Founder's Forum - A Short Play

Five podiums in a semicircle numbered from audience left.

Narrator: The eighteenth century was called the “Age of Enlightenment” when thinkers and philosophers throughout the western world challenged political systems that had been in place for centuries. The royalty, nobility, and clergy of Europe were too firmly entrenched in government to be successfully challenged, but in the British Colonies of North America, where liberty was considered a sacred birthright, many were strongly influenced by those Enlightenment thinkers, and an exceptional few could be counted among them.

Here, in their own words, we present the story of how those exceptional few created the nation that would become the hope and light of the world.

 Stepping to Podium 1, Samuel Adams: Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can. Sam Adams

Narrator: Resentment in the Thirteen British colonies in North America, especially Massachusetts, over lack of representation in Parliament, unfair taxation, and disrespect of American liberties broke into battle when more than 800 British soldiers marched out of Boston to arrest patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock rumored to be in nearby Lexington, and to confiscate arms stored by the militia in neighboring Concord. Virtually all adult male citizens in the colonies were armed members of local militia made up of citizens organized to protect their homes and farms. A small group of these men challenged the British column in Lexington. A shot was fired; then the British fired a volley killing several Americans. As the British continued on to Concord, militiamen gathered from the surrounding countryside vastly outnumbering the British who began a sixteen mile retreat back to Boston, constantly under attack. Seventy-three British regulars and forty-nine colonists were killed that day in April 1775.

In June the “Battle of Bunker Hill” left the British in Boston and the Rebels in control of the surrounding countryside. Citizen soldiers from all over the colonies made their way to Massachusetts. The Continental Congress was called into session in Philadelphia and appointed George Washington of Virginia as Commander of what became known as The Continental Army.

When word of the uprising reached London, many in Parliament were sympathetic to the Colonies, but King George III decided that the rebellion must be crushed.

Stepping to Podium 3, King George III: "Those who have long too successfully labored to inflame my people in America by gross misrepresentations, and to infuse into their minds a system of opinions repugnant to the true constitution of the colonies and to their subordinate relation to Great-Britain, now openly avow their revolt. They have raised troops, and are collecting a naval force… King George III

Stepping to Podium 5, Thomas Paine:  O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! Receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind. Thomas Paine

Podium 3, King George III: The rebellious war now levied is become more general, and is carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire. I need not dwell upon the fatal effects of the success of such a plan. King George III

Podium 5, Thomas Paine:  The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent. 'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be affected, to the end of time. Thomas Paine

Podium 3, King George III: "It is now become the part of wisdom to put a speedy end to these disorders. For this purpose, I have increased my naval establishment, and greatly augmented my land forces… King George III Withdraws from podium

Stepping to Podium 3, Washington: If nothing else can satisfy a tyrant and his diabolical ministry we are determined to shake off all connections with a state so unjust and unnatural. General George Washington

Podium 1, Samuel Adams: If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude more than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!  Sam Adams Withdraws from podium

Podium 3, Washington: The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves. General George Washington

Patrick Henry steps to Podium 4: Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace, but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? …  Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!  Patrick Henry Withdraws from podium

Podium 5, Thomas Paine: If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. Thomas Paine Withdraws from podium

Steps to Podium 2, Continental soldier: [On the way to join the army at Boston] they asked me where I was going, and when I told them I was going to fight for my country, they were astonished such a small boy, and alone, should have such courage. Thus by the help of my fife I lived, on what is usually called free quarters nearly upon the entire route. Withdraws from podium

Podium 4, Continental Officer: We have suffered prodigiously for want of wood. Many regiments have been obliged to eat their provisions raw for want of firing to cook, and notwithstanding we have burned up all the fences and cut down all the trees for a mile around the camp, our suffering has been inconceivable…. We have never been so weak as we shall be tomorrow. Withdraws from podium

Podium 3, Washington: Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all. General George Washington Withdraws from podium

Narrator: So the Revolutionary War began long before July 4, 1776, and Congress remained in Philadelphia to debate the next steps – whether the proper course would be to search for a means of reconciliation with England, or Independence. Among the most adamant advocates for independence were Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, John Adams of Massachusetts, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia.

