PrintNovember 8, 2008
Credo in Unam Nationem, Sub Deo-Redux
Republicans have been swept aside, consigned to the wilderness, by their own undoing. The electorate was tired of a prolonged and until recently an incompetent and inconclusive military campaign for Iraq and the war on terror. Voters made their own referendum on the incumbents' ineptitude failing to execute fundamental government responsibilities, such as oversight of the banking system and financial markets and securing reliable low cost domestic energy supplies. Meanwhile the Republicans' complicity in enlarging big government and being weak or absentee stewards of conservative ideas allowed the Democrat leftist agenda to be played daily in the mainstream press.
Four years ago, the demise of the Democrats and marginalization of the liberal agenda were possible and predicted even in this space. But the tables now turned upside down need not be cause for despair or disillusion. The conservative movement can find its center of gravity if it recovers and restates its fundamental beliefs, values and principles with the courage to live and act upon them without apology or compromise.
Therefore, it is fitting to reprise one man's creed originally published in American Thinker four years ago. Let us recite the creed in its entirety:
I believe in one nation, under God, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all.
I believe in the Constitution of the United States, a nation of laws not men.
I believe in the greatness of America, having no limit to what it may achieve.
I believe in America's manifest destiny and the obligation to use our resources and power to preserve and propagate liberty and democratic government around the world.
I believe the United States has the right and obligation to use military force, even preemptively, but judiciously, anywhere in the world whenever the vital interests of the United States and her allies are threatened.
I believe the United States is a nation without peer, whose sovereignty shall never be subjugated to nor compromised by any nation or nations anywhere on earth for national security, trade, economics or for any other purpose.
I believe in the sanctity of human life, including protections for the unborn and the infirm.
I believe in the right of consenting adults to make lifestyle choices, provided I am neither required to pay for such choices nor required to accept corruption of traditional family institutions in name or form, as a condition for accepting such choices.
I believe in free market capitalism.
I believe that private citizens and private enterprises can spend their own money more wisely than the government.
I believe taxes should support only those necessary and minimally essential government functions, not to underwrite an ever-expanding role of government intruding into our private lives nor enlarging the welfare state.
I believe tax burdens should be fairly distributed and proportional; no economic class should disproportionately subsidize another.
I believe tax policies should not confiscate the rewards of achievement; instead taxes should encourage entrepreneurship, inspire upward mobility and motivate wealth creation.
I believe in equal opportunities and if measured objectively I can accept unequal outcomes.
I believe in the self-esteem of achievement, not in patronizing generosity.
I believe in personal accountability where I am responsible for my own actions and where I will not blame the shortcomings and disappointments of this life on someone else.
I believe in freedom of expression, the competition of ideas in an open marketplace free from intimidation, prejudice, suppression and retaliation.
I believe in leaders who respect differences of opinion and reject the politics of hate, distortion and personal destruction.
I believe in leaders who are intellectually honest with me and who value my intelligence and common sense as much as their own.
I believe in leaders who are authentic and can make a personal connection with me despite our differences in personal taste and economic station in life.
I believe in leaders who appeal to my hopes instead of reinforcing my fears.
I believe in leaders who identify with my dreams and aspirations instead of reminding me of my failures, misjudgments and infirmities.
I believe in American democracy where voting is a valued privilege, not a right afforded to every inhabitant, regardless of citizenship, criminality, or inability to fill out a ballot.
I believe in voting as a sacred duty where on that day all qualified American citizens are equal with power and authority to judge and choose.
I believe in the unique American ideology of liberty, freedom of thought, assembly, speech and worship; of political power used to protect private property and promote economic self-determination.
I believe the unique American ideology transcends and binds the racial, ethnic and religious diversity in America and offers hope for millions of oppressed people around the globe.
I believe in Almighty God who shed His grace on this great nation, from the beginning, and who pours His blessings upon us and our descendents, now and forever,
Amen.
Geoffrey P. Hunt is an executive in the electronics industry.
