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Wesley Bergin
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The Christian worldview is the only worldview that can justify and will maintain the human rights and freedoms upon which our nation was founded 250 years ago today. Islam won’t (sharia law), Hinduism won’t (caste system), Atheism won’t (no one is higher than the dictator, which led to 100 million murdered by atheistic regimes in the 20th Century).
Those other worldviews do not believe,“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.”
Our founders knew that rights can only come from God—not governments—but that good governments are supposed to secure those rights. That’s what Christianity teaches.
Reflecting back on the founding of our country, John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson in 1813, “The general Principles on which the Fathers achieved Independence, where the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite. . . And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity. . . ”
So whether you are a Christian or not, you should appreciate the principles that come from Christianity, including inalienable rights, and that governments are temporary institutions that are to protect the lives and liberties of beings that are eternal and made in the image of God—you and me.
Freedom has never been free.
Thank you to every warrior, patriot, hunter, rancher, worker, law enforcement officer, first responder, and veteran who keeps the American Spirit alive.
Happy 250th birthday to the greatest country on Earth.
God Bless America. 🇺🇸
I hadn’t read the Declaration of Independence since high school history class. Ah, yes, history class! In fact we had American history throughout the tenth grade, then world history during our junior year. When I listen to the TikTok crowd spew the nonsense they champion today, I think how easily their knuckle-headed thinking could have been cured with a few good history classes. Alas, I don’t see much hope for the future, as long as the teachers in our urban areas are in the clutches of politicians and unions with a far different agenda from real education.
Now rereading the document for the first time in decades (shame on me for taking so long), I had forgotten that the bulk of the text is a list of grievances suffered by the American colonists at the hands of the king and various elements under his tyrannical regime. What has truly stunned me these 250 years later, however, is how familiar these grievances feel in our contemporary situation. Let’s take a peek at the exact text, and see if anything feels uncomfortably close to home (the “He” refers to King George, of course, and I will use the original spelling and punctuation):
“He has refused to Assent to Laws”
Hmm, every “sanctuary state” governor today for starters…
“He has made Judges dependent of his Will alone”
Hmm, activist judges anybody?
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people”
Hmm, 87,000 new armed IRS agents. Ring a bell?
“For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent”
Hmm, ever looked at your tax bill?
“…transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny…”
Hmm, thirty million military-age males pouring across our open borders from 2020 to 2024…
“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us”
Hmm, BLM and Antifa riots…
SHORT VERSION: LEAVE US ALONE!
The very essence of the Declaration of Independence is a concerted celebration of God’s gift of our “unalienable” right to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” It was argued, researched, debated yet again, drafted by Jefferson, then edited by Adams, Franklin, and others. Together the bravest men stood together against the storm of tyranny and gambled it all. As I reread it today, I literally shed tears at those miraculous words:
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortune and our sacred Honor.”
And then, of course, there were those who shed more than tears. They shed their blood, watched their homes burn, and too many gave the ultimate sacrifice. Whether they formed local militias or joined the Continental Army, colonists now dedicated to the cause, gambled their very lives. One of those Americans was my ninth generation ancestor. He fought in one of the most consequential battles of the American Revolution, the Battle of Cowpens. I am forever honored that his blood runs in my veins.
I know that this will be a joyful and glorious weekend for all of you, God willing. It should also be, if I may presume to say, a solemn one as well. The sacrifices made by simple men and women those many years ago have made these precious rights and this glorious day possible. Take a moment and honor them in your heart. I know I will.
Hear, hear.
No lie detected in this meme
True
Happy 96th birthday to Professor Thomas Sowell, one of the greatest thinkers of our time and the undisputed king of the epigram! In his honor, here are twenty of his most famous quotes:
1. “Nearly a hundred years of the supposed ‘legacy of slavery’ found most black children being raised in two-parent families in 1960. But thirty years after the liberal welfare state found the great majority of black children being raised by a single parent. The murder rate among blacks in 1960 was one-half of what it became 20 years later, after a legacy of liberals’ law enforcement policies.” (A Legacy of Liberalism)
2. “Public housing projects in the first half of the 20th century were clean, safe places, where people slept outside on hot summer nights, when they were too poor to afford air conditioning. That was before admissions standards for public housing projects were lowered or abandoned, in the euphoria of liberal non-judgmental notions. And it was before the toxic message of victimhood was spread by liberals. We all know what hell holes public housing has become in our times.” (A Legacy of Liberalism)
3. “The blacks in the West Indies had all sorts of experiences growing their food, selling the surplus in the market, and being responsible for budgeting what they had. Black slaves in the United States were deliberately kept from having that. Dependence was seen as the key to holding the slaves down. Ironically, that same principle comes up in the welfare state 100 years later.”
