Thoughts From An Independent Conservative
by Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
America is a changing nation. It is changing today just as it has been changing gradually over the past 234 years. While change is necessary not all change is advisable or good.
Modern realities are not exactly the same as the agrarian realities of 1776. Life has changed and while the basic needs of human survival has remained essentially the same the avenue to achieve the satisfaction of those basic needs has evolved.
As we moved from an agrarian society to a modern industrial society the requirements to effectively sustain our life and provide for the welfare of our families changed. Skill sets and knowledge had to continually evolve to keep pace with advancing technologies.
Forward progress was essential to remain competitive and successful in an evolving and advancing global environment and economic reality. In as much as we are experiencing rapid, almost instantaneous change today our founding fathers, the product of the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason certainly realized that life 234 years following their great experiment would be vast;0y different than their lives were in 1776.
The great wisdom of our founders was in giving us the greatest document in self rule ever known to mankind. This document, the Constitution of the United States of America provided a road map to effectively governing our nation while at the same time insuring the rights of the people and the individual states remained sovereign over the federal government. One need look no further than the Original Bill of Rights, or the Present Bill of Right specifically the Tenth Amendment to confirm this fact. Specifically:
However, it is clear, at least to the honest student of history that the founders intent was to forever protect, defend, and preserve the rights of the individual over those of an oppressive state. Liberty does not mean compliance to the designs or dictates of the state. Rather it means allowing for the GREATEST liberty possible while alowing for the maintenance of a safe and civil societal order.
Classical liberalism was the foundation of the "American Experiment" and strongly entrenched in our founding principles. As an "independent conservative" I fully support the tenets of Classical Liberalism.
Today the term liberal, in practical reality means something vastly different than it did in the 18th century. One of the first principals of classical liberalism was the belief in a limited central government with just powers vested in, and derived from the people. Modern liberalism has come to represent the power of the socialist state to determine the solution to all issues affecting the individual and society. In other words liberalism today essentially espouses the belief the federal state is sovereign not only over the separate states but the individual as well.
Perhaps President James Madison said in best when he said:
Conservatives, independent or otherwise take a beating from modern liberals. Or as I prefer to call them, progressive collectivists. Perhaps it is understandable given the "modern liberal's" disdain for the individual and apparent love for all things collective and "progressive".
I now refer you back to the second sentence of my first paragraph:
Cross posed to Political Integrity Now and the Left Coast Rebel
Rational Nation USA
America is a changing nation. It is changing today just as it has been changing gradually over the past 234 years. While change is necessary not all change is advisable or good.
Modern realities are not exactly the same as the agrarian realities of 1776. Life has changed and while the basic needs of human survival has remained essentially the same the avenue to achieve the satisfaction of those basic needs has evolved.
As we moved from an agrarian society to a modern industrial society the requirements to effectively sustain our life and provide for the welfare of our families changed. Skill sets and knowledge had to continually evolve to keep pace with advancing technologies.
Forward progress was essential to remain competitive and successful in an evolving and advancing global environment and economic reality. In as much as we are experiencing rapid, almost instantaneous change today our founding fathers, the product of the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason certainly realized that life 234 years following their great experiment would be vast;0y different than their lives were in 1776.
The great wisdom of our founders was in giving us the greatest document in self rule ever known to mankind. This document, the Constitution of the United States of America provided a road map to effectively governing our nation while at the same time insuring the rights of the people and the individual states remained sovereign over the federal government. One need look no further than the Original Bill of Rights, or the Present Bill of Right specifically the Tenth Amendment to confirm this fact. Specifically:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.The founders in their infinite wisdom realized that from time to time the Constitution may, due to changing times need to be amended to preserve the integrity of the founding document as well as respond to a constant evolving and changing world reality. Progress was in their view not only desirable, it was essential. After all they were of the Age of Reason and amongst the most forward thinking an enlightened individuals of their time.
However, it is clear, at least to the honest student of history that the founders intent was to forever protect, defend, and preserve the rights of the individual over those of an oppressive state. Liberty does not mean compliance to the designs or dictates of the state. Rather it means allowing for the GREATEST liberty possible while alowing for the maintenance of a safe and civil societal order.
Classical liberalism was the foundation of the "American Experiment" and strongly entrenched in our founding principles. As an "independent conservative" I fully support the tenets of Classical Liberalism.
Today the term liberal, in practical reality means something vastly different than it did in the 18th century. One of the first principals of classical liberalism was the belief in a limited central government with just powers vested in, and derived from the people. Modern liberalism has come to represent the power of the socialist state to determine the solution to all issues affecting the individual and society. In other words liberalism today essentially espouses the belief the federal state is sovereign not only over the separate states but the individual as well.
Perhaps President James Madison said in best when he said:
Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there are too many lights now in the political firmament to permit it to remain anywhere, as it has heretofore done, almost everywhere.Of course Madison lived during a time when individual freedom and liberty was the reality in America and on the rise throughout Europe. Today the exact opposite is true. Today we are hailing progressive movement away from the "classical liberal" principles on which this nation was founded and flourished for over 200 years.
Conservatives, independent or otherwise take a beating from modern liberals. Or as I prefer to call them, progressive collectivists. Perhaps it is understandable given the "modern liberal's" disdain for the individual and apparent love for all things collective and "progressive".
I now refer you back to the second sentence of my first paragraph:
While change is necessary not all change is advisable or good.Could it be we have witnessed over the past 234 years a circular back to tyranny?
Cross posed to Political Integrity Now and the Left Coast Rebel
"Could it be we have witnessed over the past 234 years a circular back to tyranny?"
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, but most people are too stupid to see it.
Gorges - I wonder about this as well. But could it be that most people are just followers and whoever plays to their inherent tendencies wins the day?
ReplyDeleteThe progressive collectivist intellectual elite have simply done a more through job of indoctrinating those that are too busy working to make ends meet to notice the encroaching ultimate evil.