The 5000 Year Leap

The first principal of freedom that our Founding Father's believed in was that the basis of government should be natural law. This natural law is that which is handed down by the creator. This is not necessarily a Christian belief. The Founding Fathers, who believed in this principal, got this idea partially from Cicero, who happened to be a pagan living in ancient Rome, who died in 43 BC.

Cicero believed that there are two laws that are greater than any other law. These would be to love the creator with all your heart, and to love others as well. This sounds a lot like what Jesus thought was the supreme law, but it also comes from Genesis.

If one follows these two laws, things change. If you love the Creator, then you would want to follow the natural laws that the Creator hands down. Even children naturally know that lying and stealing are wrong (notice how they act if they steal a cookie from the cookie jar and you ask them about it). Most people would also know that murder was wrong. If you love others, you will want to treat them fairly and not hurt others.

Unfortunately, when society replaces a belief in a Creator with Darwin's belief of evolution and natural selection, things change. It's survival of the fittest, so it seems like it would be okay to steal and cheat, as long as you don't get caught. Survival of the fittest, right? Under this philosophy, the only thing that Bernie Madoff did that was wrong was get caught. It is also okay, under this philosophy, to rack up massive amounts of debt to leave to your children. After all, we're doing what we need to survive and thrive now, and it will be up to our kids to duke it out and survive in their time, right?

Photo by darktaco at sxc.hu.

The Founding Fathers believed that in order for America to remain free, they had to be a virtuous nation. Benjamin Franklin wrote that "only a virtuous people are capable of freedom." If the people of a nation were not virtuous, they would need masters to control them.

What sort of virtues are necessary in a republic? People would have to at times sacrifice their own interests for the public good (without being forced). A good example of how the colonies showed this virtue was through the non-importation resolution. Although nobody was forced to follow it, storekeepers did, even though they lost a lot of money in the process.

Thomas Paine pointed out that most of the colonists were "industrious, frugal, and honest." The Englishmen were more used to pursuing "luxury, indolence, amusement, and pleasure."

Does our country today pursue virtue? Are we sacrificing our personal interests for the good of the country when we spend trillions on bailouts, that our children will have to repay? What about people that cheat on their taxes? Our we frugal and honest, or do we spend our days pursuing amusement and pleasure?

In order to get back to greatness as a country, we need to sacrifice a little for the greater good. We need to pursue virtue. We need to focus on honesty and thrift. Perhaps the recession that our country has fell into might encourage the development of these virtues once again. We can only hope.

Photo by EdoiriStar at sxc.hu.

The founding fathers believed that in order for a society to remain free, they need to elect virtuous and moral leaders. Thomas Jefferson wrote of a "natural aristocracy" where the virtuous would rise to power, rather that people who were born into wealthy and powerful families.

George Washington didn't choose to be president; he was drafted. He had been planning on retiring and living a comfortable life in Mount Vernon, but that was not in the cards for him. The electoral college voted unanimously for him to be president, and he reluctantly accepted. He chose not to take a salary during that time.

The founding fathers wanted to keep the salaries of public servants low, in order to prevent people going after positions in public service because they were in it for the money. This had been a problem in Europe at the time. It should have been considered an honor to serve the country, not a way to get rich.

Unfortunately, our country has strayed from these ideas. We elect politicians based on what they can do for us, whether or not their lives are virtuous and moral. Many politicians have had affairs, cheated on their taxes, or are of questionable moral character.

In addition, the media hammers the politicians that they don't seem to like. Within hours of her nomination, reporters made their way to Alaska to try to dig up dirt on Sarah Palin. Court appointees are often torn apart on their way through the selection process. The way that we treat our appointees who are trying to do a good thing makes it a wonder that any good person ever goes into politics. Instead of being an honor, as the founding fathers envisioned, politicians are looked upon as liars, and people trying to get pork for their families.

In order for our country to remain strong, we need to once again elect strong, courageous, moral leaders.

Illustration by Gilbert Stuart, Portrait of George Washington

It's funny that this happens to be the fourth principal, because I wrote an article about this subject earlier this month, and I didn't get my ideas from Glenn Beck or from this book. I had been thinking about democracy earlier in the day (okay, so I have boring thoughts) and then I was in church, and what he said led me to this conclusion. Without a higher authority to answer to, you can't have freedom, you have to end up with despotism or mob rule... and often mob rule leads to despotism when the anarchy becomes unbearable and the people beg for a leader (this is what happened in revolutionary France).

People much smarter than I figured this out long before I did. George Washington said in his Farewell Address: "reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principal." Formal education was originally created to teach children religion, morality, and knowledge, although no specific sect or creed was to be emphasized, at least on the federal level (the Constitution let states decide things for themselves).

Alexis De Toqueville noted that America seemed to be a very religious society, and noted that religion was "indispensable to the maintenance of a republican institution." Instead of holding religion in a high regard, the government has lately tried to tear it down, which in essence is tearing away the one thing that maintains our freedom, according to the founding fathers.

I support institutions like Focus on the Family and the like because they provide interesting programming for the radio station that I listen to, but I think that in some ways, groups like this have got it wrong. A lot of Christians like to focus on a cause, like abortion or gay marriage or something like that. Wouldn't it be better if Christians focused on teaching people about Jesus? When someone becomes a dedicated follower of Christ, repents, and tries to live the way that the Bible teaches, these things often take care of themselves. Perhaps if we want to save our nation, we need to pray for a nationwide revival, and do our best to follow the principals of our religion ourself. It has to start with us as individuals.

