Where America Stands: 242 Years Later

Today marks the 242^nd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, where inhabitants of the thirteen original colonies declared their independence from Great Britain more than a year after the “shot heard round the world” kicked off the American Revolution, also known as the Revolutionary War.  The American Revolution would not officially end for another seven years, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

Two of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence ended up becoming President of the United States; John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  During their political careers, the two men could not stand each other.  While Jefferson served as Adams’ Vice President back when the candidate who received the second highest number of votes became Vice President, Jefferson ended up defeating Adams in the 1800 Presidential Election.  After the conclusion of their political careers, Adams and Jefferson became friends. Ironically, they both ended up dying 192 years ago today, on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  These men, in addition to some of our earliest Presidents instrumental in crafting the Constitution, became known as “the Founding Fathers.”  In recent years, those hoping to undermine America’s legacy have launched a coordinated attack on the Founding Fathers, demanding the removal of their statues because they owned slaves.  Kristin Mink, a far-left teacher at Washington, DC’s prestigious Sidwell Friends, wore a shirt that read “Your Founding Fathers Owned Slaves” during an appearance on MSNBC following her confrontation of EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt.    

242 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the “spirit of 1776” remains enshrined in many Americans.  In his book America: Imagine the World Without Her, Dinesh D’Souza defines the “spirit of 1776” as centered on “enterprise and voluntary association and religious freedom.”  In the book, D’Souza also discusses the “spirit of 1968,” which celebrates “pelvic freedom” and “freedom from moral constraints.”  D’Souza adopted the thesis that the nation will ultimately decline if the “spirit of 1968” continues to remain stronger than the “spirit of 1776.” 

D’Souza points out that the left does not wish to destroy America, they simply want to remake America.  A new Gallup poll finds that only 47 percent of Americans consider themselves “extremely proud” to be an American, down from a high point of 70 percent in 2003.  This downward trend comes even as America elected the most pro-American President in decades, who begins every rally by playing the song “I’m Proud to be an American.”  Only 33 percent of Americans under the age of 30 consider themselves “extremely proud” to be an American.  A video from Campus Reform effectively confirms the results of the Gallup survey.  Cabot Phillips went to New York University and tried to find one student who considered themselves proud to be an American. Most of the students appeared to have “the spirit of 1968,” with one student proving D’Souza correct when he said the left wants to remake America: “There’s an America that we can make, that would be great.”  Towards the end of the video, some NYU students said they identified as “#ProudAmericans” but the overwhelming majority of students he interviewed appeared sympathetic to socialism and social justice while demonstrating disgust with the Trump Administration.  Thanks for nothing, Academia.         

 

As the culture war between Americans committed to preserving the “spirit of 1776” and the Americans committed to advancing the principles of “the spirit of 1968” continues to engulf the nation, the Courts have had an important role in advancing the “spirit of 1968,” which D’Souza defines as a commitment to “the America of tolerance and social entitlements, of income and wealth redistribution, of affirmative action and abortion, of feminism and gay marriage.”  Not surprisingly, liberals have relied heavily on the Courts to implement the ideals of “the spirit of 1968,” explaining why every single Supreme Court nomination since Robert Bork has turned into a bitter battle for the soul of America. 

While many Americans will shoot off fireworks to celebrate the nation’s birthday, these fireworks will pale in comparison to the fireworks that will go off during the Confirmation hearings for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy; who has served as the key “swing vote” in many of the landmark Supreme Court decisions that the Court handed down during his three decades of service.  The explosive Supreme Court debate illustrates how far the judicial branch has strayed from its original purpose, to interpret law, as opposed to make law.  A recent Quinnipiac Poll finds that a majority of Americans agree that the Supreme Court makes decisions based on politics, rather than law.  Consider me part of that majority. 