4. “If we wanted to be serious about evidence, we might compare where blacks stood a hundred years after the end of slavery with where they stood after 30 years of the liberal welfare state. Despite the grand myth that black economic progress began or accelerated with the passage of the civil rights laws and ‘war on poverty’ programs of the 1960s, the cold fact is that the poverty rate among blacks fell from 87 percent in 1940 to 47 percent by 1960. This was before any of those programs began.” (A Legacy of Liberalism)
5. “What the welfare system and other kinds of governmental programs are doing is paying people to fail. Insofar as they fail, they receive the money. In so far as they succeed, even to a moderate extent, the money is taken away.” (Free to Choose, 1980)
6. “The way the [welfare] programs are organized, poor people are only paid to do things that are counter-productive, such as breaking up their families, such as not earning above a certain level of income.”
7. “The welfare state is the oldest con game in the world. First you take people’s money away quietly, and then you give some of it back to them flamboyantly.”
8. “Not since the days of slavery have there been so many people who feel entitled to what other people have produced as there are in the modern welfare state, whether in Western Europe or on this side of the Atlantic.”
9. “The more people who are dependent on government handouts, the more votes the left can depend on for an ever-expanding welfare state. Although the big word on the left is ‘compassion,’ the big agenda on the left is dependency.”
10. “Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good. In area after area, crime, education, housing, race relations, the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them.” (Is Reality Optional?)
11. “The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore, we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive.”
12. “Socialism is a wonderful idea. It is only as a reality that it has been disastrous. Among people of every race, color, and creed, all around the world, socialism has led to hunger in countries that used to have surplus food to export.”
13. “As long as human beings are imperfect, there will always be arguments for extending the power of government to deal with these imperfections. The only logical stopping place is totalitarianism, unless we realize that tolerating imperfections is the price of freedom.” (Ever Wonder Why?)
14. “The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.”
15. “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”
16. “Life in general has never been even close to fair, so the pretense that the government can make it fair is a valuable and inexhaustible asset to politicians who want to expand government.”
17. “It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication, and a government bureaucracy to administer it.” (Knowledge and Decisions)
18. “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
19. “Racism is not dead, but it is on life support, kept alive by politicians, race hustlers and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as ‘racists.’”
20. “The old adage about giving a man a fish versus teaching him how to fish has been updated by a reader: Give a man a fish, and he will ask for tartar sauce and French fries! Moreover, some politician who wants his vote will declare all these things to be among his ‘basic rights.’”
![WEschenbach's tweet photo. Happy 96th birthday to Professor Thomas Sowell, one of the greatest thinkers of our time and the undisputed king of the epigram! In his honor, here are twenty of his most famous quotes:
1. “Nearly a hundred years of the supposed ‘legacy of slavery’ found most black children being raised in two-parent families in 1960. But thirty years after the liberal welfare state found the great majority of black children being raised by a single parent. The murder rate among blacks in 1960 was one-half of what it became 20 years later, after a legacy of liberals’ law enforcement policies.” (A Legacy of Liberalism)
2. “Public housing projects in the first half of the 20th century were clean, safe places, where people slept outside on hot summer nights, when they were too poor to afford air conditioning. That was before admissions standards for public housing projects were lowered or abandoned, in the euphoria of liberal non-judgmental notions. And it was before the toxic message of victimhood was spread by liberals. We all know what hell holes public housing has become in our times.” (A Legacy of Liberalism)
3. “The blacks in the West Indies had all sorts of experiences growing their food, selling the surplus in the market, and being responsible for budgeting what they had. Black slaves in the United States were deliberately kept from having that. Dependence was seen as the key to holding the slaves down. Ironically, that same principle comes up in the welfare state 100 years later.”
