Dear Reader,
From my studies of biology, I long ago concluded that the right to self defense is one of the most fundamental laws of nature. In fact, I always wondered if all our other laws are not based on this one basic law. Is not the prime functions of government to protect basic - natural - human rights? And, do not these rights include life and liberty/freedom to which others would rightly add/include the right to possess property and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Jefferson immortalized these thoughts in the glorious first sentence of that magnificent founding document of the USA known as the Declaration Of Independence. Jefferson started with the important concept “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” The freedoms and concepts he enunciated in that immortal document were adopted by the founding fathers, and incorporated in the other great foundational document, the greatly admired operational document of the American experiment in governance, the Constitution. The founding fathers started with the important words, “We the people…”, thus immediately acknowledging that the power of government derives from the people - as they put it “with the consent of the governed” - and not from some “divine right” of a ruler or an inheritable ruling family/class.
From the above observations we learn that the Revolutionary War was revolutionary from several aspects: it separated the USA directly from England, as well as indirectly from Europe. Also, a new philosophy of life and governance was being established in a new land that was replacing the old established philosophy practiced in Europe and most of the world. Little noted in this separation is the role of religion. The old philosophy - which included inherited political power and the concept of the Divine Right Of Kings - was backed by the Church and most importantly, Christian Scripture/New Testament. To help justify the new philosophy the founding fathers not only depended on the emergence of European humanistic philosophy but also on the Jewish Scriptures/Tenach which were devastating counters to inherited power and the concept of “Divine Right”.
I do not want to deviate. I have no intention of making this into a dissertation on or a paean to the “Declaration” but on the promise of what the USA stood for and it’s perversion by current politicians.
Because of its utopian ideals and efforts to make them a reality, the USA, despite its warts, has been looked to as the paradigm of what nations, especially new nations, should strive to be. Immigrants flocked to this country. Except for the concept of “Manifest Destiny” in it’s western expansion, the USA has been looked to as the “savior” nation: the USA used its growing power and influence to help nations free themselves from oppression. The USA only asked in return is for a few acres of land in which to bury its dead - no one should ever forget the role of the US in WW I and WW II. And these few acres have become an important source of tourist income for these nations: ask the French government.
Before I continue, please permit me a quick aside. When referring to a country’s behavior. we generally mean the attitudes and behaviors of the people in power, not necessarily the population in general. Not all the people necessarily agree with what their leaders profess at any given time. We should not blame all for the actions of a few or even the majority. Even in Nazi Germany, not all Germans were Nazis. I doubt if all the Iranian people support the religiously inspired Jew hatred of the Mullahs and Ayatollahs. Remember, Yad Vashem recognizes the Righteous Among The Nations. We must not forget that one of the great characteristics of the American founding documents is their defense of the rights of minorities. Along with providing almost unlimited opportunities, personal liberty, especially for minorities, was a strong draw for immigrants.
When Barak Obama was POTUS, some American citizens, who were Democrats all their lives and voted for him, at least in his first election - I was one of them - along with Conservatives - noticed the emergence of frightening behaviors, i.e., along with Attorney General Eric Holden, Obama was increasing divisiveness between groups, especially between Black and Whites. Instead of bringing people together, which was one of the the historic missions of the US and which had been naturally occurring, he was driving wedges between them. One of the most potent haters in the world, Al Sharpton, became very influential, and there was no attempt to rein him in. However, the most frightening behavior was not just unconstitutional but was a direct assault on the guaranteed freedoms of American citizens, the weaponization of the Federal government agencies, particularly the FBI, CIA and IRS. Simultaneously, Obama signaled the world that decades old American friendly policies toward Israel was changed and he encouraged Iran to develop nuclear weapons and to continue its support of terrorist activities, particularly in West Asia - the Mideast. He release $150 billion to Iran - he flew in plane loads of cash.
POTUS Trump was bringing sanity back to the American government and the international arena: The economy had picked up, the lowest unemployment ever for all groups, the US not only became energy independent, it became an energy exporter, there was a major upheaval in relationships between Israelis and several Arab Muslim nations with the historic Abraham Accords. The USA was on a leadership roll.
