This Day - Protect Your Nation's Independence
Today, in an age of increasing dependence, we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Keeping the Republic requires us to live up to the pledge that was made. One way to do that is to join the Compact for America movement.
On this day, 241 years ago, the Declaration was signed most prominently by John Hancock - a man who literally put his life, fortune and sacred honor on the line and in stark relief.
Hancock did so despite having immense wealth that could have funded a comfortable living for many generations under the status quo. But like so many others, Hancock was not content with contentment. He stood proudly on a fighting declaration of the equal right of all individuals to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He did so facing down the most powerful nation on earth.
Hancock was not alone.
Many great men who had everything to lose, like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, were more than willing to trade comfort and security for liberty.
By committing to a great cause in pursuit of fundamental reform, they did so not just as individuals, but also on behalf of the great states of Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Let's recommit to live by their example.
Our nation cannot maintain its independence when its national debt is still beyond 100% of all of the wealth it creates in a year.
Our nation cannot maintain its independence when nearly half of its publicly-held debt is owned by foreign nations - with China being most prominent among potential adversaries.
Our nation cannot maintain its independence when its commitment to liberty is no longer first in the world; and, at seventeenth, is slipping below that of its former master (United Kingdom), its loyalist neighbor to the north (Canada), their commonwealth associates (Australia and New Zealand), and many former Soviet European countries (Estonia, Lithuania and Georgia) - not to mention Hong Kong.
But our nation can and will maintain its independence with your support for the Compact for America movement!
Standing with Compact for America means standing with state legislators in Arizona, Georgia, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri who previously introduced the Prosperity States Compact - a reform that promises their residents the option of forming a local community founded on the state-of-the-art in economic liberty and self-governance.
Standing with Compact for America means standing with the great states of Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi and North Dakota, their governors and legislators, their congressmen and women, and future states in uniting to fix the national debt - the Compact for a Balanced Budget.
Preserving our independence requires these stances.
After all, amending the Constitution to limit the federal government's borrowing capacity - the federal "credit card" - is the sine qua non of all constitutional reform.
Why? Because if politicians have a limitless credit card, they can buy votes at little or no immediate cost, and no parchment barrier will hold back their schemes to bypass the Constitution.
From a practical political perspective, putting a limit on the federal "credit card" is the necessary condition of all other constitutional provisions that would limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government - and it is also necessary for reforms that merely seek to make federal policies sensible and sustainable. With the illusion of limitless resources, created by limitless borrowing capacity, there is no limit to the federal government's folly.
That's why Thomas Jefferson lamented on November 26, 1798, “It is a singular phenomenon, that while our state governments are the very best in the world without exception or comparison, our general government has, in the rapid course of 9 or 10 years, become more arbitrary, and has swallowed more of the public liberty than even that of England.”
Jefferson's solution? "I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our constitution; I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of it’s constitution; I mean an additional article taking from the federal government the power of borrowing."
The Balanced Budget Compact is motivated by the same recognition that has been proven so clearly right in hindsight.
And the Prosperity States Compact ensures that the flame of liberty will be rekindled from the ground-up; proving the concept yet again for generations that may have forgotten what freedom looks like.
In short, standing with Compact for America means standing with the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
It means declaring a recommitment to protecting liberty and self-governance.
It means going on offense, not defense, when it comes to keeping our Republic.
So join us in declaring your commitment to our Republic's independence!
Join the Compact for America movement to win the hearts and minds of your fellow citizens; and, like the signers of the Declaration of Independence, consider pledging financial support as well.