Jefferson, John Adams, and Franklin step to podiums 2, 3, and 4 respectively

Podium 4, Franklin: Whereas whenever kings, instead of protecting the lives and properties of their subjects, as is their bound duty, perpetrate the destruction of either, they thereby cease to be kings, [and] become tyrants. Benjamin Franklin

Podium 3, John Adams: Resolved, That it be recommended to the respective assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general. John Adams

Pause……  Podium 2, Jefferson: 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 God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable, that all men are ……  

Podium 4, Franklin (interrupting):  Mr. Jefferson sir, please forgive the interruption but, the word “sacred” – it smacks of the pulpit. Might I suggest, “… we hold these truths to be… SELF-EVIDENT”

Adams nods, Jefferson nods and shrugs (not quite believing that anyone would attempt to improve on his prose)

Podium 2, Jefferson: 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. That to secure these rights, government is instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed… Pause…

Narrator: And so they declared the grievances of the American colonists against Parliament and the King and stated to the world their reasons for separation, and in doing so every man of the Continental Congress was guilty of Treason against the British Crown and subject to the most horrible of executions.

Jefferson Continues: … We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved.

All characters except King George III approach podiums; All in Unison: 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. Heads bow

Podium 4, Franklin: We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin

All withdraw from podiums

Washington to Podium 3: … the hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are free men, fighting for the blessings of Liberty--that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men: Remember how your Courage and Spirit have been despised by your cruel invaders; though they have found by dear experience at Boston, Charlestown and other places, what a few brave men contending in their own land, and in the best of causes can do, against base hirelings and mercenaries General George Washington

To Podium 1, Continental soldier: Over the river we then went in a flat bottomed scow and we had to wait for the rest and so began to pull down fences and make fires to warm ourselves, for the storm was increasing rapidly. After a while it rained, hailed, snowed, and froze, and at the same time blew a perfect hurricane.

Podium 3, Washington: To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lay on, without shoes, by which their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet… the men have borne their distress on general with a firmness and patience never exceeded, and every commendation is due to the officers for encouraging them to it by exhortation and example. They have suffered equally with the men… General George Washington

To Podium 5, Continental Officer: ...so cold that the ink freezes on my pen while I am sitting close to the fire. The roads are piled with snow until, at some places they are elevated twelve feet above their ordinary level.

Podium 1, Continental soldier: We are absolutely, literally starved. I do solemnly declare that I did not put a single morsel of [food] into my mouth for four days except for a little black birch bark which I gnawed off a stick of wood. I saw several men roast their old shoes and eat them, and I was afterward informed by one of the officer's waiters, that some of the officers killed a favorite little dog that belonged to one of them.

Thomas Paine to Podium 4: These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman… Thomas Paine Withdraws from Podium


Narrator: So for more than five years following the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Army struggled through cold, hunger, and many defeats, with only rare victories. The freezing, hungry winter at Valley Forge was only one of several winters of deprivation, and not the worst of them. This little army lacking food, clothing, weapons, and nearly all necessities of war except valor had no business challenging the British war machine. General Washington was forced to conduct a war of defense until 1781 when France sent an army and navy to help fight the British, their historic enemy. In September 1781 the French navy defeated the British in a battle to control Chesapeake Bay leaving a British army of 9,000 stranded at Yorktown, Virginia. After a fierce battle, the British with no escape and no source of supplies were forced to surrender. An observer recorded his observations of the surrender ceremony:

Podium 5, Continental Officer: At about 12 o’clock the combined army was drawn up in two lines more than a mile in length, the Americans on the right side of the road, the French on the left. The French troops, in complete uniform made a brilliant appearance. The Americans, all in garments much the worse for wear, yet had a spirited, soldier-like air.

