Posted: 12/2/2010 4:16:43 PM EDT
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Okay guys, here's your chance. I go to the most liberal school in GA and have to do a paper contrasting the Tea Party with out Founding Fathers. Here's the thing: I need 5 beliefs, values, ideals of each to contrast. I seem to be stuck at smaller .gov, free economics, and fiscal responsibility. Anybody got two more for the T.P.? Tks, H |
| I am not sure about your "free economics". Are you referring to the "race to the bottom" of chasing cheap labor across the globe and attacking the US middle class, where all but the US are allowed import/export tarrifs? I don't think this is in the Tea Party platform. |
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I love Google! Principle 1 - The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law. Natural law is God's law. There are certain laws which govern the entire universe, and just as Thomas Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence, there are laws which govern in the affairs of men which are "the laws of nature and of nature's God." Principle 2 - A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Benjamin Franklin Principle 3 - The most promising method of securing a virtuous people is to elect virtuous leaders. "Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who ... will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man." - Samuel Adams Principle 4 - Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained. "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion." - George Washington Principle 5 - All things were created by God, therefore upon him all mankind are equally dependent, and to him they are equally responsible. The American Founding Fathers considered the existence of the Creator as the most fundamental premise underlying all self-evident truth. They felt a person who boasted he or she was an atheist had just simply failed to apply his or her divine capacity for reason and observation. Principle 6 - All mankind were created equal. The Founders knew that in these three ways, all mankind are theoretically treated as: 1. Equal before God. 2. Equal before the law. 3. Equal in their rights. Principle 7 - The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things. The Founders recognized that the people cannot delegate to their government any power except that which they have the lawful right to exercise themselves. Principle 8 - Mankind are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights. "Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, and are therefore called natural rights, such as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal [or state] laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legislation has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner [of the right] shall himself commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture." - William Blackstone Principle 9 - To protect human rights, God has revealed a code of divine law. "The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures. These precepts, when revealed, are found by comparison to be really a part of the original law of nature, as they tend in all their consequences to man's felicity." - William Blackstone <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 10 - The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people. "The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legislative authority." - Alexander Hamilton <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 11 - The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical. "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 ... 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." - Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 12 - The United States of America shall be a republic. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America And to the republic for which it stands...." <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 13 - A Constitution should protect the people from the frailties of their rulers. "If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.... [But lacking these] you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." - James Madison <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 14 - Life and liberty are secure only so long as the rights of property are secure. John Locke reasoned that God gave the earth and everything in it to the whole human family as a gift. Therefore the land, the sea, the acorns in the forest, the deer feeding in the meadow belong to everyone "in common." However, the moment someone takes the trouble to change something from its original state of nature, that person has added his ingenuity or labor to make that change. Herein lies the secret to the origin of "property rights." <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 15 - The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free-market economy and a minimum of government regulations. Prosperity depends upon a climate of wholesome stimulation with four basic freedoms in operation: 1. The Freedom to try. 2. The Freedom to buy. 3. The Freedom to sell. 4. The Freedom to fail. <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 16 - The government should be separated into three branches. "I call you to witness that I was the first member of the Congress who ventured to come out in public, as I did in January 1776, in my Thoughts on Government ... in favor of a government with three branches and an independent judiciary. This pamphlet, you know, was very unpopular. No man appeared in public to support it but yourself." - John Adams <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 17 - A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power by the different branches of government. "It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." - James Madison <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 18 - The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written Constitution. The structure of the American system is set forth in the Constitution of the United States and the only weaknesses which have appeared are those which were allowed to creep in despite the Constitution. <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 19 - Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, all others being retained by the people. The Tenth Amendment is the most widely violated provision of the bill of rights. If it had been respected and enforced America would be an amazingly different country than it is today. This amendment provides: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 20 - Efficiency and