Latest / Brian Thomas / Empower U - Scott Gerber - Declaration of Independence

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Empower U - Scott Gerber - Declaration of Independence · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: It's seven six here at fifty five KRCD talk station.
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  Speaker 1: Brian Thomas wishing everyone a very happy Tuesday and strongly
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  Speaker 1: encouraging you to log on tonight to empower you America
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  Speaker 1: dot or just register first, because we have a virtual
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  Speaker 1: class only and it's going to be an outstanding one.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking tonight. The subject matter America at two point fifty
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  Speaker 1: the Declaration of Independence and Constitutional Interpretation subheading the importance
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  Speaker 1: of the Declaration of Independence. Something we should never lose
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  Speaker 1: track of, something I know that the guest has not.
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  Speaker 1: Professor Scott Gerber unbelievable background. Retired law professor.
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  Speaker 2: He is.
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  Speaker 1: He's currently the Declaration of Independence Center Scholar at the
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  Speaker 1: University of Mississippi's Declaration of Independence Center for the Study
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  Speaker 1: of American Freedom, a fellow at the National Association of
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  Speaker 1: Scholars and Columnists for minding the campus. Longtime member of
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  Speaker 1: the Ohio Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights.
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  Speaker 1: He has published six academic books, forty nine articles, thirty
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  Speaker 1: eight book reviews, hundreds of op eds. He's also published
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  Speaker 1: five novels. We might even hear about the new one,
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  Speaker 1: The Trafficker this morning, but also one hundreds of presentations
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  Speaker 1: at some of the finest law schools that are out there,
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  Speaker 1: and he's the recipient of multiple awards for academic excellence.
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  Speaker 1: He is Professor Scott Gerber. Welcome to the program, Scott.
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  Speaker 1: An impressive background you have, and I appreciate your willingness
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  Speaker 1: to join the program this morning and to do the
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  Speaker 1: seminar tonight. Welcome to the show.
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  Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Brian, thanks for having me, and I'm
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  Speaker 2: particularly delighted to talk to you because you're a lawyer
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  Speaker 2: and my take on the Declaration is lawyer oriented.
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  Speaker 1: I get it, and you know, the cool thing about
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  Speaker 1: it is and the notes suggested because you had an
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  Speaker 1: interesting quote from Abraham Lincoln speaking about the Constitution relative
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  Speaker 1: to the Declaration of Independence. But the Constitution was the
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  Speaker 1: structure to protect and preserve and give form to the
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  Speaker 1: Declaration's moral truth. That moral truth is that we are
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  Speaker 1: created equal, but we are endowed specifically with unalienable rights.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, you're born with him and the government
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  Speaker 1: can't take them away or only the government isn't a
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  Speaker 1: position to take them away, something our colonists experience under
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  Speaker 1: the thumb of oppression from England. We have God given rights.
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  Speaker 1: That's the point, this is sort of a new concept
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  Speaker 1: in the world when the Declaration of Independence assigned.
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  Speaker 2: That's exactly right, And you just summarized what Walter Isaacson
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  Speaker 2: called the greatest tentons ever written, and your listeners know
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  Speaker 2: the sentence, but I'm going to read it anyway. We
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  Speaker 2: hold these truths to be self evident, that all men
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  Speaker 2: are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator
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  Speaker 2: with certain unailiable rights, that among these are life, liberty,
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  Speaker 2: and the pursuit of happiness. And my talk tonight is
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  Speaker 2: going to be about the relationship between those moral truths
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  Speaker 2: and the Constitution of the United States, and how the
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  Speaker 2: Constitution is the political architecture designed to effectuate the moral
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  Speaker 2: truths of the Declaration of Independence.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I always like to refer things as the state
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  Speaker 1: of nature, so like, for example, discussing our Second Amendment rights,
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  Speaker 1: which the founders recognize most notably since Britain tried to
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  Speaker 1: liberate everyone from their firearms and therefore their ability to
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  Speaker 1: defend themselves. If you were born in the wild, there
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  Speaker 1: are no forms of government. You are there by yourself.
