THE FOUNDATION: WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE

“Objects of the most stupendous magnitude, and measure in which the lives and liberties of millions yet unborn are intimately interested, are now before us. We are in the very midst of a revolution the most complete, unexpected and remarkable of any in the history of nations.” —John Adams

THE GIPPER

“Somewhere in our growing up we began to be aware of the meaning of days and with that awareness came the birth of patriotism. July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth… In recent years, however, I’ve come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history. Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government. Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should. Happy Fourth of July.” —Ronald Reagan

INSIGHT

“In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man—these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth and their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress.” —Calvin Coolidge

OPINION IN BRIEF

“As congressmen prepare to embark on their weeklong Independence Day recess, there will be no vacation at the beach for the 177,000 U.S. troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. While the rest of their countrymen are carping about $3 per gallon gasoline and whining about long lines at airports, young Americans deployed along the Tigris and Euphrates will don 50-pound flak jackets and Kevlar helmets and do battle against suicidal Islamic radicals in 130-degree heat. But no matter how effective our troops are, it’s unlikely to make its way to the front page of your newspaper or the evening news.” —Oliver North

ICHTHUS IMPRIMIS

“[W]hen push comes to shove—when we have to make real-life decisions and not theoretical ones—we know that at least in America, the dominant Judeo-Christian values and the religions that adhere to them have generally made better people. This does not mean that all religious Jews and Christians in America have been, or are today, good people, and it certainly does not mean that all irreligious people are bad. It means simply that if our lives were hanging in the balance, we would be inexpressively happy to know that 10 men we did not know, walking toward us in a bad neighborhood, had just come out of a Bible class. But that is no small thing. And nothing has ever replaced that book and the American religious expressions based on it to make good people in the same numbers that it has.” —Dennis Prager

LIBERTY

“Some politicians have… undertaken efforts on behalf of enemy fighters. Senate Democrats, joined by Republican Arlen Specter, have introduced legislation that would restore habeas rights to Guantanamo detainees, although this is unlikely to become law as long as George W. Bush is president. Colin Powell would go even further. ‘I would close Guantanamo, not tomorrow, but this afternoon,’ the former secretary of state told NBC’s Tim Russert earlier this month. ‘I’d get rid of the military commission system and use established procedures in federal law or in the manual for courts-martial.’ Mr. Powell claimed that ‘I would not let any of [the detainees] go,’ but his proposal would inevitably have that effect. Once inside the criminal justice system, detainees would become defendants with full constitutional rights, including the right to be charged or released, the right to exclude tainted evidence, and the right to be freed unless found guilty of a specific crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Legitimate prisoners of war enjoy no such rights. The primary purpose of holding enemy combatants during wartime is not punitive but preventive—to keep them off the battlefield… By granting constitutional protections to detainees, Mr. Powell’s proposal would endanger the lives of American civilians. It would also afford preferential treatment to enemy fighters who defy the rules of war… By keeping terrorists out of America, Guantanamo protects Americans’ physical safety. By keeping them out of our justice system, it also protects our freedom.” —James Taranto

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Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis!

Mark Alexander

Publisher, PatriotPost.US

SELECT READER COMMENTS

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Editor’s Note: In Mark Alexander’s essay, “The roots of liberty—’The unanimous Declaration…”’, he said, “Indeed, the despotic branch has twisted and shaped our government’s foundational document… effectively undermining ‘Constitutional eisegesis’ —the constructionist interpretation of the Constitution as written and ratified.” The word “eisegesis” should have read “exegesis” in context. Please forgive the error.

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GOVERNMENT

“America became an economic power despite, not because of, Hamiltonian intervention. Hong Kong and much of East Asia went from abject poverty to affluence in a few decades not because their governments gave people ‘tools they need to compete’ —they didn’t—but because they exercised limited powers. I wish… Hamiltonian conservatives understood that freedom and prosperity have nothing to do with bureaucrats managing society through schooling and tax manipulation. Prosperity comes from leaving people free in a legal system that respects their persons and property so they can pursue their dreams while taking responsibility for their actions. Free people find their own tools if the state leaves them alone. In the era of big government, the last thing we need are champions of the statist Hamilton. What we need now are champions of the libertarian Jefferson, who said in a very un-Hamiltonian way: ‘I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it’.”—John Stossel

RE: THE LEFT

“I’ve never understood all the nonsense about how we should be sympathetic toward illegals who came here to work and find a better life. We don’t extend such sympathy to other people who routinely break the law. We aren’t sympathetic, for instance, toward people who break into banks or hold up grocery stores in order to support their families and get a fresh start in life. We don’t get teary-eyed about folks who engage in insider trading or bribery in order to send their kids to college and enjoy the American dream. We feel sorry for these lawbreakers, and than clap them into prison. I’m an immigrant myself, and I’m pro-immigration, but that means legal immigration. America can afford to take in a decent number of immigrants every year. We need workers in certain fields, and should admit those kinds of workers.”—Dinesh D’Souza

POLITICAL FUTURES

“The population of the United States now exceeds 300 million, and the talent pool of the world’s only superpower is deep and rich. How is it that the country is on the verge of filling its highest office for the sixth consecutive term from one of two families? That every President from 1989 to 2017 may be a Bush or a Clinton is a national disgrace. What has happened to the American Republic? How does it differ from a banana republic—where a couple of dominant families often run everything for generations? Have we driven the vast majority of the potentially best Presidents out of the contest because of the high personal and professional costs of running for office? Are we the voters responsible because we are too lazy to go beyond the simplistic attractions of familiarity and high name identification? Or, most disturbing of all, has our political system become ossified, so that we are too fearful of change to seek out the most outstanding leaders among us for the toughest job in the world? We don’t pretend to have the answers. But we are shocked and dismayed that more people aren’t even bothering to ask the questions.”—Larry Sabato

THE LAST WORD

“As Americans, we need to remember that, in order to maintain our nation’s intellectual and physical health, we need an active and involved citizenry. Just like any organism, without movement and growth we will stagnate and wither. Understanding what Americanism is provides a framework within which we can stretch, grow and move. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, once stated, ‘We want to make our children feel that the mere fact of being Americans makes them better off… This is not to blind us at all to our own shortcomings; we ought steadily to try to correct them; but we have absolutely no grounds to work on if we don’t have a firm and ardent Americanism at the bottom of everything.’… I totally agree. It is important for the children of our nation to understand why America is different. Possibly the Declaration of Independence says it best: ‘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…’ Wow—what am amazing concept. Take some time in the next week to re-read it, think about it not only from today’s perspective, but also from how it might have been viewed when written.”—Jackie Cushman

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who have died in defense of American liberty, while prosecuting the war with Jihadistan.)