About two o’clock the British garrison sallied forth slow and solemn with drums beating a British march. They were all well clad, having been furnished with new suits prior to the capitulation. In passing through the line formed by the allied army, their march was careless and irregular, and their aspect sullen, the order to “ground arms” was given by their platoon officers with a tone of deep chagrin, and many of the soldiers threw down their muskets with a violence sufficient to break them. 

Narrator: The victory at Yorktown did not immediately end the war - the Continental Army with Washington in command remained in the field for two more years - but it destroyed Parliament’s resolve and led to peace negotiations and final independence.

Continental Soldier and Continental Officer withdraw from Podiums

Stepping to Podium 2, King George III: If General Washington resists placing the crown of America on his head, he will be the greatest man in the world! King George III  Withdraws from Podium

Podium 3, Washington: The great events on which my resignation depended, having at length taken place, I have now the honor of offering my sincere congratulations to Congress, and of presenting myself before them to surrender into their hands the trust committed to me, and to request permission to retire from the service of my country. General George Washington Withdraws from Podium

 Narrator: For more than 4 years following the peace, the 13 former colonies were 13 independent and sovereign countries, bound together in a loose Confederation for mutual protection, but each independent and with almost no central government. Near chaos and the very real possibility of war among the States became, for many, a fear greater than the fear of central government. A convention was called in Philadelphia in the same place as the signing of the Declaration of Independence eleven years earlier. This effort and the debates to have the resulting Constitution ratified by the States was lead by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Legitimacy of the process in the view of the American people was achieved largely by the participation of an aging Benjamin Franklin, and especially George Washington.   

To Podiums 1, 2, 3 and 4: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison respectively

Hamilton: There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty that makes human nature rise above itself in acts of bravery and heroism. The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased. Alexander Hamilton

Washington: The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. George Washington

Madison: …democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence, have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property, and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. James Madison

Hamilton: We are a Republican Government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or in the extremes of democracy Alexander Hamilton

Madison: If men were angels, no government would be necessary….In Republics, the great danger is that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority… James Madison

Washington: It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it. George Washington

Madison: Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. James Madison

Franklin: They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin Slowly Withdraws

Hamilton: In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. Alexander Hamilton  Slowly Withdraws

Madison: I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. James Madison

Narrator: (During the narration, John Adams to Podium 2; Jefferson to Podium 3)

The Constitution became the Law of the Land, and shortly after the new Federal government was formed with George Washington as its first President, ten amendments were added known as The Bill of Rights, specifically guaranteeing those liberties considered the most precious and critical for maintaining a free society, among them: freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of peaceful assembly, and the right to bear arms.

The ninth and tenth amendments were meant to preserve the integrity of the Constitution for all future generations of Americans:

Madison: Amendment 9: The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the People.

Amendment 10: 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.

Washington: The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon. President George Washington Slowly Withdraws

Adams: The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

Adams and Jefferson turn toward each other as if in conversation:

Adams: What do we mean by the revolution? The war? … The revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760 to 1775, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington. John Adams

Jefferson: 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. Thomas Jefferson

Adams and Jefferson withdraw together…
After a brief pause, Madison withdraws

Narrator: Eighty-Seven years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in the midst of a tragic war that threatened the existence of our nation, Abraham Lincoln described the government created by the United States Constitution, unique among governments of the world, as being “of the people, by the people, and for the people”, and suggested that if our nation did not endure, hopes for such government would perish on earth. That was nearly 150 years ago, but the truth of his words has not diminished.

A Word to fellow Conservative Bloggers

One of the several online “Tea Party” groups that I recently joined encourages its members to be active in blogging, chatting on Facebook and Twitter, writing letters to editors, and otherwise being prolific in using the “pen” as a means of spreading the word on the Movement’s agenda. I’d like to go a step further and suggest to those engaged in such worthy activity that we should follow a personal set of guidelines with everything we write in order to have maximum effect and avoid giving ammunition to our adversaries.

There are many that would like to dismiss us as ignorant rednecks and/or racist. Those few that actually fit that description should probably not engage in discussion and frankly bring no value to the Movement. For the rest of us the requirement that we let no hint of racism enter our discussions should be obvious. And name calling or other insults fall into the same category. Our goal is to convince others and to show that we are intelligent, informed citizens, not to score points with those that already agree with us.

