For now, though, I'll happily just focus on the first, the things he's said today. (If I bothered with everything he's ever said, I would have to devote this entire blog to it.) This is what he has to say about modern American government:
We need to remember the words our founding fathers put in the Declaration of Independence.Sure, I'm on board with altering the government. But before we do that, what exactly is the goal here? You quoted the part of the Declaration that states our right to institute new government, but you skipped the ends to which a government must be destructive, the ones that would justify taking such action. Let's see...
“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,”
We must make certain we have new leaders in 2012 to replace the bad leadership we have had. We must make certain that our new leaders are committed to liberty and the destruction of big government. Our government needs much altering. Let us alter government before it becomes destructive of these ends and requires abolition.
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.Right, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A government destructive of those ends should be altered or abolished, and replaced with new government. Fair enough.
We live in a nation where health care, or insurance that covers health care, must be paid for. Where people that cannot pay for care must go without, and (as a result) die. And the reforms that would create health care for all citizens, that would ensure that the people of this nation actually have a right to life? Are consistently blocked by the right wing, the Tea Party adherents proudly in the lead, arguing that it would be government overreach.
We live in a nation where certain segments of the population are consistently denied their rights, whether that be gay and lesbian people denied their right to marriage and its civil benefits or Muslims denied their right to construct and occupy places to practice their religion. Where American citizens, in the name of security, are forced to endure violations of their civil liberties. And the reforms that would open this country up, bring it closer to that ideal of liberty and justice for all? Are consistently hysterically shouted down by the right wing and the Tea Party, claiming that expansions of liberty would destroy this nation.
We live in a nation where women often do not have open access to birth control and abortion, where the poor are kept poor through a steady refusal to work at fixing the societal issues that contribute to poverty. Where the means by which people can work towards happiness and prosperity are blocked to those without the resources to follow those paths. And the reforms that would cut through those barriers and truly give all citizens of this nation a chance to pursue happiness and prosperity? Are consistently halted (and indeed reversed) by the right wing and its Tea Party supporters, claiming that moral reasoning demands the continued suffering of those people.
If you want to know what the right wing is doing, see what they're accusing the left wing of. Judson Phillips would have you believe that the left wing is responsible for a worsening government, that we are responsible for a government anathema to the ends of the Declaration of Independence. Before tossing that accusation out there, he might want to take a closer look at those ends, and ask himself whether his own movement isn't the problem after all.
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