The Founding Liberals
Today is the Fourth of July, a time when we as Americans celebrate
our nations independence. Conservatives across the country are
pretending to be patriotic. Liberals on the other hand are celebrating
the biggest achievement that appears on their resume’: the founding of
America and its government.
You see, the Founding Fathers were, and
always will be, liberals. And here are seven reasons why.
1. Although Thomas Jefferson didn’t know it at the time, when he
wrote the Declaration of Independence, he created the document that
would be used as the basis for universal human rights, which liberals
wholeheartedly support. Today’s conservatives are more interested in
stripping away human rights, and have fought relentlessly to repeal
rights from women, religious groups, and minorities. I understand that
the Founding Fathers owned slaves, but I never said they were perfect
either. The Founders, however, did believe that slavery had to end at
some point and they knew that progress could not happen all at once,
especially when they were just trying to keep the new nation afloat, but
they intended us to progress. It would take another liberal to end
slavery almost 100 years later, and yet another liberal would grant
women the vote in the early 20th century.
2. Conservatives always claim that liberals are the supporters of big
government. Well, the Founding Fathers also supported big government.
Oh sure, they tried small government at one point but The Articles of
Confederation didn’t cut it. The Federal Government under that document
was useless and powerless. General chaos reigned among the states.
Revenue couldn’t be raised. Laws conflicted between the states. Small
government had failed. So, the Founders had an idea. They met in secret
in 1787 and wrote the Constitution which created a bigger, stronger
central government. Conservatives would call that growing the
government.
3. Within the Constitution, the Founders gave power to the Congress
to levy taxes as necessary. The Founding Fathers never had an issue with
taxes. On the contrary, the founding generation waged the American
Revolution because they felt that they were not properly represented in
the British Parliament. The legislative branch established in the
Constitution, however, properly represents every American. We vote for
who represents us. Therefore when Congress raises taxes, they are doing
the job we voted for them to do. Conservatives today consistently
associate tax hikes with liberal policies. So, according to Republicans,
the Founders are liberals. James Monroe, our fifth President, once
said, “To impose taxes when the public exigencies require them is an
obligation of the most sacred character, especially with a free people.”
It most certainly applies today.
4. The Founding Fathers made it possible for us to change the
Constitution when necessary. That is the beauty of the document. But
Republicans are only lobbying to change the Constitution so that only
the original document applies. They would repeal most of the amendments
and many of the rights. Liberals on the other hand are all about change
for the better and seek to perfect the Constitution which is what the
Founders intended.
5. Republicans have claimed time and time again that health care
mandates and government run health care is unconstitutional. They have
also consistently slammed liberals for being the ones that introduce
such programs and laws. What they fail to recognize is that health care
mandates and government run health care dates all the way back to the
Founding Fathers.
In 1798, John Adams signed the very first health care
mandate into law. The law required sailors to pay a tax to the United
States government which in turn would provide medical care to them. The
next President, Thomas Jefferson, apparently approved of this program as
well, since he never challenged it, nor did he ever try to repeal it.
According to Republican logic, Adams and Jefferson are a couple big
government liberals.
6. Republicans are currently owned by corporations. They have not
only defended corporations but have worked tirelessly to push corporate
sponsored legislation through Congress. The Founding Fathers feared this
kind of relationship and viewed corporations with suspicion and largely
kept them at arms length. In fact, one reason the founding generation
went to war with Britain is because of the influence that the East India
Trading Company had on the British Parliament. A corporation even once
governed Massachusetts on behalf of England. The Revolutionary War ended
this practice. After the nation’s founding, corporations were granted
charters by the state as they are today. Unlike today, however,
corporations were only permitted to exist 20 or 30 years and could only
deal in one commodity, could not hold stock in other companies, and
their property holdings were limited to what they needed to accomplish
their business goals.
And perhaps the most important facet of all this
is that most states in the early days of the nation had laws on the
books that made any political contribution by corporations a criminal
offense. When you think about it, the regulations imposed on
corporations in the early days of America were far harsher than they are
now.
Still not convinced? Here is some advice from Thomas Jefferson
that all Americans should take to heart.
“I hope that we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our
monied corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a
trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”
7. Separation of church and state is not just a liberal concept, the
Founding Fathers made it part of America’s sacred foundation. Freedom of
Religion was not included in the Constitution just to protect
Christianity. Freedom of Religion protects ALL religions, even if you do
not practice any religion at all. The idea that a wall between church
and state doesn’t exist is absurd and the idea that the Founders meant
America to be a Christian state is equally absurd. Nowhere in the
Constitution can you find God, Jesus, or any mention of a specific
religion whatsoever. The only mention of religion is that we all have
the freedom to practice whatever religion we want and that government
cannot make any law that puts one religion over the other, even
Christianity.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
~First Amendment, Bill of Rights of the Constitution
Even our Founding Fathers interpreted Freedom of Religion as being
the wall between church and state. Take these quotes for instance.
“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever
from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of
Europe with blood for centuries.”
~James Madison
“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole
American people which declared that their legislature should make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise
thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.”
~Thomas Jefferson, as President,
in a letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, 1802
In the present day, Republicans are heavily allied with Christian
right wing extremists that would require Bible studies in every school
across the country. Considering how diverse America is today, even the
Founders would reject that. Christianity is a dying religion and the
extremists have only themselves to blame for that. Their hard line
stance is disgusting and un-American. It goes against everything the
framers of the Constitution envisioned when they wrote the first
amendment. If these fundamentalist Christians want to teach the Bible in
private schools, let them. But stay out of public schools. People do
not pay school taxes so that their child can be indoctrinated into
barbaric and outdated religions. Religion is not what our children need
to be learning. Our country needs more men and women of science,
mathematics, and history. Not Bible thumpers.
Each of these seven items represent precedents set by the Founders.
Their vision has carried us forward and we owe it to them to not let
that vision die.
The Founding Fathers were not conservatives as Republicans would have us
believe. Not even Republicans began as conservatives. Early Republicans
believed that they were doing what the Founders would have done. That
is precisely why they fought against slavery and fought for women’s
rights. In the ever continuing quest to perfect the American experiment,
the liberal Republicans of the 1850′s and 1860′s took over the torch
that the Founders lit and carried it forward to brighten the future.
Liberals have carried the torch forward ever since and now are under the
Democratic Party banner.
If the Founders had been conservatives, that
torch would have remained unlit and we would still be under British
rule. So as you celebrate America’s independence, remember that it was a
bunch of liberals that gave us freedom and the ability to change and
perfect our nation. The very word “liberal” means favorable to or in
accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, especially
as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil
liberties. Conservatives certainly have no interest in concepts of
maximum freedom. They only seek to strip freedom and rights away.
Liberals have not changed much since the founding era. Liberals still
believe in the power of government to help and care for its people. They
still strive to increase civil rights and still believe in bringing the
American Dream to every man, woman, and child living in this country.
Liberalism is the embodiment of what makes America great and is
something we should all celebrate and cherish with our lives today.
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