We should also take the time to check our grammar and spelling. Everything I write for publication in a blog or elsewhere is written in a program that automatically checks spelling and fundamental grammar. Still I make many mistakes that are picked up only by careful reading and editing. Further, we should be careful about the proper use of homonyms such as two, to, and too; there, their, and they’re, etc, and generally try to write clearly and concisely and do enough research to be sure of our accuracy.

We don't have to be Hemingways, but it's important that we be aware that the delivery matters as much as our message and will make our message much more palatable to those we are trying to influence while giving them nothing to use against us.

Balanced Budget Amendment

There’s been much discussion among conservatives lately about a Balanced Budget Amendment to the United States Constitution. Many feel that if the federal government were forced by the Constitution to maintain a balanced budget then the reckless spending would stop and we would get our fiscal house in order. I strongly doubt such an amendment would be possible, but even if it were it's not a good idea.

I’m as fiscally conservative as anyone I know; I think the government should spend money on law enforcement and a strong military and not much else, but sometimes it’s vital that a country, just like a business, is able to spend money that’s not in the coffers. I can think of several examples in our history when this was the case, but the most compelling one is The Louisiana Purchase. If the central government of the United States had not been allowed to float bonds to pay for Louisiana, then the purchase from France could not have taken place, and America might still be a small nation clinging to the east coast with a dramatically altered history including a war with Napoleon that may not have been winnable. A Balanced Budget Amendment would not be wise, and should not be necessary.

We are a representative republic. American citizens choose representatives to go to Washington and make decisions on our behalf regarding the laws of our country and how our tax money gets spent.  I think our legislators represent us pretty well – they overspend just like we do.

Our Founders and Framers did not invent the concept of a representative republic, but they considered it superior to pure democracy which would be cumbersome at best, and also dangerous - leading to citizens voting themselves unsustainable benefits. They hoped that this danger would be averted by each community sending its best qualified as representatives; that those more sophisticated representatives would understand the proper functions and limits of government and the essential need for fiscal responsibility.

The nation quickly ran low on people the caliber of the Founders and inevitably not-so-sophisticated legislators were sent to Washington, but in spite of this the government remained reasonably fiscally responsible for almost two centuries – overspending only when conditions warranted and then only temporarily. This has changed dramatically in the last few decades and now our government overspends habitually without reservation, but a Balanced Budget Amendment is not the answer because it’s important that our representatives be able to borrow and spend when appropriate and necessary. The solution is representatives with discipline and fiscal understanding. The only way to get representatives with discipline and fiscal understanding is to elect them, and stop electing the ones that go off to Washington and immediately starting spending money that doesn’t exist.

We will have disciplined representatives when we become disciplined and elect them, if it’s not too late. Simply put there are two types of citizens that vote for tax-n-spend politicians – those that directly benefit from the “spend” and those that are not hurt by the “tax”. The latter type are further split into those that pay little or no taxes and those that have so much money that the taxes don’t matter and who benefit from having their consciences eased by having the government help the less fortunate. When these groups constitute a majority or near majority of voters then there will be no solution. I don’t think we are to that point yet, but we are dangerously close and when added to those that vote “liberal” simply out of habit we may be over the threshold in years that all of the above bother to turn out and vote, or when fiscally conservative voters don’t.

American Exceptionalism

President Obama has been much criticized over his answer when he was asked in front of an international audience if he believes in American Exceptionalism. His reply was a politically correct hedge: "I believe in American Exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British Exceptionalism, and the Greeks believe in Greek Exceptionalism." While I’m not a huge fan of our current President, this article is not meant to pile on in criticizing him for this statement; in fact if one reads the entirety of his answer he goes on to effectively praise America’s achievements and contributions. Instead I’m writing to answer the same question put to myself: Is modern America truly exceptional among the nations of the world?

