Democracy and the Religion of Peace

Vol. 1                                         Issue 6

The Religion of Peace

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.  No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.      Winston Churchill (1899)

Perhaps no other American President has spoken of the Muslim faith as George W. Bush.   He confronted the challenges created by the inevitable conflict between Islam and American Liberty. His foreign policy in the Middle East was predicated upon the spread of democracy.  He once said:

"If liberty can blossom in the rocky soil of the West Bank and Gaza, it will inspire millions of men and women around the globe who are equally weary of poverty and oppression, equally entitled to the benefits of democratic government. I have a hope for the people of Muslim countries. Your commitments to morality, and learning, and tolerance led to great historical achievements. And those values are alive in the Islamic world today. You have a rich culture, and you share the aspirations of men and women in every culture. Prosperity and freedom and dignity are not just American hopes, or Western hopes. They are universal, human hopes. And even in the violence and turmoil of the Middle East, America believes those hopes have the power to transform lives and nations." 

Democratic government owes its origin “to a thousand years of European history, and beyond that by Europe's double heritage: Judeo-Christian religion and ethics; Greco-Roman statecraft and law. No such system has originated in any other cultural tradition; it remains to be seen whether such a system, transplanted and adapted in another culture, can long survive.”  American foreign policy is predicated upon the emergence of an Islamic democracy. It must be a form of government that is compatible with Islamic historical, cultural, and religious traditions. Such government must be capable of fostering individual freedom and human rights in a manner consistent with the free societies of the West.

History has shown that democracy and religious intolerance are generally incompatible. To Islamic fundamentalists, Jeffersonian Liberty is an anathema to their understanding of their faith.  Government is not a creation of man to protect God given liberty.  On the contrary, to these Muslims the Islamic state is seen as a theocracy.  Legitimate authority comes from Allah alone, and Islamic rulers derive power not from the consent of the governed but from Allah as interpreted from the writings contained the Qu’ran.  Since the ruler’s power is not derivative of the people, there is no need for a functioning legislative body or independent judiciary.  Since these Muslims assume their ruler is submitting to the will of Allah, it would be an apostasy for members of a representative assembly to object or for a judge interpret a law against some constitutional standard.

Historically Muslim governments take on a personal character based upon the acquiescence of an assemblage of family, tribes and ethnic groups, connected by Islam and geographical happenstance.  Nations of the Middle East are creations of European treaties and have little historical or ethnic origin from which a political state would arise.  History shows that leaders of Muslim nations remain in power so long as they maintain the illusion that they are submitting to the will of Allah.  Their rule is seen as a revelation of Allah to the people and those in opposition to be enemies not just of the government but of Allah.

Jefferson contends when a government created by men to protect God-given rights becomes destructive of these ends, the preservation of liberty will require citizens to revolt.  On the contrary, Islamic revolution can only be predicated upon the belief and acceptance by the people that the ruler has become an apostate. For this reason, religious clerics have become central figures of Islamic revolutionaries and often become the means by which political power is transferred and accepted by the people.

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The hope for liberty for those shackled within Islamic societies rests in the secularization of their world occasioned by the technological advances of the information age. In an increasingly flat world, foreign policy can no longer be centered solely on the establishment of relationships with Islamic autocracies by whatever means available.     Neither can the seeds of liberty planted among people of the Middle East be neglected.  The prospects of freedom to those trapped behind the Islamic Curtain of intolerance and ignorance can be fostered by the various modalities of the informational age.  Fundamentalist Islam will remain an impediment to liberty.  Aspects of Islamic Shania Law are cruel, misogynist and dangerous to a free society.  Indifference to the plight of people subjected to this system is morally irresponsible and geopolitically suicidal.  The defense of liberty is no vice to be shunned nor should moderation in the face of evil be tolerated by a free society. "Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles." (Patrick Henry)   Islamic fundamentalism is a serious threat to liberty and must be resisted by every means available.  To these Muslims, democracy is irrelevant except that it may prove to be a means to an end.  They may be willing to exploit the opportunities that a self-proclaimed democratic system offers through elections. Their attitude toward such elections has been summed up as "one man, one vote, once."   Once political power has been obtained, their contempt for democracy will be unveiled and a theocratic autocracy will be established. 

 

That which has been endowed by our Creator and breathed into every soul is not easily suppressed. No matter how powerless, no matter how harshly restrained, everyone longs for freedom. Throughout the centuries tyrants have used chains, torture, jail and death to suppress freedom and have held fast to the false hope that freedom could be destroyed.   For centuries, millions of people have been denied liberty by the Religion of Peace. William Penn once observed: “A people who will not be ruled by God are destined to be ruled by tyrants.”   This is an age old truth borne out in the history of Islamic governments.  The relationship between the Judeo Christian God of the Bible and His people remains the foundation upon which liberty has been established in the Western World.  It is naïve to believe the prospect of liberty for the people of the Middle East is solely predicated upon the hope that secularization occasioned by the information age will spawn tolerance of democracy. Liberty cannot be acquired without personal acknowledgement of the Power from which liberty originates.  As such the prayers of the Moravian Church in the Litany of Christian Witness prove most enlightening: “O Lord, the hope of Israel, bring Thine ancient covenant people to own Thee as Christ, and endow Islam with knowledge of Thy truth.  Thou light and desire of all nations, prosper the witness of Thy servants till every tongue professes Thee as Lord”.   AMEN

Relative Liberty

vol. 1                                                                                  issue 5

  A WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

On October 19, 1781, the British Army of Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown. As the proud army of Cornwallis marched to surrender their weapons, a British army band played a ballad entitled, The World Turned Upside. The proclamations of the Declaration of Independence, sanctified by the blood of patriots, gave birth to an American Liberty which has since that day turned the world upside down.No people in the history of the world ever formed a nation on the premise of human equality. As each succeeding generation has struggled to protect and define our birthright as a nation of free people, blessings of prosperity, wealth and power have come forth. Americans are called to understand the responsibilities we hold as a nation. 

