168th Edition
Happy 250th America!
A few months ago, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave a speech at the University of Texas entitled – “Progressivism vs. Declaration of Independence.” This is a link to the transcript:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:25a970ae-4a2a-40fb-9ed9-a1250b0d9b1b
As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I highly recommend reading his speech. Being raised in the segregated south, overcoming poverty and prejudice, and serving on the Supreme Court for the past thirty-four years gives Justice Thomas unique wisdom and a perspective unsurpassed in our country today. In today’s blog, I’ll try to highlight a few of his points that I found most meaningful and some that were downright disturbing.
First, Justice Thomas makes very clear his belief in natural law, and the Declaration’s assertion that our unalienable rights came from God and not from any government or from man. Remarkably, he believed in these truths despite his experience of racial discrimination. As he states, “Even as so much of our God-given and constitutional rights were denied us, we still faithfully said the Pledge of Allegiance, memorized the preamble to the Constitution, and yearned for the fulfillment of its promised ideals.” Later he added, “Those truths were self-evident to the adults in our lives and were taught to us as indelible, undeniable truths. Those around us would endure or could endure the insults of segregation with dignity because they knew that in God’s eyes, they were equal.”
Then Justice Thomas focuses on what he sees happening today. He states, “Even in this time of questioning and criticism of our founding, we should not forget that the Declaration established the principles that produced, despite all of our imperfections, our miscues, and our tragic mistakes, it gave us the freest, wealthiest, and most powerful nation in the history of the world.”
As a sidebar, I recently finished reading a book by Douglas MacKinnon called “The 56.” It chronicles the lives of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence. It is well worth reading to understand the courage it took to sign that world-changing document. Justice Thomas highlights the final sentence… “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” These brave 56 men were willing to risk everything in their support of and quest for liberty. Justice Thomas questions whether we have that same courage today… As he states, “What are your principles worth to you? My answer then was the same I would give today. It is worth, they are worth, life itself.” An interesting question to ponder.
Next Justice Thomas turns toward Progressivism, which was introduced in our country by Woodrow Wilson. He explains that Progressivism and the principles of the constitution are incompatible. As he states, “Progressives strove to undo the Declaration’s commitment to equality and natural rights, both of which they denied were self-evident.” Later he adds, “…liberty no longer preceded the government as a gift from God, but was to be enjoyed at the grace of the government.”
At the heart of Progressivism is the belief that people are incapable of governing themselves and should be ruled by elites. Justice Thomas explains sentiments felt by Woodrow Wilson – “The American people are selfish, ignorant, timid, stubborn, and foolish.” Do political elites today have that same attitude?
Most troubling in Justice Thomas’s speech was the section in which he explained that Progressivism led to the disastrous political leadership of Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Mao, all of whom were opposed to natural rights as well as individual freedom and liberty. In their view, God’s supremacy was replaced by the state, which made individuals subservient and expendable.
Lastly, Justice Thomas offers all of us a challenge. To what principles are we willing to sacrifice and fight for? Do we believe in natural law with God as the source of individual rights, or do we prefer elites and a centralized state to determine our course in life? Again, these two philosophies are incompatible. Today, the battle between these opposing ideologies seems to be heating up. If you haven’t chosen a side yet, and prefer to remain neutral or unengaged, my sense is it will be increasingly difficult to do so.
Fighting for freedom and liberty has never been easy nor will it be easy in the years ahead. Or as Justice Thomas much more eloquently stated, “It will, of course, not be easy. It never is. But if, like me, you need a greater source of strength than yourselves, you will need to rely on your faith to guide and to sustain you through it all.”
Faith in a supreme, gracious, forgiving God is still the source of all hope. Happy 250th America!
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Michael Kayes
*These views are my personal opinions and are not the viewpoints of any company or organization.