TCC Analysis • July 3, 2024
By Art Harman, Senior Vice President – Policy · July 3, 2024
Knowing and acting upon the liberties given to us at great sacrifice is the main thing we can do as modern-day American Patriots
248 years ago, 56 men in Philadelphia took incredible risks to “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” Our debt to these men of great courage and wisdom is immeasurable. It’s a debt we can never fully repay. It’s a call to us even today to restore the greatness of American for future generations to enjoy.
As we gather for fireworks, barbecues, reunions, and memorable family times, let’s take a moment to honor our Founding Fathers and the nation and liberties they gave us at great sacrifice taking the time to teach others, so our liberty may forever remain.
Our Founders studied history to learn how freedom thrives or fails. How to craft a governing document that would establish forever a free society of self-governing citizens with limited government. That their work has kept us free for so long is a testament to their wisdom creating a document that chains down the government, not the people.
In recent decades, we here in America have embarked upon a different experiment unrelated to the wise experiment begun in Philadelphia. It’s a different form of government based in envy and strife. It’s what they call “democracy.” Our founders knew this might happen. And they set structures in place to thwart any such attempt to change our form of government.
George Washington, in his 1796 Farewell Address, left a warning to future generations. “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
Those who understand Washington’s warning, the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution know fully how dangerous the divisions of mere party unaligned with our founding principles can be. We are living in an era of our country’s history where those dangers could destroy the liberty that is the hope of America.
President Reagan’s guidance in his famous ‘A Time for Choosing’ speech ring true today as they did in 1964….
“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.”
Liberty has always been an endangered species in history and around the world. And our liberties are under the greatest assault ever. Some countries lose their liberty by force with a dictator seizing power. But in today’s world, it is more likely to come in disguised like the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The insidious appeal of socialism and Communism is that their propaganda appeals to many who are compassionate. Of course, the promises of ‘equality,’ aiding the working class, and guaranteed benefits are just for show. Once in total command, those promises are discarded and there is no escape.
A quote sometimes attributed to George Washington speaks even more loudly about the power of governments.
“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence,—it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”
Modern-day Democrat leaders and the media are enemies of the precious concepts in the Declaration and the Constitution. Democrat voters must consider how their party so thoroughly abandoned their values.
The New York Times published an assault on the First Amendment—just two days before Independence Day: “The judiciary needs to realize that the First Amendment is spinning out of control. It is beginning to threaten many of the essential jobs of the state, such as protecting national security and the safety and privacy of its citizens.”
But that’s the whole idea of the First Amendment! The government is not supposed to control free speech. “Congress shall make no law…” Yet under Joe Biden, the White House built a huge state-censorship regime in partnership with big tech to control what you can say.
They propose that the ‘state’ should never be threatened by free speech. To the contrary, that is the purpose of free speech and freedom of the press and freedom of religion. The State is subservient to the people and not the people to the state. The state has no power to thwart public criticism of its actions.
To commemorate Independence Day, please read or reread the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Especially with your children. Post the texts or links on social media inviting others to do the same.
Together, we can restore constitutional government and elect leaders dedicated to preserving the freedom our Founding Fathers left us, beginning with their 56 signatures on the Declaration of Independence.
With blessings for a restoration of liberty, I wish you a happy Independence Day.
Peter J. Thomas, Chairman
The Conservative Caucus
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About The Conservative Caucus: Founded in 1974, The Conservative Caucus is a grassroots public policy action organization dedicated to preserving American sovereignty, constitutional liberties, and traditional values. Under the leadership of President Jim Pfaff, TCC continues to fight for the principles that made America great.
Peter J. Thomas is a veteran conservative political strategist and seasoned policy expert dedicated to upholding the principles of the Constitution and democracy. As a founder and the chairman of the Conservative Caucus, he has played a pivotal role in promoting and shaping the conservative agenda across the nation for over half a century.