DO YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE?

My hero is a fourteen year old home schooled young man who has already written a book. His name is Jonathan Krohn (Shown here speaking at a CPAC meeting).

Jonathan has properly and succinctly identified the basic principles of conservatism: respect for the Constitution; respect for life; less government and personal responsibility.

Let's take a look at these principles.

RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION

The Constitution of the United States of America is a unique document in history.

Never before in the annals of nations had a governing document been created that purposed to restrict the role of government in citizens' lives.

It was not written on the spur of the moment, but after much discussion and even argument over each of its tenets.

President BO has stated that it is a document that falls short because it tells a lot about what government cannot do but does not tell us what government must do.

That is absolute proof, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that President BO neither understands what the Constitution is nor why it is written the way it is. He totally misses its point, and therefore is incapable of keeping his oath of office to defend and protect it.

The United States has a constitutional government, which means that it is a limited government system.

The Constitution was deliberately, specifically and properly designed as a document to restrict the involvement of the the federal government in people's lives.

That's what it is for.

It defines how each branch of the government is established, and is the government's list of things it cannot, indeed, must not do.

It is laid out as follows:

The Preamble, which tells us why we have a government and a constitution.

Article I, which establishes the Legislative Branch of government, including where legislative power is vested, what it's comprised of, how members are elected or appointed, the rules of the house and senate, compensation and privileges of legislative members, how bills are passed, the scope of the legislature's power, limits on that power, and limits on states.

Article II, which defines the presidency, how the president is elected, installed and/or removed, what his/her powers are, how he is to periodically report on the state of the union, receive ambassadors, execute laws, commission officers and how he can be impeached.

Article III, which defines the judiciary, where its power is vested, its scope of power and how it relates to treasonous activity.

Article IV, which defines the states, establishes their full faith and credit, enumerates their privileges, immunities, extradition rules, how to handle fugitive slaves (see amendments - below), and what is guaranteed to the states.

Article V, which describes the amendment process (which makes the breathing of the document exasperatingly slow...on purpose).

Article VI, which establishes the legal status of the Constitution as absolute.

Article VII, which describes the ratification process.

Finally, the Constitution provides a list of its signers...in their own handwriting.

The states have ratified some twenty-seven amendments to the Constitution, the first ten of which are called The Bill of Rights.

Most liberals have never read, let alone studied, The constitution.

Sadly, most conservatives haven't either.

It should be required reading before the end of the sixth grade.

Respect for the Constitution is the first basic qualification to be considered a conservative.

RESPECT FOR LIFE

In the Declaration of Independence, in which our founders declared that we would no longer serve under a government that made all of the rules for daily living, Thomas Jefferson wrote that life is one of our fundamental rights, conferred on us not by government, but by our Creator.

Respect for life is a basic principle of conservatism.

That respect stretches from the moment of conception to the moment of death, the period that defines life socially.

At conception, the cell unit formed contains all of the DNA information that identifies it as a human being and no other life-form, and which exhibits all of the processes that scientifically define life: cell division and reproduction, ingestion of nourishment, giving off waste, etc.

The developing baby is not a part of its mother's body, but is a separate, unique person, with traits of the father, the mother and all of his/her ancestors.

From this we extrapolate that no person may take the life of another without due legal cause.

We also covenant to care for our elders as long as they have breath, thus negating the possibility of euthanasia.

Conservatives' value of life is one of their basic principles.

LESS GOVERNMENT

There are four basic forms of government: 1) Oligarchy - in which there is a small, elite segment of society which rules to one degree or another over the affairs of the citizens; 2) Anarchy - in which the people rule without any government at all (one form of which is pure democracy); 3) Republic - in which the citizens elect people to government who will reflect their views and carry out their wishes; 4) Totalitarian - which includes kings and dictators.

The United States of America is a republic.

It is reported that Benjamin Franklin was asked, "Well, Mr. Franklin, what kind of government did you people come up with?" To which he responded, "A republic, if we can keep it."

By its nature, a republic is a limited form of government, being responsive to and responsible for the protection of the people, and acting at the direction of the people.

We are not a democracy, which is a form of anarchy, but a representative republic.

The Constitution reserves to the various states those powers not specifically given to the federal government.

Conservatives believe that the restrictive form of government is the best form of government.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

According to the concept of personal responsibility, each person bears the burden of making of him/herself the very best he/she can be through self-eduction, perseverance, and hard work.

Each person also has a duty to society to treat others as he/she would like them to treat him/her.

At Waco (which some of you may be old enough to remember), Attorney General, Janet Reno proclaimed that she took complete responsibility for the sordid events that took place there.

Actually, she did not.

Let me explain.

Imagine that I am driving on the Interstate with you as my passenger.

As we go, it becomes evident that we may be late to our destination, so you begin urging me to drive faster.

After some miles of listening to you prattle on, I give in and speed up well beyond the posted speed limit.

Soon there are flashing lights behind us and we are pulled over by a state trooper, who proceeds to write me a ticket.

I object, explaining that you were the one who urged me to speed and you wouldn't let up so I finally just had to speed.

To whom do you think he will write the ticket?

To me, of course, because I was responsible for the speed of the vehicle.

There is always a cost connected to responsibility...a cost of time, effort or money.

As a nation, we are prone to seek to blame someone else for what goes wrong.

Currently, Congress is trying to blame CEOs and corporate executives for our present economic mess (as are many of you), ignoring the fact that they, themselves perpetrated it.

Conservatives accept that personal responsibility for one's life and behavior is one of their basic tenets.

So there you have it.

By these standards, are you really a conservative, or are you just anti-liberal, anti-government or anti-whateverturnsyouontobeantiabout?

I suggest that there are far too many in our Republican Party who are not conservatives, who wish that none of us were conservatives and who think that conservatism is dead.

To them I yell, "Get out of my Party, you dumb oafs! Go join a Party that does not believe in those four principles and let us get on with the business of building our Party back into what it should be!"

On this 59th day of President BO's War on Achievement, I sincerely hope that in about twenty-one years we will be inaugurating one Jonathan Krohn to be the President of The Untied States of America.