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
You are invited to sign the Mount Vernon Statement.
The Assault on the Foundational Values of the American Nation. The values of the American Nation are threefold: "Liberty," "E Pluribus Unum," and "In God We Trust." If these sound familiar, they are printed on our coins. These values are under assault. Liberty, or equality of opportunity, is being replaced as a primary value by Equality, or the guaranteed equal outcome. E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one), is being replaced by political correctness and divisive diversity. In God We Trust, or faith in God, is being replaced by trust in government and an anything-goes I-can-co-what-I-want approach to morality. Issues within this general area will be family, abortion, protection of children, education, marriage, drug-abuse, and religion in society.
The Conflict with Middle Eastern Fascism and Asian Communism. Western Democracy has always opposed and been in conflict with systems that enslave and diminish human beings. Western Democracy has defeated European Imperialism, European Fascism, European Communism, and Middle Eastern Imperialism in the Twentieth Century. The conflicts for 2011 and for the Twenty-First Century are Middle Eastern Fascism (e.g., Iran), Asian Fascism (North Korea), and Asian Communism (China).
Border Security and Related Issues. Illegal immigration, the smuggling of drugs and human beings across the border, protection against terrorists, cyber-terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and the current administrations lethargic and clumbsy response to these problems are a major area of concern for 2011. One of the primary tasks of the federal government is protection of its citizens.
Economic Strains in the US and Western Europe. This area includes the collapse of Western European socialism. In the US there are the continuing conflicts over health care, taxation, national and individual debt, unemployment, and bailouts of large companies and state and local governments. The uncertainties of the housing and financial markets are adding to the problems. No longer will we be able to assume (or hope) that governments will be able to take care of every problem.
Transformation of the Christian Church. I list this area of interest not because it is the least. Indeed, it is the most significant, but will occur over a long period of time. I list it last because it is something we can see God at work and join Him. It is the NewReformation. Mainline denominations (including Roman Catholicism) are collapsing under the weight of their bureaucracies. Those organizations who focus on survival of the institution instead of continuation of the mission are fading. Just as the Reformation of the 1500s and 1600s brought new life and new understanding of the Church and was fueled by new technology (the printing press); so too will this New Reformation bring new life and new understanding fueled by the Internet. Denominational "brand names" will become less important. The focus will shift from social issues to witnessing. Organizations and ministry will become decentralized and local. Mid-sized churches will disappear. Small fellowships, para-church organizations, and mega-churches with satellites (mini-denominations) will flourish.
