The Case Against Mike Huckabee
Posted by iusbvision on January 25, 2008
Mike Huckabee would like the primary election voters to believe that he is a true conservative who is ready to take on the presidency. Like other politicians, Huckabee is trying to hide who he really is in order to hoodwink conservatives into voting for him. Huckabee is no conservative at all. In the view of this writer Governor Huckabee is a big government politician whose policies have a high rate of failure and now he is flip-flopping some of his positions after being criticized by conservatives.
Governor Huckabee issued more clemencies to violent offenders than all of his neighboring states combined and according to The American Spectator “In many cases, Huckabee’s actions set loose savage criminals convicted of grisly murders over the passionate objections of prosecutors and victims’ families.” The details are quite disturbing and can be found at the link provided. The Arkansas Leader reported “he ignored both public opinion and state law when he refused to say why he was releasing murderers from prison, often over the objections of his own parole board.”
http://www.arkansasleader.com/frontstories/st_08_11_04/huckabee8.html
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12430
http://www.arkansasleader.com/frontstories/st_07_28_04/huckabee6.html
Governor Huckabee says today that he wants to send illegal aliens home, but as governor opposed measures to show proof of citizenship to vote, opposed federal enforcement of immigration laws, and favored in-state tuition for illegal aliens. “’I would hope he could be trusted to secure the borders, but given his track record in Arkansas, I don’t see the conservative he has portrayed himself to be in Iowa’, Jake Files, a former Arkansas state representative and current chairman of the Sebastian County, Ark., Republican Party.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080117/NATION/213689491/1001
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200712/POL20071204b.html
Governor Huckabee is a serial tax raiser. The Arkansas leader reports that Huckabee raised more taxes in 10 years than Clinton did in 12. This includes raising the state sales tax three times. State spending more than doubled during Huckabee’s term and the CATO Institute gave Huckabee an “F” grade on its Fiscal Policy Report Card.
http://www.arkansasleader.com/2007/11/editorialswhos-biggest-tax-raiser.html
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa581/reportcard_table.html
Ethics is important, especially to Republican voters. Unfortunately Governor Huckabee has problems here as well. The Arkansas Times-record reported that Governor Huckabee set up wedding gift accounts at department stores even though he has been married for 30 years. The state ethics laws forbid gifts of over $100 except for weddings.
http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2006/11/13/week_in_review/news/saturday/news09.txt
Judicial Watch, likely the most prominent public interest law firm in the country that fights government corruption, has Huckabee on its “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” list saying, “Rather than cooperating with investigators, Huckabee sued the state ethics commission twice and attempted to shut the ethics process down.”
The Arkansas Leader says that Huckabee is the most like Hillary Clinton as stated in a resent editorial:
“Our former governor might be the GOP’s best candidate against Sen. Clinton, at least among the present and forthcoming challengers, but his strength would be that he is closest to, not farthest from, Sen. Clinton on the issues and their records”
– http://www.arkansasleader.com/2007/09/editorialshillary-vs-huckabee.html
Mike Huckabee raised taxes to support more “education”. According to the AP and the Arkansas Democrat Gazette his education reforms cost 1.4 billion dollars. Unfortunately his education reform did not show the progress promised. The National Report Card on Higher Education gives Arkansas a D+ and The Thomas Fordham Foundation gives Arkansas a D- saying:
“Though clearly written, and presented grade by grade, the document is so large that English teachers who attempt to follow it will assuredly be overwhelmed. And trying to include too much within these standards is just one problem. Too many of them are immeasurable, and too many rely on process, i.e., they contain no academic content. And redundancy is ubiquitous; a reader–or teacher–would be hard pressed to discern a change in difficulty from grades 9 to 12.” –
http://www.edexcellence.net/FOUNDATION/publication/publication.cfm?id=358&pubsubid=1322#1322
Only nine states scored lower than Arkansas on the ACT exam in 2007. According to the University of Arkansas the graduation rate has dropped from 81.6% in 2004 to 71% in 2006.
http://www.act.org/news/data/07/states-text.html http://normessasweb.uark.edu.
Conservatives tend to oppose activist judges and courts “finding” social and political policy in the Constitution that was never intended to be there and enforcing that policy with judicial edict. On January 18 Huckabee stated on CNN that the Constitution is a “living breathing document” which is the mantra often stated by those who want to change the Constitution on the fly as it suits them. The Constitution is in essence “the rules of the game” and to use a metaphor; how about we play poker with our life savings, we will use “living breathing rules” and I make the rules. No one would play poker under such circumstances, and a citizen facing a judge shouldn’t either.
