On the occasion of America’s Birthday, I wanted to share with you a special 4th of July message that was e-mailed out by our friends at the Claremont Institute. It’s certainly worth a few minutes of your time to read…
Happy Independence Day from the team here at the FlashReport!
American children are not born understanding the principles of their country, and most American college students—if reports can be believed—are still largely unfamiliar with them when they graduate. So it is a useful tradition, as the Fourth of July comes around each year, to reflect again—and again—on the American political principles famously proclaimed on the original Independence Day, which, as many college graduates know, happened sometime in the past, possibly during summertime. Lest we seem to rest all our political expectations on the capacity of the next generation for self-government, let us admit that the grownups, as well, can benefit from an annual refresher.
As Thomas Jefferson said late in life, when explaining the genesis of the Declaration of Independence, the ideas expressed in it were "the common sense of the subject" in Revolutionary America. In drafting the Declaration, he had not meant to proclaim any "new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of," but merely to express "the American mind." The Declaration contains a stunning summation of the principles of free government; but it was only because the American people had already learned to understand and to embrace these principles that it was possible to establish an American republic. As the Declaration proclaims, the just powers of government are derived from "the consent of the governed." Only a people prepared to consent to a republic is capable of establishing one—or capable of keeping it, as Benjamin Franklin later reminded his fellow citizens. Are we still such a people? No one else can answer this question for us. It is up to this generation, as it has been up to each generation that preceded us and will be up to each generation that succeeds us, to demonstrate our capacity for self-government. This we do for our own sake and for the sake of the cause to which our country was dedicated on that Fourth of July long ago.
**There is more – click the link**
July 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
The incomparable Ronald Reagan was the last President to call it “genocide.” That being noted, the thugs at Claremont Graduate University hired a lawyer recently to censor an AMERICAN journalist. But, a Muslim foreign diplomat, from a country hostile to rights like we have under the FIRST AMENDMENT, got a free ride. God Bless America on the 4th of July. More at: http://www.ClaremontGenocideUniversity.com
July 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Oops. By the way, I have just been informed that Claremont Institute is not affiliated with the Claremont Colleges? Now I feel even better about Jon’s commentary:)