Often people put “signatures” at the bottom of emails. I started this practice also and gradually evolved my “signature” to include what I considered relevant information for my readers. Below was a version that I had by February 28, 2014. Shortly thereafter, I discontinued attaching the signature when I discovered nobody was reading this:
Our form of federal government was intended as a great experiment in self-government by the common people – not to be controlled by some political or economic elite. The Legislature was divided into two bodies, the Senate to protect the interests of the various States, and the House which was to provide a sufficient number of Representatives to truly represent the interests of the common people. Though our founders were aware how critical the head count was to maintaining true representation, those who hate the Constitution found ways to circumvent it. Article 1 of our Constitution states we should have no more than one Representative per 30,000 population. And, Article the First was the first amendment proposed to the Constitution (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_the_First). Though not yet ratified, it was intended to further define the House membership to be at least one Representative per 50,000 population – thereby creating a bracket of 30,000 to 50,000 population for House membership—assuring sufficient House membership to represent the people’s interests. (Critical Note: This amendment was corrupted before being submitted to the states for ratification, by the changing of a single word in the final clause, from “less” to “more” rendering it meaningless for the original purpose of limiting the size of a House District, see my later article on Article the First.)
When you fail to educate a public to important points of self-government, it is easy to fool them. Until a person really thinks or studies about the ramifications of having an increasingly large body of people (well beyond 50,000 population) being represented by a single individual – it is easy to fool people into thinking that a general election where you are selecting a statewide Senator, or Representative (averaging currently 700,000 or more population per district) results in the common people truly expressing their voice. It does not, and is why many not too stupid people realize that either their vote does not count, or at best they must vote what they guess is the lesser of evils – what a choice!!
Failure to ratify Article the First, left the number of House membership ill defined, and the Apportionment Act of 1911 fixed the House at 435 members...thereby sealing the fate for all intents and purposes for the common people to secure true representation. Instead, it paved the way for political machinery, partisanship, big money, special interests – along with all their tricks of sound bites, disinformation, etc. – to rule the scene so that the political (the rich, the politicians, big corporate financial interests, and special interest lobbies) elements have essentially gained monopolistic over the affairs of government. No way does modern legislation reflect the will or wants of the people. Our supposed representatives create more and more legislation that becomes law, virtually none of which was requested or wanted by the general public nor does it promote the general welfare.
If Article the First was ratified, it would increase the size of the House of Representatives to around 6,000 members. This would be a large number for the political machine to deal with effectively—thus hindering their ability to keep passing self-serving/special interest legislation. And, 6,000 is a workable number, especially in modern society where representatives could actually reside in their home district in order to be responsive to their constituency, and via the Internet meet jointly and vote on issues. With a 6,000 member house, it will be very difficult to pass legislation that does not have the support of the people.
The Progressives fought 20 years to get the 17th Amendment, which spelled the doom of the State’s ability to protect their interests, while simultaneously fooling the public into thinking it gained the power—instead it was the political elements that gained the upper hand for the Senate as the population included in the election was too great to allow the public to select a candidate that represented its interests.
The Appropriations Act of 1911 combined with the evolution of the State Primary process spelled the doom for the House (and to an untold degree undermined the purpose of the Electoral College for the Presidency). Political gamesmanship won the day across the board.
Until this process is recognized, understood and the public turned in favor or repealing the 17th Amendment, ratifiying Amendment the First, and eliminating the State Primary process – I can see no hope of significant or lasting reform of our federal government.
Our form of federal government was intended to be limited. For example, the Commerce Clause was inserted to prevent the behavior exhibited under the Articles of Confederation whereby individual States made their own treaties, set tariffs between other States and generally hindered interstate commerce. The intent was for the federal government under the Constitution to have the power to keep the individual States from making sweetheart deals or otherwise hindering interstate commerce. Unfortunately, during the 1930’s and since, the Commerce Clause has been intentionally corrupted in order to give the federal government a virtual unlimited ability to interfere with private industry.