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  Speaker 1: What do you have? You have literally everything? You can
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  Speaker 1: worship who you want to worship. You can defend yourself
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  Speaker 1: from the dangers that may lurk around the corner with
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  Speaker 1: no one telling you you can't. We could go on.
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  Speaker 1: There's no one there to intrude into your personal effects,
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  Speaker 1: and papers on and on and on. Those are embodied
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  Speaker 1: in the Bill of Rights, and I think they speak
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  Speaker 1: the truth. If you sort of put yourself in that
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  Speaker 1: position pre government, you are free, quite literally. And while
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  Speaker 1: we must have rules and laws that may curb those
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  Speaker 1: freedoms in an ordered society, it doesn't take away the
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  Speaker 1: fact that you have these inalienable rights.
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  Speaker 2: Correct, and the government is not supposed to infringe on
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  Speaker 2: our rights. They're supposed to protect the rights that our
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  Speaker 2: creator endoubt us.
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  Speaker 1: With supposed to right. And also, I mean, let's let's
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  Speaker 1: face it, this was the red light of the sand
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  Speaker 1: that in the content and the Declaration of Independence also
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  Speaker 1: points out listen basically and boiled down in Brian Thomas's verbage,
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  Speaker 1: you know, when you're fed up, when you can no
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  Speaker 1: longer tolerate the oppression, you're a feeling you have the
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  Speaker 1: right to overthrow that form of government exactly.
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  Speaker 2: And the Declaration, as my work documents, is grounded in
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  Speaker 2: the political philosophy of John Locke, and his famous contribution
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  Speaker 2: included the right to revolution when the government itself can't
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  Speaker 2: be reformed and instead infringes on our rights and becomes tyrannical.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and isn't it interesting that the left, those who
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  Speaker 1: seek to undermine the United States of America, given all
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  Speaker 1: of its wild success based on these freedoms, wants to
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  Speaker 1: put into its place something more along than American, to
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  Speaker 1: something socialist, which is, if nothing else, a complete eradicator
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  Speaker 1: freedoms and liberties.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly. And another part of my talk is about Clarence
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  Speaker 2: Thomas's commitment to the Declaration of Independence. One of my
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  Speaker 2: books is about Clarence Thomas, and the reason I wrote
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  Speaker 2: the book was he had a shared interest in the
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  Speaker 2: connection between the Declaration and the Constitution. And his most
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  Speaker 2: famous contribution to American jurisprudence, which we saw implemented in
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, was that rights in the United States
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  Speaker 2: or individual rights, not group rights. And that's why the
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  Speaker 2: Supreme Court declared it illegal to have race based admissions policies,
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  Speaker 2: for example, in the nation's colleges and universities.
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  Speaker 1: One of the biggest failures I think in American education
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  Speaker 1: is that young people were never really quite clearly taught
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  Speaker 1: much beyond the just simple bait. We declared independence from Britain,
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  Speaker 1: and then they move on the reason for the declaration,
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  Speaker 1: and I think a lot of people might not be
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  Speaker 1: aware that within the Declaration of Independence they outlined all
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  Speaker 1: of the abuses that they wanted to that were not addressed,
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  Speaker 1: and the reason for breaking away from and declaring independence
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  Speaker 1: that we were literally abused. We were denied the ability
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  Speaker 1: to control our own destinies. We had the unreasonable searches
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  Speaker 1: and seizures, people kicking indoors, general warrants, the taking away
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  Speaker 1: of firearms taxes without representation, on and on and on,
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  Speaker 1: all of these things again erosions into our freedoms and liberties.
