A More Perfect Independence Day

A More Perfect Independence Day
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
July 3, 2020

In the United States we the people celebrate Independence Day, not the fourth of July. Are you going to wish people a “happy sixth” when returning to work on Monday? On that date 244 years ago the British colonies of America declared its independence from the tyranny of King George III (1738-1820). No more taxation without representation. No more trials without juries.

For all our faults and foibles as a nation constructed of, by, and for mortal human beings, for all our missteps and sins, there are myriad reasons to salute Old Glory, sing the Star Spangled Banner, and rejoice in the greatness that is the United States of America. Such as being the most generous nation on earth. Such as opening our doors, legally, to more people than any other country. Such as the inventions and discoveries made by Americans. Such as the rights afforded people of all races, creeds, colors, and sexual orientation. Such as the freedoms granted by G-d, found in the United States Constitution. Freedoms such as “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” - not the guarantee of happiness - the pursuit of happiness.

We the people should not, must not, pay for the sins of our forefathers. After all, as the giant melting pot that we are, how many millions of Americans jumped into that pot after 1865? No amount of money can ever right that wrong, nor should it be attempted. Who should be paid? By whom? How much? For how long? The resentment will only deepen the already deepening chasm between the races.

Instead, a payment must be made in the guaranteed equal opportunity, not equal outcome, but equal opportunity. Dismantle, and rebuild, from the ground up, the concept of public education that it not be dominated by teachers’ unions and tenure protecting bad teachers. School choice must be permitted for all children, not just those rich enough to afford religious or parochial schools - schools with up to date books, materials, technology, and qualified teachers with proper training able to pass a subject exam every three or five years. More support from school administration, greater parental involvement, and stronger discipline. 

If this sounds like I am asking for the moon, as an experienced educator, I know this is necessary. As citizens across this great nation, we know what the alternative looks like. It always starts with education, and not from the first day of preschool or kindergarten, but in the home. If those at home can’t provide some semblance of education during those all important pre-K years, that is where social services should play a role. These programs should be funded by eliminating the pork-laden overspending by the legislatures designed to kiss the collective tuchuses of the voters. This is where less is more. 

This is the reparation due to the socio-economically disadvantaged. Education is always the key. It leads to greater competition. It leads to better, higher paying jobs, which leads to greater freedom and independence. Free from government dependence on welfare, failing schools, and/or a failing prison system which is far from rehabilitating. 

Independence Day is more than fireworks, bar-b-cues, and yes, even baseball, which sadly this year will not be played on Independence Day 2020. On April 15, 1947 Major League Baseball righted a wrong when Jackie Robinson (1919-72) stepped onto Ebbets Field as part of the home team Brooklyn Dodgers. Read the Declaration of Independence - as a family, if possible. Celebrate the men and women in uniform, who gave us, and continue to give us, the freedoms we cherish. In 1948 President Harry Truman (1884-1972) righted a wrong by desegregating the branches of the military. Truman should be celebrated for that, as well as, in the same year, being the first world leader to recognize the State of Israel as a new member of the world of nations. Some would say Truman should be shunned by 2020 standards because he uttered racial epithets about blacks and Jews, yet those people would be wrong for not understanding the context of the period of history these events occurred. History does not exist in a vacuum - it evolves over time and the progress thereof should, must, be recognized and celebrated.

A more perfect union. Amendments 13, 14, and 15 certainly righted some wrongs - ending slavery, naturalizing former slaves as American citizens, and granting those new citizens - male, age 21 and older, the right to vote in 1865, 1868, and 1870 respectively. And the 19th Amendment righted a wrong in 1920, finally granting women the right to vote during the Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) administration - just in time for that November’s presidential election.

There are those who are calling for the vilification of Wilson because the native Virginian was a racist. Princeton University, where Wilson served as president from 1902-10, and his alma mater (1879), officially decided last week to remove his name from the School of Public and International affairs as well as one of its residential colleges. Yet Wilson should be remembered for leading the United States to victory in World War I. He should also be remembered for appointing the first Jewish justice to the United States Supreme Court - Louis Brandeis (1856-1941), in 1916.

No one is perfect. No place is perfect - that’s Utopia, and that never existed, save for the fertile mind of Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) whose book was published in 1516. Not even the Garden of Eden. Should statues of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1919-68) be torn down and streets in his honor renamed because he was a philanderer and a plagiarist? Should the monument to Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) be removed from its secluded location in Washington, DC because he interned 120,000 people of Japanese descent during World War II? More than 60 percent were American citizens. (OK, I think it should. The only good thing to come from FDR was FDIC.)

“He that is without sin... let him cast the first stone…” (John 8:7).

