FIVE:
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.
Judge Learned Hand (1872-1961)
SIX:
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.
pure and immutable principles of private morality."
George Washington
SEVEN:
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.
John Adams
CONCLUSION:
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.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES."
Patrick Henry [emphasis added]
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