OPINION:
MILWAUKEE — Republicans at the convention in Wisconsin have spoken of the need to bolster America’s borders, bolster America’s presence on the world stage, bolster the capitalistic system to allow Americans to take care of themselves rather than rely on government handouts — and yada yada, all the things that framers of America’s Constitution would approve as necessary for a limited form of governance.
That’s Milwaukee. Down the road in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson just expressed his desire to remove the statue of George Washington that sits outside his City Hall office. This is not a surprise. Democrats have been trying to erase America’s history for some time.
“Democrats push to remove Confederate statues from US Capitol after George Floyd’s death,” ABC News wrote in 2020.
“House votes to remove statues of white supremacists from US Capitol,” The Guardian wrote in 2020.
“Democrats reintroduce legislation to remove remaining Confederate statues in U.S. Capitol,” CMG Washington News Bureau wrote in 2023.
Too offensive, dontcha see. Never let an emotionally charged opportunity go to waste; it’s become the playbook of the far left.
But as means of determining differences between the two parties’ platforms, beliefs, values and moral compasses, it really doesn’t get any clearer than that. Tear down those statues! Or not.
Republicans are pushing for a future of freedom.
Democrats are harping on historical offenses — taken largely out of context; spun for the greatest advantage — so as to divide the nation and conquer the citizens and rule, rule, rule rather than serve with humility and truth.
This election, this November, is one that will set this nation on a path that will either solidify the idea of God-given rights and liberties, or the notion of government-granted — the notion that Big Government is the one that determines who gets, who gives and who just doesn’t belong in modern society. It’s an election for the spirit of America.
Are we one nation under God?
Or are we scores of special interest and specially recognized groups of citizens, and noncitizens, under the control and provision of government?
That is the question to answer.
And when Marxists masked as Democrats like Brandon Johnson talk about the need to tear down statues of George Washington, then all Americans should take note. Remember, it’s not the statue; it’s what the statue signifies. And what Washington once signified was unity, strength, humble service, godly values — the greatest of what humanity could offer. He’s become a controversial figure. Years of dumbed-down public schooling combined with aggressive anti-America rhetoric and legislation and action and policy from some of the most vaunted pols in the Democrat Party have led to vicious condemnation of all that once stood as universally embraced as a nation. Washington has become a pariah to the left. Washington has been reduced to a label of slave owner; to a title of racist; to a characterization as an intolerant old white male.
Leftists have been busily going after all the framers of the Constitution and founders of this great nation in similar fashion, painting them as racist and intolerant and demanding that the documents they penned be regarded as similarly and inherently racist and intolerant, and therefore worthy of obliteration. Again, it’s not the statues; it’s the elevating of the messages and beliefs and values of the subject of the statutes.
When Thomas Jefferson, with assistance from others, wrote in the Declaration of Independence — in essence, the mission statement for America and the role government would play — that “We hold these truths to be self-evident” and that individuals are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” he intended to lay the groundwork for a country of citizens who knew their rights were inherent, who understood their liberties came by birth, and who understood the political class would never, ever, never be able to steal those rights and liberties because they weren’t theirs to distribute and control.
That’s what Democrats are bucking.
They can’t stand the idea of a nation of people who take their liberties from God, because it cuts into their power. They can’t stomach the notion of God-given because it seems radical to them because their whole mindsets — atheistic as many are — are turned toward seeking government approval and political consent before acting; before even thinking. They don’t consider the individual so much as the state.
Today’s Democrats are not so much about individualism as they are collectivism.
This election, this November, is not so much about which party will lead — as it is about which path Americans will tread: God-given or government-granted.
The road to American Exceptionalism has always been based on the first.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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