Mike Huckabee is not what he tries to make himself out to be. The elite media is aware of this. Why hasn’t the media shredded him by now? In my view the answer is simple. If Huckabee gets the nomination he is so utterly defeatable that the Democrats could not have a better candidate to run against. If Huckabee gets the nomination you can expect the media that is soft-balling him now to show its teeth after the primaries are over.
Huckabee does not have much GOP support for his presidential bid in his home state. Respected conservatives such as Phyllis Schlafly have told us the reason why, “He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party in shambles.”
Chuck Norton
The IUSB Vision Weblog 
Ed Lima said
Chuck, I would like to see you formulate your own argument once in a while instead of parroting what others have said/written all the time. Your constant use of web links attests to that fact.
As far as Huck being “so utterly defeatable”: that is VERBATIM what we heard from the media — especially from the left — prior to the Iowa caucus. I’m surprised (or maybe not) that you’re using talking points rhetoric to defend your argument.
And finally, you accuse governor Huckabee of leaving the conservative movement and the Republican party in Arkansas “in shambles”. I googled Phyllis Schlafly and evidently the quote you provided is being used ad nauseaum everywhere, because ‘”Phyllis Schlafly Huckabee” is now a suggested query result at Google. Since I don’t have the hard data pointing to the moribund state of the Republican party in Arkansas, I will take instead the word of, well, the people in Arkansas who thought highly enough of Huckabee to actually re-elect him!
My guess is that you are a Romney guy. After all, what’s a Dittohead to do?
“Dittohead”…I never get the pride these people exude of being labeled such a thing. That’s the same as calling someone “sheep”, or “rubber-stamper”, or “drone”. Weird…
Jarrod Brigham said
Chuck,
I think that Jim Gilchrist’s endorsement of Huckabee, even when Tancredo was running should be enough to satisfy any weariness you have on Huck’s immigration policy. Beyond that, I am a social conservative, even more than a fiscal conservative.
The tax increases need to have more information. I know that Huckabee was able to get the Marriage Protection Amendment passed. How many earmark tax increases do you think went with that? Politicians are designed for failure. Their whole job is compromise. If he traded a tax increase for marriage protection, I would accept that. I would accept an abolition of the death penalty if it came with an abolition of abortion. Those special gifts are nothing. Is a 200 dollar stadium jacket or a 500 dollar canoe the best they can come up with? More expensive gifts are given to the judges of the Academy awards. It also would not surprise me to see that the ethics committee investigated him on multiple occasions as Lt. Gov. Look who he took over for, the most corrupt AR Gov. since Clinton. I was a little concerned with 150K in other gifts. However, when you put it in perspective, it is not too significant. Remember that he served as Lt. Gov for 1 ½ years and as Gov. for 10 ½. That comes to less than 13K per year. Compare that with Pres. Clinton who received millions upon millions of dollars for his library for the last minute pardons.
I am looking for a candidate that has not wavered on Abortion, The War on Terror, and the Fair Tax. Huckabee is the only person that fits the bill.
Chuck Norton said
Ed Point 1 –
He is defeatable because his record doesnt match his rhetoric – John Kerry’s record did not match his rhetoric either. I am merely applying the same standard to both of them.
Ed Point 2 – You accuse me of merely using rhetoric and talking points when I post a ton of sources showing his record. Attack me and point the finger at me all you want – if he got the nomination the dems will do even more opposition research than I have. It is his record Ed not mine. If you have a problem with it than go talk to Mr. Huckabee. After all it is his record. I just merely reported it.
ED Point 3 – I am not accusing him of leaving his state party in shambles. Highly respected conservatives are. I merely reported it.
Ed Point 4 – what is that last comment – some kind of lame “attack the messenger” ……
Guys its his record – if I were an axe murderer who was named the worst person in the world – none of these facts posted above would change and it would still be Mike Huckabee’s record.
Trashing me does not change his record.
Chuck Norton said
Jarrod,
You are going to compare the ethics issues of Huckabee with the ethics issues of Clintons to try and prove that Huckabee is an ethical guy?
The Clintons make Nixon look like the boy who took an extra cookie out of the cookie jar. Almost every politician, no matter how crooked, looks almost clean when compared with the Clintons.
The Chinese money scandals in exchange for nuclear secrets puts the Clinton in a class by themselves as far as corruption is concerned – not to mention giving pardons in exchange for checks to the Clinton Library.
