The verdict is in, and according to the Department of HomelandSecurity, our nation’s Founders were in fact “right wing extremists”.
The Department of Homeland Security recently released a report aboutthe threat right-wing extremists’ pose to our nation. After readingthat report, I have come to the conclusion that our Founding Fatherswere right-wing extremists.
One part of the report says that right wing extremists tend to rejectfederal authority in favor of state authority. Our nation’s Foundersincluded Amendment ten in the Constitution which specifically states,”The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, norprohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the Statesrespectively, or to the people.”
Seeing as how there was considerably little in the Constitution priorto this amendment, it seems as though they generally favored state ruleover federal rule.
The Homeland Security report also said that right wingers are thoseconcerned about government infringement of their right to own guns.But, when you consider that the Founders specifically put the right toown a weapon in the Constitution as the 2nd freedom listed (behind onlyfreedom of speech, religion, press and assembly), they might beconcerned about infringement too.Homeland Security also stated that many new rightwing extremists will be disgruntled military veterans. This report evendisgracefully compared our brave men and women returning home from warto Oklahoma City bomber Timothy Mcveigh. You might wonder how theFounding Fathers fit into this. The French and Indian War was foughtfrom 1754-1763 on U.S. soil. The Colonists and the British fought theFrench and Indians who were allied. Many of our Founding Fathers,including our very first President, George Washington, fought alongsidethe British as they defeated the French and Indians. A little over adecade later, those very same Founding Fathers, disgruntled at theirtreatment by the British began a revolution that started a nation.
The report also stated that right wing extremist groups often focus onjust one issue. Two popular examples given of issues that these groupsfocus on are abortion and immigration.
While abortion is a very sensitive issue that is mostly based onpersonal values and beliefs, it is possible many Founders would havebeen pro-life. Since the issue of abortion only became a politicalmatter in the past 40 years, it is hard to know what the Founders wouldhave believed 200 years before their time. Nevertheless, they didinclude the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness at the verybeginning of our Declaration of Independence. Some might argue theplacement of life in relation to the other two and the fact that theFounders included life as an inalienable right might signify ananti-abortion stance.
The other all-important issue mentioned was opposition to immigration.There is no question that the Founders were very keen on limiting theamount of immigration allowed. In fact, between the years 1790 and1798, they passed no fewer than three immigration laws eachprogressively making it more difficult for foreigners to attaincitizenship.
The verdict is in, and according to the Department of HomelandSecurity, our nation’s Founders were in fact “right wing extremists”.They stood for small government, personal liberty andself-determination. And at one time, America stood for that too. Todaywe have a President that doesn’t have a problem with side-stepping thesecond amendment. What other Constitutional rights might he be willingto side-step? Our Representatives from both parties believe that thebrief constitutional provision granting the federal government theright to regulate interstate commerce means the federal government canthrow trillions of our dollars at large corporations. And somewherealong the way our health care, retirement and education became thegovernment’s responsibility.
Our Founders were right-wing, freedom loving extremists, and there’sstill a small group of like-minded extremists out there as well. ButHomeland Security got the facts wrong. The freedom loving extremistsare not here to destroy America; they are here to save her.