These tyrants are no less imposing and dangerous because they hide behind designer skirts and in academic towers and not beneath a bejeweled crown. Today's tyranny is the culmination of a hundred years of stealthy planning by progressives-they employ some people as vessels to place their ideology in power. Politicians like Pelosi, Reid, Obama, are empty of the strength of character necessary to carry the ideologies of personal liberty we hold dear. They only function in an environment of group-think, an environment to which progressive liberalism is well-suited.
With the release of "The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" by a group of 125 Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox leaders, there is great cause to celebrate the independent American spirit that will not lie docile while multiple tyrants attempt to force the citizenry of this country to become good little soldiers for the liberal cause.
Although this particular treatise was obviously spurred by the divisive issues of abortion and gay marriage and laments the advance of secularism and the denigration of religion, what is important is that, at its heart, it is an act of defiance against a government attempting to force its citizens to accept laws and beliefs that their own consciences reject. The designers of this manifesto carry their defiance even further by recognizing the need for civil disobedience in fighting for the freedom to live their lives according to their beliefs.
The author and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, in his essay "Civil Disobedience" declared that all governments are by definition more corrupt than not and people must be vigilant and act according to their conscience to defy injustices wherever they appear. Aren't infringements on freedom and liberty injustices to those who have been promised them? Is it not our duty to demand these freedoms as a part of our rights as Americans, based on the principles set forth by the likes of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison? Does it matter that government is bigger and more powerful than the individual who wishes to voice his dissent and retain his rights?
The answer is a resounding no! The government is not bigger and more powerful than the individual. The United States government is the individual-a collection of three hundred million individuals who from time to time must remind the politicians who is really in charge! Thoreau also said this: "There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly."
One of the premises of The Manhattan Declaration is that taxpayers who believe abortion is wrong should not be forced to pay taxes to support it. That same argument can be applied to the almost daily onslaught of threats to our freedom. Should we let eminent domain laws take our property? Should we allow government to decide on our medical care? Should we permit government to silence conservative talk radio/tv and tell us what we can listen to and what we can say?
This manifesto serves as a notice to tyrants in Washington in all their incidious forms who routinely ignore the voices of those who elected them. We will not be ignored! You are only allowed to operate from your desk in the Capitol Building in D.C., to introduce legislation, to debate said legislation and pass laws because We The People voted you into office. We put you where you are-we can remove you just as easily!
If you continue to forget that and to turn your head and close your ears when we plainly reject your laws, then we will take whatever action is needed to keep our liberty. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights promises us control over our own lives- our livlihoods, futures, property and our words! No bill passed by an out-of-control assembly of legislators that usurps the core freedoms set forth by our founding fathers at this country's inception should ever become law! It if does, it is the responsibility of every citizen to act according to his own personal conscience to oppose it in speech and by action!
It is high time we all stop dancing around the "R" word. I am not afraid to say it! I say it with pride in the 200 years of freedom we have enjoyed for ourselves and offered to the rest of the world with open arms. This is a revolution. It goes beyond the passion of tea party rallies, the hordes of intense conservative bloggers and the fired-up rhetoric of conservative talk show hosts. It goes beyond the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. That was only a symptom of the problem.
This is the loud noise culminating from more than 60 years of discontented rumblings. This is the direct result of an overbearing government growing larger and larger since FDR saw fit to put this nation on the road to a redistribution of wealth and the realization of a nanny state!
The tea is now in the harbor-millions have protested across this country since last April 15th. The Bastille has been stormed-thousands showed up on the steps of the Capitol on 9/12 to voice extreme dissatisfaction to their Congressmen in an up-close-and-personal way. Martin Luther, that German religious thinker and leader who, in the seventeenth-century, nailed his 95 Theses to a church door and launched the beginnings of the Protestant denomination must be smiling. With The Manhattan Declaration, we have now nailed an earthshaking thesis to the door of big government It is an occasion worth noting when leaders of the Christian community recognize the potential need for civil disobedience. This could be the first pamphlet of the revolution!
We have at least 94 more theses to post. It is high time for every citizen to thoughtfully consider the issues before this country, to examine their own conscience and to be ready willing and able to defend their liberty, to stand bravely in the face of tyrannical agents who seek to destroy their America!