The idea of America

[Valin]

American Enterprise Institute:

An excerpt from 'The American Idea Renewed'

John Bolton

March 8 2016

 

Internationally, even though America is frequently viewed with admiration, there is often also a tinge of irritation, even among our allies, which shades into outright disdain and hatred among our enemies. The strong emotions evoked even by the idea of America—let alone “the American Idea”—testify to the reality that our experience has in many ways truly differed profoundly from that of other peoples and nations.

 

(Snip)

 

Americans in our earliest years were never isolationist as some mistakenly contend. Instead, they were spreading across a continent and beyond, in ways fully comparable to empire builders worldwide. We were hardly stay-at-homes, uninterested or uninvolved in the wider world. We were, however, most emphatically forging and following our own path. Our experience was unique because, unlike the others, we created, in Jefferson’s phrase, “an empire of liberty.” While other empires have disappeared all around us, our accomplishments bear names like Florida, Texas, California, Hawaii and Alaska. We succeeded where others failed by extending our principles and forging one nation, vindicating those principles in 1861-65 in one of the Nineteenth Century’s bloodiest wars.

 

Learn more: American exceptionalism, in 3 charts

 

Even as we forged Jefferson’s empire of liberty, our instincts were not imperialist. While there was inspiring rhetoric about our “manifest destiny,” America’s expansion, politically and commercially, was entirely consistent with Edmund Burke’s conservative philosophy. It was organic, resting on the accretion of reasoning from our empirical reality, and far removed from metaphysical abstractions. The American Idea emerged from our own experience, starting with the Revolution. The Declaration of Independence was not speculative or mystical but reflected what had already happened on the ground. We had already become something different from our mother countries.

 

(Snip)

[Draggingtree]

America's Radical Revolution

 

3 HOURS AGO Murray N. Rothbard

Especially since the early 1950s, America has been concerned with opposing revolutions throughout the world; in the process, it has generated a historiography that denies its own revolutionary past. This neoconservative view of the American Revolution, echoing the reactionary writer in the pay of the Austrian and English governments of the early nineteenth century, Friedrich von Gentz, tries to isolate the American Revolution from all the revolutions in the western world that preceded it and followed it. The American Revolution, this view holds, was unique; it alone of all modern revolutions was not really revolutionary; instead, it was moderate, conservative, dedicated only to preserving existing institutions from British aggrandizement. Furthermore, like all else in America, it was marvelously harmonious and consensual. Unlike the wicked French and other revolutions in Europe, the American Revolution, then, did not upset or change anything. It was therefore not really a revolution at all; certainly, it was not radical.

https://mises.org/blog/americas-radical-revolution

[Draggingtree]

7/4/2016

Happy Independence Day

 

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 2:55 pm

I refuse to write about another stupid Trump controversy on this day. If I read another piece that begins “Corey Lewandowski says” I think ISIS may end up taking responsibility for my actions. That’s a joke. Relax.

 

Instead, let’s spend the day thinking about the things that bind us together: a love of freedom, a respect for natural rights, and a fiercely independent character. These are the things America is about.

 

Also, making fun of clueless people who have no idea about any of those things:

http://patterico.com/2016/07/04/happy-independence-day-2/

[Draggingtree]

Don't Confuse the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution

 

1 HOUR AGO Ryan McMaken

 

In a video making the rounds in social media last week, conservative author Mark Dice performs a series of man-on-the-street interviews to show how most Americans have no idea what Independence Day commemorates. The punch line comes at the end when Dice finds a young woman who can quote the document that he apparently thinks we commemorate on document that he apparently thinks we commemorate on Independence Day. She says a few lines out loud and then Dice high-fives her.

 

Among the thousands of comments under the video, viewers left comments such as "let that young blonde woman run for President." and "she made me cry."

 

Unfortunately, the document the woman was quoting was not the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. She was quoting the Constitution of 1787.

 

Mark Dice seems to be unaware that these are not the same document, that the two documents express vastly different sentiments, or that they were adopted 11 year apart in entirely different political contexts.

