L&T Publisher Earl Watt
The name Samuel Huntington means nothing to most people, but he was the first President of the United States.
That’s impossible, you say, because George Washington was the first President of the United States.
If any of you make a million bucks on a quiz show for remembering Samuel Huntington, remember where you heard it.
President Huntington took office as President of Congress March 1, 1781 while General Washington was still fighting for independence. It wasn’t until Sept. 3, 1783 that the British signed a peace treaty with the United States ending the Revolutionary War.
After Huntington came Thomas McKean, John Hanson, Elias Boudinot, Thomas Mifflin, Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock, Nethaniel Gorham, Arthur St. Clair and Cyrus Griffin, each serving as president until November of 1788.
The Articles of Confederation listed the structure and role of government during that time, and it wasn’t very good.
The federal government was extremely weak, states were not required to fund it, and it had little to no ability to settle disputes between the states much less with foreign powers.
The concept of self government was already on life support, and in 1787, Congress approved a convention of delegates to gather in Philadelphia to discuss ways to improve the system.
Those delegates wasted little time in realizing the current system couldn’t be improved. It had to be replaced, which was not their task.
Fifty-five men were sent to the convention, but not all could attend, including big names like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
But there were still some heavy hitters in attendance including James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and the man they picked to lead the convention, George Washington.
Would the nation be able to create a document that could hold it together? Would self rule die in the cradle?
No one was sure, but they had to come up with something better than they had, and the Constitution was born.
It took them four months to hammer it out, but on Sept. 17, 1787 39 delegates from 12 of the 13 states(Rhode Island didn’t send a delegate) signed off on the new form of government.
When New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution June 21, 1788, it became the law of the land, George Washington was elected president and took office in 1789.
Since that time the United States of America has been a crucible where the concept of freedom and liberty has been debated time and time again and has come out victorious.
That hasn’t happened by coercion or outlawing opposition.
Quite the contrary, the entire premise of freedom is that every idea has a place in the public square, and the people choose which they believe to be best.
Socialists have had an equal chance at making their case.
Eugene Debs was the first presidential candidate from the Socialist Party in 1904, and he continued to run every four years until 1920. His campaign added votes each election, but he was never a serious threat to winning the White House.
Socialists spent a century running as an independent party with no success, and they realized they would have to do something different.
They decided to try to influence one of the two major political parties instead.
Bernie Sanders became the first person elected to the Senate as a self-proclaimed Socialist Democrat in 2002.
As a young man, Sanders joined the Young People’s Socialist League, a branch of the Socialist Party of America.
In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez won a seat in the House of Representatives and openly refers to herself as a Democratic Socialist.
Socialism and freedom are at odds. Socialism requires a massive government bureaucracy to establish redistribution of wealth, high taxes to provide social services, and excessive controls of messaging so criticism can be curtailed by the ruling class who lives at a higher standard of living.
The Founders made this almost impossible by limiting the power of government with the Bill of Rights. None of these rights are granted by the Constitution. To the contrary, the government is restricted from touching them. When considering Freedom of the Press, or Freedom of Speech, or even Freedom of Religion, all listed in the First Amendment, they are protected by the words, “Congress shall make no law” restricting these behaviors.
With the socialist invasion of the Democratic Party, candidates like Kamala Harris now openly campaign for policies like price controls, which is specifically listed as a socialist goal. They push for government-run health care even though the Veterans Administration is one of the worst ways to provide health care to our retired soldiers.
Harris and her Socialist Democratic allies are now outwardly claiming that the First Amendment is a problem rather than a benefit, because they cannot control information, a key in convincing the people that socialism is good by eliminating attacks on it or defenses of capitalism and freedom.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry said the First Amendment was a “major block” to their concept of information control, and Joe Biden attempted to create a Bureau of Truth.
LeBron James even thought criticizing China should be limited saying “there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you only think about yourself.”
Democrats Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard have endorsed Donald Trump because of the socialist grip on the Democratic Party and the fear of government control over speech.
That’s why this will be the most consequential election in 237 years.
Whether we agree or disagree on the path forward, having the public debate must be preserved. The founders knew that freedom dies if we don’t protect free speech. That’s what’s at stake.
