No wonder there is such tension between the two parties! On the one hand, Republican candidates continually stress these days that our rights are given to us not by government, but by the Creator. Since the founding of America, we have held this to be a "self-evident" truth. (In modern parlance we would say, "Duh," "No sh*t Sherlock" or "Thank you captain obvious.")
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, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security....
On the other hand, we have a party that deletes from their platform the single mention of Gd, that appeared in a phrase referring to government giving everyone "the chance to make the most of their Gd-given potential."
"We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values, and interests of working people, and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential."
An anonymous Democrat 'official explained to ABC that the sentence was never about Gd in the first place:
“The 2008 platform reference is ‘God-given’ and is about growing the middle class and making America fair, not actually about faith."
It seems to me that the outcry from Gd-fearing American patriots should more rightly have come when the sentence was inserted, not just now that the word G-d has been deleted... because they've been replacing Gd with government for a long time now. It is a basic Democrat party belief, deeply held, that our primary need is for a government that "gives" to us.
Erick Erickson notes that the Dems, at the opening of their convention, Doubled Down on 'You Didn't Build That' --
:: The State Built It ::
In a statement right out of a communist state, the Democrats started their convention with a bit of propaganda declaring we all belong to the government. Seriously. They started their convention with this video:
Erickson continues:
This is unreal. The founders must be rolling over in their grave. The constitution starts with “We the People,” not we the government. The government belongs to us, we do not belong to the government. The government is our servant. We do not serve government. We are Americans. We are not all wards or property of the state, despite Barack Obama’s best efforts.
I think we can say the Democrats are fulling embracing Barack Obama’s claim that “you didn’t build that.” It’s clear from this we did not take Barack Obama out of context. The Democrats really do believe government built it all.
This is what the Soviets did in their propaganda. They portrayed the people in service to the state. The collective overrode the individuals.
This is the battle then. Either you believe in the power of a literally-Gdless collective that "belongs to" Government, like the video says --or-- you believe in the power of free and independent individuals whose relationship with their Creator overrides the dictates of any government, like the Declaration says.
It's one or the other; it cannot be both.
Comments