Video: Consent of the Governed

In less than a month we will be celebrating our Independence Day. It has been 237 years since a brilliant man named Thomas Jefferson put quill to parchment and started with the simple words, “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…”

When I ponder the incessant scandals and instances of disregard of individual liberty that we are seeing in America, I believe that we have forgotten the purpose for which the Declaration of Independence was written. I explain why in my latest “West Point Blank” episode on NextGeneration TV. (Also available on YouTube.)

The Laws of Nature dictate that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of Independence therefore established the preeminence of the individual and their relationship with God, the Creator, who bestowed these blessings, or rights, upon each and every one of us. We fought a Civil War to bring that truth to realization for all.

However, to secure these rights, “governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Now, there are those who seem to believe that winning an election gives one enough consent, or a mandate, for their agenda — whether or that agenda is in keeping with the fundamentals of America as a constitutional republic.

And it is my belief that more and more Americans are losing trust and confidence in the federal government.

Take, for instance, the arrogance of IRS official Lois Lerner to make a statement, plead the 5th, and then depart the hearing room off to a taxpayer funded “leave of absence.”

Or former IRS Chairman Douglas Shulman who, when asked if he could remember some of the 157 instances of his being at the White House, responded with “Easter Egg Hunt.”

And don’t forget Operation Fast and Furious, or former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi telling us that we have to pass a bill in order to know what is in it.

And now we know that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is out soliciting private funding in order to finance the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

If there is to be a next generation, we must reestablish the consent of the governed and discharge those who believe that lying, deception, and the officialdom of arrogance is the new normal. We must find American leaders who will take responsibility and accountability for their actions…not excuse makers and deflectors.