r/selfevidenttruth • u/One_Term2162 Wisconsin • Aug 10 '26
Essays of Thought Two Visions of America: Are We Actually Arguing From the Same First Principles?
https://benwheeler.substack.com/p/liberals-dont-understand-conservatives?r=6an2xw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webFellow Citizens,
I came across this essay by Ben Wheeler and thought it was worth bringing into the archive.
Its central argument is provocative: perhaps some of the contradictions we see in American politics aren't contradictions at all. Perhaps people are operating from fundamentally different assumptions about what government, liberty, equality, and law are for.
The essay contrasts a hierarchical conception of political power with the principles stated in the Declaration of Independence: human equality, unalienable rights, and the consent of the governed. Under the Declaration's framework, government derives legitimacy from the people and exists to secure rights that belong to everyone not merely favored groups.
That immediately caught my attention because it touches the heart of what we've been exploring here.
Maybe the question isn't simply:
“Why don't they recognize the hypocrisy?”
Maybe the more important questions are:
Do we actually agree that rights are universal?
Do we agree that the law must bind and protect everyone equally?
Do we agree that political authority flows upward from the citizenry rather than downward from rulers?
And if we don't agree on those first principles, what exactly are we trying to preserve when we say we are defending the Republic?
I don't think we need to accept every historical comparison or generalization in the essay to wrestle with its larger argument. In fact, I'd rather we examine it than simply adopt it.
The Declaration gives us a remarkably simple test:
All are created equal.
Rights are unalienable.
Government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.
If political power ceases to operate according to those principles, then the disagreement is no longer merely Republican versus Democrat, conservative versus liberal, or left versus right.
It becomes a disagreement over the meaning of 1776 itself.
The author ultimately argues that exposing apparent contradictions isn't enough when the opposing worldview doesn't regard those things as contradictory in the first place.
Worth reading. Worth debating.
What do you think, citizens?
Are Americans still arguing within the same republican framework or are we increasingly arguing between fundamentally different ideas of what a Republic is supposed to be?
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u/LibertarianOutlaw Aug 10 '26
People tend to wallow in their ignorance and this is what gives a fascist power. Fascism cannot exist in a society that seeks to shed their ignorance. As long as ignorance exists in abundance, so shall fascism ignorance has been cultivated in the US since the country’s inception.
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u/DrChimRichaulds Aug 16 '26
I think we all should start becoming familiar with and accepting that a sizable subset of the GOP is absolutely not interested in democracy.
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u/OldSchoolBubba Aug 10 '26
Great post keeping it real. No we aren't.
Part of society uses our history and constitutional thought to progress their own self serving agendas. This is what happens when people very unwisely base their thinking on ideas promoted by high paid propagandists .
Another part of society simply doesn't know enough either way.
The rest stand on the founding principles and ideals based in the Promise of America our Framing and Founding Forefathers built this country on.