mount vernon statement

Earlier this week we noted how Janet Porter was praying that God would "take power and influence in the media of this country and of this globe from the unrighteous and give it to righteous people" so that Christians could gain total control over the media outlets in this nation.

But, as it turns out, Porter doesn't just want to take "dominion" over the media; she wants to "take dominion in every area" and that is what her upcoming "May Day 2010: A Cry to God for a Nation in Distress" prayer rally at the Lincoln Memorial is hoping to accomplish.

As Porter explained recently, the rally is designed to break the curse this nation is under, as represented by President Obama and the Democratic agenda, so she is bringing together a group of Religious Right leaders like James Dobson and others to engage in a day of penitence and prayer as they beseech God to redeem America.

Porter and company will also be unveiling a "Christian manifesto" which will lay out their positions on how this country ought to be run (apparently the recent Manhattan Declaration and the Mount Vernon Statement are insufficient) and yesterday she explained her ultimate purpose:

We've heard the conservative manifesto that's just been done; we want to declare what we believe as Christians, what we'd like to see.  As the Humanists gathered and they put down their list, they've had undue influence in the country and the school systems ever since. 

What we want to do it take it back, in every area of influence and this is, well, occupy until Jesus comes, to take dominion in every area.

Allow me to also point out that Porter regularly has Republican members on Congress on her radio program - in fact, right before she made this statement, she was interviewing Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) about health care, and the day before, she had Senator Mike Johanns (R-Nebraska) on her program to discuss the same issue.

• For some reason, Mike Huckabee thought it necessary to remind everyone that he is "unequivocally" pro-life.
• FRC praises VA Gov. Bob McDonnell for making it easier for employers to fire gay employees.
• Does anybody care what Ted Nugent thinks about Don't Ask, Don't Tell. If so, here you go.
• Answers in Genesis' Ken Ham delivered his "State of the Nation"address last night.  Guess how he thinks the nation is doing?
• Gary Bauer calls The Mount Vernon Statement "a seminal document reflecting both the past and the future of intellectual conservatism."
• The Susan B. Anthony List and dozens of other right-wing groups have sent a letter to President Obama and Minority Leader John Boehner demanding there be no "taxpayer funding of abortion on-demand" in any health care reform legislation.
• LifeNews.com, National Clergy Council, National Pro-life Religious Council, Operation Outcry, Priests for Life, Susan B. Anthony List, Wallbuilders and others are joining forces to launch a series of "Voter Registration Sundays."
• Quote of the Day from the AFA's Bryan Fischer: "Our first order of business is to identify candidates who will be guided by the moral law of God in forming public policy, whose worldviews align with the value system found in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and help them become our 'ministers of God,' secular priests exercising sacred authority in the public square."

• TPM: Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Rolls Back Non-Discrimination Protections For Gay State Workers.
• Sarah Posner: Conservative Activist Says Tea Party Movement Needs "Reverence to God."
• Andrew Sullivan: "May The Judgement Not Be Too Heavy Upon Us."
• Sam Stein: McCain Challenger: Birther Questions Are Legit In Days Of Identity Theft.
• Eric Boehlert: James O'Keefe and the myth of the ACORN pimp.
• TFN: How the Far Right ‘Guides’ Voters with Lies.
• Finally, David Frum weighs in on The Mount Vernon Statement: Conservatives to Voters: We Don’t Feel Your Pain.

Supporters of The Mount Vernon Statement are calling it the "definitive statement" regarding the central principles of the conservative movement, claiming that it represents a "significant moment as social, fiscal, and national security conservatives come together to declare the importance of partnering to defend our nation's founding principles."

The statement itself is pretty underwhelming, but if you want to get a sense of just how utterly meaningless it is, just note that its unveiling was timed to coincide with the beginning of the annual CPAC conference tomorrow ... where, as Newt Gingrich explains, "the Tea Party Patriots will unveil a grassroots-generated, crowd-sourced, bottom-up call for real economic, conservative and government reform."

The Tea Party document is called "The Contract From America" and starting tomorrow, activists will be allowed to vote to narrow down a list of 22 ideas "down to ten solutions for real change ... which will comprise the Contract From America, will be unveiled at the next round of nationwide Tea Parties on April 15."

Take a look at the 22 ideas from which activists can choose:

DEMAND A BALANCED BUDGET: Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax hike.

STOP THE TAX HIKES: Permanently repeal all tax hikes, including those to income, capital gains, and death taxes, currently scheduled to begin in 2011.

