as everyone is a slave.
Now that’s some effective editing!
The Constitution puts strict controls on the power to tax.
The House was set up to represent equal numbers of tax payers.
The Constitution (originally) forbid any direct taxes.
The American Revolution was a war over taxes.
To argue that the founders wanted high taxes and wealth redistribution is a bastardization of what those men struggled for.
He pretends to give us comprehensive summaries of Jefferson and Adams and "general welfare" then doesn't include Madison's explicit admonition that "general welfare" doesn't mean government is Santa Claus, and he's off to the races.
A waste of time but someone has to refute them so it may as well be FReepers.
We do not possess the right to happiness; we possess the right to pursue it. The happiness that comes with a sound body, a full belly and a place to live is ours to pursue, not something others have to pay for.
Finally her Big Brother punctuated that message with his fist striking my eye. lol
D’Amico sold his soul many years ago. He is not the sharpest knife on the rack and made his career being a reliable Democratic thug. If you ever meet him ask him about his relationship with Jim McGreevy.
Cherry picking quotes of the Founders to support the Welfare and Nanny State.
Typical leftist “academic” tactics.
If you want to see a list of the logically fallacies in this article, just look them up — it hits them all.
First of all, it grossly misrepresents what Jefferson was saying in the Declaration. (See Declaration Of Independence--With Study Guide).
Secondly, it ignores the actual contextual language of the Constitution--which actually, rather than the Declaration, purports to be its subject. Clearly, it is the writer who does not understand the Constitution: See Implied Powers? (I am playing nice. I realize that it is perfectly possible that he is lying to undermine the Constitution, but will give him the benefit of the doubt. One can be stupid but still honorable.)
William Flax
Look, what the Left thinks government should do by coercion, the Founders believed should be done by the virtue and goodness of the people. That is the role of religion in civil society. . .cloth the naked, heal the sick, feed the hungry. . .produce the virtues of good citizenship. . virtues that naturally and freely lead the people to defer their own interests for the public good. Religion, unlike government, can also restore the soul.
Friedrich A. von Hayek
“I am certain, however, that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice.”
Friedrich A. von Hayek
Whoever wrote that is a National Socialist.
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