The left's relentless war on Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues

Originally Published on The Washington Times

OPINION:

Along with the picnics and fireworks, some Americans may give a passing thought to the men who gave us this blessed land and the rights and prosperity we enjoy today. The leaders of the Democratic Party won’t be among them.

It’s not just that we have a president who can’t quote the best-known lines in the Declaration of Independence. (Mr. Biden in 2020: “We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women are created, by the, you know, you know the thing”). We have a party that is unalterably opposed to the spirit of 1776.

The left has gone from absurdly claiming the mantle of the Founding Fathers — equating economic equality with political equality — to giving itself permission to hate them. The struggle today is between two competing 18th-century revolutions — those of America and France.

With critical race theory, the 1619 Project, and removing statues and renaming schools, the left is methodically canceling America’s history and heritage. The violence in the streets and violent rhetoric is part of the process.

With the Declaration and Constitution, the Founders gave us a system of government that springs from a sublime vision: political authority based on the consent of the governed, equality before the law and God-given rights — among them life and liberty, freedom of expression and religion, and the right to the means of self-defense.

The left’s assault on these rights includes abortion, cancel culture (the notion that expression of certain ideas is a form of violence), its Wall of Separation — the only wall it believes in — and the attack on gun rights…