My Basic Political Beliefs

I have a basic political philosophy.  It has been acquired over a lifetime of observation and study.  Most recently, it has been augmented by taking the Hillsdale College online Constitution, economics, and American heritage courses.  I know that the United States of American is a unique and precious ideal, created by men who had studied and knew world history.  The men who wrote the founding documents of this nation knew what sort of governments and political systems had existed before they began their task and in what ways those governments had failed to serve the people that they were intended to govern.  They understood that man is not just another animal.  They recognized the spiritual nature of their fellow men and knew that there is more to life than the satisfaction of bodily needs.  They knew that with freedom comes responsibility and that responsibility is an act of will and one of man’s primary virtues.  They believed that each man has a right to life, to liberty, to property, to the pursuit of happiness.  But they also believed that no one has a right to life as a parasite upon others.  They knew that liberty is only possible when it is paired with morality.  The right to liberty presumes that you do no harm to others by your actions.  Your right property does not include a right to take it from another by force or threat of force.  You are not guaranteed happiness, but only the pursuit thereof.  You have no right to succeed, only a right to strive, to struggle, to work.  Success depends upon your will, your spirit, your intelligence, your knowledge and your strength of character.  There are no guarantees. 

I agree with the principles set out in the founding documents of these United States of America.  I agree with the founders that the ideas and principles contained within those documents are only possible to achieve in a nation that is moral and honest.  The founders knew that there would be, and I know that since that time there have been, those involved in the governing of this nation that were neither moral nor honest, and that they and their ilk have been working diligently to undermine the founding principles of this nation.  The immoral and dishonest have to a large degree succeeded in their aims.  Only knowledge can turn back the tide of immorality and dishonesty that threatens to overwhelm this once great nation. 

We as a people have failed to teach our children the basic principles of a civil society.  Instead, we turned over our precious children to public schools which only give lip service to education and instead indoctrinate young minds with progressive political doctrines which justify failure, promote mediocrity, instill obedience, stifle creativity, smother curiosity, suppress activity, tolerate illiteracy and reward ignorance.  And if the classwork fails to get the desired results, we allow our children to be chemically lobotomized so that at least they will sit still. 

We have allowed our government to become a tyranny of bureaucracy where all complaints are handled by the same bureaucrats who created the problems to begin with.  We have given up our liberty for the illusion of security, and an illusion it is. 

I believe that every citizen of this nation needs to know and fully understand its founding documents, those being The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. I believe that we need to stop using the power of the tax code to penalize success and reward failure.  I believe that the Constitution was designed and implemented to prevent the government from doing most of what it is doing today.  I believe in individual responsibility and in the basic goodness of man.  I believe that men and women should look to each other for solutions to their mutual problems and not to government.  I believe in the right to self-defense of one’s person, one’s family and one’s property.  I believe that polite communication is a universal solvent in human relations. 

I believe that unless and until we can all agree upon those few basic principles which are expressed in our founding documents, that there can be no forward progress for us as a people nationally, locally or individually.  If there is no common goal, there can be no fruitful debate.  If we can all agree upon where we want to go, then we can discuss the best ways in which to get there.  Otherwise, we are stopped and when you stop, you begin to die.