Pope John Paul II  offered an insightful observation concerning what it means to be an American:

The Founding Fathers of the United States asserted their claim to freedom and independence on the basis of certain "self-evident" truths about the human person: truths which could be discerned in human nature, built into it by "nature's God." Thus, they meant to bring into being, not just an independent territory, but a great experiment in what George Washington called "ordered liberty:" an experiment in which men and women would enjoy equality of rights and opportunities in the pursuit of happiness and in service to the common good. Reading the founding documents of the United States, one has to be impressed by the concept of freedom they enshrine: a freedom designed to enable people to fulfill their duties and responsibilities toward the family and toward the common good of the community. The American democratic experiment has been successful in many ways. Millions of people around the world look to the United States as a model in their search for freedom, dignity, and prosperity.  But the continuing success of American democracy depends on the degree to which each new generation, native born and immigrant, makes its own the moral truths on which the Founding Fathers staked the future of your Republic. Their commitment to build a free society with liberty and justice for all must be constantly renewed if the United States is to fulfill the destiny to which the Founders pledged their "lives...fortunes...and sacred honor.

Our success as a nation of free people is directly related to whether each succeeding generation accepts the moral truths upon which this country was founded.  To the Patriots of Yorktown, the sovereignty of men is limited only by the sovereignty of God. The existence of God therefore orders our freedom. God, not men, ultimately defines the natural order of things. Yet, within this framework, man has the ability to make choices which affect himself and others. It is within this framework that American Liberty has provided our nation with wealth and power unknown in the history of the world.

Unfortunately, American Liberty is being redefined as God, and the moral truths associated therewith, are removed from the framework of our society. When we define our liberty as the unlimited right of a person to define their existence apart from God, a form of Relative Liberty emerges.  This Relative Liberty is therefore limited only by the restraints of societal order, individual responsibility and community standards. These restraints change from generation to generation and from community to community across our land. The unchanging self-evident expression of God’s endowment to mankind is thus reduced to fodder for opinion polls, focus groups and political pundits. In a world with few absolutes, every personal preference is truth and each man is his own king.

The celebration of such Relative Liberty is evidenced by the moral decline of our public institutions and our private lives. With the nationwide debate over civil unions and gay marriages; with out of wedlock births creating matriarchal families in the poorest of our neighborhoods,with divorce ending more than half of marriages elsewhere, our generation has systematically redefined the notion of family. The myopic pursuit of material abundance has created a society made up of people who buy things they don’t need, with money they do not have, to impress people they don’t even like. Our dedication to the attainment of personal peace has placed blinders on our eyes, muzzles over our mouths and anesthesia upon our hearts as we reject involvement in controversial issues bowing to the pressures of political correctness and the desire just to let things be.

To understand just how far the concept of Relative Liberty has crept into our political and social psyche, consider the opinion of three Republican Supreme Court Justices, addressing the issue of abortion: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” Our Founding Fathers pledged their fortunes, their lives and their sacred honor to create a new nation conceived upon a proposition of liberty that every man, woman and child, stands equal before God and that freedom and happiness are products of His blessings. At the heart of the liberty they espoused was the notion that God was the author of life. Those called to lead our nation who prefer to sacrifice the self-evident moral truths of God upon the altar of relative liberty reject the birthright bestowed upon us by the Patriots of Yorktown. It is because of such leadership that we now live in a world turned upside down.

Principles 5 6 & 7

FIVE:

LIBERTY IS MAINTAINED BY OBEDIENCE TO LAW
"Respect for [this Government's] authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by
the fundamental maxims of true liberty."
George Washington

IT is a fundamental proposition that for liberty to be maintained citizens must be obedient to the nation's laws. The opposite proposition epitomizes the antithesis of liberty, i.e., civil disobedience is anarchy. The social philosopher, John Locke wrote: "[W]here there is no law there is no freedom." Theodore Roosevelt said: "No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it." George Washington stated: "The very idea of the power and the right of people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. . . . All obstructions to the executions of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency." (Farewell Address). It is thus essential for a free people to be a law abiding people. Only therein rests domestic security and peace.

