The Patriot's Credo
by Richard Gleaves

The Nine Principles of American Civic life

1. America is a country of ideas.

2. Those ideas are and must be based on reason, so that men and women of
all faiths and philosophies can adhere to them equally.

3. The fundamental idea of America is freedom, which means the
abolishment of physical force from civic life.

4. Individual rights are the recognition of personal self-ownership.
They ensure our freedoms. They include the Right to Life which means the
right to exist without threat of destruction; the Right to Liberty which
means the right to exist without physical coercion; the Right to
Property which means the right to create, earn, own, use and trade
property; the Right to Pursue Happiness which means the right to take
action in service to one's own life. These rights are unalienable and
belong to all individuals.

5. No collective or group possesses more or different rights beyond the
individual rights of its members.

6. Rights are freedoms of action, not coercive claims on the property or
services of others.

7. No man may violate the rights of another by force.

8. Our government was founded to be the defender of man's legitimate
rights, so that force may be used only against those who initiate force
or fraud against others, that it may be controlled by objective law.
This is the justification of our military, courts, and police forces.

9. A government that initiates force or fraud against its citizens is
illegitimate; it is the prerogative of the people to alter or abolish
such a government.

The Twelve Virtues of American Civic Life

1. Rationality
2. Independence
3. Honesty
4. Integrity
5. Justice
6. Productiveness
7. Pride
8. Self-governance
9. Voluntary cooperation
10. Benevolence
11. Mutual respect
12. Recognition of individual sovereignty

No man should be embarrassed to love his country. America belongs to us
all equally, to every individual regardless of our differences, and by
virtue of our shared humanity. In its founding principles, it is the
noblest country in the history of man.

Let us march together beneath the Revolutionary Banner: "Liberty, Reason
and Rights!"

We must call on the current administration, both parties in Congress,
the Supreme Court, the Governors and Legislatures of the several states
and on our fellow citizens to reinstate these founding ideas that were
once at the center American life. It is a secular creed by which men and
women of all faiths and nations may live together, grow together, and
ultimately achieve greatness.

Please spread this note, which I believe represents the common sense of
the matter, to every person within your reach.

"The last hope of human liberty in this world rests on us. We ought, for
so dear a state, to sacrifice every attachment and every enmity."
– Thomas Jefferson

For more, see the Principled Patriots site
http://principledpatriots.us
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-- Mike Blessing / http://mikewb1971.xanga.com
Phone -- 505-515-7015 / Yahoo IM -- mikewb1971
PGP Public Key -- http://tinyurl.com/yjt2u4g

Who owns you? Who runs your life? Who should -- you or someone else?
Freedom is the answer -- what's the question?

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Commentary and Opinion for the Undamaged Mind
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