Chester McAteer

HAVE YOU NOTICED POLITICIANS ON THE 4Th?

Political hypocrisy is often glaringly evident around national holidays like July 4th. Politicians and pundits, regardless of their ideological leanings, frequently brandish the Declaration of Independence, particularly its famed second paragraph, to underscore their commitment to the Principles of Liberty and Freedom.

They typically emphasize the "self-evident truths" about these ideals, using them to bolster their agendas and appeal to patriotic sentiments. However, this selective quoting tends to be superficial, focusing on the most well-known and rhetorically powerful lines while ignoring the document’s broader context and specific grievances that justified the American colonies' break from British rule.

This kind of selective citation constitutes a form of political hypocrisy. It manipulates historical documents to serve contemporary purposes, often stripping them of their full meaning. The Declaration of Independence is not just a statement of abstract principles but a detailed list of complaints against the British Crown, providing a comprehensive argument for independence. By ignoring these details, modern rhetoricians simplify and distort the historical reality, using only the parts of the Declaration that serve their immediate needs.

Tim adds:

BTW they use the "self-evident" part while rejecting the very idea of self-evident. Look at the transgender issue; it is a self-evident truth that there are two sexes and they cannot be altered by a mere act of denial. Self-evident came from the concept of Natural Law, which itself came from "Nature and Nature's God". They will reject God and Nature in favor of their own will, then use this part of the Declaration to promote that will.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 07:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 267 words, total size 2 kb.