Liberty itself represents both the freedom and responsibility to choose "good" over "evil" and virtue over vice. If virtue is defined as the refinement of character and vice as the corruption of character, law is the governing standard of individual conduct required to uphold virtue and suppress vice in society. William Blackstone stated: "No matter how abandoned may be a man's principles, or how vicious his practice, provided he keeps his wickedness to himself, and does not violate public decency, he is out of reach of human laws. But if he makes his vices public, then they become by his bad example, of pernicious effect to society, and it is the business of human laws to correct them." Just laws, civil and criminal, are based on precepts of virtuous conduct, such as respect for other persons and their property, freedom of religion, assembly and speech, and time-honored prohibitions such as "thou shalt not steal," "thou shalt not kill" and "thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." Other laws seek to regulate and suppress vice, such as gambling, prostitution and drug abuse. Additionally, certain laws are designed to uphold equal opportunity and fairness in society, in areas such as education, housing, labor and trade. Unfortunately, however, not all laws and regulations are just and virtuous. It is incumbent upon each citizen and leader to seek to enact and uphold good and virtuous laws and to avoid and discard those which are bad or of deleterious effect.

With respect to law and liberty, we must remember that to every right there is a responsibility and to every privilege a duty. The Constitution and Bill of Rights provide emphasis to individual rights and privileges; however, related individual responsibilities and duties are not equally emphasized. Loyalty to country and respect for law are part of each citizen's duty. The fulfillment of individual and public duty maintains order and serves to uphold liberty. Duty is defined as a moral obligation. If we fail to keep private and public moral obligations, what then shall become of duty, or of liberty? Yet, duty and honor cannot be compelled by edict or by force -- allegiance to law and to country must be written in the heart. That is the true spirit of patriotism.

"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it."
Judge Learned Hand (1872-1961)

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SIX:

LIBERTY IS DEPENDENT UPON VIRTUE
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim tribute to patriotism who should labor to subvert these
great pillars of human happiness."
George Washington

THE principle of virtue is far greater and of more importance than all other principles combined. Without it, others fail. Virtue is the bridge between liberty and true civilization. It intersects society and the soul. It is liberty's mooring. No other principle is more commonly emphasized by the Founding Fathers. George Washington said: "[V]irtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government." Benjamin Franklin said: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom." James Madison stated: "To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea." Samuel Adams said: "[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue." Patrick Henry stated that: "A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom." Andrew Jackson said: "No free government can stand without virtue in the people, and a lofty spirit of patriotism. . . ." John Adams stated: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Liberty without principle, without virtue or morality, is not liberty at all.

Self-government, or democracy, can only be perpetuated by the self-governed. Henry Ward Beecher said: "There is no liberty to men who know not how to govern themselves." Goethe stated: "What is the best government? -- That which teaches us to govern ourselves." Self-governance consists of self-regulation of our behavior and passions. Virtue ennobles individual character and lifts society as a whole. Virtuous principles eschew prejudice and discrimination, confirming that: "all men are created equal." Virtue encompasses characteristics of good will, patience, tolerance, kindness, respect, humility, gratitude, courage, honor, industry, honesty, chastity and fidelity. These precepts serve as the foundation for individual and societal governance. William Cowper said: "When was public virtue to be found when private was not?" Public virtue, or society's goodness, may be measured then by totalling the virtuous characteristics of its individual citizens.

Allied with public virtue is marriage. Matrimony stands alone as the divine institution that can insure the sanctity of the home, the stability of families and the transmission of virtue to the rising generation. The corrupting influences of pornography, promiscuity, licentiousness and all forms of sexual relations outside of marriage are of pernicious effect to the vows and bonds of matrimony, and are destructive of public virtue -- and thus, also of liberty. Despite prevailing philosophies, these harmful influences lie at the core of our nation's problems. Confucius said: "The strength of a nation is derived from the integrity of its homes." George Washington asked: "Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue?" And, Thoreau wrote: "For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root." Only by laboring to eradicate the roots of immorality, corruption and vice can we preserve the fruit of liberty.

"[T]he foundations of our National policy . . . [should] be laid in the
pure and immutable principles of private morality."
George Washington

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SEVEN:

LIBERTY AFFORDS THE PATH TO HAPPINESS
"[T]here is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists . . . an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness."
George Washington

THE "pursuit of happiness" is the third "unalienable right" set forth in the Declaration of Independence in connection with "life" and "liberty." Webster's dictionary defines "happiness" as a state of well being and contentment. While each individual may describe happiness differently, most all will agree that happiness is the object of existence. In this regard, John Adams wrote that:
"[H]appiness of society is the end of government." Thus, liberty is the means and happiness is its end. Without liberty, no person or society can be truly happy. Locke, in his Essay the True End of Civil Government, quotes Dragonetti on Virtue and Rewards, stating: "The science of the politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of individual happiness, with the least national expense." This, then is the great dilemma for citizens, representatives and leaders in all ages: how do we efficiently augment the well being and contentment of society, i.e., maximize societal happiness? Endless social programs have been devised, enacted and administered to this end. While there is no single solution or easy answer to all social ills, there is a formula proven in nature: "For whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap" (Galatians 6:7) In other words, being free to sow what we will, if we sow good seed, and so labor, we shall reap good fruit. Individually and collectively we together bear and reap the harvest of the opportunities and privileges provided us through liberty's vale. Thus, wisdom and virtue must fashion each seed sown by government.

Thomas Jefferson said: "[W]hat more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? . . . a wise and frugal government . . . which shall leave [men] free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. . . . We must make our choice between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. . . . If we can prevent government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, the people will be happy." As revered in our past, industry, thrift and self-reliance must be upheld as crowning attributes to each generation. Thoreau said: "This government never of itself furthered any enterprise . . . [t]he character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished." There were no "social programs" for the pilgrims or pioneers. Happiness is garnered by self, not granted by government.

