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This article is part of a series of articles written in celebration of Independence Day in the United States. We celebrate with gratitude the achievements of the Founding Fathers and the wisdom of the Founding Generation, who pledged to each other "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor," in the pursuit of freedom against the shackles of tyranny. We wish all readers a Happy Independence Day. In the words of President Andrew Jackson: "Our Union: it must be preserved." Happy Birthday America! THOMAS K. SARROUF JR.
Over the course of the past 100 years with the rise of modern American progressivism, there have been many complaints and criticisms of the Founding Fathers and the American government, particularly the Constitutional structure. One might commonly hear criticisms of the electoral college being an “undemocratic system,” or that there are forces in play, like the “top 1%,” who are trying to undermine and erode our “democracy.” “Power to the people” is a common phrase used by many political activists, derived from the John Lennon song of the same name. Because the system was created by the Founders and written into the Constitution, people blame the Founders for creating an inherently unjust and oppressive system; according to these people, America is an inherently bad place, lacking certain values that protect human rights. But why did the Founders structure the Union the way they did? On Independence Day, I think it timely and important to evaluate and recommit to the values of the Founders. The fundamental principle understood by the Founders is the rights of all human beings. The Declaration reads, “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.” The Founders did not have a specific concept of dignity the way we do today; the term post-dates them. However, they understood that our human tie to the Transcendent, “the Creator,” came with a package of rights; our rights come from a higher source. They understood that human beings were special, and that by virtue of being human, every human, despite individual differences, were created equal. This idea was a radical departure from the common understanding of governance at the time. As Jefferson wrote in that famous last letter of his: “The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.” Contrary to what King George III believed—and what was the common sentiment throughout the entire world—no man had a divine writ to rule over any other man. From that principle of equality comes the principle of consent; government may only be legitimate where consent is given for governance. Because we are all equal, no one can force another to do something without their consent. For the purposes of government, consent must be ongoing, which begets the Constitution, a system of government that ensures perpetual universal consent for government. Why did the Founders choose a representative government? They understood the potential of people to become corrupted by power (e.g. King George III), and needed to impose strict limits on the ability of people to become corrupted. That is why we have a system of checks and balances between the branches of government. Representation allows for continuous consent for government by way of voting, but it also sets a difference between the government and the people. Because the people give consent for government, they are the sovereign. However, they have no political power outside of voting (lobbying, free speech, the rights to bear arms, and protesting are influential and even powerful, but they are not formal mechanisms of political power). This is by design. The Founders wanted to separate the power from the sovereign so that the sovereign could not change the rules of the government like George III did. Hence, America is a republic, not a democracy. The Founding Fathers, knowledgeable of their Classical history and philosophy, knew well that democracy was evil and trended towards corruption. Those who say “power to the people,” do not see the government as being “for the people.” However, as we have seen, this is quite untrue. The Founders created the American government, a federal representative Constitutional republic, based on human anthropology. They saw human beings as having a will and an intellect, equal under God, capable of both tremendous good and terrifying evil, and having a freedom for excellence. From that philosophic foundation, they created a system that would allow us to be ruled by the “better angels of our nature.” Because it is grounded in an understanding of human dignity, the American government is the single greatest nation in human history. So on Independence Day, let us all reflect on just how well the Founders did at making our government, and let us always commit and recommit to those principles gladly and freely. Originally published at the World Youth Alliance, appearing here with slight edits.
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This article is part of a series of articles written in celebration of Independence Day in the United States. We celebrate with gratitude the achievements of the Founding Fathers and the wisdom of the Founding Generation, who pledged to each other "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor," in the pursuit of freedom against the shackles of tyranny. We wish all readers a Happy Independence Day. In the words of President Andrew Jackson: "Our Union: it must be preserved." Happy Birthday America! HAYDEN G.
