Declaration of Independence (annotated)
“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 — t to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed…”
The Preamble of the Constitution of the United States
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Who can honestly argue that these tenets espoused by all those men and women who fled their native countries to find a “New World” was an attempt to rebuild their World radically? The “New World” they fled to was a long sought-for home in which to establish the utopia described in the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
The 1776 Declaration of Independence put the British on notice of their intentions; the Preamble two decades later that introduced the Rule of Law to this new nation and the rest of the World and enshrined it in a template with which this new nation would operate, “of, by, and for the People.”
Grandios thoughts and plans, don’t you think?
They WERE implemented. Over two centuries plus, these settlers gave their time, their blood, sweat, and tears — and sometimes their lives — to preserve the part of this utopia established and propped up so far. Though difficult at best, pure drudgery at worst, they endured and worked and died to fulfill this pipedream for which they fled Europe. They made their dream a reality! Ten generations later, the fight and struggle continues, and maybe with the same challenges, disagreements, and fights, and even wars, as did they.
We’ve finally arrived! Or have we?
The U.S. Status Quo
Here we are in 2021. We finally arrived! We fought the British twice, the Germans twice, the Japanese once, and the North Vietnamese along the way to get here. We sustained skirmishes throughout those 260 years with radical Muslims, the Barbary Pirates, and showed our teeth and growled multiple times at the Commies. Oh, don’t forget that we fought ourselves domestically in a bit more than a skirmish that saw 600,000 faithful U.S. servants give their lives. It’s a pretty sure bet that we’ve been through a lot to get where we are. We bear scars — but at least they’re victory scars. Our nation is intact! We’ve prevailed. Yet, today, our compilation of 13 colonies that started this thing, and a bunch more added along the way, is more divided than ever — more so even than when we fought each other in the Civil War.
Sadly, there’s only one universal staple of the United States of America: Politics. It’s existed here since Europeans decided to come. And little about the political system has changed. Certainly, much of which our founders cautioned has happened despite (and sometimes because of) their warnings. After all, Americans have progressed through a couple of centuries, are much smarter, much richer, and more astute to the “things of the world.”
Yes, self-awareness and sanctimonious back-patting have thrived in the “New World.” And, to the chagrin of our forefathers, political parties were established and flourished.
The Founding Fathers were generally uneasy about political parties. For the most part, they believed that parties had the potential to tear the new nation apart. To these men, political parties meant factionalism, which they believed could be fatal to the development of the United States as a unified country. It is no surprise, then, those political parties are entirely omitted from the U.S. Constitution.
America’s founders understood that the republic they were founding requires parties as a means for keeping government accountable to the people. Throughout America’s history, the power of political parties has risen and fallen, reaching their power-peak in the last few decades. Americans today attribute to parties the very maladies from which great parties would save us if only we would restore them. Great political parties of the past put party principles above candidate personalities and institutionalized resources to maintain political relationships based on principle. They moderated politics and provided opportunities for leadership in Congress instead of shifting all power to the executive branch, enabling the republic to enjoy the benefits of checks and balances while avoiding gridlock. Parties also encouraged elected officials to put the national interest ahead of narrow special interests.
Does that sound anything even similar to today’s political parties?
If there is one thing about politics that unites Americans these days, it is their contempt for political parties and partisanship. More Americans today identify as independents than with either of the two major political parties. Citizens boast that they “vote for the person, not for the party,” and denounce fellow citizens or representatives who blindly toe the party line. Party leaders in Congress are held in disrepute, criticized by one side for being too soft and condemned by the other for being too partisan. Insurgent, outsider candidates are increasingly successful against those who are perceived as “the establishment.” Americans are bipartisan in their condemnation of partisanship.
Americans have always viewed political parties with skepticism. The Constitution did not seem to anticipate their emergence. Despite this, however, parties play an essential role in our republican form of government and have done so throughout American history.
If one thinks through the concept of such parties, it is safe to assume that political parties are considered to be essential to our democratic process. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The power to directly impact the federal government and its processes gives political power today to parties that far exceed our founders’ anticipations and their purposes for existence.
Many scholars feel the need for these parties holds a place on the “necessity scale” equal to that held by labor unions. Both were important for our nation at their foundings and through its formative years. The fruit of their operations protected their members while facilitating both government and America’s business operations, respectively. But neither function today in those ways and long ago moved away from foundation principles only to be devoured by political power and its fruits.
Thomas Jefferson best described the feelings toward political parties of many founders from the 1700s and many Americans today:
“If I could not go to heaven but with a political party, I would decline to go.”
That speaks volumes about the substance of political parties then AND now.
What is their purpose today?