4. “If we wanted to be serious about evidence, we might compare where blacks stood a hundred years after the end of slavery with where they stood after 30 years of the liberal welfare state. Despite the grand myth that black economic progress began or accelerated with the passage of the civil rights laws and ‘war on poverty’ programs of the 1960s, the cold fact is that the poverty rate among blacks fell from 87 percent in 1940 to 47 percent by 1960. This was before any of those programs began.” (A Legacy of Liberalism)
5. “What the welfare system and other kinds of governmental programs are doing is paying people to fail. Insofar as they fail, they receive the money. In so far as they succeed, even to a moderate extent, the money is taken away.” (Free to Choose, 1980)
6. “The way the [welfare] programs are organized, poor people are only paid to do things that are counter-productive, such as breaking up their families, such as not earning above a certain level of income.”
7. “The welfare state is the oldest con game in the world. First you take people’s money away quietly, and then you give some of it back to them flamboyantly.”
8. “Not since the days of slavery have there been so many people who feel entitled to what other people have produced as there are in the modern welfare state, whether in Western Europe or on this side of the Atlantic.”
9. “The more people who are dependent on government handouts, the more votes the left can depend on for an ever-expanding welfare state. Although the big word on the left is ‘compassion,’ the big agenda on the left is dependency.”
10. “Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good. In area after area, crime, education, housing, race relations, the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them.” (Is Reality Optional?)
11. “The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore, we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive.”
12. “Socialism is a wonderful idea. It is only as a reality that it has been disastrous. Among people of every race, color, and creed, all around the world, socialism has led to hunger in countries that used to have surplus food to export.”
13. “As long as human beings are imperfect, there will always be arguments for extending the power of government to deal with these imperfections. The only logical stopping place is totalitarianism, unless we realize that tolerating imperfections is the price of freedom.” (Ever Wonder Why?)
14. “The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.”
15. “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”
16. “Life in general has never been even close to fair, so the pretense that the government can make it fair is a valuable and inexhaustible asset to politicians who want to expand government.”
17. “It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication, and a government bureaucracy to administer it.” (Knowledge and Decisions)
18. “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
19. “Racism is not dead, but it is on life support, kept alive by politicians, race hustlers and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as ‘racists.’”
20. “The old adage about giving a man a fish versus teaching him how to fish has been updated by a reader: Give a man a fish, and he will ask for tartar sauce and French fries! Moreover, some politician who wants his vote will declare all these things to be among his ‘basic rights.’”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HMO9oLpbEAA3mOj.png)
🚨 JUST IN: The TDS clinic is now accepting new patients!
These testimonials speak for themselves!!
Milton Friedman's 1977 lecture "Myths That Conceal Reality,"
Here is the full 1977 lecture "Myths That Conceal Reality"
(delivered at Utah State University): Full video (lecture + Q&A, ~1 hour 22 min):
https://t.co/s6O3ooc9Sy
Popular edited version (main lecture, ~52 min):
https://t.co/8KdMLRy0ht
Both are from the Free To Choose Network. The talk covers the five myths referenced in the recent X post (Robber Baron, Great Depression, Big Government / demand for government services, Free Lunch, and Robin Hood). Enjoy!
Milton Friedman on five myths that just won’t die:
1) The Robber Baron myth
2) The Great Depression myth
3) The Big Government myth
4) The Free Lunch myth
5) The Robin Hood myth
Bizarrely, socialism is still popular among young people. They should listen to those who lived it!
“You don't really know you have it good until you have it bad,” says @charlesNKorea.
He escaped North Korea, twice.
He tells me his story and the importance of freedom:
“El nazismo fue simplemente una forma peculiar de socialismo.”
- Friedrich Hayek -
Thomas Sowell on how politicians manufacture one ‘crisis’ after another:
“You generate political support by creating a ‘crisis.’ Since all human situations have some negative features, nothing is easier than to find something to complain of and to call it a crisis.”
Exactly!
Good morning. Larry Bird saw the game differently..
“Competition is the most effective way to improve quality—whether in computers, in automobiles, in suits, or in schooling.”
— Milton Friedman
Tip of the iceberg
“Nazism was just a peculiar form of socialism.”
— Friedrich Hayek
"If you believe that Jesus is the son of God, rose from the dead on the third day, there are a lot of progressives who will say you're a crazy person."
VP JD Vance took aim at what he called "progressive atheistic culture," arguing that many on the left dismiss traditional religious beliefs while embracing ideas he considers far less believable.
"Actually, you believe something that's far crazier and clearly a violation of nature." @Gutfeldfox
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