It’s about our Values, Stupid.

Many of us are just now waking up. Eighty days into this train wreck, and we’re finally looking up and realizing something precious, something fundamental, is being slid out from under us. It is like we’ve lost our moorings. The shining city on a hill seems adrift. Our Dear Leader has promised to remake America. But what is immediately clear listening to BO and watching his actions, is that he’s never really understood America, nor her genius. I’d venture to guess that he looks at America like other liberals – as a collection of various interest groups, races and classes all working together for the common good. The defining characteristic of America to the ‘progressive’ liberal is the government. Government programs specifically. We make progress as a nation, say the progressives, by empowering government. So in their view, we are a government that has a nation. A nation to take care of us, to socially engineer us, and to re-make us. So what makes a person an American, in the liberal’s way of thinking, is that he or she resides here and be under the government’s “care.”

As Reagan said, “We are a nation that has a government — not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people.” Our Constitution begins with the words, “We, the People…” It is “We, the People” who tell government what to do. It is “We, the People” who put limits on government – not the other way around. An American is not defined by government programs or classifications. We aren’t a race, or an ethnic group. Nor a collection of such. What makes us Americans are our belief and commitment to shared values. Our society is not just an amalgam of fractured interest groups united together in seeking to empower Washington to take care of us. What makes us Americans is our commitment to specific, fundamental principles and values.

We need to return to our first things. For too long we’ve allowed the left to undermine our traditions and our values; To destroy our institutions which foster and secure these values; and to belittle and harass those whose “values sustain our national life” (Reagan, 1st Inaugural). So what are these values? As a starting point, let me suggest the following as fundamental…

1. Individual Freedom. This is fundamental. Paired with this, and equally important, is Individual Responsibility. You cannot have one without the other. This is where the left gets it wrong. They want a nation built on the concept of individual freedom (which they loosely define as smoking pot, aborting children, engaging in prostitution, and entering into gay marriage), without any responsibility. You think I’m kidding, just look at our President. His entire philosophy of government could be summed up as follows… “Your money’s no good here. I got this.” This approach is foreign to our values as Americans. And we need to say so. LOUDLY. His solution to each ‘crisis’ is immediate government action. And each time the government acts, individual liberty is infringed. We say that each person can rise as high and as far as his individual initiative and talents will take him. We can’t and won’t guarantee results. But we will guarantee opportunity. Dignity comes, not from government, but when free people use their freedom responsibly.

2. Respect for Law. We are a nation of laws, not of men. When our elected officials take office, they raise their hands and pledge allegiance, not to a crown, but to the Constitution of the United States — the supreme law of this nation. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t create our rights. Our rights come from God, not our Constitution. The Constitution exists to define and limit the powers of government — and prohibits government from infringing upon the enumerated rights. We oppose tyranny and mob rule — that is why our Constitution is filled with check and balances. It seeks to limit government power on the one hand and yet keep the majority from trampling the rights of the minority on the other. We respect law, because we know that law is “the great leveler in our society” (to quote Atticus Finch). A fundamental value we share is that each person is accountable to the law, be he Joe the Plumber or Timmy the Treasury Secretary.

3. Hard work and sacrifice. Isn’t it interesting that BO is now complaining about all the hard work he’s having to do. This from a man who’s never worked a day in his life. And what’s curious is that he’s not actually having to make hard decisions. All he’s doing is writing checks. But it’s tough being Santa Claus. He has to pretend to listen and then dole out the goodies to those he deems nice. Real Americans value real work, hard work. We honor those who built this nation by the sweat of their brow. We believe that those who work should reap the rewards of their labor — not to be compelled to deliver the fruits of their labor to the government so it can redistribute them to those who do not work. Government is not a charity. It was not created to be a social service agency. Its role in our lives should be very small. It’s not that Americans are not generous. It’s just that we believe in individual charity and sacrifice, not forced giving. Now when I use the word sacrifice, I mean sacrifice for one’s family. One’s neighbors. One’s church. One’s country. But I don’t mean paying taxes. Although we recognize paying taxes is our legal duty. We don’t consider that a sacrifice. A sacrifice is something voluntarily done for the benefit of another. Not something compelled. There is more to being a patriot, Mr. Biden, than paying your taxes.

Of course there are more…but this gets us started. And I’ll continue on with this another time. Let me close with two more quotes from our 40th President, Ronald Reagan:

“The family has always been the cornerstone of American society. Our families nurture, preserve and pass on to each succeeding generation the values we share and cherish, values that are the foundation for our freedoms.”

“Why should we be frightened? No people who have ever lived on this earth have fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom, or done more to advance the dignity of man than the living Americans, those Americans living in this land today.”