Today is July 4th 2024, the 248th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, establishing a new country, the United States of America.
Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but given recent events I fear that by this date next year we may not be living in the Democratic Republic our founders envisioned.
Let’s look at some of what they envisioned.
Here’s the Introduction and the preamble to the Declaration, copied from the Wikipedia article, with my own footnotes. I left Wikipedia’s links and citations in the textas well:
Introduction:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God1 entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. [66]
Preamble:
We hold these truths to be self-evident,2 that all men are created equal,3 that they are endowed by their Creator 4 with certain unalienable Rights,5 that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.6—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,7—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,8 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.9 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,10 it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
I put a lot of footnotes in those paragraphs. Follow them or not.
The TL:DNR is that there is a movement that is attracting about 1/3 of American voters to create a dictatorship that rejects the concept of freedom and diversity in favor of a Fascist White Christian state.
It used to drive me crazy when someone wrote something like that, but that’s where we are in our history.
From my reading of the Declaration and the Constitution11, this is not what our founders had in mind.
For a while the Heritage Foundation’s ideal government may not seem to be as bad as Gilead from The Handmaid’s Tail, but that’s the direction we’ll be headed in this country if they manage to enact even a small percentage of their plans.
It’s possible that the built-in guardrails the founders placed will keep this country from becoming a totalitarian theocracy, but they just barely held during the 45th President’s last term, and six members of the current Supreme Court appear to be trying to pave the way for a Christian takeover of our nation.
I’ve already said I think that the three most recently appointed justices should be impeached for perjury and that Alito and Thomas should be impeached for using their position to enrich themselves.
Not to mention that both Thomas and Alitoare married to right-wing extremists, and Alito was caught on tape saying “There can be a way of working, a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised.”
He’s talking about fellow citizens who don’t happen to agree with his own personal religious beliefs and/or political beliefs. He started by saying, “One side or the other is going to win,”.
This is terrifying.
And listening to Martha-Ann Bomgardner’s righteous indignation as she complains about having to see a pride flag and how she’s going to “show ‘em” with custom designed flags after her husband (Alito) is finished with, “this nonsense” (being a Supreme Court Justice chills me to the bone.
She obviously hates anyone who does not agree with her extremely narrow-minded views. Real actual hate. I kinda feel sorry for her.
BTW, if you have the chance, listen to the entire segment I clipped Marth-Ann’s comments from.
Near the beginning her husband, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, makes it clear that he considers religious freedom to be freedom to be Christian in a “secular society.”
He already has that! Be as Christian as you want! Just don’t force others to obey the tenets of your belief system!
Oy.
So, I think it would be better to elect someone who believes in Democracy and the First Amendment to the Constitution instead of a guy who likes to grab women by the pussy, lies when the truth would do better, and appears to be a narcissistic sociopathic con man with the IQ of a gnat.
At this point I’d vote for a dead skunk scraped from the middle of a road before I’d vote for the current Republican candidate.
I have lots more to say on this, maybe in a future column or podcast.
Happy Independence Day.
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Much as things are today, there were many religious traditions in our brand new country, mostly different denominations of Christianity. However, there was no common faith among the founders. Some were Deists, who believed in a creator who was indifferent to their creation. I find it interesting that the Laws of Nature are mentioned before “Nature’s God” in the Preamble. But that’s probably my agnosticism talking.
Not God given, “self evident”.
Well, all white men who owned property. Women and non-Caucasians need not apply. This is one of my arguments against Originalism. The founders, as forward-thinking as they were had major blind spots that needed to be addressed as the world became more enlightened.
Rights that we are born with. For instance the right to life, liberty [for all humans] and the right of free speech. An example of a legal, i.e. not unalienable right is the “right” to bear arms.
NOT, as Kevin D. Roberts, PhD writes in the last paragraph on page 13 of the Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership “pursuit of Blessedness.”
Roberts is the guy who recently said, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” He starts by saying that his organization is in the process of “taking the country back.” From who? These people scare the crap out of me.
I think he and Samuel Alito are reading out of the same prayer book.
BTW, if you’re starting a revolution in this country, it’s the third, not the second. Or did you forget about that little escapade by the south in the middle of the 19th century?
[Sorry, couldn’t resist “Well actually”ing this numbskull.]
The whole reason I’m writing all this is to try to counteract some of the rhetoric from the lunatic fringe on the right. As an American Citizen I do not consent to the program being laid out by the Freedom Caucus, the Heritage Foundation and the serial liar and con-man currently set to be the Republican presidential nominee. There is a lot of overlap between the current Republican talking points and Christian Nationalists, who make up about 1/3 of the population.
That’s a scary percentage, but it’s way less than a majority. We HAVE to win this next presidential election, no matter who the Democratic candidate is.
If we wind up in a Gilead style theocracy or a Fascist dictatorship this may be our only option. Better to keep the crazies out in the first place.
Every human’s safety and happiness, no matter what their skin tone, gender, who or how they love, religious beliefs [or lack thereof], financial status or place of origin.
Despotism is exactly what the far right is looking to put in place.
As amended over the last two centuries