CNN Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin has already channeled his inner Ted Kennedy, warning in a piece for The New Yorker that a new conservative majority means that “fewer African-American and Latino students will attend elite universities,” obviously a reference to the affirmative action debate.  Affirmative action does not just put white students at a disadvantage, it also puts Asians at a disadvantage.  Several Asian students have sued Harvard, arguing that the university denied them admission based on their race.  An Indian-American hoping to get into medical school actually went by his middle name and pretended to be black in order to get into medical school, as universities have deliberately lowered the standards for certain ethnic groups in order to meet racial quotas.  His scheme succeeded although he did not actually end up graduating from medical school.  

Toobin also suggested that a new conservative majority “will allow shopkeepers, restaurateurs, and hotel owners to refuse to serve gay customers based on religious grounds.” Apparently, he does not realize that the bakers, florists, and photographers who have refused to provide services for same-sex weddings would happily serve meals to gay people.  They don’t object to the people; they object to the event.  The “spirit of 1968” has little to no respect for religion or religious liberty. 

Considering the Republicans’ slim Senate majority, the Democrats could ordinarily filibuster President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.  However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took that option away from them by invoking the “nuclear option,” abolishing the filibuster and allowing the Confirmation of Supreme Court Justices with a simple majority.  Republicans currently control 51 seats, although the absence of Senator John McCain for health reasons means that the Republicans only have 50 seats in the Senate; meaning that every single Republican must support President Trump’s nominee in order for he or she to actually get confirmed.   So the left has turned to ideas such as “court packing,” an idea not widely discussed since the Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, in an attempt to nullify the effect of President Trump’s new appointment.  The left would not actually have an opportunity to increase the number of judges on the Supreme Court until they retake control of the Senate.   

On the most recent edition of “Real Time With Bill Maher,” Michael Moore suggested that a million people should surround the United States Capitol to prevent a vote from taking place while Jennifer Rubin suggested that liberal protesters should travel to Maine and put pressure on L.L. Bean to leave the state if the state’s pro-choice Republican Senator Susan Collins decides to vote for the nominee.  Collins, who has voted for every Supreme Court nominee made by President’s in both parties during her two decades in the Senate, has already indicated that she would not support a nominee who explicitly promises to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that circumvented the Democratic process by requiring all fifty states to respect the “right” to abortion.  Rubin also suggested that liberals should also travel to Alaska and threaten to boycott cruises should the state’s choice pro-choice Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski decide to vote for the nominee.  Keep in mind that the left has already gone into full meltdown mode despite the fact that President Trump has not even announced his pick to replace Justice Kennedy yet.  

Bill Maher also referenced a Rasmussen Poll on the most recent edition of “Real Time”, which pointed out that 31 percent of Americans see a Civil War as imminent while every single member of a focus group recently conducted by Oprah Winfrey on “60 Minutes” also agreed that the United States of America would soon face another Civil War.  Oprah’s focus group came long before the harassment of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Rep. Maxine Waters’ call to harass Trump Administration officials while the Rasmussen poll came out last week. It looks the left and right in America have irreconcilable differences.  Considering the fact that one side views the other as a “basket of deplorables,” it makes it difficult for the two sides to come together and iron out their differences.   

While many Americans have taken at least part of the Fourth of July week off, President Trump has spent the first two days of the week meeting with potential Supreme Court picks.  He has reportedly narrowed down his field of candidates from the original 25 to seven; including two women and a United States Senator, Utah’s Mike Lee.  He will announce his pick on Monday and the Senate hopes to confirm him by the end of September, when the members of Congress will go into campaign mode.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had already announced his plans to curtail the August recess even before Justice Kennedy had announced his retirement.  It looks like the Senate, especially the Judiciary Committee, will spend most of its summer meeting with and holding Confirmation hearings for President Trump’s Supreme Court pick as well as his nominees to serve on the lower courts.

Hopefully by the time the United States of America reaches its tricentennial, the rhetorical temperature will have dropped.  Going back to the Campus Reform video at NYU,  one student said something we can all agree with: “just being able to talk about (ideas) openly is something that I wish would happen more frequently.”  In the meantime, I would like to wish a happy Fourth of July to all of my loyal readers.