Another example is the appointment of federal judges under a term of “good behavior.” Nothing in the Constitution states these are life appointments, however tradition has made it so – especially a tradition that looks a blind eye as to whether a federal judge, let alone any sworn federal office holder actually upholds or undermine the oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution. Impeachment should be the order of the day until the integrity of the Constitution is restored. I would also suggest that any legislator that voted on a bill that he did not read or understand, should also be impeached.
As a result of these issues, much of our modern federal government overreach, burgeoning bureaucracy, and regulatory agencies have been created – none of which are Constitutional within the original intent of our founding documents.
Our form of federal government was intended to protect and promote the “General Welfare,” but instead has been corrupted to cater to special interests to the detriment of the general welfare. Two simultaneous factions have been going on, one the creation of a welfare/entitlement state, and two the decimation our our moral foundation, public education, free enterprise, and private property rights. In short, starting with those least able to fend for themselves (the poor and lower middle class), opportunity for them to succeed has been stripped from them thanks to the ever evolving growth of government control.
If we truly want to win this war, we must understand how government is undermining our public morals, dumbing down and crippling our public education, destroying job opportunities for our youth and less skilled, as well as opportunities for small businesses. It is robbing us (especially the poor) of the freedom to enjoy the benefits, rewards, and self-expression of private property ownership. Unless we confront those issues head on – and expose the truth to the public, we will not reach those in the 47% that we need.
We must get beyond the upper middle class mentality that believes that everyone on the public dole is merely a lazy taker.
We need to recognize how the media/government connection undermines the public morals – especially since the Production Code of the Motion Picture Industry was discarded in 1968, and socialization became an increasing factor in government run schools. We cannot just allow public decency to be discarded, nor can we allow the government to corrupt the minds of our children. The mass media should be about disseminating facts and providing entertainment, and not an industry designed to corrupt our minds or fool us with carefully crafted propaganda.
We need to understand that the current process of the government monopoly on how our tax-payer education dollars are spent is at odds with the General Welfare concept in our founding documents. I suggest that the limit of federal involvement in public education would be to require that any State or municipality not just generate sufficient tax revenue to defray the cost of a decent education, but also prohibit any State of municipality from dictating which schools that money can be used. Parents or emancipated minors should be able to choose where their share of the education dollars are spent, so long as that school (public, private, parochial) provides for an adequate academic curriculum, and does not espouse a belief system (such as Sharia) that is in conflict with the form of government compatible with our Constitution. As soon as possible, we need to restore true freedom and competition in our education system. Time is of the essence, as our nation is rapidly failing to motivate or education its youth as necessary for the preservation of our society.
As for the free enterprise system, any thinking person must realize that imposing a minimum wage law is contrary to the rights of free people to sell or buy labor on the market—additionally, price fixing never works. It was only through the threat of packing the Supreme Court during the 30’s that allowed this corruption to start. Each time the minimum wage is increased, the minorities and those with the least job skills get eliminated from the chance to get a job and develop their work skills. The impediments of small business (even kids opening a lemonade stand) have become more than overly burdensome, they are killing off the small business that is the source of the majority of new jobs. At the same time, all the complexities, and benefits mandated by government are largely welcomed by the mega-corporations as they have the legal staff and clout sufficient to accommodate these mandates and regulatory requirements, while the small business does not. This suites the mega-corporations partnership with big government as it kills off competition.
And as for private property, while I am an advocate of sound building codes, I also realize that current zoning, code enforcement, impact fees and other devices are more aimed at robbing the less able from acquiring private property, but also is oriented to protecting the investment industry rather than protecting the rights of the individual. This a major issue in regard to helping address the plight of the poor. Thanks to our current process, unique and interesting construction for everyday houses and businesses result in ticky tacky tracts of homes and strip malls. Individuality and uniqueness is too costly for the poor under our current system, whereby local building departments have more control over your property than does the owner.
