CRANBERRY TWP — There are two truths of modern government and society, according to Andrew Napolitano.

Those two truths, which he deemed “dark,” do not reflect an easy future, he told a crowd gathered Thursday at the Pittsburgh Marriott North in Cranberry Township. The former federal judge and Fox News contributor outlined those truths in a speech that was part comedic and part history lesson as part of the St. Barnabas Founder's Day Celebration Gala.

The first truth, he said, is that people are powered by the lust to dominate others and, “the lust to tell other people how to live their lives and to do so under the guise that you are actually helping.” Second is the desire of the government for “make-believe.”

“They make believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God,” he said. “Make believe that people are their own governors. Make believe that the representatives of the people are the people. Make believe that the people who govern us are really our servants. Make believe that all men are created equal. Make believe that they're not.”

Without that make believe, the people are able to see through the government and its quest to strip rights and freedoms, he said. That is happening more often, as present-day government aims to put restrictions on the people and take away rights — something Napolitano called “the great inversion.”

“Today we have a government that thinks it's free to do whatever it wants, and we need its permission ... to do what we want,” he said. “If we don't reverse that inversion, we are in for dark days.”

Throughout his speech, Napolitano spoke of the founding fathers, and the creation of a government based on rights that can't be taken away and come from the people's humanity.

“If our rights come from our humanity, then the government can't shrink them,” he said. “Your right to think as you wish, to say what you think, to publish what you say ... your right to keep and bear arms is not the right to shoot deer, it's the right to shoot the tyrants if they take over the government, your right to keep the government from crossing that threshold of your house without evidence of some criminality ... these rights are guaranteed by the Constitution.”

Napolitano gave the speech after receiving the St. Barnabas Hance Award, which is given to a person of national acclaim who exemplifies the ideals of Gouverneur Provoost Hance, who founded St. Barnabas in 1900.

Thursday's event served as the major fundraiser for the St. Barnabas Free Care Fund, which helps provide care to those who cannot afford it. Napolitano thanked those in attendance for giving of their own free will.“It is impossible to be charitable with someone else's money — that's theft,” he said to laughter. “When you give from the heart, that's charity.”According to William Day, president of St. Barnabas Health System, fundraisers such as Thursday's help the organization expand. He teased further expansion will be coming soon, as the organization moves further into Beaver County and eastern Ohio. More information on that move is expected soon, he said.“We're only going to get bigger,” he said.