Stand with the Founding Fathers

A Worldwide Collision of Ideas

Let the Constitution be taught in schools, in 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, and enforced in courts of justice.  And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation.  –Abraham Lincoln

In the world we live in there is no question that government is preeminent:

• from student loans to immigration,
• from health insurance to how much money is left over from our labors,
• from the establishment of justice to the assurance of domestic tranquility,
• from the fear of our enemies to providing for the common defense,
• and from the promotion of our general welfare to the securing of the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

Government is very much at the center of our lives.

With so much money, power, and influence at stake it is essential that we educate ourselves and others regarding the proper role of government.  We must do so in order to remain free.

I cite two examples:

In recent years, we have allowed the government to ignore one of the most fundamental stipulations of the Constitution–namely, the separation of powers–by allowing Congress to fund numerous federal agencies that encroach significantly on our constitutional rights.  These agencies grow continually to regulate and control the lives of millions.

Most of these federal agencies are unconstitutional because they concentrate the functions of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches under one head. They have power to make rulings, enforce rulings, and adjudicate penalties when rulings are violated. They are also unconstitutional because we the people have no power to recall administrative agency personnel through our vote. These agencies form a shadow government that operates contrary to the principle of consent of the governed.

The abandonment of fundamental governing principles places our nation in great jeopardy. Pondering what kind of a government they wanted to establish, the Founders learned that civilizations of old had “been destroyed by convulsions and upheavals, by vice and decadence.” By the love of money and power.

With these lessons in mind, and with great foresight, the Founders championed religious freedom and education as a means to “cultivate the piety and virtue necessary for the success of self-government.”  To safeguard their efforts and secure the republic, they nurtured an environment in keeping with George Washington’s warning, that “of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

Through a series of essays entitled STAND WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS, I would like to give expression to certain principles that are so basic to human nature as to be applicable to different times and cultures as well as to our own.  In other words, to principles that are universal, and even eternal.  I do so with the hope that our freedoms, both individual and collective, will be better understood and more anxiously safeguarded.

We are witnessing a collision of ideas that is worldwide.  I urge all Americans to Stand with the Founding Fathers; against those who are seeking to destroy their work.