Huff Post: Tony Blankley Reflects On The Founding Fathers & 2010

Tony Blankley of Huffington Post has an OpEd piece today which furthers political and historical thought and casts light on Tea Party movement. 

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Misunderstanding the Preamble to the Constitution

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The Declaration of Independence Viewed from 18th Century England

Blankley reminds us that the  publishing of the Declaration of Independence 233 years ago by our Founders drew carefully reasoned response from two of the very best minds of the  18th century : Dr. Samuel Johnson (Father of an entire literary age ) and Edmund Burke (the Great intellectual father of modern Anglo-American conservatism).

Samuel Johnson asserted  that our Declaration of Independence was no more nor less than  "the delirious dream of republican fanaticism" that, if taken to its logical and necessary consequences,  would "put the axe to the roots of all government." 

More importantly,  he raised a serious philosophical question with strong ethical implications:  "Why is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of negroes?"  What Dr. Johnson was implying was that it was the most blatant hypocrisy for slave holders to be crying for liberty, and declaring all men equal in the eyes of the Creator. 

But, continues Blankley:  Perhaps  it was Edmund Burke whose insights were even more profound and more important.  He recognized that it was precisely because these men were in fact slave holders  that they cried so for liberty:  "Those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of rank and privilege," Burke argued.   It was the contrast with the slaves which made them more hungry to be at the opposite end of the spectrum.  

What Burke so shrewdly observed and so aptly described  in 1775 continue to manifest themselves in American politics today in our current conflicted debate,  says Blankley.  

Applications in 2010

Burke would know exactly why the European community in 2010 sneer at the American obsession with freedom.   Americans may talk about freedom as an abstraction but it is only when that freedom is threatened that politics come to matter. 

Burke knew that liberty as an abstraction had no real meaning, and said as much.  

The Real and Profound Danger 

The Tea Party movement,  says Blankley,  is a reaction to something which was set in motion by Obama.   An intrusion may  change the entire tone of discourse if it comes within a crisis.    But Blankley warns that this crisis goes way deeper than health care or deficits :  

" If the Chinese, by selling off our debt notes, can destroy our economy and way of life at a whim -- as the accumulating debt suggests is possible -- then what had been merely irresponsible, self-indulgent deficit spending by both Republicans and Democrats in the recent past has transformed into a fundamental threat to our liberty and our grandchildren's future." 

The Obama administration and the Democrats crossed a line within a dangerous situation already grown fatal.