Tag: liberty

Can Liberty Survive the Marxist Purge?

Appeared in the Abbeville Institute:

While mobs continue tearing down monuments and shaming elected officials into removing statues of historical significance — from Christopher Columbus to Gen. Robert E. Lee and even Thomas Jefferson and George Washington — Clemson University (which receives over $100 million annually from the State of South Carolina) quietly decided to remove John C. Calhoun’s name from its honors college. Never mind the fact that Calhoun’s family donated the land on which the college now sits — and that it is named after Calhoun’s son-in-law.

It’s no secret that, on both the federal and state levels, tremendous sums of government funding support education. In my home state of South Carolina, K-12 and higher education comprised a total of $5.5 billion in fiscal year 2019-20. Much of this is being used to fund our demise through social justice indoctrination curricula, which are so deeply rooted in Marxist notions of race, class, and gender that graduates are leaving college prepared to do little other than protest and riot.

Make no mistake: these culture-canceling Marxists seek to destroy America and replace it with something more closely resembling their own dogmatic, dystopian worldview. Cultural conditioning such as this is only the beginning of their efforts. Where cultural revolutions go, political revolution may soon follow.

From the earliest years of the Bolshevik revolution to the rise of communism in China, cultural revolutions have always begun with simplicities like language, symbols, monuments, and art. Before long, streets, schools, merchandise, and anything else that displays some form of American greatness will face the wrath of the Marxist mob.

No matter what they do, however, they cannot erase the timeless contributions of men like Jefferson, Washington, and Calhoun, who, through years of war and revolution, built and maintained a republic unlike anything the world had ever seen before — a limited government system borne straight from the ideas of the Enlightenment. Related Posts

This purge of American individualism is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. “Mia” (the woman pictured on the front of the Land O’Lakes logo) was removed from Land O’Lakes’ packaging weeks ago. Other product lines are quickly removing all their icons as well.

A few years ago, my family and I visited Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Walking through the town’s historic streets, one can see reenactors bringing the world of 1765 to life. While watching a Thomas Jefferson reenactor in front of the House of Burgesses, a female spectator approached the actor and screamed in his face, “Mr. Jefferson, as a woman I have no rights!”

The actor stayed in character and maintained his composure. Again, the lady yelled, “But Mr. Jefferson, I have no rights!”

The actor paused for a moment, then resumed his speech. The lady then interrupted a third time, yelling louder than before, “Mr. Jefferson, as a woman I have no rights!”

The actor finally broke character, leaned over to the lady and said, “Ma’am, if you don’t allow me to write the Declaration of Independence, none of us may ever have any rights secured.”

Where would we be today if not for the sacrifices and achievements of those that came before us? This is not to say that the founders were perfect people; no one has ever been perfect. They wrestled with the issues of their time, just as we do today. We recognize these people for their contributions to society, and we learn from their mistakes.

At the end of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin famously referred to America as “a republic, if you can keep it.” Thirteen states came together for the defense of life, liberty, and property. From the onset of the union, there was vigorous debate on the proper role of government.

The founders recognized that individuals are free at birth, and by the laws of nature have unalienable rights. In fact, while many of them owned slaves, they wrestled with the issue itself. In the early years of Jefferson’s legal career, he represented slaves pro-bono in an effort to gain their freedom. While he lost these cases, he still advanced the cause of freedom for everyone by writing the Declaration of Independence — the foundation for all the rights and liberties Americans enjoy today.

Progress should be measured by the preservation of our liberties, not in the condemnation of the dead. For those arguing that American history and monuments are the root of our problems, I urge them to realize that individual responsibility is the catalyst for freedom. At some point, people must stop blaming others and realize that they as an individual are responsible for their own destiny.

Originally published at The Libertarian Republic and reprinted with permission.

The Second Amendment is Under Siege

The White House has announced new plans on gun control. House Democrats are pushing another universal background check bill, and high-profile Republicans in both chambers of Congress are campaigning for a new federal grant program that would incentivize states to pass “red flag” laws. It is not overstating the case to say that there has never been a greater threat to due process and the Second Amendment.

“What we can’t do is fail to pass something,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, when asked about last month’s shootings in El Paso, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; and Philadelphia.

Statements like this should infuriate the American people for multiple reasons. Never in American history have we seen our Second Amendment and due process rights under siege from so many different directions. In the midst of such a volatile and unprecedented situation, careless remarks like these from our nation’s leaders cannot be tolerated.

This is why, earlier this month, 40 of my colleagues in the South Carolina General Assembly joined me in a letter to President Trump and Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott urging them to address the numerous factors that are being ignored on this issue, including the erosion of our civil liberties the dangers of gun-free zones.

Academic studies roundly demonstrate that more laws simply will not prevent mass shootings. On the contrary, the key to curtailing gun violence lies not in destroying our Constitutional liberties but in recognizing the sacred right of every law-abiding American to self-defense, both from violent crime and the threat of a tyrannical government.

Likewise, 94% of mass shootings actually occur in gun-free zones, according to research conducted by the Crime Prevention Center. Multiple studies elsewhere point to states and cities with the toughest anti-gun laws (such as Chicago and Washington, D.C.) as having the highest crime rates, rather than the other way around.

Our letter also points out the role the mainstream media holds in sensationalizing gun violence and setting a false narrative that violent crimes are on the rise. Just like the notion that gun-free zones make us safer, this couldn’t be any further from the truth. In fact, data gathered by the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicate that violent crime in the United States has steadily decreased since 1993.

I have taken an oath before God to defend the Constitution and am proud of my fellow legislators for joining me on this defining issue. Even with such a stirring display of unity, however, vigilance and courage will be demanded of us as the federal government’s crusade against our Constitutional rights continues.

To the elected officials across the U.S. who still believe in liberty: Now is not the time to stop fighting. President Calvin Coolidge warned that “it is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.” The inevitable slippery slope that follows when government neglects due process is one that we cannot afford to fall down. I hope that this attempt to further destroy our liberties fails.

Originally appeared in Washington Examiner on September 26th, 2019