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  Speaker 1: Why don't they stress this to our young people in
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  Speaker 1: school these days? So at least we have some understanding
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  Speaker 1: about the importance of the freedoms that the Declaration of
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  Speaker 1: Independence brought to light, and that we're confirmed in the Constitution.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly right. And it's not just our kids in
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  Speaker 2: school that don't know it. But I had an op
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  Speaker 2: beed a month ago or so in the Washington Times
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  Speaker 2: where I point out that the Chief Justice the United States.
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  Speaker 2: John Roberts doesn't even understand it. As you know, at
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  Speaker 2: the end of every year he gives a State of
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  Speaker 2: the Federal Judiciary report to Congress, and so in December
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  Speaker 2: he dedicated it to the Declaration of Independence because of
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  Speaker 2: the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary at the moment, and
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  Speaker 2: he said that the Declaration is just asplirational, has no
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  Speaker 2: role in legal interpretation and all of that. And of
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  Speaker 2: course I think that's dead wrong. I explain why he's
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  Speaker 2: wrong in my off ed. But Clarence Thomas knows he's
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  Speaker 2: dead wrong. And so my book about Clarence Thomas, that
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  Speaker 2: i'll also talk about a little bit tonight, explains why
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  Speaker 2: Justice Thomas feels that the Declaration explains what a quality
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  Speaker 2: means in America. All men are created equal. But that's
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  Speaker 2: different than what the left is trying to do by
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  Speaker 2: shoving group rights theories down our throats. It's an individual right.
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  Speaker 2: Every individual is entitled to the fruits of his or
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  Speaker 2: her efforts and natural talents.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's no I mean, this is the difference
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  Speaker 1: between you know that freedom loving people and opportunity loving
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  Speaker 1: people and those who think that this somehow establishes a guarantee,
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  Speaker 1: like a government guarantee, that you are going to get
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  Speaker 1: the happiness that you want to pursue that you're I mean,
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  Speaker 1: some might I think if I use the word bastardize
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  Speaker 1: the language of the Constitution as well as Declaration of
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  Speaker 1: Independence to suggest that it is government's obligation to create
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  Speaker 1: some sort of equality among US citizens, most notably financial equality.
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  Speaker 2: Right, correct, It is not. We're supposed to be able,
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  Speaker 2: as you pointed out, and as the language of the
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  Speaker 2: Declaration makes obvious, pursue our happiness. The government doesn't give
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  Speaker 2: us things, doesn't give us happiness, but it's not supposed
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  Speaker 2: to take away things from us either. And so if
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  Speaker 2: I work hard than you, or you work harter than me,
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  Speaker 2: and you're smarter than me, and all of that, you're
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  Speaker 2: entitled to more than I am.
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  Speaker 1: Well, And of course it's smart people that I go
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  Speaker 1: out and pursue and actually achieve that end up employing
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  Speaker 1: the rest of us out here, or maybe not quite
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  Speaker 1: capable of doing it. Scott W two employee. I have
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  Speaker 1: always been, and I think those who've gone before me
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  Speaker 1: who have provided employment opportunities for me throughout my life.
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  Speaker 1: You know, some can and some can't, and God bless
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  Speaker 1: the people who can and that they are not impeded
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  Speaker 1: from doing so for the benefit of the entire country.
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  Speaker 1: Let us pive it over because I know you're gonna
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  Speaker 1: mention it tonight in The Trafficker, which is your most
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  Speaker 1: recent novel. Give me a little insight because I understand
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  Speaker 1: it takes place in Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I appreciate you bringing that up. I'll talk about
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  Speaker 2: that tonight as well. It's the origins of it are
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  Speaker 2: as you pointed out in the intro. I've been on
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  Speaker 2: the Ohio Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil
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  Speaker 2: Rights since two thousand and eight. That's a long time.
