Framing The Debate

I think it's important to understand the dynamic of inclusiveness, especially in national elections. If you surveyed most every American, they would claim to believe in the United States Constitution. Therefore, our charge must involve our own education of why those brave souls, whom I'm sure were not all in lockstep with one another, to fashion the Constitution the way they did.

If we are to build the base of any political party, we have to be well versed enough to debate the uninformed and misguided. This involves much more than debate amongst ourselves but also the outreach to those that may be misinformed as to the individual responsibility needed to live in a free society.

Quite often an opposing point of view will center on the issue of fairness, and this can be very tricky. Fairness first and foremost must be defined clearly and not confused to mean the same as justice. It is fair for everyone to have the same opportunity to apply for a job, but to say that every job has to be filled with an equal number of men and women is not fair if a more qualified member of either sex does not get hired as a result. That is not justice and to use fairness as a substitue is incorrect. This fairness issue is a major stumbling block we will encounter in many a debate, and it is critical we frame it's use properly to educate the misinformed.

There also is a clear delineation between federal and states rights that have to be explained properly, as this is the underlying tenant in supporting the argument for a limited federal government. The misuse of power in the federal government can be a unifier with many independents that have seen abuse on both sides of the political spectrum when the federal government leans to far one way or the other and impose their ideological extremes on a centrist nation.

We have to avoid being cast as extremists. When we make our case as standing for the principles that the oppressed individuals at the inception of our country did, we can rightfully claim to represent all citizens that feel their rights are being infringed upon. This allows us to welcome anyone who believes the choices of a free thinking people are the individual right given to them under our Constitution, as long as those choices don't infringe on the rights of other free thinking people.

It doesn't matter if you call yourself a Democrat or a Republican, we are all free citizens of the United States of America. Is is important to remember that our founding fathers believed strongly in a secular government, as most of them had personally witnessed abuses carried out in the name of any one religion, and provided for the States Rights to be a check on a tyrannical federal government. However, they also realized how the virtues espoused by Christianity were the most pure form of governance for a truly free people to live in harmony.

A noted Dietist in 1790, just about a month before he died, Benjamin Franklin wrote the following in a letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University, who had asked him his views on religion:

“ As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and I think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble."

No my friends, America was not founded as a Christian Nation or any other form of religious nation, but America most certainly was formed with the belief that the values Christianity espoused were essential for it's citizen's to remain free from tyranny.