This Declaration of Conservatism was adopted by the Board of Directors of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies in its meeting on August 9, 1998 in Dallas, Texas. It incorporates the fundamental principles and reason for being for the National Federation or Republican Assemblies and its state chapters.

FUNDAMENTAL DECLARATION OF CONSERVATISM

For over two hundred years, the United States of America has been the model of freedom for the world. Many sacrificed everything they possessed to come to this land of the free. Our system of freedom, God-given rights, and limited government has been the envy of freedom-loving people worldwide.

But, America has changed. Government, at all levels, now does for us what we should rightfully do for ourselves. Our political leaders compete to provide the most socialistic services to constituents. As government has provided us with more, our political leaders and judiciary have usurped more power, and we have forfeited many of our precious freedoms; as a result, our Republic has deteriorated into a democracy.

America is being surrendered to a new world order. Our leaders, both elected and unelected, view themselves as international reformers rather than statesmen or patriots. They have a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, seeking the establishment of an absolute tyranny over the states and the citizens thereof. To prove this, let the facts be submitted to a sober nation:

They do not honor God in the public forum and despise those that do. They have lost their moral compass.

They have ignored God's Law as the basis of the Common Law. They have substituted a capricious and arbitrary judiciary for our historic system of common justice. They have created excessive volumes of laws without endorsing moral restraint. They have established policies, which grant favor to the law-breaker over the rights of the law-abiding.

They have abandoned respect for the sanctity of human life. They are destroying the family as the foundation of a free society by establishing punitive economic policies. They have taxed our children's children without representation. They have created class envy through a redistribution of wealth by unjust, inequitable taxes.

They do not respect the natural, beautiful differences between men and women. They have dishonored motherhood by forcing many mothers from their homes and children into the workplace. The nurturing love of families for children has been stolen by strangers in day care.

They have perverted our ballot processes with no accountability or traceable records. Their campaign reforms have established a protected class of career politicians who cannot be fairly challenged.

They have enacted innumerable, burdensome regulations.

They have undermined the sovereignty of our separate States and forced them into collective submission to a federal agenda through economic blackmail.

They have corrupted public education by establishing and protecting corrupt monopolies that teach socialist adaptation and collectivism over fundamental principles and eternal truth. The rich history of our God-fearing citizenry has been supplanted by humanist revisionism. They have mandated instruction in a new set of values, which will destroy our great constitutional Republic in the future.

They have established policies of confiscation without due process. They have violated our fundamental rights of private property and security in our persons, houses, papers, and effects.

They have enacted laws that infringe upon our right to keep and bear arms - a right that serves as a protection against the tyranny of an oppressive government.

As members of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, we firmly establish this national standard for the Conservative movement - an anchor upon which we rest our common beliefs.

Liberty demands the greatest of self-restraint and individual responsibility. Our freedom is the greatest gift we as citizens can give to future generations.

Conservatism without a moral anchor is baseless and void. We assert that God's Law, as recorded in the Holy Scriptures, is supreme in our land. Our laws and our system of justice must demonstrate a reverence for Divine Law in the Public Forum, without prejudice to any single denomination.

Government is to be a servant of the People and not a fearful master. Our Founding Fathers were precise in their beliefs regarding the responsibilities of the citizen versus the obligations of government. We must interpret our Constitution in light of the founders' intent. Our Constitution is an instrument of delegated powers; thus, our federal government only has powers granted to it and rigidly constrained by the Constitution.

The delegated role of our federal government is to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

We hold to Principle over politics. We must elect and support statesmen over unprincipled politicians.

We must restrain ourselves from borrowing from the future to finance the indulgences of today.

We must protect the institution of marriage as ordained by God, being one man and one woman joined in a Holy contract, as the cornerstone of civilization.

We believe that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed, and that this same sacred right, which extends to all persons regardless of age or infirmity, does not allow for euthanasia, assisted suicide, or public funding for any of these practices.

We oppose any form of world government, including our participation in the United Nations. Our officials, both elected and unelected, must always act to preserve the sovereignty of these United States, provide for a strong national defense and protect our borders.

Autonomous states are a protection against federal usurpation of citizens' rights, and we must reinstate the states' sovereign authority over public lands within their borders.

We believe that the responsibility of citizenship does not end at the ballot box, but rather assert that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. The good citizen is one who actively labors to ensure freedom for ourselves and our posterity.

We must restore the Constitutional Republic - not endure a democracy.