Clinton even made one of the largest coal mines in the country into a national park so it could not be mined any more – so his pal Mochtar Riady could sell more of his coal to the United States. I have known about this since it happend – Investors Business Daily recently wrote about this.
Point the finger at the other guys indescresions to hide your own is never very convincing so Jarrod, I dare say that this is not one of your better arguments.
Ed Lima said
Mitt Romney sat on a wall.
Mitt Romney had a great fall.
All Rushbos horses and Hannity’s men
Couldn’t put Romney back together again.
(and in an even sadder turn of events, Mac ‘n’ Cheese won Florida. Marvelous.)
Ed Lima said
With that said, there are a couple of things that need to be said about Huckabee:
– His CONSTANT ingratiating of McCain: we get it, Huck. You’re thinking ‘plan B’ in case of a McCain nomination…maybe the veep nomination or a high cabinet position. But considering that McCain is pretty much a liberal in disguise, it gets harder and harder for us Huck-heads to make the case of ‘Huckabee the social conservative.’
– Super Tuesday: much is being said that, when it comes to these primaries, there is no momentum. Come Feb. 5th, momentum will have got in its car and gone South for the winter! Two dozens states voting at the same time, not knowing who’s voting on who…… and here’s the catch: if Huckabee carries, say, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama and loses elsewhere, especially in states where Mac is strong, he might actually serve as a filter/buffer for the votes who could actually go to Romney!
I’ll give you this, Chuck: if Huckabee doesn’t win — soon and big — all the forces of the conservative movement MUST converge into one objective and one objective alone: keeping John “Kennedy/Feingold” McCain from getting the nomination.
Jarrod Brigham said
Gov. Huckabee and clemencies
I am assuming you got this from the Drudge report (who seems to like Romney) where he talked about a convict named Glen Green.
The Governor does not have the power to parole any prisoner. That responsibility lies with the parole board. The only action that Governor Huckabee took was to file a notice of intent to commute Glen Green’s sentence. The commutation would have reduced Green’s sentence to 181 years, 10 months, and 19 days. After the 30-day public hearing period ended, Governor Huckabee decided against commuting Green’s sentence. Your anger should be directed to the parole board, not Huck.
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=TruthSquad.Drudge
Gov. Huckabee gives in-state tuition to illegals:
THis was from an attack ad by Fred Thompson. Like all attack ads, much of the information was missing.
In Arkansas Governor Huckabee supported broadening a particular merit scholarship — not in-state tuition – to include high-achieving children who were applying for citizenship. This put these students on the same footing as permanent resident aliens, who have always been eligible for the scholarship.
The proposal to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for in-state tuition was not part of the Governor’s plan and did not pass.
The scholarships were intended to encourage all Arkansas children to work hard and excel academically. Since Arkansas has a constitutional obligation to educate all students, illegal and legal, through 12th grade, Governor Huckabee believed it was in the best interest of the state to encourage a select few (roughly 30 students would have been eligible) to continue their education. Unlike tuition discounts, the scholarship was merit-based and, because of the strict academic and financial need criteria, only open to a small number of students.
Any illegal students who wished to participate in the scholarship application process had to submit their application for citizenship. Having these students continue to their education would have enabled them to become “tax-payers” for the state rather than “tax-takers.”
This debate once again highlights the difficult position that our nation’s governors have been put in by the failures of the Federal Government. If immigration laws already in place had been enforced, governors would not be required to make decisions on how to simultaneously slow the inflow of illegal immigrants into their state while also trying to ensure that they are not left with increasing numbers of “tax takers.”
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=TruthSquad.Thompson
Gov. Huckabee is a serial tax raiser:
Governor Huckabee is a fiscal conservative who cut taxes almost 100 times in the state of Arkansas. He doubled the standard deduction and the child care credit, eliminated the marriage penalty, repealed capital gains taxes for home sales, lowered the capital gains rate, expanded the homestead exemption and set up tax-free savings accounts for medical care and college tuition.
The fact is that when Governor Huckabee began in office, the tax rate was 1% for the poorest taxpayers and 7 percent for the richest – the tax rates remained exactly the same when he left the governor’s office 11 years later. The sales tax only went up 1 penny in 10 ½ years and the gas tax 3 cents per gallon.
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=TruthSquad.ClubGrow
Gov. Huckabee believes the Constitution is a “living breathing document”:
Mike Huckabee states “The role of a judge is to interpret the law, not to legislate from the bench; and as president, I will only appoint men and women who share this view.
I firmly believe that the Constitution must be interpreted according to its original meaning, and flatly reject the notion of a “living Constitution.” ” This is straight from his mouth.
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=28
Gov. Huckabee on ethics
The ethics commission is a weapon of the left to attack Republicans. Do you not remember Tom Delay?
The overwhelming majority of ethics complaints filed against Governor Huckabee in the state of Arkansas were regularly dismissed and / or proven to be frivolous.
It is important to note that many of these complaints were either filed by a member of the Arkansas media with his own agenda or were filed by a Democrat activist using the so-called reporter’s story as the basis for the complaint.
The REAL story is that in the end, despite the many attempts, the only finding of an illegal gift was reversed on appeal.
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=TruthSquad.Ethics
Gov. Huckabee is not popular in AR:
Currently Huckabee has 59% of the Rep. vote in Arkansas; compare this with McCain in AZ (40%), Romney in MA (50%), Rudi in NY (24%), and Paul in TX (4%).
Gov. Huckabee is the closest thing to Hillary:
The only thing Clintona and Huckabee have in common is the state of origin. Huckabee is the true conservative and is the only one in the race (besides Keyes) who has never waivered on his core beliefs. The next Ronald Reagan is not around the corner, but Huck is the closest we have in 08. If you want to talk about electability, why not choose the candidate who has won in Arkansas. He know the Clinton playbook better than anyone else in the race.
Ed Lima said
Jarrod,
Good job. The reason why I didn’t mention the Truth Squad in my previous comments was because the information is so readily available to the public. Chuck decided to ignore this easily-found information in his writing, which to me constitutes a blatant attack on Huckabee.
That’s a tactic often used by Romney and McCain pundits.
Chuck Norton said
Jarrod –
Do you honestly believe that anything objective about his record is going to be published on Huckabee’s own web site?
Anything Critical?
Come on – now granted your point on ethics charges abuse is a valid one – but we ARE talking about Arkansas here.
If I just took stuff from the Clintons web sites – I could use that to “prove” that they have never been found “guilty” of corruption or major ethics violations. (Of course so many people right close to the clintons went to jail for all these how can the “smartest woman in the world” not know what was going on all around her – after all she knows what Barack Obama wrote in the 3rd grade.)
Huckabee is not the true conservative – did you see his comments about economic stimulus?
Did you notice that the stuff I found was not from anyone’s campaign site?
And on the clemency’s Jarrod – Pick any one or two instances you like to try and justify this – but we are talking about over 1000 clemency’s – just read the source article I posted – it has instance after instance after instance that turned into horrible tragedies.
Ed your right about McCain – but after giving the shaft to his own base and those who supported him early on so many times he sorta made his own bed to lay in.
And whats all this stuff about Romney? – I am not “geeked” over anyone running for president. Reluctantly, Fred was my first choice although I had serious reservations about his management abilities. I have serious reservations about Romney too but he is an economic genius and that does count for something.
Chuck Norton said
Ed – I ignored what was on Huckabee’s web site deliberately.
Reason – Hey why dont I go to Hillary Clintons Campaign Web Site to find out why Web Hubbel told his lawyer from prison “Hey I guess I will have to roll over for the Clintons again”
Or Maybe I can go to Her campaign site to read all about how the Chinese have been caught funneling money into her campaign.
Or Maybe I can go to Hillary’s web site to find out what her role was in the abuse of government employees such as Billy Dale or Dennis Sculimbrene.
Or maybe I can go to her web site and find out why it is that when the Department of Justice appointed her to help investigate the Arkansas Savings and Loan/Whitewater money scam that robbed citizens of their money – why it was that she didn’t file the proper conflict of interest paperwork – and ended up helping the government settle a multimillion dollar loss for a couple hundred grand.
Maybe I can go to her web site and find out how she was such a wizz in the cattle futures market – but only did it once.
Maybe I can go to her campaign web site and find out why she testified “I dont recall” 600 times. Maybe I can find out who it was that hired Craig Livingstone to be their head of Whitehouse Security who illegally examined 900 FBI files of political opponents and others.
Or maybe….
Ok I think I made my point.
Craig Chamberlin said
Chuck,
I actually enjoyed this article. The more I am learning about Huckabee the more concern I have with his possible election. Primarily I had a problem with this statement he made (I read elsewhere):
Here is the reality of the situation. Although I have respect for the man and the principles he stands for, I find little promise in forcing God’s standard on society through the Constitution. It was made to be interpreted for a reason. If he truly wants the constitution to be reflective of God, then he needs to place his efforts in creating a Christian nation that will interpret the Constitution in this form. Not legislate the faith through the Constitution. This is backwards from what Jesus did.
You change the hearts of man and the laws change themselves, you don’t change the laws and expect it to change the hearts of man. This is the same logic socialists use when they tax the rich and redistribute the wealth. “You ought to be charitible”. All you end up with is bitter and angry people who no longer want to be charitable because a large portion of their income is already forced to do so.
If Jesus were going to create legislate the word of God, he would have done so 2000 years ago. The fact is our Constitution would have no problem reflecting the Christian faith if our nation were Christian. Sometimes it seems to me people believe that if our laws were more Christian, our people would be. This logic is riddled with empty promises.
In today’s society, legislating the word of God will give the opposite impression to the ‘contemporary view’ that the majority is seeming to hold. I know people are going to hate me for saying this, it does not give me pleasure to say that modern day American’s no longer understand the principles we were built upon. For this reason we are heading towards an inevitable pendulum swing far to the left. They will need us in that time more than anything. I know and respect the fact that people are fighting it, but we shouldn’t fight it without forgetting that we are reflecting the Christian faith in the way we conduct that fight.
“We the people.” begins to sound terrifying to those who understand at some point the majority will choose foolishness over wisdom.
Chuck Norton said
HI Craig,
Since the Founders and our Deceleration of Independence all say that our rights are God Given – hence they come from God – it would be wise or incumbent upon us to practice those rights with respect to God in mind.
In fact the preamble to the state constitutions originally had a reference to God in it.
The Constitution has a rigorous democratic check for changing it, of course the “living breathing constitution” jerks think we should ignore the people and just do it by judicial fiat.
So I am more worried about those types of people.
Chuck Norton said
Alabama 1901, Preamble We the people of the State of Alabama , invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution.
Alaska 1956, Preamble We, the people of Alaska , grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land.
Arizona 1911, Preamble We, the people of the State of Arizona , grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution…
Arkansas 1874, Preamble . We, the people of the State of Arkansas , grateful to Almighty God for the privilege of choosing our own form of government…
California 1879, Preamble We, the People of the State of California , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom…
Colorado 1876, Preamble We, the people of Colorado , with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of Universe…
Connecticut 1818, Preamble. The People & Connecticut , acknowledging with gratitude the good Providence of God in permitting them to enjoy.
Delaware 1897, Preamble Through Divine Goodness all men have, by nature, the rights of worshipping and serving their Creator according to the dictates of their consciences.
Florida 1885, Preamble We, the people of the State of Florida , grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, establish this Constitution…
Georgia 1777, Preamble We, the people of Georgia , relying upon protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution…
Hawaii 1959, Preamble We , the people of Hawaii , Grateful for Divine Guidance … Establish this Constitution.
Idaho 1889, Preamble We, the people of the State of Idaho , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings.
Illinois 1870, Preamble We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil , political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.
Indiana 1851, Preamble We, the People of the State of Indiana , grateful to Almighty for the free exercise of the right to choose our form of government.
Iowa 1857, Preamble We, the People of the State of Iowa, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of these blessings, establish this Constitution.
Kansas 1859, Preamble We, the people of Kansas , grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious privileges establish this Constitution.
Kentucky 1891, Preamble. We, the people of the Commonwealth are grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties…
Louisiana 1921, Preamble . We, the people of the State of Louisiana , grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy.
Maine 1820, Preamble . We the People of Maine acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity . And imploring His aid and direction.
Maryland 1776, Preamble We, the people of the state of Maryland , grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty…
Massachusetts 1780, Preamble We…the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe In the course of His Providence, an opportunity and devoutly imploring His direction .
Michigan 1908, Preamble We, the people of the State of Michigan , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of freedom establish this Constitution.
Minnesota, 1857, Preamble We, the people of the State of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty, and desiring to perpetuate its blessings:
Mississippi 1890, Preamble We, the people of Mississippi in convention assembled, grateful to Almighty God, and invoking His blessing on our work.
Missouri 1845, Preamble We, the people of Missouri , with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and grateful for His goodness . Establish this Constitution…
Montana 1889, Preamble. We, the people of Montana , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty establish this Constitution ..
