Conservatives do not move in mindless lockstep the way woke liberals do. We can have our disagreements, even on important points of principle and policy.
Nonetheless, we should assume good faith debate and try not to talk past one another. This holds true especially in what we might call the “creed” vs. “culture” debate.
In a recent interview with the libertarian-minded Reason Magazine, conservative Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch characterized the United States as a “creedal nation,” rooted in the principles of the Declaration of Independence, thereby prompting outrage from some conservatives on the social media platform X, including one former advisor to President Donald Trump, who worried about Gorsuch potentially “‘prepping’ us for an absurd Birthright Citizenship ruling.”
“The Declaration of Independence had three great ideas in it: that all of us are equal; that each of us has inalienable rights given to us by God, not government; and that we have the right to rule ourselves,” Gorsuch said in a clip posted to X.
Indeed, Thomas Jefferson penned those words — or at least a version of them — in 1776.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” Jefferson wrote in theDeclaration of Independence.
So far, so good. In fact, no American patriot could quarrel with Jefferson’s words.
What came next, however, got Gorsuch into trouble with some “culture” conservatives.
“Our nation is not founded on a religion,” he added. “It’s not based on a common culture even, or heritage. It’s based on those ideas. We’re a creedal nation.”
“Our nation is not founded on a religion. It’s not based on a common culture, even, or heritage. … We’re a creedal nation,” Justice Neil Gorsuch tells@nickgillespieon The Reason Interview podcast.pic.twitter.com/wfdkSbrVUX
Source: VidNews » Feed