We can’t be called the richest anymore because we’re deeply in debt and our per capita income ranks ninth or tenth in the world behind countries like Australia and the United Arab Emirates. We can’t be called the happiest; a perusal of various international polls shows the U.S. not even in the top 10 for happy citizens - it seems the happiest people live in northern Europe. We can arguably still be called the most free, but that distinction is subjective – partially for the happy reason that much of the rest of the world has become more free than previously, and partially for the unhappy reason that our liberties have been compromised over many decades.

The United States can claim to be home to exceptional innovation, but other parts of the world are quickly catching up. We can clearly claim an exceptional military, but I don’t think the ability to beat up other countries is what we mean by American Exceptionalism. Anyway, our military power is too often like a man using a shotgun to defend his home from ants; he can destroy many ants, but the shotgun will never make him safe from the little buggers getting into his pantry. There are many other ways, good and bad, that we are exceptional: we are exceptionally diverse; we are exceptionally generous when disaster strikes any part of the world, we are exceptionally obese, we are exceptional consumers, we live in exceptionally large homes… on and on; but none of these answer the question satisfactorily.

If American Exceptionalism exists, the roots of it must be found in our history, so I chose to ask myself a different question: “Was America exceptional?” To this I can shout a loud and proud “YES!” Our country was born a glowing gem on the world’s landscape. It was “conceived in liberty”, on the notion of a government of equally applied law rather than a hereditary aristocracy. This was indeed unique in the world at the time.

Long before Independence America was exceptional for its space, its opportunity, and its freedom. Its people were exceptional in their hardiness, their love of liberty; and because of generations of Bible reading, Americans were unique in their literacy. Prior to the Revolution virtually all men and most women in New England could read and write and the rest of the colonies were not far behind. At this same time literacy among men in France was about 50% and the same in the English countryside though the English cities could boast closer to 70%. And Americans read much more than their Bibles, they read newspapers that reprinted the political and philosophical debates from both sides of the Atlantic, and they read pamphlets by the hundreds on the same subjects. Since the “Glorious Revolution” in the late 17^th century England was arguably the freest country in Europe, though still subject to an oligarchic aristocracy, but the colonies in North America were an ocean removed from the center of authority and the average American colonist was very aware of his freedom and he cherished it.

Americans were exceptional in land ownership. The average citizen in Europe had no hope of owning land, but a large percentage of Americans did, or could. How can we overestimate the effects on a citizenry of land owners standing in their fields thinking, “This land is mine!” compared to tenant farmers or slum dwellers in Europe. Further, owning land meant being privileged with suffrage – taking part in the governing process, so Americans were unique in their political involvement which most took very seriously; Americans were exceptionally engaged.

Early Americans were exceptional because they thought of themselves as exceptional. The New England descendants of the Puritan Calvinistic believers in predestination firmly believed that America and Americans held a special place in God’s Great Plan, and the Quakers of Pennsylvania believed that God had provided their part of America as a haven for the religiously oppressed. By the time of the Revolution these attitudes in a general way had spread throughout the colonies. Americans believed in American Exceptionalism before there was a United States of America, and believing it made them want to live up to it. This may be the primary explanation for the willingness of so many to suffer the depravations of the Continental Army in the darkest, hungriest days of the Revolutionary War.

The eighteenth century was called the “Age of Enlightenment” when thinkers and philosophers throughout the western world challenged intertwined political and religious systems that had been in place for centuries. These philosophers developed concepts that can be summed up in five simple statements: All humans are born with equal rights; reason is superior to dogma; ones method of worship is a private matter; government and religion should be separate; and people are capable of self government. Our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, gave the liberty loving philosophy of the Enlightenment a unique living laboratory to prove its value, and the result was indeed exceptional, as were the amazing people that made it all happen.

For a century or more America was an exceptional place of opportunity. There was always more land in the west for those hardy and courageous enough to claim it, and every man had equal opportunity to apply his mind and his hard work toward making himself whatever he was capable of becoming. It’s difficult for Americans today to understand how unique and wonderful that was.