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  Speaker 2: And around twenty and fifteen we did an investigation and
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  Speaker 2: a report on human trafficking in Ohio and I was
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  Speaker 2: shocked what I learned and the testimony of one of
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  Speaker 2: the witnesses, a woman who had been trafficked when she
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  Speaker 2: was a child, just haunted me. And so I decided
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  Speaker 2: that I was going to write a novel about it
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  Speaker 2: because I thought that was the best way to reach people,
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  Speaker 2: to reach them emotionally and to try to, you know,
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  Speaker 2: bring this problem to light. It's shocking. Toledo is shockingly
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  Speaker 2: a hub of human trafficking in the United States. Ohio
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  Speaker 2: is the second worst state in the country for human trafficking,
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  Speaker 2: if you can believe such a thing. You know, Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: a thousand, a thousand children a year in Ohio are
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  Speaker 2: trafficked for sex. Fifteen hundred and foreign nationals are trafficked
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  Speaker 2: in Ohio every year for sex. And I venture to
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  Speaker 2: say that, you know, every week or two, every one
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  Speaker 2: of us, when we're just walking around, going into a restaurant,
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  Speaker 2: going into a motel, we see someone being traffick and
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  Speaker 2: we just don't know it right, right. And so January
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  Speaker 2: was National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and it's been that
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  Speaker 2: by decree of the President of the United States since
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  Speaker 2: twenty ten. And so the novel came out in mid January,
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  Speaker 2: and it's illegal thriller. And luckily for me, so far,
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  Speaker 2: the readers have not only understood the substance of message
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  Speaker 2: I'm trying to tell in the story, but have kindly
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  Speaker 2: mentioned that the pages keep on turning, and so that's
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  Speaker 2: what that's what I'm trying to do. But so my
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  Speaker 2: novels are page turners, but I also want a substance
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  Speaker 2: of message in there.
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  Speaker 1: So, Scott Gerber, it is a work of fiction built
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  Speaker 1: around the realities of the situation in the state of Ohio. Exactly,
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  Speaker 1: exactly real quick, is it? This I seventy five Corridor
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  Speaker 1: is one of the reasons why we're one of the
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  Speaker 1: most prominent states for trafficking or is there some of
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  Speaker 1: the reason Ohio has that nefarious label attached to it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's that. And Toledo is you know, is a
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  Speaker 2: is a hub of you know, the highways going out
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  Speaker 2: towards Chicago and then up to Canada, then over to Pennsylvania,
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  Speaker 2: all all of that.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, the horrors of that are just beyond just just
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  Speaker 1: beyond my capable understand capability of understanding tonight, Scott Gerber,
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  Speaker 1: it's a log in only empower you America dot or
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  Speaker 1: just register ahead of time. Seven o'clock is the star time.
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  Speaker 1: It's going to be fascinating. And I guess Scott, considering
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  Speaker 1: you're talking about the Declaration of Independence and as well
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  Speaker 1: as a constitution in the history, you would probably welcome
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  Speaker 1: younger people joining in the fun and logging into the
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  Speaker 1: to the seminar.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah you broke up a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: You're still there, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm just thinking it
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  Speaker 1: sounds to me like some younger people.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah. As you pointed out, younger people
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  Speaker 2: aren't being taught enough about the Declaration, and this is
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  Speaker 2: the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and so tonight is
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  Speaker 2: a good opportunity for them to learn a little bit
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  Speaker 2: more about it in detail, and to learn about the
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  Speaker 2: connection between the Declaration and the Constitution, and also to
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  Speaker 2: learn about how the most senior justice on the US
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  Speaker 2: Supreme Court how he feels.
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  Speaker 1: About the Declaration. Outstanding subject matter. Gather around seven pm
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  Speaker 1: to Star Time Inpoweroamerica dot org. Scott, thanks for your
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  Speaker 1: time this morning and all the great work that you
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  Speaker 1: do throughout the year. Keep it up. We be looking
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  Speaker 1: forward to reading your new book, The Trafficker, and hopefully
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  Speaker 1: somebody in Columbus will do something about that. Scott Garber,
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  Speaker 1: have a great seminar tonight, and thanks again for your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Brian, have a good day.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks you too. Seven twenty right now fifty five krc
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  Speaker 1: he talks