Declaration of Independence Archives

Commentary: Diversity Is a False Religion to Destroy America

August 22, 2024 American Greatness

This week, the National Association of Scholars (“NAS”) and the Heritage Foundation are sponsoring a panel discussion on diversity ideology in higher education. A number of reports have recently been published on the topic, with most documenting monies spent by state universities on “diversity, equity and inclusion” (“DEI“). The Maryland affiliate of the National Association of Scholars released the most recent such report this summer, but the Virginia affiliate issued one last year, while Idaho, North Carolina, Maine, and Tennessee produced similar documents before that.

The Maryland report reminds state officials that “diversity” is usually a cover for race-based practices that are now likely illegal under the 2023 United States Supreme Court case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (or “SFFA”). That opinion found that racial preferences in university admissions were a violation of federal civil rights laws and also the Constitution’s Equal Protection clause. SFFA means that any race-based practice in college is presumptively unlawful. As the Court said, “Eliminating discrimination means eliminating all of it … distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their nature odious.”

Commentary: Left Lets Mask Slip on Plans to Demolish the Supreme Court

August 9, 2024August 8, 2024 Minnesota Sun Staff

The Left has let the mask slip and made clear that it intends to pack or otherwise decimate the Supreme Court.

President Joe Biden announced last week in a Washington Post op-ed that he would promote a “reform” of the nation’s highest court that would include term limits and new “ethics” rules for justices.

Commentary: The Crucial Importance of an Independent Judiciary

August 3, 2024 Minnesota Sun Staff

The independent judiciary established by our Constitution has inspired the world. Even British law, which developed and preserved constitutional liberties, and whose firm sense of political rights inspired the American Founders, has only in the last two decades undertaken to separate its judiciary from Parliament’s supremacy.

The Framers of the Constitution were keenly aware of how Britain’s constitution had failed them. Britain’s judiciary had no power to keep Parliament in check when it passed the Intolerable Acts and the other outrages to which the Declaration of Independence objected. Previously, the courts proved unable to rein in the Stuart kings’ grabs for supremacy; war resulted.

Commentary: On Independence Day, Remember Why Economic Liberty Matters for America

July 4, 2023 Admin

I’ve often thought there is something providential about the Declaration of Independence being drafted and promulgated throughout the American Colonies the same year that Adam Smith’s book “The Wealth of Nations” was published.

After all, both texts were revolutionary, and both were fundamentally concerned with protecting and promoting liberty.

Commentary: Thomas Jefferson’s Meaning of ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’

March 3, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

The idea of the “pursuit of happiness” is in our societal DNA. Yet, this “unalienable right,” immortalized in the Declaration of Independence, has often puzzled people. What exactly did Jefferson mean?

Most people think of happiness as feeling good, but that is not what Jefferson meant. Pleasure and happiness are not the same. Our happiness does not depend upon everything going right in our life or getting what we want.

Commentary: Recognizing Hard Truths About America’s History with Slavery

February 18, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

Slavery is always and everywhere an unconscionable stain, an egregious error, a monstrous outrage, a mortal sin. Every human possesses a natural right to be his own master, so long as he does not deny that same right to others.

Most people take that truism for granted today but it wasn’t the governing rule of the past. Few people who have ever lived on this planet were truly free; most were either outright slaves or were serfs or subjects who lived in constant fear of tyrants. In world history, freedom is the exception, and mostly a recent one.

Commentary: A Republic if You Can Teach It

December 4, 2022December 3, 2022 RealClearWire

President Biden has a civics lesson that he is fond of and regularly repeats. It is about how the United States is unique in the world because of the founding ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.

“Unlike every other nation on Earth, we were founded based on an idea,” he notes before adding that “while we’ve never fully lived up” to those principles, “we have never given up on them.”

Commentary: Targeting Citizens for Expressing Traditional Values is a Hallmark of Tyranny

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

All my life I’ve felt a bond with places and with people.

