On April 15, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who has served on the court since 1991, delivered a memorable address at the University of Texas at Austin. I cannot imagine a better way to celebrate America’s 250th birthday than by reading, listening to or watching Justice Thomas’ inspiring and informative oration.
Justice Thomas eloquently captures the radical, revolutionary nature of the Declaration of Independence, whose full meaning and implications we are still seeking to understand.
Drawing on Judeo-Christian principles, the Founders articulated a radically new view of government, a view that proclaimed that all human beings possess inherent rights and that government can only recognize, respect and protect those rights — not grant or remove them.
The Declaration summed up this new, world-shattering philosophy with admirable brevity:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Justice Thomas points out that this revolutionary American doctrine is implemented through the U.S. Constitution, whose separation of powers (federalism) creates a republic governed by laws, not a democracy governed by majority vote.
In 1787, as the Constitutional Convention adjourned, Benjamin Franklin was asked what sort of government the delegates had created. Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Justice Thomas then narrates the rise of progressivism and its advances in America in the early 20th century through figures such as President Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921) and public education giant John Dewey (1859–1952), who challenged the premises of the Declaration and the Constitution.
Wilson, Dewey and other disciples imported progressivism from Otto von Bismarck’s Germany and its “state-centric society.” They actively opposed the principles of “equality and natural rights.” To progressives, nothing was “self-evident.”
Click Here to Read More (Originally Published at The Christian Post)
