Doug Thompson

A little flag waving
The only right source of a government’s power is the consent of the governed
By Doug Thompson
I’m a real American. I’m furious at what blind, sheepish obedience to the president has done to my country.
I was crushingly disappointed after 9/11 when my president addressed the country and asked nothing of us but to keep up consumer spending.
Like all true patriots, I was livid when the rights of free speech and the privacy and security of our persons were thrown away.
Like the Founding Fathers, I seethe at the thought of locking up people without due process. I’m shamed that our country, the political light of the world, tortures people.
My blood boils whenever I think of a Congress without enough of a spine to check and balance the president. Like all real Americans, I’m against one-party rule and unchecked executive power. I am appalled that the gross failure of one-party rule will likely foster different one-party rule.
As everyone who loves liberty, I believe that every vote counts and every vote should be counted.
I believe in freedom of religion.
I believe that a country without vigorous dissent is a tyranny.
I believe that a government that does not respect the rights of all does not respect the rights of any.
I oppose weakening our country by pouring so much blood and treasure into the sands of Iraq, but not enough to win there. We’re at war. Win it or get out. Ration gas and raise the taxes to pay for war or leave.
I believe that nobody’s better than me and I’m just as good as anybody.
I believe that anybody willing to leave his country and move thousands of miles to a place where he doesn’t even speak the language just so he can work hard to give his family a better life is a fine American.
I believe all people, not just men and not just Americans, are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights. Among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
I believe the only right reason for a government to exist is to secure these rights. I believe the only right source of such a government’s powers is the consent of the governed.
I believe that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. … But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right — it is their duty — to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
I believe that Abraham Lincoln, the greatest of Republican presidents, once said: “I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.”
Lincoln was speaking at Independence Hall, on his way to his first inauguration. He also said that the promise of the declaration was to everyone, not just America. He asked if the country could be saved without giving up on that principle. He hoped so, but didn’t know. He went on to say:
“But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.
“… My friends, this is wholly an unexpected speech, and I did not expect to be called upon to say a word when I came here. I supposed it was merely to do something toward raising the flag. I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet. I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, die by.”
I hope and resolve that, as Lincoln said elsewhere: “That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”