dispatch require that the government operate according to the will of the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority. "Every man, by consenting with others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation to every one of that society to submit to the determination of the majority, and to be concluded [bound] by it." - John Locke <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 21 - Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom. "The way to have good and safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent [to perform best]. - Thomas Jefferson <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> Principle 22 - A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men. "The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from restraint and violence of others, which cannot be where there is no law." - John Locke [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'] <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'][span style='font-weight: bold;']Principle 23 - A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education. "They made an early provision by law that every town consisting of so many families should be always furnished with a grammar school. They made it a crime for such a town to be destitute of a grammar schoolmaster for a few months, and subjected it to a heavy penalty. So that the education of all ranks of people was made the care and expense of the public, in a manner that I believe has been unknown to any other people, ancient or modern. The consequences of these establishments we see and feel every day [written in 1765]. A native of America who cannot read and write is as rare ... as a comet or an earthquake." John Adams [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'] <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'][span style='font-weight: bold;']Principle 24 - A free people will not survive unless they stay strong. "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." - George Washington [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'] <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'][span style='font-weight: bold;']Principle 25 - "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations –– entangling alliances with none." - Thomas Jefferson, given in his first inaugural address. [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'] <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'][span style='font-weight: bold;']Principle 26 - The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore the government should foster and protect its integrity. "There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America, or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated." Alexis de Tocqueville [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'] <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'][span style='font-weight: bold;']Principle 27 - The burden of debt is as destructive to human freedom as subjugation by conquest. "We are bound to defray expenses [of the war] within our own time, and are unauthorized to burden posterity with them.... We shall all consider ourselves morally bound to pay them ourselves and consequently within the life [expectancy] of the majority." - Thomas Jefferson [span style='FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 12pt'] <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> [span style='font-weight: bold;'][span style='FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA']Principle 28 - The United States has a manifest destiny to eventually become a glorious example of God's law under a restored Constitution that will inspire the entire human race. [span style='FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA']The Founders sensed from the very beginning that they were on a divine mission. Their great disappointment was that it didn't all come to pass in their day, but they knew that someday it would. John Adams wrote: "I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth." |
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Prosperity depends upon a climate of wholesome stimulation with four basic freedoms in operation: 1. The Freedom to try. 2. The Freedom to buy. 3. The Freedom to sell. 4. The Freedom to fail.
Thank you for clearing that up. To me, "wholesome" does not include "everbody gets trade tarrifs but me and slave labor to make the goods I buy is OK, K-Street lobbyists and the influence they buy are OK, and earmarks are even better. |
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Before you go too far with the suggestions here, you do realize that "contrasts" means they want you to find the DIFFERENCES between the Founding Fathers and the Tea Parties, right?
For example, our Founding Fathers were armed with muskets; in contrast, the Tea Party has much more effective semi-automatic rifles at their disposal. Sounds to me like they're guiding you into writing a hatchet paper on the Tea Party, unless you really think this one through. |
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Horner, Dave R. Dr. Randy Finley HIST 2111H-270 7 December 2010 <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> The Modern-Day Tea Party On April the fifteenth, 2009, a nation stood resolute in the spirit of American solidarity to rail against the actions of a government seemingly bent on the intentional decline of the Republic. On that day, ordinary Americans began peacefully assembling on the steps of their state capitols to voice their protest while bags of tea had been arriving in the White House mailroom since February. These actions began as protest to the Toxic Asset Recovery Program (TARP), but set in motion a political machine, the likes of which have not been seen in our lifetimes. Since that fateful day, the machine has undergone a metamorphosis, having its cause advanced by influential personalities who have sounded the call to all patriots and equally benefited from the association. The goals of the Tea Party and its constituents are simple: establishment of a fiscally conservative budget, a reduction in the size of our cumbersome bureaucracies, repeal of the onerous legislation crippling our economy, a powerful and well-equipped national defense force, and many more. I contend that the current Tea Party political organization understands the founders of the United States wholly and individually to the extent that the party and its members reflect most, if not all, of the 28 principals that guided the founding fathers in the establishment of this great nation. And the Tea Party will continue to exert fundamentally conservative influence