The land is all claimed now, and far too much regulation and taxation has eroded opportunities for the individual entrepreneur, but still America draws emigrants from around the world because the economic environment created by two centuries of freedom still shines of liberty and opportunity in countries stuck in oligarchy or those whose pendulum has swung past liberty into the injustices of socialism. So I’ve answered my original question: America is still exceptional, but we cannot perpetually claim exceptionalism because of the accomplishments of our parents and grandparents.

The generation of Americans before mine was so exceptional that they helped save the world; mine started out in confused anti-establishment, pleasure-above-all activism and then slid into decades of political apathy bringing America into danger of being swept along with the world’s collective pendulum. Recent re-involvement and self-education by a significant segment of the population is heartening, but so far it’s only a beginning, and we still suffer from too many Americans not understanding our exceptional history, or caring. I don’t know if a generation hence we will still have a legitimate claim to American Exceptionalism.

Our Founders and Framers had no desire for America to remain the exception in an otherwise despotic world. They hoped and predicted that other countries would join us in greatness, in liberty, and in our experiment in self government; they believed in the inalienable rights of all people, not just Americans. They did not fear foreign power as much as they feared internal complacency that would allow our government to do what unchecked governments naturally do, grow and amass power. The story of the world and of America since their time has exceeded both their greatest hopes and their greatest fears, but through it all America has remained exceptional.

Governments, Corporations and Unions

The following is based on the premise developed by philosophers of The Enlightenment and embraced by the Founders of the United States of America that every individual holds equal inalienable rights – rights that cannot be taken away or transferred to another person or entity.  Inalienable rights might be violated, but they cannot be morally eliminated.  A criminal person or despotic government might imprison an individual or even kill the person, but that does not diminish the person’s right to freedom or to life, even if death renders that right to the past tense.  The individual’s rights have been violated, but not eliminated. Inalienable rights cannot even be given up voluntarily; one has the right to submit, but retains the right to withdraw from submission.

From this first premise it follows that no group of individuals has greater rights than a single individual.  Each individual holds his or her rights inalienably, but rights do not add as a group grows.  If this were not true then any group would have more rights than any individual, thus rendering the individual’s rights as alienable rather than inalienable, and a majority would have the power to take away the rights of an individual or a minority.  We may see a majority violate the rights of a minority, but it does not have the moral power to do so, or to eliminate them.  In the natural order of things, organized groups of people do not have rights, only individual members do.  An organization assuming “rights” that it does not possess can be done only by force or fraud, or when granted immorally by a government (a form of force).

Softball teams, men’s clubs, and sororities are examples of organizations that do not have rights.  Two types of organizations that have artificially been given rights by government are corporations and labor unions.

Individual businessmen have the proper right to join with their fellows in a business venture.  They may choose to incorporate under a legally binding contract in order to define the venture and to record ownership, & etc, but the corporation should not have rights or responsibilities under the law beyond the rights and responsibilities of each individual involved.  Corporations can be very powerful business tools allowing individuals to pool capitol for far greater ventures than any single one could attempt, but a corporation should not be treated as an individual shielding the actual individuals from liability or taxation (nor should it be taxed as an individual).  No corporation should enjoy more government benefit than any other corporation or individual, and certainly no corporation should be considered by government to be “too big to fail”.

Similarly, while no individual has the inalienable right to the fruits of labor without laboring, each has the right to work or not work at any given job pursuant to agreeable terms with the employer, and each has the right to band together with his fellows and agree as a group to work or not work, and to negotiate collectively with an employer.  They may do so with the strength of contract if each so chooses, but no group of them has the right to compel any individual to work or not to work, or to enter into such a contract against his will.  Certainly many workers banded together for purposes of negotiating wages and working conditions have more negotiating power than any one individual, but the union of workers should have no rights under the law beyond the rights of the individuals.

The United States government began giving certain groups artificial rights and powers very early in its history.  The ink was barely dry on The Constitution before the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, began trying to help corporations by various means including manipulating tariffs.  His motivation was a tremendous desire to see the United States prosper in the budding industrial revolution, but motives notwithstanding, it was a mistake and a dangerous precedent to grant groups of citizens, in this case corporations of manufacturers, privileges beyond any individual citizen.

