Conservative Culture

 My estimation of Duncan Hunter has just dramatically increased… not that it was low to begin with. This statement reveals much about his understanding of the founding of America and importance of our founding documents being based upon an authority outside of ourselves or the government.

The Declaration of Independence begins with these simple words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” Self-evident. Patently obvious. Completely clear. It is self-evident that “all men are created equal.” Not equal by government edict or by an act of a king or monarch. We are not equal by virtue of any particular article of the Constitution – we are created equal.

The Declaration continues…”and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” This is a vital component of what makes us a free society. We are raised from childhood in this country to accept the concept of human rights. That we as Americans are a free people. Included in those freedoms are freedom of speech, of the press… and freedom of religion. But, we often fail to teach our children why we are secure in those rights or should be. Why, as an American, you should expect the freedom to live your life as you see fit with a minimal of government interference. Why you should expect to be able to worship in the church of your choice without fear. What gives us the confidence that this is our heritage, our birth-right as Americans?

Freedom only works if we acknowledge what is so clearly set forth in the Declaration of Independence…that our rights come from the hand of Almighty God. If government gives you your rights…then government can just as easily take those rights away. Democracy easily turns to mob rule without the fundamental understanding that government of the people, by the people and for the people only works if an individual’s rights are unalienable…only if we, each, have a fundamental worth and dignity as a human being. And, that fundamental, unalienable worth only has validity if one acknowledges the true source of that worth and dignity…God.

When Chris Matthews asked one of my fellow candidates if he believed in evolution, the question was designed to embarrass my fellow Republicans. Whether or not, at some level, created beings adapt to their surroundings, or change to some degree over generations is not the right understanding of that question. The real question is this: Does God exist and did he create us? The liberties of every American citizen, including those of Chris Matthews, hang in the balance if we get the answer to that question wrong.