If we were to ever allow someone not born an American to become President of the United States, I'd argue that Mark Steyn would be the perfect candidate.

His current column int he Orange County Register includes the above assertion in a fuller form -- and bears frequent repetition.

As for "gun-totin'," large numbers of Americans tote guns because they're assertive, self-reliant citizens, not docile subjects of a permanent governing class. The Second Amendment is philosophically consistent with the First Amendment, for which I've become more grateful since the Canadian Islamic Congress decided to sue me for "hate speech" up north. Both amendments embody the American view that liberty is not the gift of the state, and its defense cannot be outsourced exclusively to the government.

Indeed, Steyn pegs it. A government that is viewed as the source of liberty is one which can claim the authority to revoke those liberties as unnecessary. A government that is the sole defender of liberty is one which also assumes the right to squash those same liberties in the name of a greater interest. On this day, the 233rd anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, we find ourselves reminded that it was the attempt by the British government to seize the colonists' means of self-defense -- their guns, shot, and powder -- that brought about a Revolution.

Steyn's timely reminder fits well with the words chosen by a group of patriots the following summer -- words which have inspired those seeking freedom for over two centuries and in every corner of our world.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Endowed by our Creator.

Certain unalienable rights.

Let us not forget.

H/T Malkin

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