America’s GoAT USSC Justice (and it ain’t even close), the incomparable Clarence Thomas, says it loud and clear.
Clarence Thomas SLAMS progressivism as threat to Americans’ natural rights
Progressivism “requires of the people a subservience and weakness incompatible with a constitution premised on the transcendent origin of our rights.”Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at the University of Texas in Austin on Wednesday night and he lashed out at the horrible political philosophy of progressivism, saying that it’s anathema to the Declaration of Independence and the goals set forth in that document. He praised the ethos of the Founding Fathers and urged Americans to not be “passive spectators” in American liberty, but to uphold the Declaration of Independence.
He spoke about his career, realizing early on in Washington, DC, that he had to define his principles and their worth. “What are your principles worth to you?” He said he asked himself.
“My answer then was the same I would give today: they are worth life itself. What are those principles? They are the same principles in the Declaration. They were bequeathed to me by my grandparents and reinforced by my nuns and my faith.
“In God’s eyes, we are equal. We are all equally created in the image and likeness of God. We are all endowed with the natural rights to life, liberty and happiness. Our rights and our dignity are inherent. They do not come from others, and they do not come from the government. And our government derives its legitimacy and its authority from our consent. We do not derive our rights from our government.
“The primacy of our rights in relation to our government is crucial in reconciling the mortal words of the Declaration with our Constitution and our history. None of our rights come from the government.
“All of the government’s authority comes from our consent, and the structure and limited role of government is to assure that it does not exceed the authority to which we have consented or intrude on our natural rights. The Constitution is the means of government. It is the Declaration that announces the ends of government.
“The Constitution achieves this purpose by protecting our natural rights and our liberties from concentrated power and excessive democracy. Our Constitution creates a separation of powers and Federalism, truly for the first time in modern history, to prevent the government from becoming so strong that it threatens our natural rights.”
Preach it, sir. Gonna be a dark day indeed when Justice Thomas steps down and retires, not only for liberty-oriented Americans but for liberty its own self. Wise, steadfast, and clear-eyed; learned, eloquent, level-headed, and unflappable; steeped in the history, lore, and principles of our nation’s Founding; the man truly gets it, in a way that no other Justice ever quite has. Mere words can’t express how very fortunate Real Americans are to have him, particularly in these most parlous of times.
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Thomas is the best justice in history IMO.