Welcome back to Common Sense Civics and Citizenship and our newsletter. Today, our topic concerns liberty and what it takes to keep it. We are looking at the fourth in a series of Neo-Communist goals described in the book “The Naked Communist” by W. Cleon Skousen in 1958.
“Do We Have the Right Stuff?” is our second article. We consider whether Americans still can step up to the plate for our liberty as generations in the past have done.
Imagine that someone wanted to reset goals for a business, organization, or affiliated group. Wouldn’t they start by criticizing the current goals and purpose of the institution?
“Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, and out of step with modern needs.” That’s Neo-Communist goal #13, described in the book “The Naked Communist” by W. Cleon Skousen in 1958.
Americans who learn, love, and live the self-government philosophy outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution find it easy to suppress alternative government philosophies through hard work, rugged individualism, personal responsibility, classical education, and patriotism, that is, until now.
Everywhere we turn, we hear cries of how our founding documents are inadequate, old-fashioned, and out of step with modern needs. (“they need to be modernized, updated”). What worked for almost 250 years no longer stands the test of time? Really? Are you “buying” this argument?
We’ve learned that the attempt to reset the country isn’t new at all. Those “reset wheels” have been put in motion even during our country’s infancy. So, on the one hand, we were succeeding in the great American experiment of self-government. On a parallel track of failed philosophies, operators with reset wheels were infiltrating our country throughout every facet of American culture.
Either our Constitution’s underpinnings are built on timeless principles, or else it is crafted on flimsy suggestions that can change to accommodate the feelings and emotions of each generation.
In my experience, those who criticize our supreme law of the land most likely haven’t studied it. There is an American view of law and government. Then there is the social, political, and emotional view of law and government. The American view is built on solid ground (unalienable rights such as life, liberty, and property; equal justice under the law (no one is above the law); limited and defined powers of the government, and so much more. All other views are secondary.
I would ask, what part of the Constitution (or Declaration) is inadequate? Could it be the part that declares our rights to come from the Creator, not the government? What part of the founding documents is old-fashioned? Since when has government of, by, and for the people become a dinosaur? Is personal responsibility old-fashioned? Should the USA become like foreign countries that depend on their rulers to provide for them as a child depends on a parent? What about our founding documents is out of step with modern times? Could our modern-day culture be out of step with what it means to be truly free?
This is Common Sense Civics and Citizenship.🇺🇸
(You can find the first three articles about Neo-Communist goals by going to civicsandcitizenship.org and looking under the subtitle “Articles.”
