By ROB REILLY

Both buses pulled out of the Ocoee Walmart a little after 3 PM, last Friday afternoon, headed for Washington, DC and Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally.

The 13-hour overnight ride put us in the Rosslyn staging area, just across the river from the Lincoln Memorial. Watching the mini-series John Adams on video helped put us in an appropriate frame of mind for the coming day’s marathon of activity. After freshening up and having a great sunrise breakfast buffet, on the 17th floor of the Holiday Inn, we piled on the subway for the quick trip over to the Mall.

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By Dr. ROBERT OWENS

The United States was founded as a representative republic inspired by the soaring philosophy of the Enlightenment.  As humanity clawed its way out of the depths of the Dark Ages thoughts of freedom found root and germinated in the minds of thousands.  Rising from this rebirth or Renaissance came the realization that humanity inherently possess certain rights and that among these are the right to life, liberty and property.  These foundational rights are not conferred by government; they are endowed by God.  A godly government acknowledges them.  An ungodly government claims to be the arbiter of rights.  These fundamental rights are part of the original design and necessary for humanity to reach its full potential.  Without them we are but a shadow of what we’re meant to be.  The leader-molded citizen of any earthly tyranny is restrained from success in ways alien to the free citizen of nature and of nature’s God.

The fundamental qualities of these rights speak for themselves:

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By RANDALL YEAROUT

As Americans, and especially as Christians, we have great need to understand a concept that our Founding Fathers counted as the most important principle of all; and they expected their descendants and their leaders never to lose sight of it. It is the principle of regard for the laws of nature and nature’s God. It is of first prominence in the Declaration of Independence, and our Constitution and national greatness and blessing are a product of this understanding. Private and civil institutions, government, schools and families used to be fervent in their application of this principle, and as a result, America has been God-blessed almost beyond the comprehension of most of the rest of the world.

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By Dr. ROBERT OWENS

In America, individualism is a kind of philosophical, almost theological, ideal upon which our society was founded.  This foundation birthed a society of free individuals who entered into a social contract wherein they surrendered some authority and power to government to gain enough security and peace to enjoy their rights while retaining their inherent freedom and inviolable personal independence.

That man was conceived of by our founders as a created being is attested to in the Declaration of Independence when it says, “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.”  These rights the Creator endowed us with fall into two broad categories.

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By FAIRFIELD “PINPOINT” EDWARDS

Editor’s Note: As we celebrate with a three-day weekend, or perhaps four or even five days off, it ought to be remembered why there is such a day, and why it is worthy of celebration, easily the most important secular holiday in the American social fabric.  Below is the portion of the Declaration of Independence that explains why Americans were driven to rebellion.  Shades of John Locke are very obvious, with a “long train of abuses” spelled out explicitly.  If we expect to make it to a tri-centennial this ought to be weighed carefully.  In this spirit, notice the words of the founding document juxtaposed with today’s headlines.  Editorial comments are in italics.

The history of the present King of Great Britain [President of the United States ] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

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By Dr. ROBERT OWENS

The battles were over, and the war won; now the hardest task of all: how to secure the rights fought for while providing a government strong enough to endure.  The Framers gathered in Philadelphia for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Articles of Confederation.  Within days they decided instead to frame a new government launching an experiment in centralized but limited government.

That they believed the people to be the source of legitimate authority is exposed in the Preamble which begins, “We the People.”  They based this belief upon the Enlightenment concept of Natural Law, that God endowed men with unalienable rights.  Many people in Western Civilization believed in Natural Law realizing that these rights, though endowed by the Creator as inherent prerogatives, would not continue to exist in organized society unless protected by limitations on government power.  The Framers believed Natural Law not only conferred rights it also established limits to the scope of government and man-made law.  In their mind no legitimate law violated the possession and enjoyment of the rights of man.  In declaring independence our ancestors proclaimed their purpose as assuming the station, “to which the laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them.”

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By Dr. ROBERT OWENS

In America today a debate rages concerning the legitimate role of government.  Currently the Federal Government is controlled by a group of politicians who consider themselves the ideological descendants of the Progressive Movement.  Beginning in the 1890s the Progressives led by Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson championed the idea that it was time to progress past America’s old ways of doing things.  They felt the traditions, forms, and style of American governance and society should break-out of the mold provided by the Constitution by casting it as a “Living Breathing Document” that could be remolded to meet the desires of every generation.

They believed, and their descendants still believe, it is the behavior of men that defines who they are.  This contrasts with our Founders who believed that it is instead the nature of men that provides this definition.  Our Founders expressly stated that they believed humanity has been endowed by the Creator with rights.  They felt that these rights are inalienable, meaning they are humanity’s by virtue of existence.  In other words, these rights have not been earned by man; they’ve been given by God and since they haven’t been given by government, government can’t legitimately take them away.  Instead of existing for its own right, the reason for government is to protect these natural rights.  It’s the need for the order, security and liberty for the pursuit of happiness, which justifies the establishment and continuation of government.

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By Dr. ROBERT OWENS

In the Declaration of Independence a new thing entered the world, a country founded upon the idea of equality.  The Old World consisted of societies built upon hereditary class and entrenched privilege.  Beginning with words that still burn within the breast of Patriots, this great document proclaims two types of equality.

Based upon the first clause, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” the first type is equality before the law.  We all stand before the bar of justice on the same footing.  There aren’t different laws for different classes.  The definition of murder is the same for the homeless person, the mechanic and the billionaire.  This equality, a natural part of our creation proclaims that neither classes nor other artificial divisions will ever be recognized in law or enshrined through legislation.

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By now readers are aware of the modern secular spin that the Founding Fathers were godless children of the Enlightenment, but their words reveal a deeper sense of spirituality, and what’s really worth noting here is the 19th century answer to diversity of religious persuasion.  It’s a lesson in tolerance everyone ought to heed.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

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By Dr. ROBERT OWENS

The Framers moved beyond a loose Confederation of States creating the greatest experiment in freedom the world has ever known.  They birthed a nation conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal unleashing the creative power and energy of humanity in a way never before known and never since equaled. They launched a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Constitution should feel very flattered.  Our founding document has been copied by almost as many countries as radio talking-heads trying to imitate Rush Limbaugh.  Though it was the best set of compromises the Framers could hammer-out they knew as time passed it might need to be changed.  They made provisions for gradual evolution to occur without the Revolution they used to obtain change that they could believe in or the Civil War their grandchildren fought to change that change.

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