The unalienable rights of "liberty" and "the pursuit of happiness" are truly co-dependent. Liberty provides an unfettered path in life to choose happiness or its counterfeits. These individual and collective choices effectually serve to either bless and benefit, or curse and hinder, each of us, our society, and our posterity. An ancient proverb states: "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." (Proverbs 14:34). The choice and decision is ours. Thus, while the possession of liberty itself cannot guarantee happiness, it alone affords us the full opportunity in life for its pursuit.

"[T]he form of government which communicates . . . happiness, to the greatest number of persons, and in the greatest degree, is the best."
John Adams

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CONCLUSION:

"Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. . . . it is essential that
public opinion should be enlightened."
George Washington

IT is incumbent upon each of us to study and ponder the heritage of liberty. Thomas Jefferson said: "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." He also stated: "I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome direction, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." The diffusion of knowledge and an enlightened citizenry are essential elements required to maintain liberty.

In this regard, Thomas Jefferson recommended that the following works be read and taught as containing the "general principles of liberty and rights of man, in nature and society": Locke's "Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent and End of Civil Government," and Sidney's "Discourses Concerning Government"; and with respect to the United States of America in particular: (1) The Declaration of Independence; (2) The "Federalist Papers" written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay; and (3) The Valedictory (farewell) Address of President George Washington. Have we read and considered each of these works? Have we studied and learned the principles of the Constitution in the tradition of the Founding Fathers? Are the Constitution and principles of liberty expounded by the Founding Fathers being taught in our schools? Has their history been diluted? President Abraham Lincoln stated: "Let it [the Constitution, etc.] be taught in schools, seminaries and in colleges; let it be written in primers, in spelling books and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, enforced in courts of justice. In short, let it become the political religion of the nation." Vigilance in learning and imparting liberty's knowledge is part of liberty's price.

Our Founding Fathers understood the true principles of liberty. They paid liberty's price. With the aid of the "Divine Hand of Providence," their generation raised this nation to liberty and furnished its grand legacy to us in word and deed. Subsequent generations have bought and maintained liberty, spreading it abroad, for over 200 years. Is it possible that liberty stands in jeopardy in this, our generation, its enemy threatening from within? To quote an old adage: "America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Daniel Webster stated: "[I]f we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity." I pray that together we may avoid catastrophe and uphold the "sacred fire of liberty" by choosing paths of wisdom and virtue, which alone can afford a lasting peace and happiness to each of us and to our posterity.

"Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES."
Patrick Henry [emphasis added]

Liberty Principles 3 & 4- Government and Unity

THREE:

LIBERTY IS SECURED BY GOVERNMENT
"Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian."
George Washington

THERE should be no dispute that government is required to secure the rights of life and liberty to the individual, to the community and to the nation. The Declaration of Independence states that: "[T]o secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Thomas Jefferson said: "The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation for any government." William Penn stated: "[G]overnments rather depend upon men than men upon government." John Jay, author of several of the Federalist Papers, and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, stated: "Nothing is more certain than the indispensable necessity of Government, and it is equally undeniable, that whenever and however it is instituted, the people must cede to it some of their natural rights, in order to vest it with requisite powers." These rights and powers, designed to uphold liberty and to protect person and property, are delegated to government by the people. Aristoltle wrote: "If liberty and equality, as it is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in a democracy, they will be best obtained when all persons share in the government to the utmost." Abraham Lincoln described the standard of our democratic republic as: "a government of the people, by the people [and] for the people." Thus, "we the people" are the determinants of our government and of our leaders.

The continuing challenge of any people and government is to maintain a balance of power with adequate controls to ensure the safety and felicity of the people. The entire treatise of the Federalist Papers serves as reference to the need to delegate and diffuse governmental powers in order to ensure our safety and felicity from potential internal and external harms. James Madison stated: "[T]he preservation of liberty requires, that the three great departments of power [executive, legislative and judiciary] should be separate and distinct." James Wilson wrote: "Liberty and happiness have a powerful enemy on each hand; on the one hand tyranny, on the other licentiousness [anarchy]. To guard against the latter, it is necessary to give the proper powers to government; and to guard against the former, it is necessary that those powers should be properly distributed." Woodrow Wilson said: "The history of liberty is a history of the limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it." Both the limitation and balance of power lie at the heart of the U. S. Constitution. It stands as the preeminent example of how a government may be structured with "checks and balances" to secure liberty "with equal justice for all." Various governments may be traced throughout history; yet, the liberty that has existed in America since the establishment of our Constitutional republic in 1787 is the most profound and enlightened in secular history. It has served as the model for constitutions of many other nations. Benjamin Franklin said of it: "It astonishes me to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does." Gladstone called the Constitution: "The most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." The inspired Constitution of the United States of America truly serves as the cradle of liberty.

