Two hundred and twenty-nine years ago, an intrepid group of men came
together to make the ultimate life-altering decision: to dissolve the
political bonds that held the 13 American colonies under the subjugation
of King George III.
But England's dictatorial treatment of the colonists was mild in
comparison to what the modern-day tyrants have in mind, those who
advocate a "living, breathing Constitution," an ever-expanding role of
government, the diminution of national sovereignty, and the phasing-out
of the traditional family.
This utopian vision comes to you compliments of, who else? -- the
radical Left.
So on July 4, 1776, those 56 men affixed their signatures to the
Declaration of Independence. Deploring a "long train of abuses and
usurpations," the Declaration contains a list of particulars that
remarkably foreshadows many of the flash-points our nation faces in
2005:
1. "He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone" - it turns out a
politicized judiciary is not a new problem, after all.
2. "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign
to our constitution" - does John Kerry's remark about subjecting our
troops to a "global test" ring familiar?
3. "For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent" - a Leftist has never
seen a tax increase that he didn't like.
4. "He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of
Officers to harass our people" - these modern-day Officers include the
inquisitors who come into our homes and evict one or both parents on the
flimsiest allegations of abuse.
5. "For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury" -
for those who have been falsely accused of ill-defined offenses such as
harassment or hate speech, no further comment is necessary.
6. "He has.destroyed the lives of our people" - one-quarter of all
pregnancies in this country are terminated by abortion, and many of
those abortions are performed on infants who are considered to be
medically viable.
The public display of religious icons is attracting controversy these
days, and this passage contains another lesson for Leftists:
"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."
But the Leftists seek to extirpate all public reminders of the Creator,
and to replace them with feel-good values such as "tolerance" and
"diversity." In their arrogance, Leftists seek to replace
divinely-inspired Rights with secular liberties that come and go
according to the latest bureaucratic whim, Supreme Court ruling, or
pronouncement from the United Nations.
The framers of the Declaration of Independence also castigated the King
of England for "taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable
laws."
One of Americans' most important Charters is the Bill of Rights. And
foremost among those rights, enshrined in the First Amendment, is
freedom of speech. Why is freedom of speech so pivotal? Because it
fosters freedom of thought and of conscience.
But the Leftists seek to abridge even that fundamental liberty. And
sadly, they have met with stunning success.
Consider the speech codes that sprouted up on college campuses in the
last decade - is it any surprise that college campuses have now become
an ideological stronghold for the Left?
Look at the hate crimes laws and the Violence Against Women Act which
define a crime more by who you are, rather than by what you did. If that
doesn't trouble you, look at what happened to the preacher in Sweden who
recently spent a month in jail for delivering a sermon on the Biblical
references to homosexuality.
For years the Leftist agenda masqueraded as an enlightened form of
social progressivism. But now their agenda has been outed as a
socially-divisive and ultimately destructive front for cultural Marxism.
When Karl Marx advocated the "dictatorship of the proletariat," he
intended that this phrase be interpreted quite literally. "The
scientific term 'dictatorship'," Marx explained in 1906, "means nothing
more or less than authority untrammeled by any laws, absolutely
unrestricted by any rules whatever, and based directly on violence."
Contrast that nihilistic vision with the solemn pledge that concludes
the Declaration of Independence:
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
Those were soul-stirring words back in 1776. And they summon us to
heroism now.