We don’t have a purity test in the United States - if so, the failure rate would be 100 percent. We no more take down the statues, monuments, or memorials of a Dr. King or an FDR than we do of a George Washington (1732-99; General winning the Revolutionary War and First President), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826; Declaration of Independence and Louisiana Purchase), Andrew Jackson (1767-1845; winning the Battle of New Orleans capping the War of 1812 to preserve the Union), or Abraham Lincoln (1809-65; credited with freeing the slaves). We remember them for their body of work - their entire body of work. We honor them for the good they did for society, civilization, and/or humanity.

Happy Independence Day to all freedom loving Americans.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

It's Called Independence Day

It’s Called Independence Day

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

July 2, 2015

Bear with me, this is more than a gripe session, but I’m sick and tired of the Independence Day holiday being referred to as simply the Fourth of July. People wishing one another a happy Fourth, commercials offering Fourth of July sales, newscasters discussing the Fourth of July holiday weekend. There is a Fourth of July on every printed calendar in whatever language is spoken in whatever country one resides.

But, is there really independence in places like Angola, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, or Yemen? They hopefully “yearn to breathe free,” to borrow from Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus.”

Thomas Jefferson, credited with writing the Declaration of Independence, summed up a plurality of grievances in a rather brief document that helped give birth to a nation that has stood since 1776 – through peace and war, through economic depression and financial successes, through division and rebirth, through attacks and rebuilding – but always knowing that our independence and freedoms are endowed via our Creator – yes, G-d.

Founded on Judeo-Christian principles and the “laws of nature” our nation was born under the desire to break free from the yoke of despotic rulers seeking to enslave the American people without proper representation an ocean away and thrust overburdening taxes upon the people, again, without consent of the governed. And thus the Declaration that “declare[d] the causes which impel[ed] them (us) to the separation.”

Now, 239 years later, this nation finds itself on the precipice of returning to those dark days of a distant government – Washington, DC – despotically ruling over a people with barely a whimper from the majority of the rank and file.

In 1973 nine men in black robes, in a 7-2 decision, have since denied more than 60 million people their unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That was the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade. With many decisions, some better than others in the interim, fast forward to 2015 when nine entirely different men and women in their black robes made decisions deleterious to the American people as a whole without consent of the governed. Oh, yeah, the Supreme Court does not answer to anyone. The legislative branch of this tripod of governance is responsible for passing and enacting laws, not the courts. Someone missed that lecture in Government 101 on some liberal college campus.

Within a week the nine black robed men and women did not dispense justice, they enacted legislation – twice.

Chief Justice John Roberts has twice personally upheld Obamacare, which on its surface would seem an anathema to Constitutionality. Upheld is a law requiring Americans to purchase a product they may or may not want, often at costs beyond people’s means or at the very least more than they paid when even a modicum of competition existed. More money for fewer choices – that does not sound like independence to most Americans. Not only should Obamacare be repealed, but national competition, not just state, should be granted to ensure Americans get the best possible healthcare with as little government interference as possible.

A week later, the High Court, and they must have been on a trip to Denver before issuing their ruling in support of nationwide gay marriage, again enacted legislation. Prior to this decision, gay marriage had heretofore been a states’ rights issue – with compliance to the 10^th Amendment to the Constitution. Once again, for those asleep during Government 101, Amendment X says:

“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.”

By its imposition of gay marriage on the nation as a whole, the slippery slope becomes immeasurably more slippery. (I will have a column on this before long.) Marriage, as per a little bestseller known as the BIBLE or the TORAH, is defined as one man and one woman – period. Now, in 2015, the Supremes have redefined marriage in the warped image of a group of five justices, two of whom have performed gay marriage ceremonies and should have recused themselves from this case.

The next test case will undoubtedly be the attempts to legalize polygamy. As it is, there are already complaints that those who oppose gay marriage on religious grounds are being forced to issue permits or even perform civil marriage ceremonies. This should not be the case as religious liberty was one of the precepts on which this nation was founded.  To be fair, issuing a marriage license, as a clerk would do, is not the same as performing the ceremony, as a judge would do.

There will no doubt be a concerted effort by the homosexual cabal to interfere with and destroy the sanctity of religious entities and organizations – not just churches and synagogues, but Catholic Charities, Chabad houses, and numerous religious-based educational centers and schools.

There is no doubt that religion in the United States is under attack with more and more governmental decisions siding against the free operations of religious organizations. This violates the First Amendment of the Constitution and restricts the independent nature of faith-based organizations to operate in accordance with religious dogma, and not governmental oversight.

Government oversight is the bane of most people’s existence – massive regulation on businesses and a tax system that is chasing businesses overseas and crippling Americans’ ability to create jobs and ultimately financial success and independence.

There is a public school system controlled by government with government balking at private, parochial, and charter schooling as a way to circumvent the evils of the public school brainwashing, as well as language. No longer can Americans freely express themselves without the wrath of a government entity or a business beholden to a governmental agency passing career ending judgment.