However during these successes, the Progressives hounded Trump with lies and false charges. During his impeachment senators lied to Congress and the American people-And, equally disgusting, the main stream media and the social media rich giants became more partisan and not just lied to the American and world populations, but they became the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party - a Party that was once highly respected had devolved into a power grabbing, people be damned, despicable political party. Even after Biden stole the 2020 election, neither Biden nor the media nor the tech giants.have been able to prevent the truth from emerging:, i.e., all the charges against Trump have been proven to be false.
Worse, as if things could have gotten worse, the cancel culture move to grew in the cities controlled by Democrats: cities burned, businesses destroyed, people murdered for no valid reason, the police killed and stripped of their power. Statues and monuments were destroyed and cancel culture was being imposed on the American public. No one has been held responsible. No one will be held responsible. From where do these domestic terrorists get the right to destroy with impunity just because they differ politically and they are angry. As our daughter would say: “do I have the right to go into Nancy Pelosi or Maxine Waters’ home and destroy them because I differ politically from them and I am angry? Why can they come into the public’s home and destroy with impunity?” Yet the politicians and media permit them to get away with antisocial behavior. Public be damned!
The education systems in these and other communities were hijacked by progressive groups where indoctrination into a false ideology based on divisiveness, victimization, skin color and wealth replaced - was imposed on students without parental knowledge - inculcation into reading, writing, arithmetic/computation: history was being rewritten - falsely of course, grammar was being destroyed - ignorant teachers who do not know the difference between sex and gender have helped these two different words become synonymous, and science/biology teachers and their equally ignorant political acolytes began teaching that there are no differences between men and women: in fact, the latest stupidity I have been told is that there are no women but “birthing” persons - whatever that means. As a professional physiologist/biologist, I am appalled at the denial of the obvious and its acceptance by the Democratic Party as fact.
In the meantime there have been attacks on people’s liberties. The attacks include denying people a voice - the first amendment is rapidly being destroyed: it includes not just freedom of speech but also freedom of conscience (religion). Even though I am not a fan of religion, I am a greater fan of freedom. The government refuses to rein in the giant social media groups who have the power to silence people. Several years ago, I was silenced for a couple of weeks - I think by Twitter, and more recently I was put on a six month suspension, ironically, by a secular humanist/free thought magazine, FREE INQUIRY.
The first amendment is supported/protected by the second amendment - the right to bear arms. For decades there has been a war against the 2nd amendment. A beautiful example of the liberal mentality about disarming the public was the statement in the movie The American President, when the Liberal POTUS, played by Michael Douglas, said in effect we are coming for the guns, we will get the guns. More recently, there was the Kyle Rittenhouse farce of a trial. On the surface it was supposed to be a trial about a man who shot three men presumably in self defense. However, it quickly devolved into an attack on the second amendment. It reached the point where the prosecuting attorney claimed that the defendant had no right of self defense. He denied that the basic law of nature does not exist. During the trial the prosecutor outright lied, denied the defendant his right to confronts is accusers and even withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense attorney. The prosecuting attorney, even pulled an illegal stunt with impunity, i, e. pointing a rifle at the jury with his finger on the trigger. The liberal media lied about every aspect of the trial and tried to turn it into a racial circus. As Hitler and Goebbels preached about Jews; if one tells a lie big enough and long enough it becomes the truth. That is exactly what the main stream media did, even though there isn’t an iota of evidence to support their false claims. Even though the trial is over, there are still false claims being disseminated by the biased, lying media. The liberal mob threatened violence against the judge, the jury, the cities if the jury did not return a guilty verdict against an 18 year old boy who did what was right. The truth is they wanted a guilty verdict because then they would have destroyed the basis for the second amendment and nothing would stop their disarming the public. Fortunately the brave jury disregarded all threats and returned a unanimous not guilty verdict on all charges and preserved the second amendment.
In the meantime there are prisoners confined to solitary confinement in violation of the 6th and 8th amendments by order of Biden.
The attacks on our civil rights by the so-called progressives are increasing unabated. We must demand that this be halted and that people who murdered, destroyed property, looted etc, must pay for their crimes. We must never permit the breakdown of society with impunity. Else we are permitting a mockery of our great founding documents.