For some odd reason,  I was recently self-motivated to consider rewriting the 1964 Sharon Statement, which has been central to my political and economic thinking since I first read it in 1986.

I used a few Grammarly and Google Docs linguistic and grammar suggestions, plus some of my values and ideas on how I currently see the world in 2024.

Comments, thoughts, etc., welcome.

– – – – – – - 

The Sharon Statement v2.0 (SDH 2024 v1 Revision)

The original version was approved by Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) in 1964 (pdf).

Americans are responsible for affirming certain eternal truths in this time of moral and political crises. 

We, as Americans, believe: 

1. That foremost among the transcendent values is the individual’s use of his God-given free will, whence derives our right to be free from the restrictions of arbitrary force; 
2. That liberty is indivisible and that political freedom cannot long exist without economic freedom; 
3. That the purpose of government is to protect those freedoms through the preservation of laws, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice; 
4. That when government ventures beyond these rightful functions, it accumulates power, which tends to diminish freedom and liberty; 
5. That the Constitution of the United States is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering the government to fulfill its proper role while restraining it from the concentration and abuse of power; 
6. The genius of the Constitution — the division of powers — is summed up in the clause that reserves primacy to the states or to the people in those spheres not specifically delegated to the Federal government; 
7. That the market economy, allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand, is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of personal freedom and constitutional government, and that it is at the same time the most productive supplier of human needs; 
8. That when government interferes with the work of the market economy, it tends to reduce the moral and physical strength of the United States; that when it takes from one person to bestow on another, it diminishes the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second, and the moral autonomy of both; 
9. That we will be free only so long as the freedoms of Americans are secure and that history shows periods of freedom are rare and can exist only when free Americans concertedly defend their rights against all enemies; 
10. That the forces of international Communism Authoritarianism are, at present, the greatest single threat to these liberties; 
11. Americans should stress victory over, rather than coexistence with, this menace. 

This criterion must judge any decision: Does it serve the just interests of Americans?

– – – – – – - 

I am lumping the following into Authoritarianism (in no particular order): communism, Nazism, fascism, socialism, monarchies, dictatorships, military juntas, dynasties, regimes, totalitarianism, terrorism, and single-party states (where only one political party is allowed).