Many Americans typically celebrate Independence Day by hosting a cookout, spending the day at the lake, lighting off fireworks, or some combination thereof. These are all fine ways to celebrate the sacrifices our nation’s Founding Fathers made by successfully waging war on the British Empire and thus establishing what is today the United States of America. However, this 4th of July in 2021 has a very different texture than the Independence Days of years past. Many states just recently lifted small-business crippling lockdown restrictions, inflation is slowly eroding what little purchasing power the US dollar has left, and the family is constantly under attack from an ever decaying culture. Young men are suffering from pornography addiction, young women are selling their bodies on social media, and children are being subjected to a pervasive agenda designed to corrupt their minds. Many cities in the United States have seen record levels of violent crime while law enforcement functionally no longer serves as an effective defender of the rule of law. Religiosity is rapidly declining as Christian morality is being stripped away from American society and those who choose to raise their families with such beliefs are relentlessly ostracized in this rapidly deteriorating secular nation. There are objectively many reasons to be apprehensive when forecasting the trajectory of America with conservatives lacking meaningful leadership to mount an effective defense against the impending dystopian situation we find ourselves in. Unfortunately, the Republican Party has proven to be nothing more than controlled opposition and largely ineffectual in using political power to achieve objectives opposed to the dominant degenerate culture. Conservatives in any major American city live in occupied territory with virtually zero chance of ever gaining meaningful influence to counter the war being waged against their values and way of life. Generally speaking many conservatives agree on the core issues facing the nation and spend a great deal of time debating on which reforms they would make or how they would pass laws to counter these problems. This, frankly, is a complete waste of time given the demonstrated weakness, incompetence, and corruption of the Republican Party. I prefer to focus on the things I can personally control and how I can better improve my life given the circumstances. The good news is that practically anyone with the resolve to opt out of the deteriorating culture can do so by improving their lives. A great starting point with improving your physical health is by cutting out toxic substances such as fast food, processed food, seed oils (soybean, sunflower, canola, safflower, corn, etc.), processed sugar, and soft drinks. If you can remove these specific items from your diet, you will not only improve your physical health but also enhance your mental health with an overall improved mood. A good rule I like to use is “If it wasn’t a common food in the early 1900s, you don’t need it”. Grass fed beef, wild-caught seafood, pasture raised eggs, grass fed dairy, fresh fruit, vegetables, potatoes, and sourdough bread is an excellent starting point for basic diet excellence. Ensuring a minimum of 15 minutes of daily sunlight is vitally important for your body to gain exposure to natural Vitamin D. Sustained exercise in the form of a daily jog or a productive hour lifting weights will ensure that you are providing your body with adequate endorphins with the accompanying benefits such as the “runners high”. Sleep is the other critical component along with diet and exercise that cannot be overlooked. Blue light exposure from your phone, laptop, and TV prior to going to bed can adversely impact your body’s ability to achieve deep sleep (REM). Putting your phone on airplane mode prior to laying down will also assist with the potential urge to constantly check it and keep your blue light exposure to a minimum. Drinking a cup of chamomile tea with ½ tbsp of Glycine along with a Zinc (ZMA) supplement approximately 30 minutes prior to going to sleep has proven to be very beneficial in my personal experience. Basic improvements to your diet, exercise routine, and sleep quality will help shape a positive mindset and forge a healthy body which can potentially reduce your reliance on the healthcare system well into old age. There are many other personal suggestions I could list to improve your life such as regularly attending mass/church, reducing social media usage, or wisely investing your money. However, the objective of this article is not to rattle off a checklist based on my personal perspective. My goal is to provide suggestions on how individuals can build a baseline level of optimal physical and mental health to strengthen their agency and resist the efforts by those who control society to subjugate them. Effectively controlling your life and your sphere of influence will ensure that you are not just another mindless drone willfully going along with or facilitating the deliberate decline of American society. On this 4th of July, I encourage you to take the necessary actions to declare your independence from the degenerate American culture, assert control over your domain, and resist the dysfunctional power centers attempting to destroy your way of life.
