Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776:
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. ...
The men on that committee gave the task
of writing a draft to Thomas Jefferson, who while was a man of few
words when it came to public meetings, but who had a reputation of
being able to put down in words what needed to be said. He worked on
the draft from June 11th to June 28th in 1776;
but before he presented his draft to the Continental Congress, he
showed it to John Adams and Benjamin Franklin with whom
he had developed a close, personal relationship. They inserted their
revisions and then on July 1, 1776, the draft was presented to
Congress. It was approved and on July 4th 1776, it was
signed by John Hancock and 55 other men at Independence Hall (then
known as the Pennsylvania State House), all representing the united
colonies who had decided that a formal declaration must be made to
the sovereign and parliament of England.
An important segment of that document
that rocked the English speaking world, was the reference to the law
of nature. That concept was devised by Thomas Jefferson,
who used it in a legal argument in 1770:
Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own person, which includes the liberty of moving and using it at his own will. This is what is called personal liberty, and is given him by the Author of nature, because necessary for his own sustenance.
The basic concept of natural law is consisted of freedom of choice.
Natural law in itself is derived from the Creator, which in the Book
of Genesis it was described that Adam and Eve was afforded the
responsibility of freedom of choice and they chose to defy a warning
or mandate. Freedom of choice, like liberty/freedom itself requires a
responsibility to accept the consequence of choices.
In a letter to John Manners in 1817, Jefferson wrote:
If God has made it a law in the nature of man to pursue his own happiness, He has left him free in the choice of place as well as mode, and we may safely call on the whole body of English jurists to produce the map on which nature has traced for each individual the geographical line which she forbids him to cross in pursuit of happiness.
What
that means is that in the pursuit of happiness a line must be drawn
so as to not interfere with another person or persons pursuit of
happiness. In that, it goes beyond natural law into the realm of
common sense. Jefferson was more clear on this matter when in a
letter to Jean Nicholas Demeunier:
Being myself a warm zealot for the attainment and enjoyment by all mankind of as much liberty as each may exercise without injury to the equal liberty of his fellow citizens, I have lamented that ...the endeavors to obtain this should have been attended with the effusion of so much blood.
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
In
a recent US Supreme Court decision concerning the argument of the
legality of same-sex marriage, which should not have been a concern
or argument by the federal government, but relegated to the state
governments, it was not only a decision that unlawfully bypassed the
legislative branch; but also defiance of natural law – a law that
is international and an historical tradition. For some, it is a
religious doctrine and a taboo provided by the Creator.
That
SCOTUS decision was not a landmark victory for three percent of the
population, but further testament in how far our nation, its people,
and those whom they choose to operate their government have fallen
away from the purity of that declaration in July of 1776 and the
wisdom of the architects of the US Constitution and its amendments
called the Bill of Rights.
We
have allowed three percent of the population to counter the will and
the rights of a much larger majority. For decades it has been drilled
into our society through the education system polluted by those who
believe socialism is better than the system devised by the Founders,
that has identified our government system as a democracy. If that
were true, the three percent that won a social victory via an
unlawful decision by the US Supreme Court should never have taken
place because the hallmark of democracy is that the majority
rules.
The truth is that the Founders, especially John
Adams,
Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Jefferson,
and James Madison
denounced democracy; embracing instead a constitutional republic
based upon rule of law, law of the land. That law of the land is the
US Constitution. They derived such a determination by careful study
of history, learning from historical mistakes and the reality of what
a monarchical rule is truly like.
Those
that are zealous in establishing a 'second revolution' are delusional
if they have in mind an uprising against a growing tyranny within the
present-day governmental system. History shows that the American War
of Independence was unique, not only because it was won against the
strongest military in the world at the time, but its outcome. History
shows us that revolutions have always ended up in chaos, anarchy and
trading one tyrant for another. France tried revolution against its
monarchy and demonstrated this truth when they traded the monarchy of
King Louis for the tyranny of a dictator turned emperor by the name
of Napoleon. The same applied to the transfer of the rule of the Czar
in Russia to the rule of the Lenin/Stalin dictatorship who committed
more cruel acts and tyranny than the history of monarchy in Russia.
What
is needed in the United States is an earnest drive to return to what
the Founders and architects of our Constitution intended and
completed. This can only happen if the People, American society,
awakens to the fact that a moral people with family and national
values are the ones that will make the necessary change – not the
politicians whose majority in control at this time is, to say the
least, corrupted. In politics, fingers are pointed when something
goes wrong more than viable ideas to solve the problems. The
substance of the blame must fall upon the people who allowed a
corrupt political organization create a regime by using the weakness
of the people and with false hopes of a Utopia that can never exist
because of human nature, not because of natural law. It is why in one
level or degree, there will always be wars; despite efforts to stave
off such negativity and destruction. We must always strive to avoid
war, but when it comes we must always be determined to win. Avoiding
war through isolation is delusional, and history has shown us the
folly of such an ideology.
When
the Founders created our nation it was a unique historical event and
they hoped that other nations would look upon our system as favorable
and adopt it for themselves. The United States was once a role model,
despite its wrongful retention of slavery and not allowing lawful
citizens to vote regardless of race or gender. While our nation did
not always present itself as a good role model, its Constitution and
the Bill of Rights were testament of what any nation could achieve,
and any people could adopt and protect.
Our
nation is failing because of a myriad of deceptions and fallacies,
and that failure is not the fault of our Constitution; but in reality
it is occurring because we have fallen away from its purpose and that
it is the foundation for all laws and regulations of the government -
“For the People and By the People”.
If
you want to see a clear and rightful reformation to solve the
problematic state of our Union, then you must reeducate yourself and
understand the Constitution and the motivation and purpose that the
Founders used to devise such a great document. The Constitution is
only good if it is followed and its wisdom protected generation after
generation.
It
is a natural progression of technological advancement that changes
occur, but that does not mean we should throw away tried-and-proven
traditions and concepts, like the Constitution, just because it has
been around for over two centuries.
Letter
from Thomas
Jefferson
to James Madison,
1789:
What is true of society, individually, is true of them all collectively; since the rights of the whole can be nor more than the sum of the rights of the individuals.
If only.
ReplyDeleteGod bless and be safe.