Vance Ginn Economic Consulting
  • Home
  • About
  • CV
  • Media
  • Blog/Show Notes
  • Podcast/Speeches
  • Publications
  • Teaching
    • ECON 2301-Princ of Macro
    • ECON 2302-Princ of Micro
    • ECON 3352-Energy Eco
  • Home
  • About
  • CV
  • Media
  • Blog/Show Notes
  • Podcast/Speeches
  • Publications
  • Teaching
    • ECON 2301-Princ of Macro
    • ECON 2302-Princ of Micro
    • ECON 3352-Energy Eco

Signatory of "Freedom Conservatism: A Statement of Principles"

7/12/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
​On September 11, 1960, a group of young conservatives gathered in the home of William F. Buckley, Jr., in Sharon, Connecticut. For decades, the timeless ideals embodied in the document they produced animated the American conservative movement.

Today’s public policy challenges are different than the ones faced by the Sharon Statement signatories in 1960. Authoritarianism is on the rise both at home and abroad. More and more people on the left and right reject the distinctive creed that made America great: that individual liberty is essential to the moral and physical strength of the nation.
In order to ensure that America’s best days are ahead, we affirm the following principles:
  1. Liberty. Among Americans’ most fundamental rights is the right to be free from the restrictions of arbitrary force: a right that, in turn, derives from the inseparability of free will from what it means to be human. Liberty is indivisible, and political freedom cannot long exist without economic freedom.
  2. The pursuit of happiness. Most individuals are happiest in loving families, and within stable and prosperous communities in which parents are free to engage in meaningful work, and to raise and educate their children according to their values.
  3. The foundation of prosperity. The free enterprise system is the foundation of prosperity. Americans can only prosper in an economy in which they can afford the basics of everyday life: food, shelter, health care, and energy. A corrosive combination of government intervention and private cronyism is making these basics unaffordable to many Americans. We commit to reducing the cost of living through competitive markets, greater individual choice, and free trade with free people, while upholding the rule of law, freedom of contract, and freedom of association.
  4. Full faith and credit. The skyrocketing federal debt—which now exceeds the annual economic output of the United States—is an existential threat to the future prosperity, liberty, and happiness of Americans. We commit to building a constructive reform agenda that can restore America’s fiscal sustainability, ensuring that future generations inherit a more prosperous and secure nation than the one we now inhabit.
  5. A nation of laws, not men. Equality under the law is a foundational principle of American liberty. Unfortunately, today this principle is under attack from those who believe that the rule of law does not apply to them. One manifestation of this problem is the explosion of unaccountable and unelected regulators who routinely exceed their statutory authority and abridge Americans’ constitutional rights. The President should only nominate policymakers and judges who are committed to upholding these rights.
  6. Americans by choice. Immigration is a principal driver of American prosperity and achievement. America is exceptional because anyone—from any corner of the earth—can seek to live in America and become an American. Nearly all American citizens descend from someone who came here from somewhere else, and we must treat all citizens equally under the law. To this end, the United States, as a sovereign nation, has the right to secure its borders and design a rational immigration policy—built on the rule of law—that advances the interests and values of American citizens. 
  7. Out of many, one. The best way to unify a large and diverse nation like the United States is to transfer as many public policy choices as possible to families and communities. Much of the discord in America today comes from the fact that too many decisions are made for us by centralized authorities. The Constitution of the United States is the best arrangement yet devised for granting government the just authority to fulfill its proper role, while restraining it from the concentration and abuse of power.
  8. America’s promissory note. Martin Luther King, Jr. described the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as containing “magnificent words…a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.” Prior to 1964, however, slavery and segregation were enforced by state governments and, in many cases, by the federal government. Many who descend from victims of this system now face economic and personal hurdles that are the direct result of this legacy. We commit to expanding opportunity for those who face challenges due to past government restrictions on individual and economic freedom. We adamantly oppose racial discrimination in all its forms, either against or for any person or group of people.
  9. The shining city on a hill. American foreign policy must be judged by one criterion above all: its service to the just interests of the United States. Americans are safest and freest in a peaceful world, led by the United States, in which other nations uphold individual liberty and the sovereignty of their neighbors.
  10. Freedom of conscience. Essential to a free society is the freedom to say and think what one believes to be true. Under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, federal and state governments have a legal obligation to uphold and protect these freedoms. Private institutions have a moral obligation to do the same.

See full list of signatories and the original post at Freedom Conservatism. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Vance Ginn, Ph.D.
    ​@LetPeopleProsper

    Vance Ginn, Ph.D., is founder and president of Ginn Economic Consulting, host of the Let People Prosper Show podcast, chief economist or senior fellow at multiple think tanks, and former chief economist at the White House. In these roles, he provides high-quality research and trusted insights on how to affect positive changes at the federal, state, and local levels that help people flourish.

    Follow him on X: @vanceginn

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    January 2015
    November 2013
    September 2013
    May 2013
    February 2013
    August 2012
    July 2012
    January 2012
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Categories

    All
    Antitrust
    Biden
    Book Reviews
    Budgets
    Capitalism
    Carbon Tax
    Commentary
    Congress
    COVID
    Debt
    Economic Freedom
    Economic Prosperity
    Economy
    Education
    Energy Markets
    Fed
    Free Trade
    Ginn Economic Brief
    Healthcare
    Housing
    Immigration
    Inflation
    Interview
    Jobs Report
    Let People Prosper
    Licensing
    Louisiana
    Margin Tax
    Medicaid
    Minimum Wage
    News
    Occupational Licensing
    Opportunity Project
    Pensions
    Podcast
    Poverty
    Property Taxes
    RAB
    Regulation
    Research
    Rules
    School Choice
    Socialism
    Social Media
    Spending Limits
    Taxes
    Tax Foundation
    Technology
    Testimony
    Texas
    This Week's Economy
    Transparency
    Video
    White House

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly