In spite of the considerable damage that free-spending Republicans in Congress and the current president have done to the Republican "brand," grass roots Republicans still are united in many basic beliefs. I believe I speak for many when I say that I am a Republican ...
...because I believe in the foundations of our constitutional republic under God and will act to preserve, protect, defend and restore them to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
...because I believe we are all endowed by our Creator with our inalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness and that government exists to secure these rights and not to destroy them or enable their destruction.
...because I believe that our God-given rights are not granted or denied to us by any other human beings based on criteria of their choice, whether those criteria are race, religion, age, sex, disabilities or prenatal developmental characteristics, among others.
...because I believe that thrusting the sticky-fingered, heavy hand of government into my neighbors' pockets is a violation of liberty absent compelling need and constitutional authority.
...because I believe that all persons are entitled to the enjoyment and free disposition of the fruits of their labors.
...because my country is unique in that it is based on certain ideas and that its survival will depend on the quality of the ideas that prevail in our civil discourse.
...because government is essentially a legal monopoly on the use of force and coercion that must be constrained and held accountable rather than habitually expanded.
...because I believe our government is based on separation and enumeration of powers, and therefore oppose the usurpation of the legitimate and constitutional powers of any branch of government by any other branch, especially when it is done to advance a corrupt and destructive agenda.
...because I oppose the expansion of governmental power beyond those areas specifically authorized by the Constitution.
...because I support the American values of liberty and justice for all and equal justice under law.
...because I believe in the critical importance of certain time-honored principles and traditions such as the sanctity of human life, monogamous and heterosexual marriage, the nuclear family, free enterprise, private initiative, personal virtue and self-reliance, and I will oppose anything that undermines them, especially when it is forced upon us by governmental usurpations.
...because I believe in government of the people, by the people and for the people rather than government of the childish, by the cynical and for the power-hungry.
...because I reject the narcissistic delusion that charity consists in confiscating my neighbors' wealth through the power of government to accomplish the things I deem beneficial for others.
...because I hold a holistic vision of environmentalism to include protection, preservation and restoration of not only the external natural environment but also our political, social, ethical, moral and overall cultural environments, as well as our individual internal environments of our physical bodies, our minds and our spirits.
...because I believe that self-government begins with government of the self, by the self, and reject the distorted vision of freedom that defines it as the ability to do anything one wants, including indulge in perverse and destructive practices.
...because I embrace a vision of freedom that includes responsibilities to God, family, community and country, and that requires effort to improve one's self.
...because I love my country and its people and want them to be happy, healthy, prosperous, virtuous, secure and free.
...because I am an American and want to see this country remain a beacon of light and hope in a world full of darkness, a shining city on a hill.