Tags
5000 Year Leap, anarchy, Declaration of Independence, PEOPLE's Law, Ruler's Law, tyranny, US Constitution
What is Left? What is Right?
Before we can remember who we are as Americans, we must LEARN more about how our FOUNDERS saw things! Their world, after all, was a bit different than ours is today. An astounding assembly of remarkable men, though far from perfect, these men were able to put aside their personal religious and political views to find a harmonious balance that penned The Founders’ Unchanging Principles of Liberty. An experiment in freedom that allowed the individual power over his own life.
Over the last few decades, but especially over the last 3 years, we, the American people, have allowed our government to turn America into a tyrannical state. We are the only ones who can change this!
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Political parties did not exist in 1789. Washington despised the idea of political associations, formed in such a way as to pit one group of citizens against another. In his farewell speech in 1796 he said:
[While speaking on the subject — The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish Government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government.]
“All obstructions to the execution 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. They [political parties] serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests.
“However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
[Bold emphasis not in original text.]
Rather than political parties, our Founders saw a different political spectrum than we are used to seeing. Most of us have been taught, if anything, that Democrats are left-leaning and Republicans are right-leaning, but left and right of what? What is the center? How does one measure Left and Right?
In his incredible book, A Miracle that Changed the World: The 5000 year Leap, Skousen suggests our Founders sought to find the balance between Tyranny and Anarchy. Tyranny being total centralized power in one person our a small group of persons (monarchy) versus Anarchy – “no government, no law, no systematic control, and no governmental power.” The yardstick is power, rather than political parties. Skousen defines the opposites in terms of who has the power. The Founders’ objective was to find a balance between the two extremes. With tyranny, all power rests at the top with the “king,” so Skousen calls this Ruler’s Law. The opposite, he calls PEOPLE’s Law because the people have the power to control the government, “and political power is maintained at the balanced center with enough government to maintain security, justice, good order, but not enough government to abuse the people.”
Sadly, what we see in today’s America is much closer to what Skousen calls Ruler’s Law, or tyranny! Here are a few evidences from his list:
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“3. The people are not equal, but are divided into classes and are all looked upon as “subjects” of the king.
“5. The thrust of governmental power is from the top down, not from the people upward.
“6. The people have no unalienable rights. The”king giveth and the king taketh away.”
“8. The ruler issues edicts which are called “the law.” He then interprets the law and enforces it, thus maintaining tyrannical control over the people.
“9. Under Ruler’s Law, problems are always solved by issuing more edicts or laws, setting up more bureaus, harassing the people with more regulators, and charging the people for these “services” by continually adding to their burden of taxes.”
Our Founders were remarkable men, and the fact that such a concentration of incredibly gifted, creative, articulate, educated men gathered together at the conception of America is nothing short of miraculous. None could mange to come up with a Constitution alone. It required four months of discussions and arguments to find the balance they sought. They succeeded! In spite of the ridicule from various individuals today, our Constitution stands strong, the longest surviving Constitution, binding together what has proven to be the most successful experiment in governing in history.
Have you realized that from the dawn of time through the birth of America, civilization progressed only so far. Yes, a wheel and fire were found, but little else in that vast expanse of time, and yet in the mere 236 years since America’s birth, we have not just fire, but lasers, not just carts pulled by horses, but jets and space crafts landing on the moon. We have medicines based on scientific research, not just superstition. Think of all that have transpired just in your, or your parents’, or your grandparents’ lifetime. In the early 1900’s the electric light did not yet exist. Cars did not exist. And certainly, there were no McDonald’s! This explosion of innovation and invention was PERMITTED by LIBERTY like the world had never known! This liberty, our Founders believed was unalienable because it came from Providence, from God. Jefferson referred to Providence as “Nature and Nature’s God,” in the writing of the Declaration of Independence.
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When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds 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.
from the Declaration of Independence
Why are we, as Americans, allowing our liberties to be stripped from us?
Why is CONGRESS not functioning in its capacity to control the Administrative branch?
Why do we, the people, sit back and let our government seize control of our life, liberty, and our pursuit of happiness?
WHY? BECAUSE WE ARE IGNORANT!!!!! We are unaware, unlearned in the Constitution. We might know the preface, the Preamble, but not the concepts. The GOVERNMENT is supposed to work FOR us, not condescend to report to us lies and half-truths. We, as adult Americans, must assume the mantle of authority laid upon us in our Constitution and hold our elected officials accountable TO the US Constitution. With FREEDOM, comes responsibility! If we don’t, the liberties we have known will not survive for our grandchildren to enjoy.
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A Miracle that Changed the World: The 5000 year Leap, by W. Cleon Skousen, 1981 National Center for Constitutional Studies
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: W. Cleon Skousen (January 20, 1913 – January 9, 2006) was educated in Canada, the United States and Mexico. He received his law degree from George Washington University and was admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia. He served in the FBI 16 years, became a member of the faculty of Brigham Young University in 1951, and was given a leave of absence to become Chief of Police in Salt Lake City in 1956. In 1960 he became the Editorial Director of LAW and Order, the most widely distributed police magazine in the U.S. He is also the author of several books including The Naked Communist and So You Want To Raise a Boy?. Prior to his passing, Mr. Skousen traveled and lectured in 29 foreign countries and 43 of the 50 states. His largest audience was 15,000 in the Hollywood Bowl.
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