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A more simple union

PAUL DOORIS

Montoursville

In times of such national crisis, it’s important to remind ourselves of the foundational principles upon which our nation originally united.

From the Declaration of Independence we have inherited the principle that “all men (humans) are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”

Regardless of wealth, status, race, power, or circumstance, this principle acknowledges every human beings as possessing a special dignity to be honored and protected. From the Bill of Rights, culminating with the 10th Amendment, we find a principle of grassroots priority, beginning with the individual person and extending outward to embrace the family, community, state, and beyond.

In order for our society to stay rooted upon these basic principles, we must communicate with direct words with a clear message.

Recent legislation, regulations, and social policies have grown in complexity so that their meaning is obscured.

The Declaration of Independence is expressed in only 1,300 words, and the original United States Constitution with the Bill of Rights contains a mere 5,172 words. Compare this with South Africa’s recent 61,000 word constitution–hailed by many as the prototype for future “democratic constitutions.” Clarity and simplicity are the strength of our Republic, while complex laws, unintelligible tax codes, and cumbersome regulations are, in my opinion, our nation’s greatest internal threat.

In these times of complexity, confusion, chaos, division, anger, and partisan rhetoric, we citizens are called to unite upon basic principles, establishing simple rules through clear genuine conversation, dialogue, and debate, supported by facts, evidence, logic, and reasoning.

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