Why We're Here
At Citizen Journal, we invite our readers to educate themselves, discuss their ideas, and be heard. This challenge, we believe, is emblematic of our purpose in developing Citizen Journal and in making this website available to our readers, which is to provide a public forum for honest, lively political debate.
History teaches that the United States was founded upon the free exchange of ideas and a vital tradition of rigorous political debate. This imperative was forcefully and courageously displayed by the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and later found expression the United States Constitution.
Our country's tradition of debating and discussing ideas is, however, systematically disavowed by far-flung media, academic and political conglomerates to which it has been entrusted. Instead, these institutions effectively regulate discussion and stifle ideas they collectively oppose. Often, ideas they deem “insensitive” or politically “incorrect” - as judged by the amorphous rules of political correctness - are shamed into silence, or altogether banished. The daily installment of The New York Times and the nightly news, along with constant bombardment of Hollywood's vain brand of liberalism, serves only to compound the problems, squelching real debate even further.
Media syndicates and moguls do not want real debate. We do. Written editorial commentary is essential to America's tradition off unregulated debate, and for the free exchange of ideas to survive the purge of political correctness and collectivism, ongoing debate must be cultivated within the citizenry. Those having the talent, and desire, to write must do so; they must embrace the opportunity to discuss and debate the moments that define our history. This is critical to a civilization whose government is to be elected by educated, thinking citizens.
We believe Citizen Journal is badly needed. The terrain of political discussion is far different than it was even five or ten years ago, and the process needs to be reinvigorated. With so much at stake, our purpose is very simple: to provide a forum for good writers to discuss important political issues. There are many talented writers who have yet to be discovered, and we might all benefit if they were heard.
In short, Citizen Journal reflects our belief that our nation's silenced majority has the great potential to impact the direction of political thought in the United States. We believe that the written word - especially when carefully considered, debated, and polished - is indeed one's most powerful voice.
What We Believe
We believe in a strong national defense and protecting this nation at all costs, even if those costs involve the dreaded profiling of those committed to our extinction and even temporarily surrendering some rights in the interests of national survival. This belief is pre-eminent since, if we don't survive as a nation, all that follows is irrelevant.
We believe in free enterprise over socialism, personal not collective responsibility, and fiscal restraint. We do not support abandoning such programs as Social Security and Medicare. This, however, is not to say we don’t see the need for revisions and improvements in these so-called “entitlements” and elimination of waste in their administration before they implode under the weight of retiring baby-boomers. We also believe in providing for the needy, but not at the cost of a welfare state which condemns families to generations of dependency. We believe it doesn't “take a village” to raise a child, it takes a family. And we believe in one nation 'under God.'
We believe that innocents should not be killed in the womb or, worse yet, killed in “partial birth abortions,” what even the late, liberal Democrat, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, fairly described as “infanticide,” but what liberals call a “procedure.” We also hold the quaint belief that a marriage should be between a man and a woman.
We are not naysayers, but we do oppose such organizations as the ACLU and NAMBLA, the re-distribution of wealth through unfair taxation, and socialized medicine. We believe the aforementioned to be self-evident truths and we believe in the United States of America.