Nebraska 1875, Preamble We, the people, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom . Establish this Constitution.
Nevada 1864, Preamble We the people of the State of Nevada , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, establish this Constitution…
New Hampshire 1792, Part I. Art. I. Sec. V Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship Go d according to the dictates of his own conscience.
New Jersey 1 844, Preamble We, the people of the State of New Jersey, grateful to Almighty God for civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.
New Mexico 1911, Preamble We, the People of New Mexico, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty..
New York 1846, Preamble We, the people of the State of New York , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings.
North Carolina 1868, Preamble We the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for our civil, political, and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those…
North Dakota 1889, Preamble We , the people of North Dakota , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, do ordain…
Ohio 1852, Preamble We the people of the state of Ohio , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and to promote our common…
Oklahoma 1907, Preamble Invoking the guidance of Almighty God, in order to secure and perpetuate the blessings of liberty, establish this
Oregon 1857, Bill of Rights, Article I Section 2. All men shall be secure in the Natural right, to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences
Pennsylvania 1776, Preamble We, the people of Pennsylvania , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance…
Rhode Island 1842, Preamble. We the People of the State of Rhode Island grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing…
South Carolina , 1778, Preamble We, the people of he State of South Carolina grateful to God for our liberties, do ordain and establish this Constitution.
South Dakota 1889, Preamble We, the people of South Dakota , grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberties ..
Tennessee 1796, Art. XI.III. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their conscience…
Texas 1845, Preamble We the People of the Republic of Texas , acknowledging, with gratitude, the grace and beneficence of God.
Utah 1896, Preamble Grateful to Almighty God for life and liberty, we establish this Constitution.
Vermont 1777, Preamble Whereas all government ought to enable the individuals who compose it to enjoy their natural rights, and other blessings which the Author of Existence has bestowed on man .
Virginia 1776, Bill of Rights, XVI Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator can be directed only by Reason and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love and Charity towards each other
Washington 1889, Preamble We the People of the State of Washington, grateful to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution
West Virginia 1872, Preamble Since through Divine Providence we enjoy the blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, we, the people of West Virginia reaffirm our faith in and constant reliance upon God …
Wisconsin 1848, Preamble We, the people of Wisconsin , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, domestic tranquility…
Wyoming 1890, Preamble We, the people of the State of Wyoming , grateful to God for our civil, political, and religious liberties, establish this Constitution.
Craig Chamberlin said
“Since the Founders and our Deceleration of Independence all say that our rights are God Given – hence they come from God – it would be wise or incumbent upon us to practice those rights with respect to God in mind.”
My point exactly, great collection you have here!! I’m definitely keeping a copy of that. The founding fathers often prayed and asked the lord for guidance before making any of their decisions – the fear is not in requesting guidance from God when acknowledging our laws – the fear is in the idea of reshaping the constitution to dictate God’s laws.
I would love for politicians to often seek guidance by God before passing a law. They did it then because they understood the importance of doing so. What I don’t want is a fear based reaction to secular attacks on faith by dictating religion – thus proving them right in the end. It’s simply a fine line.
I’m not suggesting this is exactly what is going to happen, I just took his statement apprehensively, and its motivations, although sincere, seemed dangerous in the way his statement was generalized.
Good post.
Jarrod Brigham said
Chuck,
Please answer something for me about using Mike Huckabee’s website. If you dismiss material from Huckabee’s website as biased, how would you go about presenting his side of an arguement? I am sure that we can all agree that there are two sides, at least, to every story in politics. You presented a case against Mike Huckabee and when we present material providing information that answers your charges, you dismiss it.
What exactly would you accept as a reasonable answer to your charges?
Chuck Norton said
Jarrod – I dont have to present his side of the argument and to do so would be wrong for several reasons.
The first reason here is that the sources that I used do not come from his election opponents or party apparatus. They are third parties. In the case of Phillis Schalfley – while the is an elder stateswoman of the Republican party she has a steak in getting republicans elected. Schlafley credibility in conservative circles is taken seriously and she is not one to criticize one of her own unles she felt it was absolutely necessary.
The second here goes with my mission at The Vision – to bring people the information that is not easily found or presented by the antique media. Anyone can go to a campaign web site to see what a candidate wants to tell a voter – so presenting that here isnt different, it isnt special and it is not news. Not to mention we are very limited in space.
Chuck Norton said
What would I accept as refutation – sourced third party sources addressing what I wrote that is verifiable.