 

Apparently, for many "patriotic" Americans, any document written by a non-specific group of politicians known as "the Founding Fathers" will do for Independence Day.

https://mises.org/blog/dont-confuse-declaration-independence-constitution

[Draggingtree]

When in the Course of Human Events…

Posted on July 4, 2016 by The Political Hat

Action of Second Continental Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America

WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

 

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness — That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,

http://politicalhat.com/2016/07/04/when-in-the-course-of-human-events-2016/

[Draggingtree]

A Declaration to Be Read

Ole Summers / July 4, 2016 / 17 COMMENTS

 

“Since well before 1787, liberty has been understood as freedom from government action, not entitlement to government benefits.” — Justice Clarence Thomas, dissenting opinionObergefell v. Hodges2015

 

On July 4, 1776, the final language of the formal Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress. The official vote for independence from Great Britain had taken place two days earlier, so it is somewhat confusing that the 4th has become known as Independence Day. To my mind, July 2nd should be Independence Day, but July 4th would be better understood as Liberty Day, a celebration of the most concise and complete explanation of liberty published before or since, anywhere on the globe.

 

Both the document and the actions produced by the Continental Congress in the summer of ’76 were turning points in the history of mankind that had taken thousands of years to reach. It is a common suggestion at this time of year to sit down and read the Declaration of Independence, individually or as a family, to remember the day beyond the standard family BBQ.— or Thomas Jefferson’s But reading without understanding it is to miss the point, and treating the Declaration as something that fell out of the air head — or Thomas Jefferson’s head

( Emphasis mine )

Read the long list of complaints against the British government, and then re-read them again in light of our own modern government and its intrusions.

https://ricochet.com/a-declaration-to-be-read/

[Draggingtree]

The Ghosts of Independence

By Chris Skates | July 4, 2016, 11:15am

“Intrinsically it is but a barren, war-worn rock, hallowed as so many places are by death and disaster. Yet it symbolizes within itself that priceless, deathless thing, the honor of a nation. Until we claim again the ghastly remnants of its last gaunt garrison, we can but stand humble supplicants before Almighty God. There lies our Holy Grail.”

 

General Douglas MacArthur, upon the surrender of Corregidor and Bataan

There will be fireworks tonight. I’ll go out and enjoy them with my family as I have since my children were small. This year will be different, however. For the first time in my life, I will wonder what we are celebrating. We’re certainly not celebrating freedom or independence in the way our parents and grandparents knew it. After all, the entirety of our populace is currently ruled by four black robed, unelected, jurists who sometimes are often tyrannical. Most recently they passed down from on high that there is some mythical constitutional right that abortion must also include the risk of butchery (i.e. Kermit Gosnell) and that making the macabre procedure more sanitary and safe is somehow a violation of the Constitution. In the same week, these leftist activists refused to hear an important religious freedom case that prompted Justice Alito to write, “Those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern.” http://theresurgent.com/the-ghosts-of-independence/

[Draggingtree]

Monday, July 4, 2016

The Declaration of Independence Is Final

Via comment by SCextremist on Rethinking the Declaration of Independence

"I found this on the inter-web yesterday.

From Calvin Coolidge. He speaks of The Declaration of Independence and other founding documents. This is so brilliant and yet so basic and self evidently true. Beware anyone that would argue this point."

 

[Draggingtree]

July 4, 2016 By Fausta Leave a Comment

The Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —

Click on image for text

[Draggingtree]

Senator Ted Cruz Keeps The Flame Of The American Spirit Alive

Posted at 1:30 pm on July 4, 2016 by Susan Wright

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We are at a time of testing. We are no longer the nation dreamed of by our forefathers. Our representatives tear each other apart on the floor of the Senate and from their bully pulpits, they find fault with everyone, except themselve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIwujoRRp6Q

http://www.redstate.com/sweetie15/2016/07/04/senator-ted-cruz-keeps-flame-american-spirit-alive/