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I Think I Can!7/4/2021 This article is part of a series of articles written in celebration of Independence Day in the United States. We celebrate with gratitude the achievements of the Founding Fathers and the wisdom of the Founding Generation, who pledged to each other "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor," in the pursuit of freedom against the shackles of tyranny. We wish all readers a Happy Independence Day. In the words of President Andrew Jackson: "Our Union: it must be preserved." Happy Birthday America! CHARLIE WOLTHER
The “great” outdoors are, by nature, no friend to man. We only require three things for basic survival: food, water, and shelter. As this suggests, the necessity of isolation from the world around us is a common feature of our lives. We live, sleep, work and eat mostly inside. This fact of life seems impervious to technological advancement, if not strengthened by it. Innovation has made it possible to exercise, learn, and, with the internet, stay connected to and informed on most of the planet without leaving our homes. Our safe, predictable homes stand in contrast to the natural world. Just stepping outside in a city puts you at an exponentially greater risk of attack and, if you go far enough from your home, leaves you reliant on others for food and water which you now have to get from stores and restaurants instead of your kitchen. Meanwhile, you can just forget about leaving the city and heading into the wilderness or a national park. There you’ll find no internet, no steady source of food, and the only human presence for miles around is often far away. Everything about unexplored nature should worry any rational human being. Luckily, Americans are uniquely irrational. 80% of Americans live in urban spaces which take up only 3% of the total land area of the US. In a country stretching from the Rockies to the Everglades, a vast amount of open space is left inhabited by a relatively small minority of the population that does not live close together. Large, uninhabited spaces are naturally intimidating to humans, and in other countries they are. Russians seem to have no love for cold Siberia. Brazilians stick to the coast and have avoided the Amazon so much that there are tribes within it who have never contacted the outside world. And yet, come Memorial Day Weekend or July 4, millions of Americans say things like “let’s go to the lake!” or “let’s go camping!” before hopping in their cars and driving to the middle of nowhere like it’s nothing. A friend of mine even told me two days ago that for the holiday weekend she and her family are going to a house with no internet. It would seem Americans have a proclivity for the world beyond their comforts. Evidence of this attraction pervades American culture. Every year, some 3 million Americans visit the 2,200 mile Appalachian trail to hike mountains which once marked the border of the United States because they were so natural a barrier to humans. Thousands even attempt to “thru-hike” the entire trail in one year, choosing of their own volition to live in the woods and carry packs all the way from Georgia to Maine. A minority of Americans may live outside cities, but a majority(62%) of American households have one person who camps at least occasionally. In 1872, even as the American frontier was still very much alive and dangerous, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law making Yellowstone the first national park in the world. Looking for inspiration, the Hudson River School of American landscape painters chose their country’s roaring rivers, towering mountains, and dark forests. A meaningful life cannot be found solely in survival. Man is at, and prepared to do, his worst when all he has to worry about are food, water, and shelter. It is only while looking beyond these things that he finds love, creativity, and enlightenment. As animals, however, humans are programmed to prioritize their own survival, and many people care only for the basic necessities of their lives. No wonder why, as technology has made it easier to live comfortably, many have spent even more time sequestering themselves in their homes, afraid of the world outside and respecting its intimidating and carefully set boundaries. But not Americans. For 245 years, Americans have done anything but respect the boundaries the world has set out for them. In 1776, they broke their allegiance to the British king and decided to fight for liberty against the world’s foremost power. For decades, Americans strove for humanity and merit in the face of violently enforced discrimination. Americans have, time and time again, looked beyond their homes and their comforts to the mountains and the rivers and deserts and left, against the laws of nature itself, to climb and ford and cross them. This Sunday, as millions of Americans pack up and head out of the cities, camp in the forests, and throw barbecues outside, they will be celebrating the constant American search for meaning beyond. They will be celebrating 245 years of a nation which has never for one second respected the forces which might stop us from finding love, creativity, and enlightenment. They will be celebrating a nation of explorers. |