Growing up in Boonville, North Carolina, population then about 600, I went to elementary school and the Methodist church, knew many of the merchants in town—Harvey Smith, grocer and mayor for many years, Donald the barber, Mr. Weatherwax who owned the pharmacy and was kind enough to let me read comic books on the premises, and a dozen more adults—and relished my friends and their families. Boonville’s red clay and rolling hills are as much a part of me as any genetic code.

New York City to Remove 200-Year-Old Thomas Jefferson Statue from City Hall

October 20, 2021October 19, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

The New York City Public Design Commission voted to remove a historic statue of one of America’s leading Founding Fathers from City Hall, according to The Hill.

On Monday, the commission unanimously voted to relocate the statue from the City Council chambers. The vote comes after State Assemblyman Charles Barron (D-N.Y.) and his wife, City Councilwoman Inez Barron, first began the movement to remove the statue. Assemblyman Barron claimed, without evidence, that Jefferson was a rapist, while Councilwoman Barron insisted that removal of his statue was “not being revisionist.”

Commentary: Parents Aren’t Domestic Terrorists

October 13, 2021 Admin

It is probably an understatement to say that when one group designates another as a terrorist organization, diplomatic relations between the two become strained.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights.”

Truths. Equal. Creator. Rights. Concerned parents want schools to teach truths, not ideologies; operate under equality, not equity; and respect faith in our Creator and our parental rights. These are the fundamental principles from our Declaration that are at stake in American education today.

Arizona Attorney General Condemns Biden Administration’s Warning Label on Constitution, Declaration

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich condemned the National Archives Records Association’s (NARA) decision to label documents with a “harmful language” alert.

Brnovich demanded that NARA immediately remove the warning labels from documents including the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, in a Sept. 10 letter to the agency first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The warning labels only serve to further divide Americans, the attorney general said.

“This is shameful action from the National Archives, and the misguided ‘alerts’ should be taken down immediately,” Brnovich wrote to U.S. Archivist David Ferriero. “There is nothing ‘harmful’ about our founding documents. These inspired writings governed the formation of our new country in the late 18th Century and provided the roadmap for it to grow into the greatest nation in history.”

Pennsylvania Congressman Lamb Silent on National Archives Labeling Constitution for ‘Harmful Language’

September 11, 2021September 10, 2021 Bradley Vasoli

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has slapped “Harmful Language” warnings on online displays of American founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA-17) is keeping quiet about it.

The Star News Network emailed Lamb’s press office Friday to ascertain his view of the matter. Neither the congressman—who recently announced a bid for U.S. Senate—nor his staff have replied.

National Archives Flags America’s Founding Documents for ‘Harmful Language’

September 10, 2021September 10, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

The National Archives has placed warning labels on its digital display of America’s founding documents, including the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, warning they may contain “harmful language” that could offend viewers’ senses.

The labels come amidst a larger battle over political correctness inside the government’s main historical preservation agency, where new documents surfaced this week showing that about 800 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) employees from across the country attended a town hall meeting of the Archives’ Task Force on Racism on May 11 and discussed deleting the “charters of freedom” descriptors for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration.

The argument made was that the documents did not “not result in freedoms for everyone” initially, the new memos show.

Commentary: The Founding Elite vs. The Current Elite

July 11, 2021July 10, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

In an insightful Independence Day Twitter thread, Emily Zanotti expressed her partiality for this provision of the Declaration of Independence:

[T]his is my favorite part: ‘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 Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.’ Can you imagine writing that? Signing your name to that? Acknowledging that this document means you will come out of this broke, dead, and remembered as a traitor if you do not win. Signing your own death warrant. Man, that took balls . . .

In recognizing and celebrating the signatories’ fortitude, Zanotti illuminated the stark contrast between the visions of America’s founding elite and its current elite.