There can be only one correct and honest answer to that question: “To amass, maintain, and use the power of the party to establish unilateral, one-party control of the U.S. Government and all of its operations.” Never before in American history has its people seemed so divided. The division is actually the antithesis of the purposes for which the U.S. was established. Though settlers came from many countries, ethnicities, native languages, and even religions, each shared a handful of things that became the glue of commonality that amazingly held the country together despite its citizens’ vast array of oddities. How did it work? Through the personal choice to push through differences with others of every kind and pull together for those common goals spelled out above in the founding statements describing their purposes then and, supposedly, our common purposes today.
Today’s political leaders forgot about that.
No one can reasonably doubt the singular objective of both of today’s political parties. Unfettered power to control every aspect of the nation, its people, and its government has consumed all in its path. The last few presidential elections are evidence of that — if we needed more.
Barack Obama, while campaigning, revealed his purpose in becoming president was to lead the fundamental change of America. Hillary Clinton ran to instigate “Barack Obama Part III,” but Donald Trump spoiled the party. The American populace slipped up and spoiled the power push, keeping Hillary on the sidelines for four years. Why would they do that? They saw in Trump a leader NOT consumed with a lust for political power and a man who the populace felt would do something if elected that few if any presidents in their lifetimes had done: do exactly what was promised while campaigning AFTER being put in office. What a novel idea!
What happened in November of 2020? Without diving into the weeds, let’s say that Donald Trump was sent packing. The victor in that race was NOT the American people. Sadly, it was — on the back of Joe Biden — “Barack Obama Part III” that Hillary could not do.
Democrats on Biden’s watch quickly launched an all-out war against any American who disagreed with their power push. And it was not and is not for Socialism of some sort. We are watching daily as more and more evidence proves their objective looks more like totalitarianism than any socialism seen in other countries. In fact, it can truly be likened to Marxism — TRUE totalitarianism.
Talk about a hunger for power! What political structure in history was built more on seizing power that then is maintained by a small despotic bureaucratic hodge-podge than original Marxism?
What does Marxism look like? What are its purposes in operation?
In a nutshell, Marxism examines the effect of capitalism on labor, productivity, and economic development and argues for a worker revolution to overturn capitalism in favor of communism. In other words, the government gets larger and stronger, seizes power over processes and systems and organizations other than government, and rules the nation unilaterally. Government “of, by, and for the People” disappears in the rearview mirror.
That’s not underway today in the U.S. There are still three co-equal branches of government and two distinct political parties that offer diversity. How can a case be rightly made that Marxism is underway or that is even being contemplated?
Any American that subscribes to that theory is either living under a rock, asleep, or simply not paying attention!
One of the first steps of any totalitarian political operation is to seize control. Isn’t it obvious that in November 2021, that very thing occurred? At best, there were certain election “irregularities.” At worst, there was rampant voter fraud that changed national election outcomes. Either is sufficient to complete the first step in a Marxist movement: seize total control of the government.
Democrats seized control of the House, Senate, and the White House.
The second “must-have” in Marxism is the stifling of dissidence: eliminating opposing views against the controlling government entity.
Leaders in the Democrat Party perfected the Cancel Culture, a new term to divide and conquer America’s political class: Critical Race Theory and the demonization of anyone with any diverse ideology that disagrees with the ideology of the Ruling Class. Our Ruling Class today is the Democrat Party.
- They don’t need consensus for legislation, restrictions that they choose to implement, taxing, spending, or canceling anyone and anything with which they disagree.
- With power, they have virtual control of every policy, every law, every interaction with other governments, controlling borders, and virtual control of every aspect of not just the government, but THROUGH the government, every aspect of American life.
- Why would they even consider eliminating the filibuster if that was not key in their project? They wouldn’t IF they perpetuated their cries to KEEP the filibuster to protect a minority party as they did in years past.
- Why would they foment daily hatred for “other” Americans — those with whom they disagree if their objective was not to seize power?
- Why would they rush massive spending projects one after another through Congress, knowing that many Americans disagree?
Summary
The bottom line to this all is horrifying but truthful and scary: the political class in power plans to take whatever measures they deem necessary to keep that power in perpetuity, no matter the cost or the personal or professional damage doing so cost American individuals OR the nation as a whole. In their plan and their minds, the “end certainly justifies the means to that end.”
You and I are not the only victims. In fact, we are the least among those victims. They are freedom, justice, the rule of law, government of, by, and for the People, liberty, a guarantee for the unfettered pursuit of happiness, our First and Second Amendment rights, and every individual right we’ve had since the late 1700s. As far as those political party leaders are concerned, Americans never had the right to all that anyway.
Their feelings are justified by this: “Government gave those rights; Government now takes them away.”
What happens next? Why don’t you tell me!
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