Remember the words of Jefferson who noted, “Any government that is big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything that you have.” No need to remind the victims of eminent domain. And this should also be a warning to those demanding more from government and expecting less via their own personal responsibility.

As the United States celebrates its independence, dust off your copy of the Declaration of Independence and do as I do every year – read it aloud with your families – several parts of which becoming vital aspects of the Constitution. Remember that freedom isn’t free and we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the men and women in uniform who gave their lives for the ideal of freedom and independence in hopes that we the people maintain ours while helping others gain theirs.

Have a happy, safe, and meaningful Independence Day; and may G-d continue to Bless these United States of America.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Needing Independence Day More Than Ever

Needing Independence Day More Than Ever

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
July 4, 2014 – Independence Day

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s G-d entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

Thomas Jefferson, who would eventually serve as the first Secretary of State (1789-94), second Vice President (1797-1801), and third president of the United States (1801-09), would pen the words of The Declaration of Independence at the age of 33 in 1776 in 17 days. (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html)

Jefferson, at the behest of his rival and friend John Adams – first vice president (1789-97) and second president (1797-1801), was selected to write the document that would separate the future United States of America from the tyranny that was Great Britain and King George III. This document would outline the “abuses and usurpations,” committed by the king, despotically ruling from across an ocean, unilaterally making decisions typically not in the best interest of the rank and file – the people, but in the best interest of King George III and his desires to shore up his place in history as a so-called leader. (Amazingly, Adams and Jefferson died on the same day and date – July 4, 1826 – 50 years to the day of the issuing of The Declaration of Independence.)

Knowing the result of such a declaration would lead to conflagration with England; Jefferson ended the Declaration of Independence thusly: “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.”

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Jefferson understood the seriousness of this separation from Great Britain and the importance of rights divined from G-d, not from man. Jefferson continued to outline the grievances of the American people in The Declaration of Independence:

“He had made Judges dependent on his Will alone…

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance….
“For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world…
“For imposing Taxes upon us without our Consent…
“For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury…
“…abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Government…
“For suspending our own legislatures…

With every protestation by the American colonists to King George III came more malignant rebukes leading the Continental Congress to issue The Declaration of Independence. Ultimately the Revolutionary War (1775-83) would lead to independence, but not without the loss and sacrifice of 25,000 Americans, as freedom is not free.

Jefferson’s wisdom was prophetic as he knew and understood the pitfalls of a growing debt and expanding government. Much to the chagrin of the United States of America in 2014 that has not been as good a student of history as it should.

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

“I, however, place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared.”

As a nation mired in a $17 trillion-plus debt, the United States is enslaved to those to whom we owe that massive liability. The interest alone is crippling in more ways than that of a physical war. Government grows larger, thus the need for more money from the people. Remember, there is no such thing as government money – only that which it steals from the people who willingly pay for more services handled worse and worse by government agencies. See also the current scandals under the IRS and Veterans Administration.

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

This speaks volumes as Jefferson understood the value of self-sufficiency and personal responsibility which is being eroded more and more with each passing generation. Demands of a growing entitlement society only propagate the massive debt growing by leaps and bounds as a legislative branch fears their own defeat at the ballot boxes for reelection instead of saying no to the people and really representing their best interests by cutting off the spigot drowning the nation in the debt that enslaves us to our enemies.

More than 200 years later another great American leader, Ronald Reagan said, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Reagan knew that the more government intervenes in the people’s lives, the more dependent upon government the people become and the more enslaved they become, losing their rights and freedoms.

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Jefferson knew that without a personal stake in the experiment called the democratic republic success would be fleeting and the entitlement crowd would prefer to have government take care of them cradle to grave. What they failed to remember was another Jefferson gem: “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.”

While Jefferson wrote about “altering fundamentally the forms of our government,” as one of the reasons for Americans’ discontent with King George III, 232 years later, on October 30, 2008, a candidate for president, Barack Hussein Obama announced his goal of “fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” This statement was the harbinger of some of the most deleterious actions taken by any president in the history of the republic.

Both Obama and the Congress that serves as his rubber stamp, save for the few willing to stand up to him, must recall and understand that the first American Revolution was fought against a distant tyrannical King willing to unilaterally change the rules in the middle of the game. After all America and England are separated by an ocean and pre-dated technology.

Today, the United States is on the precipice of a second American Revolution ready to reclaim and recapture the rights eroded and stolen by a government also separated by distance – that between the rank and file and those sitting in their lofty Houses of Congress who don’t even abide by the same laws they enact and expect the people to obey. We are prepared to strike back against a tyrannical so-called leader who threatens to unconstitutionally make Congress irrelevant via the use of his phone and his pen, his reputation hanging in the balance and the will of the people be damned.

The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the rule of law still reigns supreme in these United States and our rights are made manifest by G-d, not man. A happy and meaningful Independence Day to the citizenry of the United States of America.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.