More than 80 respected conservative leaders took part in the release on Wednesday, February 17th of “The Mount Vernon Statement,” which outlines core conservative beliefs. Heritage Foundation President Edwin Feulner, who chaired the committee that drafted the document, said, “It is the culmination of a thoughtful deliberation about our nation’s principles.” Indeed, the Statement articulates in a nutshell what conservatives should be advocating: Constitutional Rule of Law.
Some of those present to sign the Statement included former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, Concerned Women for America President Wendy Wright, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Media Research Center President L. Brent Bozell III, American Spectator Publisher Alfred Regnery, and American Conservative Union President David Keene. The purpose of the Mount Vernon Statement is to stop our country’s descent into secular progressive socialism and moral relativism by uniting conservatives around common concerns.
Conservative Beliefs, Values and Principles
We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence, provide for economic opportunity, establish true religious liberty and maintain a flourishing society of republican self-government.
These principles define us as a country and inspire us as a people. They are responsible for a prosperous, just nation unlike any other in the world. They are our highest achievements, serving not only as powerful beacons to all who strive for freedom and seek self-government, but as warnings to tyrants and despots everywhere.
Each one of these founding ideas is presently under sustained attack. In recent decades, America’s principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics. The self-evident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist. The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant.
Some insist that America must change, cast off the old and put on the new. But where would this lead — forward or backward, up or down? Isn’t this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?
The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature’s God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed. It recognizes man’s self-interest but also his capacity for virtue.
The conservatism of the Constitution limits government’s powers but ensures that government performs its proper job effectively. It refines popular will through the filter of representation. It provides checks and balances through the several branches of government and a federal republic.
A Constitutional conservatism unites all conservatives through the natural fusion provided by American principles. It reminds economic conservatives that morality is essential to limited government, social conservatives that unlimited government is a threat to moral self-government, and national security conservatives that energetic but responsible government is the key to America’s safety and leadership role in the world.
A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.
• It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.
• It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.
• It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.
• It supports America’s national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.
• It informs conservatism’s firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.
If we are to succeed in the critical political and policy battles ahead, we must be certain of our purpose. We must begin by retaking and resolutely defending the high ground of America’s founding principles.
February, 2010
Filed under: Culture, Economy, Family, Government, History, News, Politics, Religion, Worldview
These are terrific principles, but I have often wondered what the current day definition of “limited government” really should be. Or can be. To shrink government to the enumerated federal powers means unwinding 225 years of incremental expansion. I mean, as a nation, are we really going to say that we don’t want our government to ensure drug safety, or to inspect our food supply? Are we ready to repeal the Clean Air and Water Acts? The Social Security Act? Shut down the Department of Health and Human Services? NASA?
I think that almost all Americans share the ideals of the founders. The debate does not lie in these principles (especially so if we aceept the key founders’ principle which is missing from this list: equality).
Rather, the debate lies in the practical application of those principles. Returning to where we started 225 years is simply not going to happen. Where we are headed is not fiscally sustainable.
Where do we draw the line? That’s the question.