NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – There are two types of people in this world – those who see only the trees and those who see the entire forest. Talk radio host Dennis Prager assured CPAC attendees that he falls into the latter category.
"We have today an undoing of the American Revolution," Prager said Thursday during a speech on the main stage at CPAC. "I say this without rancor; I say this without exaggeration. The American Revolution's ideal, especially of small and limited government, is being undermined. The left represents Europe; the right represents the American Revolution. It is a battle between the American Revolution and the French Revolution. It is nothing less than that."
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Prager, a WND columnist, explained that just as Christianity is based on a Trinity, America has a trinity of values as well: liberty, In God We Trust, and E Pluribus Unum. He lamented that Americans have not taught that American trinity to their children.
"The left is undermining all three aspects of the American value system,” he said. “It prefers material equality to liberty.”
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He noted 70 percent of millennials, according to one Pew Research poll, don't want freedom of speech if that free speech might hurt someone's feelings.
"After 50 years of left-wing indoctrination, people don't believe in freedom of speech, they believe in the right not to be offended," he said.
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Regarding our national motto of "In God We Trust," Prager said our nation needs God if it is to maintain a constitutional system of government.
"I don’t care if you're a social liberal and a fiscal liberal, or just a fiscal liberal, this country was founded on the belief that freedom was only possible and small government is only possible if people are accountable to a morally judging God," he declared. "I understand the origins of America were God-centered because either God gives us rights or people give us rights, and there is all the difference in the world."
Regarding E Pluribus Unum, which means "Out of many, one," Prager said the liberal doctrine of multiculturalism and the grievance industry are undermining national cohesion.
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Prager's talk led into a panel discussion on the main stage entitled "How to Restore our Democracy."
Prager joined Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, in discussing the Article I Project, which is an effort to take back the powers the Constitution granted to Congress.
"Most of our laws are no longer made by elected representatives," Lee informed the crowd. Rather, he said, unelected bureaucrats make the majority of laws and regulations Americans must follow.
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As Hensarling put it, Congress has "outsourced" Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution to the executive branch.
"There has been a self-enfeeblement of Congress," Hensarling said. "We are losing the rule of law to the discretion of regulators, and thus goes separation of powers [and] due process."
Prager noted the left has a built-in advantage over conservatives when it comes to the distribution of power.
"They seek power; we seek less power," he said simply.
And Prager added it's not just the executive that has stolen power from Congress, but also the judicial branch. That's why he views electing a Republican president in 2016 as the most important thing – the next president will most likely appoint Antonin Scalia's successor.
"If they [the left] appoint the successor to the late, great Antonin Scalia, they don't even need the presidency and they don't even need Congress," he said. "They will make laws in the Supreme Court."
That is why Lee called for Congress to reclaim the power of the purse and power over regulations. Hensarling said Congress must start funding its own priorities, not the president's. He added his fellow congressmen must get over their "shutdown phobia."
Lee specifically touted the REINS Act, which Sen. Rand Paul sponsored and Lee cosponsored. It stands for "Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act." It would require Congress to approve any new rule with a major impact on the economy.
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