As the country grew up in the nineteenth century politicians with motives much less pure than Hamilton’s continued to manipulate the law to the benefit of corporations – often at the detriment of the fledgling labor movement.  But eventually the pendulum swung and government began manipulating the law to give unions more power and corporations less.  In this environment it became necessary for every politician to choose sides – Big Business or Big Labor.

Lost in the shuffle was the fact that business and labor are both honorable parts of the capitalistic system of free enterprise that made the United States an industrial giant far beyond Hamilton’s greatest dreams, and made the American worker the most productive and best compensated in the world under the best working conditions.  In general capitalism was not given credit for these achievements; the achievements of big business were chocked up to greed and deemed evil, while the ever improving lot of workers was credited to the unions.

What’s not well understood is that unions - the banding together of workers in order to multiply negotiating power - cannot create wealth.  The workers can create, not the union, but a worker’s ability to create in the industrialized world is dependent on the existence of a massive infrastructure of innovation.  Prehistoric men, women, and children had to toil at hunting, gathering and other related tasks virtually all waking hours in order to survive.  Modern society not only survives but thrives in luxury by the efforts of only part of the population working a small percentage of the time.  One cannot negotiate with the laws of physics and physiology; negotiation did not create this huge improvement in human life, innovation did.

The industrial revolution has been an exponential rush of innovation accomplishing in 200 years more advancement than all of previous history, and throughout this time most innovation has been financed by corporations or individuals destined to profit from incorporating.  Unions should be given their historical due; they have helped workers negotiate with often faceless corporations whose members were too often insulated by immoral laws from the responsibility of providing a safe work environment and honest negotiation, but when unions are given credit for the forty hour work week and our high standard of living, their importance is being inflated.  Unions may have been the negotiating force that helped workers obtain a share of the benefits resulting from centuries of innovation, but it was the innovation that made the benefits possible, and it’s the innovators and those that financed them that deserve the credit – and the lion’s share of the profits.

But in relatively recent history a union/employer relationship has come to exist that does not involve profit.  This is the case of public employees being represented by unions that have been made very powerful by government.  Assuming this takes place in a republic it’s a philosophically unique situation where the employer which represents the people has given artificial rights to a group of employees who are a subset of the people and are paid by the people.  If a majority of the people wants public employees to be well paid and fairly treated then there’s no need for a union.  If this isn’t the case then why do the people’s representatives give undue power to the public employee unions against the will of a majority of their constituents?  This makes political sense only when public employees make up a very large voting bloc and/or a very large donating bloc.

Generally a group of people that have only their profession in common would be expected to be diverse in other areas including their political views, but public employee unions often do not allow this divergence of political opinion among their members.  This writer has interviewed teachers who are forced by their unions on a regular basis to donate to the campaigns of politicians that the teacher does not willingly support.  Somehow the union has acquired the power to have money withdrawn from the teachers’ paychecks and donated.  This means public employee unions use their government granted artificial powers to create artificial political blocs to support candidates that reinforce and enhance the union’s artificial powers.

In any given community the percentage of teachers is relatively small and even as a bloc would not wield excessive political clout.  Neither would the fire fighters, the road crew, police force, postal workers, or other specific groups of public employees.  But when all of these workers are unionized in artificially powerful unions and those unions form an effective union of unions, all with the same political agenda of further empowering public employee unions, and when all members are forced to support the same political candidates, if not with their votes then certainly with their dollars, a huge political machine is created that many politicians woo with an ever ascending spiral of compensation and entitlements that has brought many American States to the verge of insolvency.

The political machines created by the unions of public employee unions are not actually big enough to have the power they seem to enjoy.  The power they wield is because they are incredibly active and focused.  The practical remedy is for the rest of us to become equally active and focused on politically combating the candidates that cater to the unions and refuse to see the obvious unsustainability of the current trend.  This practical remedy is in fact a means of pushing our government toward the proper remedy which is an adherence to the principles of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution giving rights only to individuals and not to organizations.