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (Preamble)

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FOUR:

LIBERTY REQUIRES UNITY
"[Y]our union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other."
George Washington

UNITY was indispensable to the formation of our nation and the establishment of the Constitution. George Washington, in his Farewell Address, said: "The unity of government . . . is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. . . . it is of definite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness . . . accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as the palladium of your political safety and prosperity." All three authors of the Federalist Papers proclaimed the benefits of a strong union. James Madison stated: "[E]very man who loves liberty ought to have it ever before his eyes that he may cherish in his heart a due attachment to the Union of America and be able to set a due value on the means of preserving it." Madison also stated: "We have seen the necessity of the Union as our bulwark against foreign danger, as the conservator of peace among ourselves, as the guardian of our commerce and other common interests, as the only substitute for those military establishments which have subverted the liberties of the old world, and as the proper antidote for the diseases of faction, which have proved fatal to other popular governments." John Jay, stated: "[T]he prosperity of America depend[s] upon its Union." Finally, Alexander Hamilton said: "I have endeavored, my Fellow Citizens, to place before you in a clear and convincing light, the importance of Union to your political safety and happiness. I have unfolded to you a complication of dangers to which you would be exposed should you permit that sacred knot which binds the people of America together to be severed." Their messages instruct us that in unity, encompassing more than the mere union on paper of the states, there is mutual strength and safety.

Unity requires adherence to common principles -- a shared vision. Such principles include democratic standards of justice, fairness, equality, and individual freedom of religion and speech, among others. Thomas Jefferson eloquently stated in his Inaugural Address: "[E]very difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have been called by different names brethren of the same principle. . . . Let us then pursue with courage and confidence . . . our attachment to union and representative government." In order to create and maintain unity, as evidenced by the very process by which the Constitution was forged, personal opinions must be tempered and often compromised for the benefit of the whole. Thus, the spirit of compromise is essential to the workings of our republican form of government; and the spirit of mutual commitment essential to our form of democracy. In this regard, the Founding Fathers warned that "factions" are destructive to the spirit of unity. What are the prime causes of "the diseases of faction"? Pride, or selfishness, and greed. A proverb states: "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18). The central feature of pride is enmity (Benson). Enmity, or animosity, may be pitted against persons or groups in society. Through selfishness, greed and envy, the enmity of pride leads to contentions and strife, causing divisions and factions, thus destroying unity. Humility, gratitude and camaraderie serve as primary antidotes to dispel pride, shield principle and preserve the unity necessary to sustain liberty.

"'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'"
Abraham Lincoln (quoting Mark 3:25).

Liberty is of Divine Origin; Liberty has a Price

ONE:

LIBERTY IS OF DIVINE ORIGIN
"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts in the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. -- Every step, by which they have been advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been
distinguished by some token of providential agency."
George Washington

THE Founding Fathers proclaimed liberty to be an "unalienable right" bestowed by our Creator, as witnessed by their signatures to the Declaration of Independence which states: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are . . . endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- ." The Constitution states that it was ordained and established to secure the "Blessings of Liberty" to succeeding generations. According to Webster's Dictionary to "bless" is to invoke divine care, and to be "blessed" is to enjoy the bliss of heaven. Thus, both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence make reference to a divine connection with liberty. Numerous references may also be found in the writings of the framers which acknowledge divine inspiration and the hand of providence in the birth of the American nation and the establishment of the Constitution. James Madison said: "It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution." Patrick Henry stated: "There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations." Thomas Jefferson, in his First Inaugural Address, closed with the appeal: "May that infinite power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best." And, Charles Pinckney said: "Nothing less than the superintending Hand of Providence, that so miraculously carried us through the war . . . could have brought it [the Constitution] about so complete, upon the whole." If we fail to acknowledge this principle, we effectively disregard the works and faith of our Founding Fathers.

This first principle serves as the cornerstone for all others. Just as man alone cannot originate life, a people acting alone cannot obtain liberty without divine sanction. Similarly, like life itself, one cannot fully comprehend or appreciate liberty without reference to inspired principles. Liberty simply does not exist in a secular vacuum. Liberty is a divine promise -- it begets hope. John Foster Dulles stated: "Our nation was founded as an experiment in human liberty. Its institutions reflect the belief of our founders that men had their origin and destiny in God; that they were endowed by Him with unalienable rights and had duties prescribed by moral law, and that human institutions ought primarily to help men develop their God-given possibilities." Patrick Henry warned: "It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains . . ." George Washington said: "[W]e ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained. Our currency states, "In God We Trust"; we pledge allegiance to "one nation under God"; and in the well known patriotic hymn "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," we sing, "Our father's God, to thee, Author of Liberty . . ." -- do we so believe?

"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that
these liberties are the gift of God?"
Thomas Jefferson

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TWO:

LIBERTY HAS A PRICE.
"The independence and liberty you possess are the work of . . . joint efforts, of common dangers, suffering and successes."
George Washington

DESPITE a natural tendency to believe that liberty is a gift to be autonomously received and enjoyed, without price or reassessment -- liberty is not free. Liberty must be both earned and guarded. Thomas Jefferson in his First Inaugural Address said that: "The wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heros have been devoted to [the] attainment" of our liberty and form of government. Charles Caleb Colton said: "Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed." Alfred Denning, an English jurist, stated: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." And, Boyd K. Packer, a prominent religious educator, said: "Freedom is not a self-preserving gift. It has to be earned, and it has to be protected." Thus, in order to be obtained, liberty must be earned or won, and in order to be maintained, liberty must be effectively re-earned and re-won in the hearts of each generation.

