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 The Age of Enlightenment or the "Age of Reason" was the
intellectual and philosophical movement that swept Europe during the 17th and
18th centuries. Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel
Kant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire and others theorized that man had specific
natural and God-given rights that no aristocratic or monarchal government could
deny him.
It is considered the most important event in modern history. It established that
all men were equal and guaranteed the pursuit of happiness, sovereignty of
reason, and "evidence was the source of all knowledge." It affirmed the rights
of liberty, toleration, fraternity and self government. It divided church and
state, and recognized the ownership of "ideas" and physical and intellectual
property.
According to the latest World Freedom Index, democracy is
facing its most serious crisis in years. Its basic tenets, including guarantees
of free and fair elections, human rights protections, freedom of the press, and
democratic rule of law have come under attack around the world. This increased
last year due to the mandated restrictions on individual rights by government
during the pandemic.
Since the Great Recession, we have seen a global slide of freedom take place.
Recent data show 113 countries saw a net decline, with only 62 having
experienced a net improvement. Seventy-one countries suffered net declines in
political rights and civil liberties, with only 35 making small gains.
"I've proposed that we start charting those that get vaccinated and those that
won't." – Joe Biden
For the past 13 years, the WFI has been in retreat. The U.S. slipped steadily to
number 15 by 2021. This sharp decline is attributed to increased censorship
during the last election. America fell out of the top 10 in protecting
individual rights, civil liberties and free speech.
The pandemic is a gift that keeps on giving for power-hungry politicians. It
gave them a convenient pretext to silence critics and to increase power. They
have utilized censorship to feed the message to expand government as a caregiver
and provider. They turned a containable threat into a liberty-constraining
opportunity. This expansion of central power will be the pandemic’s enduring
legacy.
Governments know the public is more willing to accept increased central power in
times of crisis, that's why responsible government is needed. But during this
pandemic, power hungry politicians cited COVID-19 as a dictation to censor
government criticism and undermine judicial balance of power.
“There is no absolute power that truly empowers without
corrupting.” –Constance Friday
Globally, governments stepped out of line in the name of protection. Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared a state of emergency to rule by decree.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gifted himself total power to silence
critics and restrict individual rights. Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha
will only allow reporters to republish government press releases. In Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Venezuela and Turkey, anyone who criticizes government abuse of power
will be jailed.
 The Algerian government has halted any protests seeking reforms. The Russian
government has outlawed protests against Vladimir Putin’s plans to become their
dictator for the rest of his life. The Indian government recently announced a
lockdown to end political protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strict
anti-Muslim citizenship policies.
“I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this
reason: I insist on the right to criticize her." – James Baldwin
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The biggest offender of individual freedom are the
Chinese. They've expanded power in the China Sea, and threatened
Taiwan's and Hong Kong's sovereignty to abridge UN discussions about
their role in the pandemic. They put Communist Party goals over the
health of world citizens, refusing to inform the WHO of the Wuhan
virus. Reacting to global critics, they locked out foreign
journalists.
In the U.S., claiming to protect us from ourselves
during the pandemic, leftists violated our rights daily. Since the
pandemic was declared in March 2020, progressives have used COVID-19
as a vehicle to advance their political power without regard for our
Constitutional rights and liberties.
During the 2020 elections, liberal state governors
arbitrarily mass-mailed ballots to everyone and reinvented rules
that violated election integrity. Liberal social media giants
censored material from conservatives, and refused to allow any
information about illegal activities by Hunter Biden.
This blatant, abusive censorship violated free speech and did not go
unnoticed on the freedom index.
Biden signed 40 executive orders in his first two weeks in office.
Yale law professor Christina Rodriguez says many of them face
challenges in the courts. His open border policy was recently struck
down by a Texas court that ruled he violated his obligation to
protect the rights of Americans. A federal judge just halted a
program Biden approved to provide relief for farmers of color. Judge
William Griesbach alleged it is unconstitutional for Biden to
exclude whites from a federal program.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempted to eradicate state
election laws with the passage of the H.R. 1. This was billed as the
"For The People Act" to take federal control of all state elections.
It would give the left a dishonest advantage in determining all
future elections and it violated the 10th Amendment.
"This gives the federal government authority to set standards for
future state elections." – Nancy Pelosi
Last week, Biden violated our property rights with an eviction
moratorium although two months ago the Supreme Court ruled
government “exceeded its legal authority issuing the nationwide
eviction moratorium." The court gave Congress two weeks to end it
and return control of the properties to the landlords.
"Congress had no legal authority to approve this in
the first place." – Brett Kavanaugh
Plato told us, “What you do speaks louder than what you say." Since
WWII, America set the gold standard for global democracy. And for
decades, other nations cloned America's model. But with the rise of
progressivism last decade, many of the countries that emulated
America are also now following us in the wrong direction. This
global pattern ominously shows Democracy is retreating.
During the Cold War, America had strong leadership that enforced the
precepts of our Constitution. This influenced many nations to adopt
democracy after the Cold War. And when the U.S. allowed populism to
displace constitutional law, those nations did so too. U.S. identity
politics and liberalism has fueled democratic reversals in nations
that once envied our democracy. America's failure to protect our
rights and liberties is being felt around the world. The entire free
world goes in the same direction we do. Is this right or good for
the free world?
"The genius of America may be that it built the fall of Rome into
its makeup and it is consciously a constant work in progress." –
Cullen Murphy |
