Sign The Mount Vernon Statement (audio interview of Ed Meese by Mark Levin)

Former Attorney General and Heritage Foundation Distinguished Fellow Ed Meese joined Mark Levin this evening to discuss The Mount Vernon Statement (signature page link and full text below) and more:

We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding.Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence, provide for economic opportunity, establish true religious liberty and maintain a flourishing society of republican self-government. These principles define us as a country and inspire us as a people. They are responsible for a prosperous, just nation unlike any other in the world. They are our highest achievements, serving not only as powerful beacons to all who strive for freedom and seek self-government, but as warnings to tyrants and despots everywhere.

Each one of these founding ideas is presently under sustained attack. In recent decades, America’s principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics. The selfevident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist. The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant.

Some insist that America must change, cast off the old and put on the new. But where would this lead — forward or backward, up or down? Isn’t this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?

The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature’s God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed. It recognizes man’s self-interest but also his capacity for virtue.

The conservatism of the Constitution limits government’s powers but ensures that government performs its proper job effectively. It refines popular will through the filter of representation. It provides checks and balances through the several branches of government and a federal republic.

A Constitutional conservatism unites all conservatives through the natural fusion provided by American principles. It reminds economic conservatives that morality is essential to limited government, social conservatives that unlimited government is a threat to moral self-government, and national security conservatives that energetic but responsible government is the key to America’s safety and leadership role in the world.

A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.

- It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal. - It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life. - It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions. - It supports America’s national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end. - It informs conservatism’s firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.

If we are to succeed in the critical political and policy battles ahead, we must be certain of our purpose.

We must begin by retaking and resolutely defending the high ground of America’s founding principles.

Okay. My signature may not be present on this naval gazing piece, but I’m with ya anyway.

CBS poll on Obama’s performance not looking good for the Messiah. Here’s one of many negative responses (not mine but I concur):

I give the man an F in all ten areas. (1) He is destroying the economy through high taxes and high regulations and government intrusion into the private sector. (2) His foreign policy consists of trying to win friends and influence people by bashing the country that put him at the top. His job is to promote American culture and policy, not to destroy it. (3) There is nothing wrong with the American health care system that could not be fixed by getting the government out of the way. High costs are a direct result of government intrusion into the health care free market. Open it up to competition, shut down the ambulance chasing lawyer friends of politicians with tort reform and watch the health care industry once again flourish. The man is promoting exactly the wrong policy to “fix” what has been heretofore the best health care system in the world. (4) What’s he done in Afghanistan? He’s handcuffed our troops with Miranda rights for our enemies (who by the way, do not fall under the Constitutional protections because they have no allegiance to our country or our Constitution) and our intelligence system by throwing roadblocks in the way of intelligence gathering with bogus concerns over “torture”. (5) What’s he done in Iraq besides try to take credit for the successes of the previous administration. (6) What’s he done to protect our nation against terrorism? I don’t see how going to terrorist supporting nations and sucking up to them is going to do a thing to stop the terrorist threat. It does encourage them to think that we are weak, which is exactly correct with the little boy we now have in the White House. (7) Energy and the environment. Instead of promoting the development of energy sources that are abundantly available, he and the rest of the Marxist bunch seek to destroy that industry while promoting bogus “green energies” in support of a massive hoax (global warming) which is none existent with a government boondoggle which has done nothing but add another drain to suck away the capital that could be used to expand our economy. (8) On social issues he supports the death of our society through government funded abortions (killing our nation’s future by the millions), putting a pervert in as a so-called “safe schools czar” (how exactly does destroying our nation’s morals rate anything other than an F on the social issue report card). (9) Bipartisanship. Don’t make me laugh. He’s the most dogmatically Marxist, far-left fringe person we’ve ever had in the White House and hasn’t shown me one shred of interest in dialogue and reaching a mutually beneficial decision on anything. (10) Overall grade—F. What, should I give a man who has earned a straight F, an overall grade of A just to be nice? That’s a typical left-wing expectation. Don’t do the right thing, but expect credit for “trying”. Sorry—not from me.

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