What is the relationship between liberty and its price? First, liberty is freedom from oppression or bondage. Thus, liberty is procured through deliverance or redemption from bondage. For our forefathers, this bondage was the religious and economic oppression of Great Britain's rule over the original Colonies. Such circumstances would also be analogous to the plight of many who have been led to America's shores. Secondly, redemption from bondage requires sacrifice. America's liberty was originally bought by the sacrifice of men's blood shed in the Revolutionary War. It has been re-bought by sacrifice and blood shed in subsequent wars, including the Civil War and World Wars. Finally, liberty is upheld by remembering and honoring such sacrifices -- which requires both knowledge of, and gratitude for, such sacrifices. If the Founding Fathers could speak to us today regarding liberty, rest assured that their message would include reference to the horrible price paid at Valley Forge, Morristown, Camden, and Yorktown, etc. Others of a later time would speak to us of Gettysburg or Pearl Harbor. Only by vicarious remembrance and sincere gratitude for the heavy price paid for the gift of liberty, which we so abundantly enjoy, can we truly appreciate its value and fulfill our duty to uphold it for future generations.

Of those who pledged "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor" as signers to the Declaration of Independence, five were captured as traitors and tortured before they died; twelve had their homes ransacked and burned; two lost their sons in the Revolutionary War; another had two sons captured; and nine died from wounds or the hardship of the war (quoted from Ezra Taft Benson). Are we equally as willing to pay liberty's price?

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
Patrick Henry

The Seven Principles of Liberty

"SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY"

BY: J. DAVID GOWDY

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Copyright © 1996: Institute for American LibertyAll Rights ReservedPermission is Granted to Copy this E-Text for Educational Purposes Only

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INTRODUCTION:

"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto the inhabitants thereof."
[Inscription on the Liberty Bell; Leviticus 25:10]

LIBERTY! The very word evokes hope and stirs the inner soul of man. Throughout the course of time, individuals and nations oppressed by the yoke of tyranny or bondage have cried out for liberty's reprise and have sought for the comfort of its soothing rays. Revolution and war have oft been its price. Few nations have ever obtained it, let alone maintained it. Why so rare this prize for which so much blood and so many tears have been shed? Is its definition misunderstood? What is liberty and how is it secured, or more portentous, how is it lost?

First, we must understand that liberty is based upon fundamental principles and not philosophies or policies. Principles, which are based on truth, are constant and timeless; philosophies and policies are variable and changing and are based upon theories, circumstances and opinion. Second, we must recognize that liberty is not free. It must be both earned and guarded. Lastly, we must realize that liberty requires public morality or virtue. The greatest, and probably most generally unrecognized, threat to our liberty today results from the gradual erosion of virtue. This decay has resulted from negligence and apathy on the part of many and from calculated attacks on the part of a few. The invasive roots of its opposing influences have crept deeper into the soil of our communities while we have slept, and in some cases, while we have been thwarted in our efforts to eradicate their causes. James Madison stated: "I believe that there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." When the policies and practices of the nation favor rights in exclusion of responsibility, and sanction vice at the expense of virtue, calamity is imminent. The impending consequences of the ruin of public virtue, which already cast a dark shadow across our nation, now loom on the horizon as a force destructive to our society, our government and our very peace and happiness.

I believe that except we become vigilant in understanding and upholding liberty's principles, we shall lose all which is attached to it: our national unity, our security, our peace and our prosperity. No person who loves liberty, can, in the face of the danger of its loss, stand idly by when life itself and the pursuit of happiness, hang so precipitously in the balance. A modern statesman, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., said: "We stand in danger of losing our liberties, and . . . once lost, only blood will bring them back . . ." In order to preserve liberty we must not only pledge allegiance, but prove loyal in deed to the standards upon which it is founded. Our Founding Fathers mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to the cause of liberty. May we commit anything less and stand worthy of its benefaction?

With these thoughts in my mind and heart, I respectfully present this compilation of seven principles of liberty -- principles distilled from the wisdom and inspiration of our Founding Fathers and patriots both ancient and modern -- principles which have been proven in the crucible of individual and collective experience and history.

"[T]he preservation of the sacred fire of liberty . . . [is] finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American People."
George Washington

Tomorrow:   First Principle:  Liberty is of Divine Origin

SONS OF LIBERTY

Vol.1                                                                     Issue 3

           Rally Mohawks, and bring your axes

          And tell King George we’ll pay no taxes

It would be a very strange thing if Six Nations of Ignorant Savages should be capable of forming a Scheme for such a Union and be able to execute it in such a manner, as that it has subsisted Ages, and appears indissoluble, and yet a like Union should be impracticable for ten or a dozen English colonies.       Benjamin Franklin (1751)         

      

On a cold December night in 1773, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver, three   cargo ships under the flag of his majesty King George III of England lay at anchor in Boston Harbor.  In the cargo holds of these ships were 342 crates filled with tea owned by the East India Company. Though protected by warships, a band of men disguised as Mohawk Indians pulled their boats along side the cargo ships, seized the tea and dumped it into the harbor. Some historians believe the disguises symbolically remind us of a forgotten influence in the establishment of our Republic.

Known as the “Keepers of the Eastern Door”, Mohawks were the easternmost tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy.  Five Nations -Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas - formed the Confederacy.  First discovered by French explorers in 1609, the Five Nations had already extended their conquests from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and were the terror of the other tribes east and west. By 1615, they were trading partners with the Dutch and over the ensuing decades, they were allied with and conquered by the French and the English alike.