If we are to escape financial ruin through the growing entitlement state, we must repair the damage to public morals, public education, private enterprise, and private property that have been created by the ever growing government systems.
The four points briefly discussed above are not trivial. They are critical to our understanding the problems that we must overcome to restore our nation. If we are to succeed, we need to articulate, dramatize and otherwise develop the methods to convince as much as possible the 47% how they are being duped and used as pawns by those who hate the Constitution—that ambitious minority that ever fight to gain power over us and gain wealth from ever more creative taxation of the working elements of society. The truth needs to be exposed and shouted from the rooftops.
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A DIRE WARNING OF WHERE THIS NATION IS HEADING: “History has proved it over and over, worldwide; only an all-powerful government could ever hope to control a populace with no moral core.” -- The Eye of Moloch, page 139.
Do you understand our form of government? If you do not understand the important difference between a Constitutional Republic and a Democracy, you are not equipped to understand the politics of our struggle against tyranny. Please watch this 10 minute 36 second video: The American Form of Government
Political Opportunism – The forces of political opportunism overshadow and blind us to the real issues. To turn this nation around, we must escape (at least for the moment) the tyranny of politicians and the promotion of such—as no man or group of men will be the salvation for our nation. In the early days of the Massachusetts Colony, it is said that for an individual to seek public office was an immediate disqualification. If only we, who wish to restore our Republic, could grab hold of that concept and live it, perhaps we could not just focus on the battle plan of action needed to restore our limited federal government, but also protect our potential candidates for public office from character assassination—by having the focus being on the policy that is being proposed, and not the individual candidate sworn to promote that policy. This is an idea that bears much thought in order to come to fruition—for in its fruition is the only hope that corporate wisdom of “We the People” will prevail over the short sighted political process that governs modern American politics.
Do you want to understand the sad history as to how our nation is on the verge of bankruptcy due to its supposed WAR ON POVERTY? I thought I understood the background fairly well until I read the book by Marvin Olasky, THE TRAGEDY OF AMERICAN COMPASSION. The saga behind today’s government programs is truly a war on the values that made America a great nation! Maybe, after you read the book, you will be like me and want the book made into a documentary so that the “useful idiots” that are manipulated by the enemies of our republic might learn something! The Tea Party movement is never going to gain a true foothold on solving the nation’s ills until it understands that those at the bottom, the poor, those who have become dependent upon the myriad government programs are just as much victims as those who pay the bill. Until the Tea Party learns this and promotes that reality it will remain a marginal power to effect the change needed to restore this nation.
Darwinian Evolution versus Nature’s God – Our founding documents refer to nature’s God. This is a most serious issue for the survival of our Constitutional Republic—for a valueless, rudderless populous is easy to lead astray. As the Progressive's convince our youth that Darwinian Evolution is a scientific fact, they undermine our nation's foundational strength. One does not win the war of ideas by being uninformed. There are a lot of books that I could recommend on the subject. If you lack time, at least take a little time to view a video, Creation as Science. For those who have not read the books referenced below, I recommend the 1 hour and 8 minute video by Hugh Ross. (Note: Since it was first published in 2011, the enemies of truth have corrupted the YouTube display. The 240p shows as wavy lines. If you want to watch the video, you need to have the display resolution at 144p in order to view it.) This is an important topic if we are to reverse the Progressive move to eliminate God from the public forum, and if we hope to disarm the pseudo-intellectuals who mockingly refer Christianity as “intellectual suicide." Two powerful books are 1) WHY THE UNIVERSE IS THE WAY IT IS by Hugh Ross, and 2) THE HIDDEN FACE OF GOD – HOW SCIENCE REVEALS THE ULTIMATE TRUTH by Gerald L. Schroeder. I highly recommend all of Hugh Ross’s books, and the resources available at http://www.reasons.org/ (For those who bargain shop, these books are significantly less expensive if purchased on Amazon.com).