COMMIT TO REAL GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY: Every bill, in its final form, will be made public seven days before any vote can be taken and all government expenditures authorized by any bill will be easily accessible on the Internet before the money is spent.

PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION: Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does.

PASS REAL HEALTHCARE REFORM: Greatly improve affordability of health insurance by permitting all Americans access to all health insurance plans sold anywhere in the United States through the purchase of insurance across state lines and allow small businesses and associations to pool together across state lines to buy insurance.

ENACT FUNDAMENTAL TAX REFORM: Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the Internal Revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words -- the length of the original Constitution.

END RUNAWAY GOVERNMENT SPENDING: Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth.

LET US SAVE: Allow all Americans to opt out of Social Security and Medicare and instead put those same payroll taxes in a personal account they own, control, and can leave to whomever they choose.

PROTECT INTERNET FREEDOM: No regulation or tax on the Internet.

GIVE PARENTS MORE CHOICES IN THE EDUCATION OF THEIR CHILDREN: Improve American education by reforming the broken federal role through eliminating ineffective and wasteful programs, giving parents more choices from pre-school to high school, and improving the affordability of higher education.

PASS AN 'ALL OF THE ABOVE' ENERGY POLICY: Authorize the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and creating competition.

PROTECT FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: Prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from using funds to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine in any form, including requiring “localism” or “diversity” quotas.

RESTORE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY & CONSTITUTIONALLY LIMITED GOVERNMENT: Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states.

PROTECT PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS: Block state and local governments that receive federal grants from exercising eminent domain over private property for the primary purpose of economic development or enhancement of tax revenues.

REJECT CAP & TRADE: Prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation’s global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures.

STOP THE PORK: Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the process is fully transparent, including requiring a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark.

NO CZAR REGULATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION: All “lawmaking” regulations must be affirmatively approved by Congress and signed into law by the president, as the Constitution requires for all laws.

AUDIT THE FED: Begin an audit of the Federal Reserve System.

NO MORE BAILOUTS: The federal government should not bail out private companies and should immediately begin divesting itself of its stake in the private companies it owns from recent bailouts.

STOP CAREER POLITICIANS & CURB LOBBYIST POWER: Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require Congressional term limits. No person shall be elected to the Senate more than twice or to the House of Representatives more than four times.

SUNSET REGULATIONS: All regulations will be “sunset” after ten years unless renewed by Congressional vote.

LET US WATCH: Broadcast all non-security meetings and votes on C-SPAN and the Internet.

Do you see anything in that list that would appeal to the concerns of social conservatives?  Maybe the provision about giving parents more choice in the education of the children, but that is it.  And, more than likely, that won't make the cut to be included among the final ten.

So, while some conservatives are busy hailing the Mount Vernon Statement as a grand manifesto that will unite the movement, other conservatives are hailing the Contract From America as a grand declaration of the movement's basic agenda, even though it contains no mention of any issues important to social conservatives.

The conservative movement is so united at the moment that they have dueling documents designed to declare their unity.

You have to hand it to the Right because when they produce a manifesto, they go all out.

When Religious Right signed on to the Manhattan Declaration a few months back, they hailed it as akin to standing up to the Nazis and declared themselves willing to suffer everything from exile to death to defend it, while comparing themselves to those who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Today, right-wing leaders are gathering to sign The Mount Vernon Statement, which they claim will "define the conservative movement’s principles and objectives," and they are literally going to George Washington's farm outside of Washington DC to do it:

More than 80 conservative leaders will gather near the home of President George Washington tomorrow to unveil a new declaration of the fundamental principles driving right-wing grassroots movements.

The Mount Vernon Statement will be signed at Collingwood Library, which was originally part of George Washington's River Farm, by a delegation led by Edwin Meese III, attorney general during the Reagan administration.

Of course, the text of the statement has already been released, so the signing ceremony is all for show.  Here it is - prepare to be underwhelmed:

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.

Wow!  So conservative are committing themselves to supporting limited government, liberty, free enterprise, national defense, and family values?  Thank God they drafted this statement, otherwise how would anyone ever have known this? 

And because the document is so monumentally groundbreaking, of course the signers had to have their names attached in fancy script: 

Finally, just to get a sense of the self-importance of this manifesto, currently the website contains just the text of the statement ... along with links to the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.

Apparently, those behind this effort consider this document to be of equal importance.