The Five Nations were once warring tribes.  Long before Columbus set foot in the New World, they raided each others villages shedding blood for control of territory. 

Oral traditions of the Iroquois tell of the founding of the Confederacy.  Upon the encouragement of  two mystical shaman named Dekanwida and Hiawatha, the warring tribes began to consider all men as brothers. They eventually convinced the five tribes to make peace and join together in an alliance of friendship. Deganawida is credited with the development of an advanced political system that featured both democracy and women’s suffrage.

In 1744 the Iroquois leader Canassatego spoke at the Indian-British assembly in Philadelphia. There he chided the British about the difficulty in the management of thirteen independent colonies. He offered a model.  “Our wise forefathers established union and amity between the Five Nations. This has made us formidable. This has given us great weight and authority with our neighboring Nations. We are a powerful Confederacy and by your observing the same methods our wise forefathers have taken you will acquire much strength and power; therefore, whatever befalls you, do not fall out with one another.”   While few colonists were ready to listen, the concept caught the attention of Benjamin Franklin and lingered in his memory.

While serving as an Indian Commissioner, Franklin became more deeply involved with the Iroquois and more familiar with their political system. From the Iroquois he was exposed to concepts such as federalism, natural rights, property rights and the importance of individual rights in an organized society.  He learned their traditions, their belief systems and their fables.

In 1754, Franklin gained recognition as an advocate for colonial unity when he proposed the Albany Plan of Union. Modeled after the Iroquois Confederacy, the plan proposed a confederation of North America English Colonies. Following its passage by the Albany congress, the plan died in the Colonial legislatures. It was also rejected by the Parliament. To the British, the plan was too democratic. Twenty years later, the plan for colonial unity first voiced by Benjamin Franklin in Albany became the basis of the Articles of Confederation.

Although the Articles of Confederation proved inadequate for a growing new nation, it was used to unite  thirteen very diverse colonies of people descended from Europeans into one political entity in America. It proved a basis from which the Constitution was developed. It introduced the notion of federalism, a concept that was in part already observed by native peoples with whom the new Americans shared their everyday lives. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 were reminded by an anonymous author of "Thoughts on the Present Situation of Public Affairs" of an Iroquois fable::

A father, on his deathbed, called together his thirteen sons, and desired a bundle of rods to be brought, which when, according to his orders, they attempted to break, they could not effect. The bundle was then loosened, and the rods, when taken singly were broken with the greatest of ease. The moral of this fable is too well known, to need recitation: nor is it necessary to say much concerning the inferences deducible from it, respecting ourselves. This shall suffice: United, we rise superior to the malice of all our enemies; but if divided, distraction, anarchy, and confusion, shall be our undoubted portion.

Historians may ascribe the genius of the American Republic to the political philosophies of Locke and the practical genius of Jefferson and Madison. Still quietly in the background of the American Experience is the story of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. 

Never again listen to the story of the Boston Tea Party without envisioning the Sons of Liberty donning the dress of a Mohawk Indian. It is a symbol of a distant historical memory.

The early patriots, who founded the old Sons of Liberty in colonial times, never knew what real American liberty was. . . Their first vision of real freedom was caught from the wild savages, who . . . selected their own Sachems and forms of religious worship; and who made their own laws . . . while white men . . . were continually . . . hampered by unreasonable laws and regulations, imposed by a distant king. . . They began to chafe under their thralldom, which finally resulted in the "Boston Tea Party," the Declaration of Independence, and the War of the Revolution…The children of the forest . . . furnished the first inspiration of true liberty . . . ..”

                                                                Atticus

        Vol. 1                                                              Issue 2

                           Victory or Death

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out and meet it.   Thucydides

Cold winter winds came early in 1776.  Snow weighed heavy on the oak trees lining the streets of Trenton, New Jersey.  Ice would soon cover the nearby Delaware River.  Standing on the western banks, a solitary soldier pondered the smoke rising from the distant town. A new storm was coming.

In the warm summer of 1776, a new nation was conceived upon the unique proposition that all people were created equal and were ordained by God with certain unalienable rights.  From this proposition emerged the American Nation whose citizens have transformed the world.  Few understand that in the early winter of 1776, the fate of the entire American experience rested upon the shoulders of a solitary soldier.

George Washington was an unlikely soldier. At age 44, he was a successful plantation owner. His military experience as a militia colonel was decades old.  Facing the most powerful military in the world, his ragged army had been chased from Harlem Heights in New York across the farmlands of New Jersey to the western banks of the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. Beaten and battered, barely clothed and poorly armed, the Continental Army was but one pitched battle away from annihilation.

Yet in the face of it all, on the banks of the Delaware River, General Washington conceived of a bold plan.   Pulling paper from his pocket, he penned his assessment of the prospects of the coming battle. He wrote simply: “Victory or Death”.

Crusty fisherman from Marblehead Massachusetts commandeered flat bottom boats and ferried 2400 soldiers and 18 cannon across the icy Delaware River Christmas night 1776.   Battling a fierce winter storm, Washington and his army of patriots marched four hours through the night to the outskirts of Trenton.  At 8 am they opened fire on the unsuspecting garrison of Hessian Mercenaries.  In an hour of intense hand to hand fighting, the Patriot Army prevailed, killing and capturing the entire garrison of nearly 1000 soldiers.

