Today (Feb. 17th, 2010), Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA News Service Editor and National Political Director, Conservative Solutions, joined other free market and limited government leaders and citizens by signing online the Mount Vernon Statement which is a "reaffirmation of constitutional, limited government as the only means of preserving liberty, promoting prosperity, and opposing tyranny in America, and throughout the world." You too can sign this statement!
Bill Smith, Editor: The Mt. Vernon Statement comes almost fifty years after the 1960 Sharon Statement by William F. Buckley, Jr. that many consider to be one of the founding documents of the modern conservative movement. Today's statement is relevant to the current political climate with the rise of the tea party movement and increasing citizen opposition to government-run health care, runaway spending and debt creation, are all evidence that Americans still believe in constitutional principles of limited government and the rule of law.
Having served over 22 years in the U.S. Air Force, it was important to me as an Oath Keeper to use this opportunity to reaffirm my commitment to my Oath to supports and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic and that begins with all the constitutional rights. The Mount Vernon Statement represents all American people who have shown throughout our history a willingness to defend their constitutional rights. Today, I joined others in in affirming those rights.
According to the Mount Vernon Statement, "The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant." The statement continues, "The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution."
Another signer, Bill Wilson, President of the Americans for Limited Government, said, "The Mount Vernon Statement seeks to chart a new course for the 21st century. History has shown that out of control growth in the federal government has established entitlements that threaten to bankrupt the nation, increasingly taken on new powers to tax and regulate practically every human activity imaginable, and weakened the nation's economic standing in the world by debasing our currency, bailing out politically-favored institutions, revoking property rights, and placing primacy into the hands of government over the people."
Fellow Citizens, you can also sign the statement at TheMountVernonStatement.com. Preview of the Mount Vernon Statement:
The Mount Vernon Statement We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence, provide for economic opportunity, establish true religious liberty and maintain a flourishing society of republican self-government.
Constitutional Conservatism: A Statement for the 21st Century
These principles define us as a country and inspire us as a people. They are responsible for a prosperous, just nation unlike any other in the world. They are our highest achievements, serving not only as powerful beacons to all who strive for freedom and seek self-government, but as warnings to tyrants and despots everywhere.
Each one of these founding ideas is presently under sustained attack. In recent decades, America's principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics. The self-evident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist. The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant.
Some insist that America must change, cast off the old and put on the new. But where would this lead — forward or backward, up or down? Isn't this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?
The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature's God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed. It recognizes man's self-interest but also his capacity for virtue.
The conservatism of the Constitution limits government's powers but ensures that government performs its proper job effectively. It refines popular will through the filter of representation. It provides checks and balances through the several branches of government and a federal republic.
A Constitutional conservatism unites all conservatives through the natural fusion provided by American principles. It reminds economic conservatives that morality is essential to limited government, social conservatives that unlimited government is a threat to moral self-government, and national security conservatives that energetic but responsible government is the key to America's safety and leadership role in the world.
A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.If we are to succeed in the critical political and policy battles ahead, we must be certain of our purpose.
- It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.
- It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.
- It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.
- It supports America's national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.
- It informs conservatism's firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.
We must begin by retaking and resolutely defending the high ground of America's founding principles.
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