Originally Written Saturday April 24, 2010:
THE STATEMENT / DOCUMENT ITSELF COMES AFTER THE LINE. PRIOR TO THAT ARE MY COMMENTS!
Clearly we are at a pivitol moment in history, as can be demonstrated by the 100’s of thousands if not over a million people who turned out for “Tea Party” events last Thursday on Tax Day 2010 in towns and cities all across this great nation. In addition, approximately 1.5 Million marched on Washington on September 12, 2009 and grass-roots organizations are growing by leaps and bounds all over the country as a direct result of the rapid expansion of government.
We all know this expansion is NOT new, only the pace of it’s expansion. We also know that we are to blame. Our appathy allowed it to happen.
The single largest concern is how do we unite so many various groups, which clearly contain individuals from both major parties, independents as well as individuals who have NEVER even participated in the political process until the last 12 – 18 months. Numerous discussions are taking place regarding platfom, vision statements, third parties, etc., etc., etc.
I want to share with you a document which was recently produced, and initially signed by 80 leaders of conservative groups on February 17, 2010. Even though it was signed in 2010, it should be noted that this document was actually drafted PRIOR to the election of Barack Obama.
Here is how the initial signers describe the document:
“In light of the challenges facing the country and the need for clarity in the age of Obama, The Mount Vernon Statement, modeled on the Sharon Statement issued on Sept. 11, 1960, is a defining statement of conservative beliefs, values and principles penned by a broad coalition of conservative leaders representing a wide spectrum of the movement including fiscal, social, cultural and national security conservatives.”
Cleary our current executive branch, many in the legislative branch and the mainstream media want nothing more than for this movement to dissipate and become meaningless. I believe The Mount Vernon Statement could be a key element in uniting the many grass root groups which currently are very cumbersome and lack defined purpose and unity.
Following the document is a list of some of the initial signers and the organizations they represent. Then following that is a link to The Mount Vernon Statement web-site where you can sign the Statement yourself. Currently there are 42,500 signers. Let’s spread the word and see it grow. Please share with your friends and any local conservative groups you are involved in.
Blessings,
Scott Cooper
Fredericksburg, VA
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The Mount Vernon Statement
Constitutional Conservatism: A Statement for the 21st Century
We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence, provide for economic opportunity, establish true religious liberty and maintain a flourishing society of republican self-government.
These principles define us as a country and inspire us as a people. They are responsible for a prosperous, just nation unlike any other in the world. They are our highest achievements, serving not only as powerful beacons to all who strive for freedom and seek self-government, but as warnings to tyrants and despots everywhere.
Each one of these founding ideas is presently under sustained attack. In recent decades, America’s principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics. The selfevident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist. The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant.
Some insist that America must change, cast off the old and put on the new. But where would this lead — forward or backward, up or down? Isn’t this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?
The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature’s God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed. It recognizes man’s self-interest but also his capacity for virtue.
The conservatism of the Constitution limits government’s powers but ensures that government performs its proper job effectively. It refines popular will through the filter of representation. It provides checks and balances through the several branches of government and a federal republic.
A Constitutional conservatism unites all conservatives through the natural fusion provided by American principles. It reminds economic conservatives that morality is essential to limited government, social conservatives that unlimited government is a threat to moral self-government, and national security conservatives that energetic but responsible government is the key to America’s safety and leadership role in the world.
A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.
• It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.
• It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.
• It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.
• It supports America’s national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.
• It informs conservatism’s firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.
If we are to succeed in the critical political and policy battles ahead, we must be certain of our purpose.
We must begin by retaking and resolutely defending the high ground of America’s founding principles.
February 17, 2010
Edwin Meese, former U.S. Attorney General under President Reagan
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America
Edwin Feulner, Jr., president of the Heritage Foundation
Lee Edwards, Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at the Heritage Foundation, was present at the Sharon Statement signing.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council
Becky Norton Dunlop, president of the Council for National Policy
Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center
Alfred Regnery, publisher of the American Spectator
David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union
David McIntosh, co-founder of the Federalist Society
T. Kenneth Cribb, former domestic policy adviser to President Reagan
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform
William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government
Elaine Donnelly, Center for Military Readiness
Richard Viguerie, Chairman, ConservativeHQ.com
Kenneth Blackwell, Coalition for a Conservative Majority
Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring
Kathryn J. Lopez, National Review
We the undersigned join in our support of the guiding principles of The Mount Vernon Statement.
http://www.themountvernonstatement.com/
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