Observations©
By Donald S. Conkey
Last Friday the Tribune’s editorial staff gave Charles Krauthammer’s outstanding column a caption that inspired this column. It read “The Constitution – Liberals who sneer at it do so at their own peril.”
And indeed anyone who “sneers at the Constitution” today, or ever, does so at their own peril. And what would that peril be? Enslavement and a loss of those freedom guarantees that most Americans now take for granted and think of as entitlements.Believe me – they are not entitlements. They were earned by the blood of the Revolutionary War Patriots – the predecessors of today’s Tea Party Patriots. Let me again review the words of Albert Bowen, written in 1936, that states what, in his opinion, freedom is and is not. He declared: “Freedom is more than a release from outward restraint. It is an essence, a quality of the spirit whose rarest blossoms, in an atmosphere of oppression, wither and die. Freedom is not bestowed; it is achieved. It is not a gift, but a conquest. It does no abide, it must be preserved.”
Bowen’s declaration should be memorized by every American and should be taught in every school in America. Sadly, however, few have ever heard of it and it certainly is not being in taught in any American schools today. Anyone who follows the day-to-day operations in Washington today see clearly that those known in Washington today as “the Establishment,” today’s progressive and liberal insiders, are leading America into a ‘one-world’ government. Their declared goal is to destroy the Constitution of the United States – by any means possible, but hopefully by using the ballot box – and if they succeed then those precious freedom all Americans cherish so highly will be gone.
America’s precious freedoms were initially defined by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He was inspired by “our Creator” and by “the Supreme Judge of the world” to draft what has become the world’s greatest document on freedom ever written, except for the Bible (see John 8:32), by defining what unalienable freedoms are, and their source of freedom – God himself.
That document gave purpose to those clamoring for self-government and sparked the war that had begun a year earlier at Bunker Hill. Six years of war followed. Then five years of near chaos followed that nearly destroyed the fledgling nation because its governing document, the Articles of Confederation was inadequate for governing 13 very independent states. The Constitution, another divinely inspired document (not my words but words of the Founders themselves), was created in 1787 by 56 inspired men to implement and safeguard those freedoms God inspired Jefferson to embed in his document – a document that quickly became a ‘beacon of hope’ to millions worldwide.
Bowen, in addition to defining freedom, also said: “Self-government involves self-control, self-discipline, an acceptance of and the most unremitting obedience to correct principles. Its demands are commensurate with its high privileges. Duties are the inseparable companions of rights.” Edmond Burke once said “It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that all men of intemperate minds cannot be free.” Bowen, in closing stated prophetically, “Before we import despotic principles into our own land, which are so raucously clamoring for admission, we would be better to count the costs.” Powerful statements of truths by wise men!
Krauthammer’s illuminating words came about because the House leadership decided to read the Constitution on the floor of the House before they went to work reigning in an out-of-control budget. That reading was historic. It had never been done before by any Congress. Unfortunately there was little agreement on the meaning of the words they read from that document that ‘assures our freedoms.”
Can you imagine what this country would be today without those freedoms enumerated in the Bill of Rights. Columns like Krauthammer’s and mine would not be tolerated. No one could own a gun! Religion, as it is in all communist countries, would be outlawed, and people who challenged them would be shot, or sent to Siberia. The government could arrest anyone without Habeas Corpus. And there could be mass executions just as there was when Mao ruled China in the 1950s – he killed 50 million. And today’s “insiders,” members of “the Establishment,” have indicated Mao is their inspiration – and the gun, not law, is their choice (documented words) for enforcing their secular laws. Yes, these are they who sneer at the Constitution, and they do so at their own peril.
Remember, “Freedom is not bestowed; it is achieved.”