On the other hand, petty and arrogant men and women, whose minds have been informed and caged in by likewise petty and arrogant dead men like Mao, Marx and Lenin--men of little achievement, believing "we are the ones we've been waiting for" and having the "audacity" to declare such nonsense before the entire world!!!
America's Founding generation had a better idea, acknowledging their own reliance on Divine Providence and "the Supreme Judge of the world."
It was an humble idea, by men of superior intellect, study, and wisdom, and that idea resulted in more individual liberty, more opportunity, more "hope," and more plenty for more people for a longer period of time than the world had ever experienced.
If the recurrent declaration being made by Ryan and Romney that life, liberty, and rights are derived from God--not government--and, if enough opinion makers among so-called "conservatives" will expand, amplify and explain the implicit meaning and implications of that essential idea, then a citizen movement can be created which may end the long night of reliance on government which has been imposed by the arrogance of so-called "progressives."
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Our Constitution embodied a UNIQUE IDEA. Nothing like it had ever been done before. The power of the idea was in the recognition that people's rights are granted directly by the Creator - not by the state - and that the people, then, and only then, grant rights to government. The concept is so simple, yet so very fundamental and far-reaching.
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America's founders embraced a previously unheard-of political philosophy which held that people are "...endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights.." This was the statement of guiding principle for the new nation, and, as such, had to be translated into a concrete charter for government. The Constitution of The United States of America became that charter.
Other forms of government, past and present, rely on the state as the grantor of human rights. America's founders, however, believed that a government made up of imperfect people exercising power over other people should possess limited powers. Through their Constitution, they wished to "secure the blessings of liberty" for themselves and for posterity by limiting the powers of government. Through it, they delegated to government only those rights they wanted it to have, holding to themselves all powers not delegated by the Constitution. They even provided the means for controlling those powers they had granted to government.
This was the unique American idea. Many problems we face today result from a departure from this basic concept. Gradually, other "ideas" have influenced legislation which has reversed the roles and given government greater and greater power over individuals. Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of individual freedom and limited government and warned, over and over again, that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve that freedom for posterity.
Footnote: "Our Ageless Constitution," W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III: ISBN 0-937047-01-5
Both Candidate Romney and Paul Ryan repeat the idea that America was based on the idea that our rights come "from God, not government." Many former Presidents have expressed the same conviction. That is the sole reason why our "People's Constitution" considered life, liberty and rights to be unalienable by mere human beings. Such an attitude directs acknowledgement, gratitude and allegiance, according to Madison and other Founders, to a "Sovereign ruler of the world," not to a coercive government made up of imperfect human beings.
“The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe, the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.” (John F. Kennedy - 1961 Inaugural)
May God's blessings be upon our military who protect and defend us all on behalf of this "Unique Idea" underlying our freedom. Lt. Col. West honors them and the sacrifices they have made for the "unique idea" of liberty, under God.