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John Donne famously penned the prose work Devotions Upon Emergent
Occasions in 1624, of which Meditation XVII is perhaps the
best-known part of this work. We read it as part of English literature
in school and it has been referenced within our lifetimes in many
venues. It speaks of the connectedness we all share in life, that none
of us can truly be isolated from the whole of humanity, and that each
man's death takes something away from our social compact. I'm sure you
have read it. It begins:
No man is an island
Entire of itself...
John Donne was a cleric of the Anglican Church and a member of
Parliament several times. He lived in an age that believed in the divine
right of kings, an age which did not support natural rights or
individual liberties. Everything and everyone lived, breathed, and
existed at the mercy of the monarch and the aristocracy. There was no
room for individualism or opportunity.
It was during this time that a movement called "The Enlightenment"
surfaced. Men like John Locke began to reject this idea of "divine
right" and started arguing for limited constitutional governments which
would protect the individual rights of the citizenry. Our Founders were
profoundly influenced by these men, men like Locke, Montesquieu, and
Blackstone. They pondered on the writings of the Roman and Greek
philosophers and historians such as Plutarch, Virgil, and Cicero, to
name a few. They scoured the past to ordain the future. "I have but one
lamp by which my feet are guided," said Patrick Henry, "and that is the
lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the
past."
And in the end, they came to the conclusion that the government of men
should consist of "a wise and frugal government, which shall
restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise
free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement,
and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This
is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle
of our felicity [happiness, joy]." (Thomas Jefferson, 1st Inaugural
Address) Because of this deep-rooted belief in the equality of men
before their Creator and the inalienable rights of individuals to be
secure in their persons and possessions, they committed their lives and
fortunes to a revolutionary war that changed the political landscape
from that day forward.
Contrast that with the current political thought that is creeping into
the American social compact, one that is reminiscent of the divine
rights of kings. We are not our own, we belong to the collective, we
work and toil for the good of the whole, and one man governs above it
all. For instance, take this comment from the graduation speech
candidate Obama gave at Wesleyan University in 2008:
You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after
the big house and the nice suits, but I hope you don't. Not because you
have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, although I believe
you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all those
who helped you get here, although I do believe you have that debt. It's
because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our
individual salvation depends on collective salvation.
Or how about this quote from a speech Obama gave at The Cooper Union in
New York in 2008:
The great task before our Founders was putting into practice the
ideal that government could simultaneously serve liberty and advance the
common good. And government, he believed [Alexander
Hamilton], had an important role to play in advancing our common
prosperity.
Now, if you want to know what the end result of a "common prosperity"
would look like, allow me to direct you to Yang Chungui, who stipulated
in his 2012 article "Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Historical Destiny of
Socialism" that, "The ultimate goal of socialism is common
prosperity."
"It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to
make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance at
success, too... My attitude is that if the economy's good for
folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody. If you've
got a plumbing business, you're gonna be better off [...] if you've got
a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now
everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I
think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
Barack Obama to Joe Wurzelbacher, 2008
"Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at
raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness."
Barack Obama, 2008
"I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough
money." Barack Obama, 2010
This is not a hit piece on the attempts by the current administration to
take away your wealth (what little you have left after the past four
years). This is about a difference in worldview about the contract
government has with its people, and what the defining role of government
is in our day-to-day lives.
When you look at the above quotes, you begin to realize that
this president does not speak in reference to equality of opportunity
but in regard to equality of outcomes.The
equality that this president speaks in reference to is in no way the
equality of men before their Creator that our Founders risked everything
for. The words sound almost the same, but the differences are miles and
philosophies apart.
It can be confusing. How do you know what our Founders were trying to
accomplish in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? What
was their worldview and dreams for this new nation? If you go to your
public education to enlighten you, you'll be sadly disappointed. Most of
the answers you'll receive there will tell you how horrible America is
and how we have trampled on the rights and resources of the entire
world.
And they will tell you that the Founders were deists who did not
believe in the Christian faith and did not establish this country on
Judeo-Christian principles.
And they would be wrong.
I would like to introduce you to
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study on Christianity and the law of the land by historian John Eidsmoe.
It comes in a set of six CDs, recently updated, jam-packed with amazing
information and insights. For instance, you'll learn about such things
as:
- The book most often cited by the Founding Fathers in their
public political writings
- How the representative and decentralized government of
congregational churches became a cornerstone of the American
constitutional system
- How John Locke's Christianity influenced the Founding Fathers
- One of the most cited and influential thinkers of the late 1700s
whose work helped shape the formation of the United States
government
- How the Treaty of Tripoli has been selectively quoted and
misinterpreted by progressives to prove the U.S. was not founded on
Christian values
- 4 major misconceptions about the Constitution
Historian John Eidsmoe is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and
Alabama State Defense Force colonel, Headquarters Judge Advocate, Deputy
Chaplain, and Training Officer. He taught at the Thomas Goode Jones
School of Law and is a Professor of Law at the Oak Brook College of Law
and Government Policy. He has served as Senior Staff Attorney at the
Alabama Supreme Court and is currently legal counsel for the Foundation
for Moral Law. Eidesmoe is an ordained pastor, constitutional attorney,
and author.
He holds five degrees in law, theology, and political science. Not
surprisingly, he is one of the most articulate and learned defenders of
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really intended.
In addition to this six-CD set, you'll also receive The Constitution
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that will teach you things like:
- The one virtue that must always be present in the hearts of the
people in order for the Constitution to work as it was designed to
work
- "Flaws" in the Constitution that have allowed corruption to
gradually sneak into the federal government
- Why the Constitution does not provide us a "substantive
morality" -- and where this morality was intended to come from
- Why the words "sovereign" and "sovereignty" are never mentioned
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- And so much more...
When you order
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America is at a crossroads. We have forgotten much of our history and
the part that remains in the American lexicon is egregiously wrong. We
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