On Friday, I watched Tucker Carlson talk about how many politicians are drunk on power in responding to this COVID-19 pandemic, a concern Tucker has repeatedly addressed.
I also read a recent edition of WND's Whistleblower that echoed the same. A few highlights of "DRUNK ON POWER" included:
- "The new totalitarians: How the pandemic crisis is producing a new crop of petty tyrants" by David Kupelian
- "The worldwide lockdown: Likely the greatest mistake in history" by Dennis Prager, who says thanks to the elites, "deceit, cowardice and immaturity now dominate almost all societies"
- "'It's about control': Franklin Graham sounds alarm on government's true motive," saying, "The response of some in the government is not just about protecting lives"
- "Government gone wild: Coronavirus doesn't override the Constitution" by John Stossel, on politicians like the Los Angeles mayor who threatened to "shut off water and power" to homes of people who don't shelter in place
Speaking of government gone wild, on the eve of Independence Day, California Gov. Gavin Newsom took constitutional insanity to a new level, mandating that those attending churches and other houses of worship stop singing. Does he know what he's asking? He's telling them to quit worshiping God, a right secured not only in the First Amendment of the Constitution but also commanded by God in Holy Scripture. So, now Newsom is usurping God and Scripture?
Newsom might want to consult Jesus' words to those who would not worship Him: "I tell you, if these [people] keep silent, the stones will cry out [in praise]!" The Apostles also said, "We must obey God rather than men."
Holy double-standard and hypocrisy, Batman! Isn't it sickening that just a few weeks ago rioters were screaming profanity in the faces of stationary policemen across the country because it was their "First Amendment right," but now churchgoers can't sing in church, an activity that's equally their First Amendment right? What's wrong with this picture?
Have you seen a single liberal media story advocate the First Amendment rights of churchgoers like they did protesters? (Good for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to confess this past week that the riots did in fact cause the recent surge in COVID-19 in the Golden State.). Please, take a moment after you read this article and let Gov. Newsom know how you feel about his anti-singing edict on his contact page here. Tell him Chuck sent you!
And as if there's not enough sin-casting going around, one of the latest trends is to blame "wild, unsafe, Trump-supporting and fear-mongering gun owners" for the run on firearms and ammunition during the pandemic. Has anyone created more fear over COVID-19 then liberal media? And they want to blame the spike in gun purchases on American patriots who also apparently don't know anything about gun safety?
Here goes the government merry-go-round again: Americans can't be trusted to handle firearms just like we can't handle COVID-19 protection without government control and intervention.
Whether you believe politicians are drunk on power or just trying to stop the spread of COVID-19, or both, we all can agree that this pandemic has obliterated the terms "government overreach" and "constitutional override," as John Stossel wrote in the Whistleblower.
America's founders never would have tolerated such overreach and overriding. That is why they specifically secured citizens' rights in the Bill of Rights, particularly those in the First and Second Amendments. Do they even matter anymore to politicians? As Stossel wrote, "Coronavirus doesn't override the Constitution!"
I'll say it again. God and guns were so important to our founders that they established the Bill of Rights to protect our exercise of them. They are the first two (not last two) amendments of our Constitution: the uninhibited and unrestricted freedoms to choose our own religion and bear our own firearms.
The first words of the First Amendment read: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech …"
What is unclear about the words, "shall make no law … prohibiting the free exercise thereof" of one's religion?
And then there's the Second Amendment. Its 27 words are clear and concise, needing no further commentary or regulation: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Again, could it get any clearer? The right of the people … shall not be infringed!
Tragically, more and more, these pillars of American life and liberty are being assaulted and abandoned, not only out of sheer bias but ignorance of America's founders, the Revolutionary period and our Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson wrote near the end of his life in 1823: "On every question of construction (of the Constitution), carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
As we are progressively assaulted with the losses of American freedoms, two more thoughts repeatedly come to my mind.
The first is from Daniel Webster, who said, "The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power."
Since the Revolution itself, I believe we are in the fight of our lives to keep American freedoms. I don't know who said it, but I definitely prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery.
The second thought is one attributed to M. Grundler: "It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you."
I don't think I've ever been as thankful for American freedoms as I am now. I must admit that I'm also appallingly alarmed by the onslaught of assaults that grow every year to strip us of them. Like a sunset dropping over the horizon of our founders' dreams, so our freedoms are vanishing from view. But that is what we must not let happen.
Legendary Southern rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, which produced mega-hits like "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Freebird," put it well in their song (and album with the same title), "God and Guns":
God and guns
Keep us strong
That's what this country
Was founded on
Well we might as well give up and run
If we let them take our God and guns
(For a better understanding about who America's founders were and what they really established for us, please see my New York Times bestseller, "Black Belt Patriotism," in which I address modern-day problems with our founders' solutions. Please also pick up a copy of Dr. Thomas G. West's amazingly redemptive book, "Vindicating Our Founders," and share the information with your family and friends)