Newt Gingrich Commentary: Reclaiming the Spirit of Independence Day

July 4, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Planes in the sky letting off red, white and blue smoke

On Independence Day we reflect together as a nation on a remarkable moment in history 244 years ago, when 56 men from 13 colonies gathered in Philadelphia to sign the Declaration of Independence. There, our founders declared with one voice: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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.”

This act of political and moral courage changed the world forever. Since 1776, the values and ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution have been exported to democracies around the globe and have lifted millions of people out of tyranny, poverty, and oppression.

Unfortunately, some in America seek to diminish America’s founding, rewrite our history, and invalidate the spirit of independence which led our founders to create the greatest, freest, and most prosperous nation on Earth.

Commentary: A Declaration of Independence From China

October 24, 2019October 23, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has forgotten nothing and learned nothing.

Judge Michael Warren Commentary: In Defense of the Betsy Ross Flag

July 27, 2019July 27, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

Patriot Week renews America’s spirit by deepening the appreciation of the First Principles, Founding Fathers and other Patriots, vital documents and speeches, and flags that make America the greatest nation in world history. From September 11 (anniversary of the terrorist attacks) to September 17 (anniversary of the signing of the Constitution), a different flag is commemorated each day. Each flag is an emblem of freedom and represents one of the founding First Principles derived from our Declaration of Independence: the rule of law, the Social Compact, equality (racial), equality (gender), unalienable rights, limited government, and the right to alter or abolish an oppressive government (revolution). Those flags include, among others, the long-forgotten suffragette banner that was boldly marched in parades and marked protests; the Union standard that flew over Fort Sumter (taken down by the Confederates and gallantly raised after the fort was retaken), and our current Old Glory.

Commentary: The American Founding’s High-Minded Purposes

June 17, 2019June 16, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

by Edward J. Erler James Madison is justly celebrated for his frequently stated opinion that “all power in just and free Government is derived from compact.” But Madison’s view is not endorsed by all purported champions of the founders. A recent article, “Our Unwritten Constitution: Orestes Brownson and the Foundation…

Commentary: Making Constitutional Law Great Again

March 25, 2019March 24, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

by Mark Pulliam Claremont-trained political philosophers represent some of the strongest voices in conservative intellectual circles, but many of them share a flawed view of the Constitution, expressed vigorously – and sometimes splenetically – by the late Harry V. Jaffa. Edward Erler’s recent essay, “Don’t Read the Constitution the Way…

Commentary: Fight the Denigration of American History

November 17, 2018November 17, 2018 Admin

by Michael Finch American history is everywhere under attack. The recent skirmishes started with the campaign to remove Confederate statues, but it surely won’t end there. As our betters in America’s universities want us to know, the whole of American history is suspect. In our media, in the popular…

JC Bowman Commentary: Lives, Fortunes, and Honor

July 4, 2018July 3, 2018 JC Bowman

JC Bowman writes: Freedom should never be taken for granted. Today we are debating the very concept of what it means to be a citizen of the United States of America. While many citizens are very passionate about our country, others seem disillusioned and some openly hostile. It is why the Declaration of Independence is such an important document. It expresses what it means to be an American.

Can Political Freedom Exist Without Virtue? America’s Founders Didn’t Think So

July 1, 2018June 30, 2018 Admin

by Becky Akers America’s Founding Fathers were a contentious lot, disagreeing about everything from the need for a Bill of Rights to the merits of skinny-dipping “near the Bridge … whilst …Ladies of the first fashion in the neighbourhood, are passing over it…” But they spoke unanimously on one…

JC Bowman Commentary: Dark Money + Union Money = Corrupt Politics

May 31, 2018May 30, 2018 JC Bowman

This election cycle we have already seen an influx of unaccountable cash, known as dark money, which pours into our state. Outside money hurts more than it helps. Tennessee voters were not swayed by big spending outsiders. It is worth noting the message the outsiders bring is almost always negative. If you don’t think this is an erosion of democracy, you’re not thinking about it hard enough. The formula is simple: Dark Money + Union Money = Corrupt Politics