Bakersfield.com by William D. Bezdek 8/29/2019
In the Aug. 26 Community Voices piece “Are we all racist now?†the author attaches the recent fashion of slurring political opponents with racist trope to what he identifies as a root cause: “...an uncompromising and unending battle of political progressives vs. most of the rest of us who respect and uphold traditional values — regardless of our political affiliations.†He then stigmatizes progressives as persons who “are determined to transform our country from its current 'natural law’ foundation to a radically different philosophy.†He pontificates, “Our nation is based on certain principles of 'natural law,' each clearly set forth in our Declaration of Independence upon which our U.S. Constitution is based," and lists them — all created equal, endowed by Creator with certain unalienable rights, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Where to begin? Certainly progressives are trying to transform our country. However, the notion that our country is based on natural law is 18th century historical nonsense. Natural laws are laws that exist independent of any given political order and are felt to be objective and universal. They descend from early Greek philosophies and were codified by the Middle Ages philosopher, Thomas Aquinas. Presently, natural law is a stand-in for the concept of natural rights.
More:
https://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/community-voices-what-type-of-citizen-are-you/article_299ec326-c92b-11e9-8691-3b7ced6f15b6.html