Days later, General Washington and his army crossed the Delaware for a second time and marched on the British in Princeton.  Initially routed by the more disciplined Redcoat army, the Continentals rallied when General Washington on horseback appeared waving his sword.  Standing with them amid musket fire and cannon shot, he personally directed a furious counterattack which drove the British from the battlefield.

In ten days and in two battles, a solitary soldier changed history. While many years and much hardship would be endured before Independence could be secured, the ten days in late December 1776 proved to be the turning point in the Revolution.  These days transformed General Washington into a national hero and revealed to his soldiers and to the nation as a whole the depth of his character and the force of his resolve.

At a time when officers bickered over promotions and soldiers required bonuses to ensure reenlistment, Washington worked for no pay, and from 1776 to 1781 remained at his post without taking leave. At a time when congressional leaders abandoned Philadelphia for the safety of Baltimore, Washington faced British muskets alongside his troops. 

Successfully crossing the Delaware not only solidified Washington as the military leader of the country, he emerged as the political and moral leader as well.  He was seen as a leader whose actions need not be embellished by his rhetoric.  His strength of character fostered an ambition for the success of the citizens of the new nation over his own. 

George Washington acquired status and power which exceeded any to which a person of grander ambition may have aspired by simply doing his duty to God and country. As observed by Fisher Ames, he was one of "that small number" of men "who were no less distinguished for the elevation of their virtues than the luster of their talents. . . who were born, and who acted through life as if they were born, not for themselves, but for their country and the whole human race."

From the despair of Valley Forge to the victory at Yorktown, the military genius of George Washington secured our Independence.  As moderator of the Constitutional Convention, his political leadership gave birth to a government of the people, by the people and for the people.  As the nation’s first president, his personal integrity defined the role of the chief executive and fostered the peaceful transition of governmental power by votes placed in a the ballot box rather than by force of arms.

As the political progeny of a great American, let us commemorate the 280th anniversary of his birth by allowing his words remind us that “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. 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.”

February 21st is not President’s Day.  It is the birthday of George Washington, the father of our nation.  Let us rejoice that – among all nations – we have been blessed by the presence of such greatness among us.
                                                                        Atticus

SELF EVIDENT TRUTHS

vol. 1                                     issue 1  

WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS...

                             By  Atticus  Finch

Nervously standing in my office was a lad of thirteen, dressed uncomfortably, no doubt more formal than he had intended. Out of deference to his mother, he had combed his hair, put on a pair of pressed khaki pants and collared shirt for his interview with a lawyer.  His purpose was to discuss governmental affairs, qualifying him for a Citizenship in the Community merit badge.  After I dispensed with the obligatory small talk, I began an inquiry designed to elicit from the young man whether essential aspects of the makeup and purpose of our government were being taught in the public schools.

“Where do our rights as citizens of the United States of America originate?” I inquired.  The lad stammered blushed and then with a look of confidence answered: “Our rights come from our government.”  He was mistaken, but sadly, his answer revealed how most Americans think of their essential liberties.  Given a second opportunity, the Boy Scout gave a better answer.  “Our liberties originate from our Constitution and Bill of Rights!” he proclaimed. He seemed disappointed as I explained that he again failed to answer correctly.  Not wanting to risk further confusion, I asked him to read with me the words of the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self evident” wrote Thomas Jefferson, “that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  “Our rights then,” I explained, “originate from our Creator.”  Imagine that.  The government of the United States and our rights as citizens originate from God.  At least in 1776, this basic principle of government was self evident.  To the founders of our nation, the God, whom some Americans today want removed from all aspects of government, is the self evident originator of our rights as citizens. 
These natural rights are derived from the common understanding of civilized man and were so universally accepted, that Thomas Jefferson did not pause to offer any justification for their application to the citizens of this country. 


It is self evident that freedom is not confined within our borders anymore than the God who deigns them into existence can distinguish between, American and Spaniard; Britain and Frenchman; Chinese and Egyptian. History has shown that freedom can be trampled by tyrants and stolen away by totalitarian systems of government.  Still within the very essence of the human spirit indwells sparks of liberty, the respect for life and the desire to live in freedom. It is a fire within the soul of mankind - independent of government for its sustenance.

What then is the purpose of government?  Once again the answer can be found from the words of Thomas Jefferson:  “that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed…”  “Understand this,” I declared to the young Boy Scout, “our rights are ordained by God; Governments are created by men for the express purpose of protecting these God-given rights.”  The founders felt so strongly about the sanctity of this basic premise of natural law that violation of it became the justification for the Revolution that gave birth to the United States of America: “[T]hat whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it…”  Constant vigilance and eager participation in government is the responsibility of all citizens - for without which our birthright as free people is always at risk.

Our liberty, our respect for life, our entrepreneurial economy, our standard of living, our free association among fellow citizens, our respect for human rights, and our freedom to worship or ignore the God from whom these rights originate are not creations of some legislature or city council.  They cannot be established by reference to some administrative code or proclamation from some governmental functionary. These rights are burned into the very soul of man by the same finger that wrote the Ten Commandments, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, defeated death with a glorious resurrection and touches even now the souls of men everywhere.  While many citizens misunderstand the basic tenets of our Republic, there is at least one government official who does not need a civics lesson.  “Americans are free people” proclaimed George W. Bush, “who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation.  The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world; it is God’s gift to humanity.”