The Mount Vernon Statement
Feb 18th, 2010 by David Anderson
Note from me: I have been intrigued by the Mt. Vernon Statement. I think that it has the potential to bring to the forefront Constitutional Conservatism and unite the populist and economic conservative movements. As part of NetRight Nation’s network of blogs, we have a right to republish material as we did during Thanksgiving week. Due to my wife’s recent surgery, I do not have the time this week to devote to delving into this important event that it merits. I hope that this will be helpful.
Written by Adam Bitely
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 10:42
As you may know, NetRight Nation is a part of Americans for Limited Government. Today, Bill Wilson, the President of Americans for Limited Government, was a part of the original authors that signed the Mount Vernon Statement. Below is the statement:
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 selfevident 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 17, 2010
Edwin Meese, former U.S. Attorney General under President Reagan
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America
Edwin Feulner, Jr., president of the Heritage Foundation
Lee Edwards, Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at the Heritage Foundation, was present at the Sharon Statement signing.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council
Becky Norton Dunlop, president of the Council for National Policy
Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center
Alfred Regnery, publisher of the American Spectator
David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union
David McIntosh, co-founder of the Federalist Society
T. Kenneth Cribb, former domestic policy adviser to President Reagan
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform
William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government
Elaine Donnelly, Center for Military Readiness
Richard Viguerie, Chairman, ConservativeHQ.com
Kenneth Blackwell, Coalition for a Conservative Majority
Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring
Kathryn J. Lopez, National Review
We can all agree on the main points in this message about individual freedom and the overall vision of the Founders. But it goes off the rails in several important ways:
First, is when it claims the Founders virtues, the Constitution, the Declaration and all that goes with it are the province of “conservatives”. Second, the false assumption that all the virtues of bygone days including the Constitution itself are “under attack”.
If you re-read this piece you will find it to be a perfect example of what ails us. It pretty much says conservatives own all the good, all that good is under attack by others, and it relies entirely on feel good slogans like:
“It informs conservatism’s firm defense of family,neighborhood, community, and faith.”
Where do we send our money? I want that.
The good thing is the writer obviously loves America, wants to be true to our founding ideals. We all do. The bad thing is the writer has to set things up so he is good, and then says
“Isn’t this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?” Does anybody really think change what has been happening since day one in America.
Why is it so necessary for conservatives to think the Declaration or the Constitution are “conservative”. That they own the good, the rest America is against the good. The Founders are obviously radical liberals if we judge by todays labeling. As was Christ. My point? Only an egotistical fool would claim his politics are the politics of the Founding Values, and the other guys politics are the enemy of the Founding Values.
The Constitution is not under attack. Change is good. Individual freedom liberty is what we are about. Free enterprise, open markets are the key to our success. Good is good. Bad is bad. Just don’t be fooled by the holier-than-thou crowd that some small percentage of conservatives are the owners of this stuff. It’s fun to think only you and a handful of other know the real purpose of America. But we all do.