Rights Endowed by Our Creator and Climate Catastrophe Myths

On September 30, 2022, Kim Monson dedicated the first hour to Liberty Toastmasters Day with Dave Walden, Rick Rome, Greg Morrissey, Anthony Hartsook, Marshall Dawson, and Terri Goon exploring the foundational idea that rights are endowed by our Creator. The second hour featured Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore dismantling climate change scare stories and the war on CO2.

The Foundation of Individual Rights

Start listening at 01:18 – Hour 1

Dave Walden, president of Liberty Toastmasters North, opened the discussion by tracing the historical sources of rights. He explained that Jefferson deliberately chose the word “Creator” rather than “God” in the Declaration of Independence to include those who might not adhere to Judeo-Christian theology. Walden argued that the concept of individual rights represents a moral foundation, asserting that the only system compatible with these rights is capitalism because it involves persuasion rather than force.

The discussion expanded to include the concept that rights can be understood through human nature itself. Walden explained that if we hold people responsible for their choices, we must acknowledge their right to make those choices. This philosophical groundwork laid the foundation for the Toastmasters roundtable that followed.

“It is not necessary to believe in a Creator in order to determine that we have rights. We have them because we have choice, and the only thing that can take away that choice is if we do not have those rights to choose.”

Dave Walden, President, Liberty Toastmasters North

Trinity of Rights and the American Tradition

Start listening at 31:52 – Hour 1

Rick Rome presented a fascinating analysis of the trinity concept throughout human history, from Nordic traditions of canopy, trunk, and roots to the American trinity of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. He argued this was the first time in history that divine right was embodied in the people rather than monarchs. Rome offered a practical test for identifying true rights: they must conform to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness without making demands on others, which disqualifies things like healthcare as rights.

“For the first time in history, we’d taken the idea of a divine right and embodied it to the people. It’s something that the kings and tyrants have been fighting back against for the last 250 to 300 years.”

Rick Rome, Liberty Toastmasters Denver

An American by Choice

Start listening at 35:05 – Hour 1

Greg Morrissey, who served in the Navy during Vietnam and emigrated from Australia, brought unique perspective as an American by choice. He quoted Abraham Lincoln: “Without the assistance of a divine being, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail.” Morrissey emphasized that America’s written Constitution was designed to protect God-given individual rights to life, liberty, and property. He called for Americans to rise up and return to founding principles.

“America’s written constitution was to protect and secure God-given individual rights to life, liberty, and property. If we allow this foundation to be eroded and lose faith in these rights, are a gift directly from God to each individual, then we lose the basis for the greatness of the miracle of America.”

Greg Morrissey, Liberty Toastmasters North

Freedom Is Universal

Start listening at 38:10 – Hour 1

Anthony Hartsook, a 26-year military veteran and candidate for Colorado House District 44, shared observations from his global service. From Iraq to Afghanistan to Korea, he found that everyone understands freedom and wants a better life. Hartsook warned that government can put shackles on people but cannot remove the inherent freedom within them. He connected the original Ten Commandments to the principle that you cannot take another person’s rights.

“It doesn’t matter where you go, it doesn’t matter who you talk to, whether it’s a person in Iraq, Afghanistan, the middle of the United States, Europe, Korea, they all understand freedom.”

Anthony Hartsook, Candidate, Colorado House District 44

Rights and Humanity

Start listening at 46:06 – Hour 1

Marshall Dawson, candidate for Congressional District 2, offered nuanced analysis of the creator versus humanity framing. He noted that framing rights in purely religious terms provides a “moral escape hatch” for atheists. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he argued, includes items like “right to a healthy environment” and “limitation of working hours” that demand something from others, which contradicts the nature of true rights. He criticized the recent UN resolution declaring abortion a human right.

“How can you have a human right or a natural right if you’re depriving of life to begin with?”

Marshall Dawson, Candidate, Congressional District 2

Rights Through Human Nature

Start listening at 49:52 – Hour 1

Terri Goon, past president of Liberty Toastmasters, challenged the concept of natural rights from Locke’s state of nature. She argued that in nature, it’s might versus right. Instead, she proposed that individuals come together and agree to protect certain things that don’t make demands on others. This isn’t something given by God, she contended, but something humans choose to recognize and protect in forming society.

“I believe that we as individuals came together, we can come together, and we can agree together that we believe that humans have these inherent rights or we want to protect these certain things that do not make demands on others.”

Terri Goon, Past President, Liberty Toastmasters

Exposing Climate Catastrophe Myths

Start listening at 67:52 – Hour 2

Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace and author of Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom, dismantled the climate change narrative. He exposed how Hurricane Ian was immediately blamed on climate change when hurricanes have occurred for millions of years. Moore revealed that CO2 is at historically low levels, was up to 5,000 parts per million when modern life emerged, and that the Earth is actually in an ice age called the Pleistocene.

Moore explained his “unified theory of scare stories”: all climate scares involve things that are either invisible (CO2, radiation, GMOs) or so remote that hardly anyone can see them (polar bears, coral reefs). He revealed that the Great Barrier Reef has more coral cover now than in any of the 36 years it has been surveyed, and polar bear populations have multiplied five times since the 1973 treaty ended unrestricted hunting.

“Therefore we have to end using fossil fuels, which provide over 80% of the energy for human civilization on this planet. And if we did that, it would be the biggest disaster in modern history by so far that people wouldn’t believe it.”

Patrick Moore, Co-founder, Greenpeace