This principle is highlighted in the pledge of allegiance when it says:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic For which it [the flag] stands....
There are many reasons why the Founders wanted a republican form of government rather than a democracy.
This is a solemn day for our country as we set aside time to honor the past, present, and future Veterans. A moment of silence will take place on this day, the 11th Day of November at 11:11 AM. Please stop and bow your head at that time to honor the brave men and women who have and are wearing the uniform of our great America.
“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” Elmer Davis
Dedicated men have worked tirelessly to help the free world understand better the deadly world conflict between good and evil which is constantly going on.
We have an enormous responsibility here in the United States to help maintain peace and freedom and to push back the somber clouds of war–threats caused by international tensions.
A Vow to Serve:
Mark Lamb
Reading about the principles of the American Founding
is not "extremist" activity.
When I was sworn in as the 24th Sheriff of Pinal
County, Arizona, I took an oath to support the Constitution. So did the more
than 3,000 sheriffs serving across America. The best of us reaffirm this oath
every morning. This daily commitment to the legally enshrined principles of
justice is the crucial philosophic orientation that separates America from a
lawless land where “every man [does] that which [is] right in his own eyes.”
There is a growing faction of elite “progressives,”
however, who deride both the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence. In their telling, these venerable documents are old, dusty, and
out of date. These radicals want to replace the bedrock principle of equality
with the idea of “equity,” colorblind justice with never-ending (and, for them,
quite profitable) racial grievance. Worst of all, they want to eliminate our
settled and fair laws and replace them with the tyranny of power politics.
I don’t accept these revisions to the American way of
life and neither should you.
But it’s not simply enough—and here I address my
fellow sheriffs—to feel that something is gravely wrong with this picture of
our future. We have to understand the why. And to get to this position, it is
helpful to do a deep dive into our founding documents and the great men and
women who first (and best) articulated the philosophic principles that forged a
great nation.
Recently, I spent a lovely week in sunny Huntington Beach studying precisely these subjects while participating in an academic fellowship for sheriffs with the Claremont Institute, a think tank devoted to “restoring the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life.” We pored over and discussed everything from the statesmanship of Washington and Lincoln to the teachings of Aristotle and Aquinas on natural law and natural rights. Other sessions were devoted to understanding the assault of progressivism on our cherished values of liberty and freedom. It was a wonderful experience to read and discuss these great books with other sheriffs from all around the country.
Like clockwork, however, the usual detractors emerged
to characterize a week of talking about books as an example of how Claremont is
training sheriffs to empower militias in order to take over the country in
2024. My classmates and I were labeled as “extremists” who consider ourselves
“above the law,” intent on policing “brutally,” thanks to our “relative
impunity.” This is all so laughable it’s hard to know where to begin. If
spending a week reflecting on the Federalist Papers and George Washington’s
Rules for Civility and Decent Behavior is the activity of would-be extremists
and conspirators, then I suppose you should include me among the guilty ones.
I mention this gross and purposely obtuse response not
because it is worth taking seriously, but so both my colleagues and fellow
citizens understand the kind of reaction they can expect when they try to
educate themselves about America’s founding principles. Don’t be intimidated.
Justice, equality, rule of law, separation of powers, and consent of the
governed will erode unless we make it our duty to understand their importance
and function. Our elites count on this happening, so they try everything in
their power to stamp out attempts at learning.
The Founding era in America was, like today, a
socially and politically tempestuous time. But then, unlike now, philosophic
ideas were publicly debated on stage, in taverns, and at home. Those disputes
gave light to two vibrant documents totally unique in the annals of history.
Unless we, together, follow the examples of our forefathers—enemies of freedom
and free-speech be damned—the elemental truths upon which our nation was
founded will be lost. And what replaces them will be unrecognizably bad.
I’m sure most of you have been in training courses either at work or some other organization where you separate into groups and “brainstorm” about challenge or project. You brainstorm to figure out good and great ways to improve a product or develop a new one.
We are all aware at this point in time that the Marxist and Globalists want to destroy America.
Note: While talking about the Expanded Welfare State, I mistakenly said $70K to $90K per month. It should have been per year. My apologies.
Abraham Lincoln:
Fragment of the Constitution and the Union January
1861
“All this is not the result of accident. It has a
philosophical cause. Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have
attained the results; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great
prosperity. There was something back of these, entwining itself more closely
about the human heart. That something, is the principle of “Liberty to all”--the
principle that clears the path for all--gives hope to all-- and, by
consequence, enterprise, and industry to all.
The expression of that principle, in our Declaration
of Independence, was most happy, and fortunate. Without this, as well as with
it, we could have declared our independence of Great Britain; but without it,
we could not, I think, have secured our free government, and consequent
prosperity. No oppressed, people will fight, and endure, as our fathers did,
without the promise of something better, than a mere change of masters.
The assertion of that principle, at that time, was the
word, “fitly spoken” which has proved an “apple of gold” to us. The Union, and
the Constitution, are the pitcher of silver, subsequently framed around it. The
picture was made, not to conceal, or destroy the apple; But to adorn, and
preserve it. The picture was made for the apple--not the apple for the picture.”
This never appeared in Lincoln's public speeches, but
it is possible that he composed it while writing his First Inaugural Address.
It draws upon the King James translation of proverbs 25:11; “A word fitly
spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”-- to describe the
relationship between the principles of the Declaration and the purpose of the
Constitution.