on the establishment of American government as the silent majority stands once more to be heard and awaken the sleeping giant of republican virtue. Of the many principals shared between the modern Tea Party movement and America’s founders, few may be weighted more heavily than fiscal responsibility, according to the will of The People. The basic concept of spending less than is brought in begins with a policy of less public spending. Of the 28 principals that guided the founders, the 27th stands out among all others in relation to this concept. "The burden of debt is as destructive to human freedom as subjugation by conquest” was a philosophy held dear to the hearts of great men like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Samuel Adams. Thomas Jefferson brought it to life when he stated, "We are bound to defray expenses [of the war] within our own time, and are unauthorized to burden posterity with them.... We shall all consider ourselves morally bound to pay them ourselves and consequently within the life [expectancy] of the majority.” I also believe that the artist John McNaughton expressed in no less than absolute terms the current violation of this principle in the following painting titled The Forgotten Man. (In the interest of brevity, I shall allow the work to speak for itself). <o:p></o:p></nbsp;<?xml:namespace> <v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f></v:formulas> <v:path o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f"></v:path> <o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"></o:lock></v:shapetype> <v:shape style="WIDTH: 357.75pt; HEIGHT: 222pt" id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75"> <v:imagedata o:title="the_forgotten_man" src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Dave/LOCALS~1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg"> </v:imagedata></v:shape></?xml:namespace> Our government was founded upon a premise of limited government and the men who designed that government used the power of a written constitution to achieve this end, knowing the document would serve as a guide to their intentions. The Tea Party, too, desires that the United States exist in a state of limited federal government, allowing the states to exercise their rights of self-governance as outlined in the Constitution. The eighteenth Principle of Liberty as recorded by the founding fathers states, "The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written Constitution.” Proof that this principle was of great concern to the founders lies within our own bill of rights to the U.S. Constitution (specifically, the 10th amendment), which states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, not prohibited by it to the Sates, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The ultimate goal of America’s founders was to preserve the liberties of the individual and the advancement of this long-forgotten element of our nation is a key goal of the Tea Party. "A free people will not survive unless they are strong.” Have truer words ever been spoken? I think not, nor does the Tea Party. This 24th principle of liberty was surely on George Washington’s mind when he said, "to be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” The Tea Party, too, believes that our military has been a great bastion of freedom for Americans as well as a light of hope for millions worldwide. While spending cuts are necessary to restore our economic health (and, by extension, our liberty), our founders, the Tea Party, and I for that matter believe that our military must not be adversely affected by these measures. Very soon the United States will be paying China more in interest than the top 8 nations of the world spend on their militaries. Essentially, this means that our debt is funding the second largest military on the planet. If we cannot control our national indebtedness, our military will be invaluable in protecting us from foreign invaders, funded by that debt in the near future. Our free market economy is one aspect of American exceptionalism that has led to greater prosperity worldwide. By advancing an economy that rewards hard work, ingenuity, and responsibility, products have been developed and introduced to society that have not only prolonged life expectancy, but also allowed for greater personal liberty in the greater diversity for allocation of each individual’s resources. The 15th Principle of Liberty states, "The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free market economy and a minimum of government regulations” and fundamentally relates the importance of free economics to individual liberty, both of which are paramount to the Tea Party and our founding fathers. At the core of the founders’ principles, as well as the Tea Party, lies the family. All the haughty talk of liberty, justice and happiness means nothing if these values are not engendered within our own homes and passed on to posterity. The twenty-sixth Principle of Liberty is beautifully crafted in its simplicity and states, "The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore the government should foster and protect its integrity. The Tea Party is opposed to any measure of government that diminishes personal responsibility, thereby limiting personal liberty by granting government authority to absolve our culpability. If the government is intrusive upon the family, any attempt to engender future generations with wisdom such as, "The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people” (Principle of Liberty #10), is lost to rhetoric and countermanded by the same intrusion. The Tea Party seeks a restoration of filial piety and values, just as our founders understood that that same family would ultimately be the first barrier between liberty and tyranny. <o:p></o:p> I believe in the United States of America and so does the Tea Party. This great nation of ours was founded, basically, on 28 principles. Abiding by these, we have flourished to the point that our freedom and liberty have flowed out to the rest of the world, being emulated by many, who upon their implementation of merely some of these principles, have experienced prosperity never before seen within their borders. We have begun to diverge from these principles that guided us to be a shining city upon a hill. The recognition of this divergence has caused American Patriots to coalesce and slowly awaken, standing in solidarity for the restoration of [span style='font-style: italic;']our founding principles of liberty and against the wave of socialism threatening this, [span style='font-style: italic;']our nation. [div] So. Whaddya think? |