There has been a lot of "scuttle-butt" out there lately about whether or not conservatives can continue to vote for Republicans, since the assertions made by many Libertarians and other conservatives (such as those belonging to the Constitution Party) seem to be more and more true. While the Democrats are still the party of big government, the Republicans seem to want to use the same kind of big spending to try to encourage more personal responsibility (a more conservative end), and thus, down the road lower the need for excessive domestic spending (which never works, and they all know it). President Bush has actually OUT-SPENT Bill Clinton. And the Left complains! They should be happy. He's merely doing their bidding.

Still, I do believe the Republican Party has, within itself, a faction that can save the day. I've mentioned the "New Federalists" a few times here on this blog, but since Mark Tapscott's recent pieces regarding the Donkization of the Republicans in office today, and my subsequent bringing forth of New Federalist ideas in response to them, it is only right that I spell out the ideas of the New Federalists here on my blog and comment on them.

I plan for this to be at least an eight-part series, with each part coinciding with a portion of the New Federalist platform. Today, I'll take the opportunity to go over the Preamble:

1. Preamble

We the New Federalists advocate individual, family and community rights and responsibilities in acts of self-governance, as set forth by our Founders, in originally establishing our nation by the Declaration of Independence and later codifying our governing principles in our Republic's Constitution. We begin from our Founders' premises, that self-evident truths exist, and are the only right ground for political declarations that offer a decent respect for the opinions of humankind in establishing a nation among the powers of the earth.

Self-governance - as in federalism as envisioned by the Founders. Many people do not understand that what the Founders advocated and put into play with the Constitution was the concept of the people being the most powerful level of government with each level getting progressively WEAKER as you worked your way to the fed, with the federal government being the WEAKEST level of government. These concepts are outlined in the Constitution itself, as well as other founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence. The Founders built the entire concept of federalism on the idea that self-evident truths exist, and that any political positions that are worth implementing must recognize and adhere to those self-evident truths.

These are the self-evident truths, as set forth in the Declaration of Independence:

1. That all men (people) are created equal.

2. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these rights are the rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (opportunity).

3. That the purpose of government is to secure these rights, and that the source of such government's power is the consent of the governed.

4. That the people have a right to alter or abolish and replace said government if it becomes destructive to its purpose of securing the rights of the people as stated above.

Liberal tax policy positions alone violate these rights on an extremely large scale. Add in the very long list of constitutional usurpations I outlined in my earlier posts, and you can see why we wouldn't want President Bush's liberal policies on so many matters. This is why we laugh when the Left calls the President's agenda "extreme right wing". No Child Left Behind is right wing?? You could have fooled me. It's one of the biggest expansions of unconstitutional spending since FDR.

We call ourselves "Federalists" because we humbly acknowledge that our guidance derives from the original ideals and principles of federally distributed powers as explicated by The Federalist Papers. But we are "New" Federalists for two basic reasons: first, because we are well aware that the cautionary warnings of the Anti-Federalists have proven true about the central government embarking on a long crusade of usurpations and encroachments that have substantially abridged the rights of individual citizens and state and local governments; and second, because we follow in the tradition of New Federalism that was implemented under Ronald Reagan's presidency, but has since then languished. We strive to reassert the principles of New Federalism, to roll back those abridgements and infringements of our rights as plainly set forth in our Founding Documents.

Quite a change from the concept of the "New Democrat", huh? Bill Clinton wasn't any different from Jimmy Carter or Lyndon Johnson. Tax-and-spend liberal through and through. The New Federalist platform actually explains, in clear and understandable words, EXACTLY WHY they call themselves "New" Federalists instead of just Federalists. As it turns out, the Anti-Federalists of the late eighteenth century were right. The federal government, they said, could and would become too powerful, and before long, we had exactly what they predicted - substantial abridgement of the rights of citizens, states, and local governments. Ronald Reagan worked hard to bring the federal government back within its constitutional limits. Bitch all you want about little mamby-pamby "scandals" that had no merit whatsoever. The man believed in a weak federal government, and advocated the self-governance that the Founders envisioned.

The operative phrase in this quote is "as plainly set forth in our Founding Documents." I get a kick out of liberals who try to make the Constitution out to be this cryptic document that only lawyers and judges can really aspire to understand. I've had more than one come around on this blog and act like there's no way I could possibly understand what the Constitution says - after all ... I'm ONLY a TEACHER and a MUSICIAN.

The Constitution was written for everyday people, just like you and myself. It's not difficult at all to understand. It was written in plain old everyday English - eighteenth century English, but not the least bit less understandable.

We hold, as our Founders declared, that all humans are created equal, as image bearers of Our Creator, who made us all as morally choosing beings whose proper condition is freedom. We further hold that this freedom is expressed in terms of our possession of unalienable rights, just claims that we possess inherently and that can properly neither be revoked or surrendered, including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness through our freely chosen actions. The political consequences that flow from this view of our human nature are seriously limiting to the permissible reach and scope of governments over us. The chief consequence of this view is that the purpose of government is to secure these rights for its citizens, and that the only just and legitimate government is one based in the consent of those governed, who freely assent to it. Another serious consequence that follows from these beliefs is that we have a moral duty to alter or abolish any government that fails to secure these rights to us. And that is why we New Federalists advocate the timeless and enduring truths set forth in our nation's Founding Documents, and based in our Judeo-Christian heritage.

I had a comment on a previous post from an atheist troll that went something like, "Rights granted by God?? Are you serious?" See my commentary above on the Declaration of Independence for the answer to that. Without the presence, at least philosophically, of a higher power, then the concept of rights makes no sense whatsoever in the public discourse. If no higher power is recognized, then whatever rights you have are only those granted to you by one oppressor or another. In America, rights are not derived from government. They are derived from a higher power. You can call that higher power "God" if you want (as our Pledge of Allegiance does), or you can call it "Harry". Bottom Line: it's there (derived from Judeo-Christian traditions), and anything we as a people try to contrive in our quest for perfection or idealism will humbly fall short of the will of that higher power. Furthermore, we believe that that higher power has empowered us with the ability to govern ourselves and succeed on our own, despite whatever shortcomings we may have. The point is that, with the exception of those few powers the Constitution grants it, WE DON'T NEED A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!!!!

We note, though, that our current circumstances in the 21st century are not greatly different from those surrounding our Founders, who remarked on the long train of abuses and usurpations whose ultimate design seemed clearly to abrogate all the citizens' rights and render them subjects of an absolute despotism. The Founders' impending tyranny arose under an unjust king; ours derives from a centralizing and increasingly powerful national government that intrudes into ever-growing aspects of our lives, and prevents us from freely exercising our acts of self-government. We New Federalists therefore seek a return to our foundation on the principles of self-government.

We seek a new birth of federalism because we seek a new birth of freedom, both for ourselves and for our posterity.

Here, the platform recognizes that the circumstances America faces in the 21st century are pretty similar to those in the 18th century (rampant usurpations of the Inalienable Rights), with tyranny deriving from an inappropriately powerful and intrusive government being the culprit rather than an oppressive king. We seek to return to the America envisioned by our Founding Fathers - a rescinding of the socialism that has been such a blight on America and so many other nations throughout the world such as Russia, Cuba, China, North Korea, etc.

I proudly stand with the New Federalists on these matters, and encourage anyone who agrees as well to join the chorus. If you disagree (in general - no two people agree on everything), I encourage you to move to a country where you will find a more acceptable climate, as what I have shown you today is basically what America has been about from its humble beginnings.

RWR