Many of us don't know what the Bible says. We don't read the Bible for ourselves, but listen to what other people tell us the Bible says. Now I listen to other people myself, and I also write about what I'm learning in the Bible, but I also read the Bible (maybe not every day, but I try). That would be a start.

If we believe that we are just a product of evolution, there are many different philosophies that you can have about life. You might think that hedonism is the best, or that you should do what is for the greater good. You might believe that survival of the fittest means that it is your duty to do what is best for yourself (because obviously you're the fittest, right?).

The Founding Fathers believed in a creator. Back in England, many of their contemporaries believed in a creator as well. William Blackstone wrote a commentary on the Laws of England, and wrote that it was generally accepted that a Supreme Being created the Universe, and along with it, created natural laws that humans should obey. Most people that have some belief in a creator believe that the Creator has rules that are supposed to be followed. If you don't believe in a creator, unfortunately, the rules that do exist end up being arbitrary rules that can be changed by men, and can be changed at the whim of people's feelings or whatever way the wind blows.

The Founding Fathers weren't idiots. They didn't think that everybody was equally intelligent, equally athletic, equally charming... but they did believe that everybody should be treated equally. They all saw us as human beings that God had created, with an equally valuable soul.

Some of our rights that the Founding Fathers believed that we should have was to have an equal chance to vote for who we wanted to. We should have an equal chance to defend ourself in court. We should all be able to enjoy the freedom of speech, and practice our religion. We should be able to print our own newspapers (or blogs), and peaceably assemble in protest (like at the tea parties).

Over time, some of these rights have seemed to have been eroded. In court, the laws have become so complicated that often the person who wins is the person with the most money to throw at lawyers. Regulations have made it difficult to run for office in many areas. Regulations have made it difficult to start a business. My husband is starting a business, and they had to pay a fee of $2200 to conduct business with clients in the state of Oregon. I personally am a simple sole proprietor, writing articles and creating Squidoo lenses, and I have to maintain a spreadsheet to accurately account for the amount of taxes that I'm going to need to play throughout the year. New regulations on lead paint in toys could put a damper on people's Etsy shops. I'd be afraid to start a lemonade stand nowadays.

Photo by straymuse at sxc.hu.

While it would be nice if there were no poor people, there is a problem with a government taking what you have, without your permission, and giving it to someone who is less fortunate than you. A government that can take away from the rich to give to others can later decide who has the right to own property. This happened in Hungary. When the government took the property away from the large farm-holders, the peasants were happy. They weren't so happy when the government decided to take away 75% of what they owned in order to create communal farms.

When the government takes away from one group to give to another group, it takes away some of the incentive to work hard. I speak from experience. A few years ago, my husband was hired at a job. We were receiving state health insurance, which is a nice deal. When the time came for salary negotiations, we chose to take a smaller salary rather than lose our health insurance. The extra $1000 my husband might have made a year did not make up for the $3000 or more we would have had to pay out of pocket to get health insurance. So we chose to earn less.

Photo by scol22 at sxc.hu.

There are certain rights that God gives us that nobody can take away. We've all heard the line about "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," but those aren't the only rights that the creator has granted us. They also include having a free conscience, the right to assemble, the right to own property, and the right to bear arms. The Founding Fathers believed that our actions could forfeit some of these rights (such as, if we go out and murder a few people our right to liberty or even life could be taken away), but the government cannot take these things away from us without eventually experiencing divine justice.

Photo by night_fate at sxc.hu.

There are some laws that just make sense. God has given us a conscience that lets us know that some things are wrong, including:

• Not killing someone, except in self defense.
  
• Not stealing someone else's property.
  
• Being honest to other people.
  
• Parents need to take care of their children.
  
• We shouldn't help criminals commit crimes.

In many cases, these laws have been made part of our country's laws. However, a responsible people should follow these laws anyway.

Photo by AainaalyaA at sxc.hu.

The founding fathers believed that the power of the government rests in the people. Any rulers that govern only do so because of the consent of the people. This doesn't mean that elected or appointed officials don't try to usurp the authority of the people at times. We can see in some of the recent legislation that our government has passed (TARP being one example) over massive protests of the people, that it even happens in the United States government.

Photo by Rick Dikeman at Wikimedia Commons.

In colonial times, the people felt that King George and the government of England were overstepping their bounds and had become tyrranical. They were not governing by the will of the people, as outlined in principal ten.

While the minority does not have the right to revolt and abolish the government in times when they feel that the government has become tyrannical, the majority does retain this right.

Needlepainting of King George III by Mary Morris Knowles, based on a work by Zoffany. In the public domain.

There is a difference between a democracy and a republic. In a republic, the people democratically elect representatives who will study the issues for them, preferably for a short amount of time. A democracy requires that the entire citizenry stay informed of all the issues and vote on the various matters. This is usually impractical, as people have jobs and families that take them away from participating in the government to this extent.

Democracies often devolve into mobocracies, and often lead to communism. Those that don't have will eventually covet what others have that they don't, and they will vote in ways that will help them get a bigger share of the pie.

Photo by Andrew Dunn. Published under Creative Commons Attribution Sharalike 2.0 license.