Stop letting those who hate the Constitution dictate the agenda and terminology: BLUE reflects patriotism and should be for the Patriots of our Constitution, those, Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians, and yes: Classical Liberals who wish to restore our lost freedoms and the integrity of our Constitutional Republic. RED is the color of socialism/communism and should be the color to portray Progressives, Libertines, Leftist Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Communists, Fascists, Anarchists, and all those simple minded groupies that are easily led astray by shallow ideologies. Why should we patriots follow the color code dictated by the radical left who wish to portray us in an unfavorable light? Look at the map of our last election in the true blue colors:
If you look closely at the map, you will see that we must win back the cities. The election was no landslide for the opposition; we only lost by just over 2%. We need to explain (through the popular media of music, video, Internet, etc.) to the poor how they are being enslaved by government programs, and provide a realistic and optimistic view of a future where they too can have a fruitful and fulfilled life. (This can be achieved through such means as true parental choice in education, restored freedoms to work and create enterprise, and restored rights of private property so the poor can realistically pursue and achieve the American Dream!)
Our nation is going down the tube because our federal government is violating the tenants of the U.S. Constitution. Via a corrupt interpretation of the Commerce Clause, the federal government has usurped authority never granted by the Constitution and based on that corrupt interpretation a lion’s share of our federal bureaucracy has evolved to the detriment of “we the people”, the economy, the nation, and the rights of the individual States. You cannot effectively work to restore our freedom unless you understand the Constitution. A book I recommend (and it comes with an MP3 audio book and also available in video) is the 5000 Year Leap. Learning the subject matter as contained in this book should be mandatory for any high school graduate. If you have not read it, you are missing something important to your knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and your ability to fight the good fight to save America. Check these resources: http://www.learntheconstitution.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/5000-Year-Original-Authorized-Edition/dp/0880801484
I am a classical liberal—as were our nation’s founding fathers: Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets. Just like everything else, those who hate the freedoms our forefathers gave us and want to create a powerful central state to control every aspect of our lives takes perfectly good terms (such as liberalism) and distorts it for their corrupting purposes.
Good viewing: Gun Control for Dummies – good information on the Bill of Rights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F584p5kJL-U
This nation is “losing it” as it progresses in a self-destruct mode. This glorious nation, one uniquely founded on a most reasonable, albeit “sane” foundation than any previous in history—one which brought it to become that shining light to the world—is now becoming an irrational blight upon its own people. Three of the powerful aspects that made America great are being devastated: 1) The strong moral and spiritual base within its people, 2) a free enterprise system, 3) the Constitution of the United States of America established to promote the first two aspects and to protect the public from the tyranny of unrestricted government power.
Our nation was founded by those who fled the despotism of Europe—both religious and governmental. Leaning on the lessons from history it chose to found its government in a way as to keep the three major elements separate: Religion, Government, and Economic Enterprise. For, when any two of those combine, the result is tyranny.
Over the past 150 years, our once strong moral base has been undermined by relentless attacks on our religious beliefs, led by a once plausible theory of evolution—which in light of recent scientific discovery is at best the most far-fetched of pseudo-science—but now enforced by government in the public forum and taught as fact (for those who would care to do some reading on the subject, one book I would recommend is WHY THE UNIVERSE IS THE WAY IT IS, by Hugh Ross).
While the Supreme Court still has the Ten-Commandments prominently displayed, our government actively promotes laws which undermine each and every one of those commandments—making it such that even the most evil of religions can righteously point to this nation as “The Great Satan.”
Unlimited expansion of the federal government has been made possible through a twisted and unintended interpretation of the “Commerce Clause,” –whereby the federal government has undermined the original intent, while blatantly neutering the Tenth Amendment. This has allowed the federal government to unconstitutionally expand is power and diminish our once healthy and prospering free enterprise system.
Any student of history or of human nature knows how fallible man is, and what wickedness he is capable of inflicting on his fellow man. And any man of spiritual understanding can see beyond the shallow ideologies of socialist, communist, and progressive thought which dominate modern politics.
