America 250 Years
Twenty score and ten years ago our forefathers wrote and signed a document we know as The Declaration of Independence. Its purpose was to declare our independence from Great Britain and announce it to the world. The genius of the document was that it not only declared our independence, but also served as a framework for the Constitutional Republic we have today. Thomas Jefferson was the primary author but not without the benefit of tedious hours of debate and editing by the Continental Congress for its approval. The founders were educated men, many of whom studied in England, so they were steeped in ancient history of the Greek and Roman Empires as well as English and European history. Of interest to the founders were the British civil wars fought between the King and Parliament between 1642 and 1651. Losing one's head over the outcomes of these wars was a common fate for the vanquished. King James the II whose father, Charles I, had been beheaded, ordered the deceased Oliver Cromwell's body, dug up, beheaded and displayed on a pike from London Bridge. You can cross the Thames on London Bridge but you can not cross the King. The seriousness of the action they were taking was not lost on the founders.
Turning the Divine Right of Kings on its head, no pun intended, Jefferson, in the first two paragraphs of the Declaration set the foundation of his argument based on "The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." He acknowledges implicitly that all men are made in the image of God (Imago Dei), and because of this our rights come to every man equally, from our Creator, which no man can give to us or take away.
"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
The triumvirate of rights, "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," was meant to be an all-encompassing summary of the fundamental moral principles that guide decision making for both individuals and governments. The pursuit of happiness brings to mind a hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and riches. However, Happiness, as defined in the 18th. Century Scottish Enlightenment, was the pursuit of wisdom and virtue, in order to live a good life as a child of God.
The founders, based on their Christian beliefs, held that Government should support morality and virtue grounded in the laws of nature and of nature's God. Our Government ought not to be hostile to the Christian faith and enact laws unfriendly to it, but to encourage its flourishing. This was not the creation of a Christian theocracy nor a nod to a secular state. The First Amendment of our Constitution prohibits the establishment of a national religion, or preference of one religion over another, or any religion over non-religion. Article VI bars any religious test as a qualification for holding any federal office. It is a balance for religious neutrality for governing purposes.
I will leave you with a portion of George Washington's farewell speech to the nation in which he embraces faith and morality as pillars of society and a warning not to do away with them. His address is quite prophetic as to what we see happening in today's divisive political climate.
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." -George Washington
I ask you. Where is the security for reputation, when we misuse the levers of power in the government to "legally" attack political enemies? Where is the security for life, when we allow the deaths of innocent human beings residing in the womb, by statute? Where is the security for Justice, when we pervert oath's to uphold and protect the constitution, and we allow an unmitigated deluge of immigrants to enter our country threatening our sovereignty? These are all being perpetrated on us by "the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure." This is the post-modern worldview held by elites that have taken an axe to the roots of Western Civilization and our Republic. Benjamin Franklin foresaw the future struggles for America ahead of us, when he was asked after the Constitutional Convention, "what kind of Government do we have?" He answered,"A Republic if we can keep it." So on this 250th. anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence, let us pledge "our lives and our fortunes" to keep it that way!
Below are a couple of Patriotic Songs I love. The first is Chester, written and sung during the war. Second, is Ray Charles rendition of America the Beautiful and finally The Battle Hymn of the Republic as only Johnny Cash can narrate and sing it. Goose bumps and chills guaranteed or maybe you have the hunta virus.
