Faith

Most Americans identify with the Christian culture which moved our Founders to declare “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.”

Faith in the existence of the Almighty God is the bedrock of our society. Our liberty and rights are secure because they are not the grant of human beings, but the gift of God. When we cease to believe that, our freedom ceases to be secure. Freedom is the right given by God to every individual. What each individual does with that freedom is a matter of personal responsibility.  

Freedom

We are witnessing the rapid erosion of those inherent freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech was once nearly absolute. “No prior restraint” on speech was a constitutional principle enforced by the courts. The right to speak was not merely a legal precept but a cultural reality. Now the concept of “hate speech” – as defined by the Left – allows blanket suppression of speech which they find offensive. De-platforming is an anti-freedom concept which says that anyone espousing an unacceptable view should be denied a platform from which to say it. 

Radical Antifa activists believe that it is acceptable to use violence to de-platform those they oppose. Big Tech, major corporations and journalists have tacitly embraced this dangerous idea. Many media outlets will not have guests who oppose abortion, climate change, homosexuality, transgenderism or Islamic terror. Corporations routinely discriminate against Bible believing Christians. They do not wish to hear from or hire anyone who voted for or supported President Donald Trump. In fact, they de-platformed and blacklisted former members of the Trump administration.  Not only is free speech a privilege of the Left, but so apparently is the right to earn a living. While many glibly dismiss this as private sector behavior not subject to the First Amendment, when powerful businesses which control the flow of information act in concert with a political party in power, it is de facto government censorship. 

Many have taken to calling this “cancel culture.” It is in fact totalitarian culture. If politics is downstream from culture, unless this development is halted, totalitarian government will inevitably follow in one form or another.

There is a similar attack on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The right to self-defense is another inherent God-given right. The Left treats it as a privilege granted by government, and is constantly looking for ways to restrict or eliminate it.

In the America we envision, government remembers that it is the servant of the people, not our master; that it has limited and delegated powers; and that it derives its power from the consent of the governed.