We are in the midst of a war where the enemy is bent on destroying our nation’s moral and spiritual base, our free enterprise system, and the Constitution created to protect it from man’s natural inclination to use government to accumulate power over others.
The attack of the enemy is on multiple fronts and relentless. We must learn to fight effectively—but the battle is the Lord’s. If we are to wage it successfully, we must seek His light, His wisdom, His direction, and His Power. I am not a religious man and must fight off the tendency to hold the institutional church in America in contempt, as it has allowed the enemy to flourish. But thank God we do not need the institution of the church to save this nation, but we do need God. As Christ said in Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." While I applaud the efforts of patriots in various Tea Party movements to expose the attacks of the enemy, we need to establish a true battle plan to win back our Republic. Only with God’s power and direction can we achieve this. I for one, welcome the opportunity to meet with others in prayer for the purpose of seeking God’s direction and power to turn this nation around.
Be aware America:
"Foreign influence is
truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its
influence." – Alexander Hamilton
"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." –
Edmund Burke
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that
matter." – Martin Luther King Jr.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do
nothing." – Edmund Burke
"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided
missiles and misguided men." – Martin Luther King Jr.
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who
are willing to work and give to those who would not." – Thomas
Jefferson
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem;
government is the problem." – Ronald Reagan
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government
fears the people, there is liberty." – Thomas Jefferson
“Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.” –
Psalm 146:3
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths
straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
"There is no gain without struggle." – Martin Luther King Jr.
"Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one. "
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." – Samuel
Adams
“I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts” – Will Rogers
“If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants.” – William Penn
"Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the spot of every wind. With such persons, gullability, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck." – Thomas Jefferson
Registered to vote? Check the voter registration status of yourself or a friend: http://www.wallbuilders.com/vote/ Every patriot you can get registered to vote increases our chances of making positive change come the next election. Even better, why not provide them the form to fill out to vote absentee?
As longshoreman philosopher Eric Hoffer once observed, "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket."
“That's the difference between a totalitarian and a normal person. Liberals are obsessed with controlling what other people do.” – Ann Coulter 2/27/13
"How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!"—Samuel Adams, 1776
“It would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights; that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism; free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power; that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no farther, our confidence may go….In questions of power, let no more be said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”—Thomas Jefferson
Principles of Liberty
From The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen
The 28 Great Ideas That Are Changing the World
Discover the 28 fundamental beliefs of the Founding Fathers which they said must be understood and perpetuated by every people who desired peace, prosperity, and freedom.
These beliefs have made possible more progress in 200 years than was made previously in over 5,000 years.
The following is a brief overview of the principles found in The Five Thousand Year Leap, and one chapter is devotes to each of these 28 principles.
Principle 1 - The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law.
Natural law is God's law. There are certain laws which govern the entire universe, and just as Thomas Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence, there are laws which govern in the affairs of men which are "the laws of nature and of nature's God."
Principle 2 - A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong.
"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." - Benjamin Franklin
Principle 3 - The most promising method of securing a virtuous people is to elect virtuous leaders.
"Neither 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 to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who ... will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man." - Samuel Adams
Principle 4 - Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained.
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion." - George Washington
Principle 5 - All things were created by God, therefore upon him all mankind are equally dependent, and to him they are equally responsible.
The American Founding Fathers considered the existence of the Creator as the most fundamental premise underlying all self-evident truth. They felt a person who boasted he or she was an atheist had just simply failed to apply his or her divine capacity for reason and observation.
Principle 6 - All mankind were created equal.
The Founders knew that in these three ways, all mankind are theoretically treated as:
1. Equal before God.
2. Equal before the law.
3. Equal in their rights.
Principle 7 - The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things.
The Founders recognized that the people cannot delegate to their government any power except that which they have the lawful right to exercise themselves.
Principle 8 - Mankind are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights.
"Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, and are therefore called natural rights, such as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal [or state] laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legislation has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner [of the right] shall himself commit some act that amounts to forfeiture." - William Blackstone
Principle 9 - To protect human rights, God has revealed a code of divine law.
"The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures. These precepts, when revealed, are found by comparison to be really a part of the original law of nature, as they tend in all their consequences to man's felicity." - William Blackstone
Principle 10 - The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people.
"The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legislative authority." - Alexander Hamilton
Principle 11 - The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical.
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes ... but when a long train of abuses and usurpations ... evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security." - Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence
Principle 12 - The United States of America shall be a republic.
"I pledge allegiance to
the flag of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands...."
Principle 13 - A Constitution should protect the people from the frailties of their rulers.
"If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.... [But lacking these] you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." - James Madison
Principle 14 - Life and liberty are secure only so long as the rights of property are secure.
John Locke reasoned that God gave the earth and everything in it to the whole human family as a gift. Therefore the land, the sea, the acorns in the forest, the deer feeding in the meadow belong to everyone "in common." However, the moment someone takes the trouble to change something from its original state of nature, that person has added his ingenuity or labor to make that change. Herein lies the secret to the origin of "property rights."
Principle 15 - The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free-market economy and a minimum of government regulations.
Prosperity depends upon a climate of wholesome stimulation with four basic freedoms in operation:
1. The Freedom to try.
2. The Freedom to buy.
3. The Freedom to sell.
4. The Freedom to fail.
Principle 16 - The government should be separated into three branches.
"I call you to witness that I was the first member of the Congress who ventured to come out in public, as I did in January 1776, in my Thoughts on Government ... in favor of a government with three branches and an independent judiciary. This pamphlet, you know, was very unpopular. No man appeared in public to support it but yourself." - John Adams
Principle 17 - A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power by the different branches of government.
"It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." - James Madison
Principle 18 - The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written Constitution.
The structure of the American system is set forth in the Constitution of the United States and the only weaknesses which have appeared are those which were allowed to creep in despite the Constitution.
Principle 19 - Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, all others being retained by the people.
The Tenth Amendment is the most widely violated provision of the bill of rights. If it had been respected and enforced America would be an amazingly different country than it is today. This amendment provides:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Principle 20 - Efficiency and dispatch require that the government operate according to the will of the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority.
"Every man, by consenting with others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation to every one of that society to submit to the determination of the majority, and to be concluded [bound] by it." - John Locke
Principle 21 - Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom.
"The way to have good and safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent [to perform best]. - Thomas Jefferson
Principle 22 - A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.
"The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from restraint and violence of others, which cannot be where there is no law." - John Locke
Principle 23 - A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.
"They made an early provision by law that every town consisting of so many families should be always furnished with a grammar school. They made it a crime for such a town to be destitute of a grammar schoolmaster for a few months, and subjected it to a heavy penalty. So that the education of all ranks of people was made the care and expense of the public, in a manner that I believe has been unknown to any other people, ancient or modern. The consequences of these establishments we see and feel every day [written in 1765]. A native of America who cannot read and write is as rare ... as a comet or an earthquake." John Adams
Principle 24 - A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.
"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." - George Washington
Principle 25 - "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations -- entangling alliances with none."- Thomas Jefferson, given in his first inaugural address.
Principle 26 - The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore the government should foster and protect its integrity.
"There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America, or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated." Alexis de Tocqueville
Principle 27 - The burden of debt is as destructive to human freedom as subjugation by conquest.
"We are bound to defray expenses [of the war] within our own time, and are unauthorized to burden posterity with them.... We shall all consider ourselves morally bound to pay them ourselves and consequently within the life [expectancy] of the majority." - Thomas Jefferson
Principle 28 - The United States has a manifest destiny to eventually become a glorious example of God's law under a restored Constitution that will inspire the entire human race.
The Founders sensed from the very beginning that they were on a divine mission. Their great disappointment was that it didn't all come to pass in their day, but they knew that someday it would. John Adams wrote: "I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."