When we were teenagers, a smart childhood friend taught me how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism.  I did not understand at the time what this word meant, other than it was just anti-something, and that generally worked for a teenager.

Fast-forward to 2010, when Geoffrey P. Hunt wrote a learned article explaining this confusing word: "Obama's Antidisestablishmentarianism and the Tea Partiers."  It seems establishmentarianism comprised those supporting the old Anglican Church, and disestablishmentarianism was those against the old Anglican Church.  By extension, the antidisestablishmentarians were those against those who were against the church.  This sounds like our current political system in this country; everyone has to be against someone else or something else, without always clearly defining what he is for.

In that article, Mr. Hunt went on to say the current-day establishmentarians are the progressive liberals pushing more government controls and higher taxes, and the disestablishmentarians are the current-day Tea Party agitators.  Mr. Hunt referred to Obama as "the high priest of the antidisestablishmentarians."  Mr. Hunt concluded in 2010 that the Tea Partiers were disestablishmentarians, much like our nation's founders.

Fast-forward to the present day: the liberals and the progressives rarely openly attack the Tea Partiers anymore, because this form of direct antidisestablishmentarianism has not proven successful.  The present-day liberals and progressives openly attack anything relating to the founding of this country, in an effort to aggregate enough votes to elect persons who will then secretly make changes to our laws, courts, and institutions.  Examples of the present-day antidisestablishmentarianism include:

• Openly attacking all white men as if they are guilty for being white men.
• Openly attacking established religions, including Catholics, Jews, and Protestants.
• Openly opposing our military and policies that protect our borders and the safety of our citizens.
• Openly opposing free enterprise and the freedoms to create success and wealth.
• Openly opposing the teaching of our country's founding history.
• Openly opposing the right to bear arms and working to restrict people from having guns that can protect them from evildoers.
• Openly opposing past successful learning regimens and policies in our public schools, creating the present downfall in public education.
• Openly promoting universal health care and higher education, without considering how these "free" services are to be funded.
• Openly promoting unlimited immigration and not requiring new immigrants to learn English or to abide by existing U.S. laws.
• Openly promoting false reporting in support of specific ideologies.

These recent actions do not appear to be promoting policies that would improve our free society.  In fact, these actions could be considered assaults on our U.S. Constitution and freedoms.  Then why are these actions permitted?  Because the U.S. Constitution promotes freedom of speech.  Our founders are certainly turning over in their graves, considering how far from 1789 our country has ventured.

Democrats and Republicans alike are guilty of allowing these open attacks on our history and our society.  There are more than a few Democrats who would willingly destroy the U.S. Constitution in order to achieve political gains.  There are more than a few Republicans who sit quietly and idly as these and other actions assault our Constitution.  Inaction is often as damaging as direct assault.

I like the odds for the long-term life of our republic, if we stay united behind the principles and policies of the past, which made our country the greatest leader of freedom and wealth creation in the world.  Our representative republic will not survive if those successful principles and policies are no longer taught and supported in our schools and institutions.

It is time to stand up and be counted, either for or against the U.S. Constitution.  People in the U.S. are ready to stand up and fight these actions and for our Constitution.  If all of our political leaders are not ready for this fight, then perhaps we should line up behind a Foundation Party, which would keep its focus on what has benefited these great United States for the last 250 years. 

Michael P. Bates is a business consultant and writer.