Often, Americans speak of the US Constitution as if it is the fountain from which political truth originates. Even those who fight stridently for constitutional orthodoxy sometimes forget that the US Constitution and the rest of America’s founding documents were just as much a climax of political thought as they were a beginning.
This post is a brief summary accompanied by a link to an article written by Justin Stapley for the Federalist Coalition, a 501(c)(4) non-profit, non-partisan organization whose mission is to promote and educate Americans on the principles of federalism.
The article I’m discussing today is by far one of my favorites. Perhaps no other piece I’ve ever written contains more aspects of my worldview, perspective, and beliefs all at once.
In many ways, my arguments in this article demonstrate why I uniquely have one foot in the liberty movement and another in the conservative movement. It makes a case for appealing both to tradition and to reason. It explains the unique circumstances we have in America to be able to make a conservative claim for liberty. It speaks to the broader exceptionalism of the American story, that our revolution wasn’t one of liberty versus tradition but one that permanently established a tradition of liberty, already held in the hearts of Americans as colonists, threatened by an encroaching monarch.
The article also demonstrates a perspective that has been lost by so many amidst the partisan squalor of our political contests. Too often, we approach politics based on what we see as wrong in society and then angrily demand change at the expense of everything else. Rare are the moments when we take a step back from what we see as the bad that history has handed down to us and take stock of the good we have been blessed with.
Every now and then, we face those poignant moments when we are forced to reconcile how we thought the world was with how it actually is. Injustice and cruelty survive and thrive despite our best efforts because the world remains inhabited by the fallen creatures we call humanity.
In these moments, it is right and proper to mourn for our country. But in our mourning, let us never turn towards disparagement. If we must take a knee, so be it. But let truly it be out of mourning and not out of spite. Let us rise from our grieving posture and rejoice to live in a land whose foundation allows us to work out our disagreements as fellow citizens and not as warring combatants.
Let us turn to the oracle of truth and work out whatever crises we face by building upon what came before and join together to become yet another generation of Americans who answer the call to carry the torch of liberty a little farther, and more fully recognize the “promissory note” of America’s founding.
Read the full article:
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