Founding Fathers

ELEVEN SCORE and six years ago, our Founding Fathers -- a bunch of white guys who today are maligned for being politically incorrect -- gathered on a July day in Philadelphia to draft what would become the Declaration of Independence. They mentioned some things about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and made reference to a supreme being no fewer than four times. Thirteen years later, they ratified a constitution for a nation they hoped would be based on freedom, responsibility and reason.

To reach the Convention Center, you must first walk the gauntlet of dead baby parts. It's one of the newer and more gruesome tactics in the fight over reproductive choice, protesters hoisting large color placards depicting aborted fetuses torn in chunks as a group of men preaches an unending sermon on the evils of abortion. As rhetorical tactics go, it is a bludgeon. The street preachers have other things on their minds, too: Muslims are bad, homosexuals are worse, and if you vote Democrat, you're going to hell in the fast lane.

Nullification fever is spreading across the rural counties along the Mason-Dixon Line, with Cecil, Harford and Carroll counties passing resolutions in the last month declaring their view that Maryland's new gun control law is unconstitutional. Cecil's council kicked off the trend with a resolution stating its intent that no county resources be used to enforce the law. Harford took a more moderate tack, with its councilmen merely urging more study of the constitutionality of the law. But Carroll County on Wednesday took matters to a new level - perhaps no surprise, given the commissioners' previous efforts to disprove global warming.

I OWN ONE of the 78 vehicles licensed in Maryland to bear the Sons of Confederate Veterans logo. For almost two years, my van has displayed these tags with little or no notice, save the envy among SCV members in other states when we gather at conventions. Now, suddenly with the coming of the New Year, our special tags are the center of an enormous amount of attention, not only in the Free State but across the entire American Union.There are those it seems, who are offended by our century-old copyrighted logo, which features the Confederate battle flag.

CLEVELAND --Cleaning my basement the other day was like a tour through our disposable society. I threw out a 7-year-old Mac computer that was as relevant as a leisure suit. I tossed a bunch of Happy Meal toys that entertained my kids about as long as the burgers they came with. And I threw out a few antique phones -- you know, the kind with cords. I worked my way like an archeologist to the modern era -- the most throwaway layer -- last week's newspapers. There I read about Napster and about a program in San Diego to test the DNA of convicts who believe they were falsely accused.

If it's a new day, there's probably at least one new Michele Bachmann gaffe. Today's comes courtesy of an interview Bachmann did with ABC News, in which she categorized John Quincy Adams (who was the sixth president) as a "founding father" when it was his dad, John Adams (the second president), who was actually one of the founding fathers.  Bachmann's been getting beat up in the media today over the statement, but watching the clip, I don't think this is one of her worst mistakes.

Alexandria, Virginia.--If, without violating the First Amendment, I could eliminate two words from the American vocabulary, it would be these: ''Founding Fathers.'' For one thing, they never really existed. More importantly, their invocation robs the U.S. constitutional system of its true vigor.In current American mythology, a single group of visionary men -- the ''Founding Fathers'' -- created our democratic form of government along with the rights that it protects. But during the republic's infancy, there never was a cohesive group of solons with a united vision of America.

THERE IS A candidate running for the Senate who believes that a victory for him is a "victory ... for God." That candidate is Alan L. Keyes, who was recently selected by the Illinois Republican Central Committee to run against the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. Mr. Keyes began his acceptance speech with the following words, "Praise God," and he ended it by assuring his listeners that he had confidence in winning "because the victory is for God." Why God would take sides in a Senate race is unclear.

In National Treasure, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, controls a key clue to the whereabouts of a secret treasure. He's part of a conspiracy of Masons among the Founding Fathers, including Ben Franklin and George Washington. They've acquired an immense trove of precious historical artifacts - and they've hidden it to keep it safe from America's enemies. Ronald Hoffman, author of a history of the Carroll clan, Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland, and the director of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg, Va., says that Carroll was not a Mason.

SINGAPORE -- Lee Kuan Yew is bristling, unable to mask his contempt for questions about the American teen-ager sentenced here to caning.He essentially has ruled this tiny island republic for its entire history like an emperor. He has a reputation as a blunt, shrewd, ruthless man who brooks no challenge and exerts maximum control. In his office earlier this week, he immediately lives up to the that image.Keep asking questions about the sentencing of 18-year-old Michael P. Fay to six lashes of a rattan cane, and the interview is over, Mr. Lee says angrily.