Principles of Liberty (Fourteen)

Principles of Liberty (Fourteen)

By William Pressgrove

“Life and liberty are secure only so long as the right to property is secure.” (The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen p. 169)

It isn’t rocket science to see that if an individual has no rights to be secure in his property, that Darwinian law “survival of the fittest” would be the rule. John Locke had the right idea when he said, “God, who hath given the world to men in common, has also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life and convenience.” (Second Essay Concerning Civil Government, p. 30, par. 25) Without this idea of using it to the best advantage of life, then men would be stuck in the stone ages where no one would do anything more than provide a subsistence living for themselves and their family. In order to go beyond the subsistence living, a man must be secure in his property; otherwise, no one would work to improve their property because just as soon as they did, someone stronger or smarter would come along and take it away from them.

What John Locke said becomes the key. Knowing that the Founding Fathers gave a lot of credence to John Locke’s philosophy, it is understandable that they incorporated that philosophy into the form of government they designed for this country. That philosophy relies heavily on an understanding of the relationship between God and man. Without a belief in that philosophy this country becomes ungovernable. John Adams expressed most succinctly when he said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (as quoted in The Myth of Separation, David Barton, p. 123) It is that “moral and religious” belief that allows us to own property and “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:26) If it weren’t for the Christian religion and Christian principles that the Founding Fathers believed in, we wouldn’t have a Constitution designed to protect our rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

What we see happening is a systematic erosion of those principles and the underlying beliefs through the weakening of the religious foundation by a misguided public that has been fed the line “separation of church and state” to the point that they don’t understand that what they wish for will ultimately take away from them the freedoms that they so desire to have. It is imperative that we educate those around us to the dangers of excluding religious principles as the rules by which the country should be governed. An understanding of the integral relationship of Christian principles and the governance of the country has to be instilled in our children so that they know the foundation upon which their freedom and liberty rest upon.

This should be one of the things that parents discuss with their children and an intimate part of their relationship with their children. By doing so, the next generation will grow up with a correct understanding of what freedom and liberty really are and how precious they are to the joy and happiness they enjoy.