Dickens Had It Right

It is Christmas day and I sat down to watch A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens with my wife. We have watched it many times, but this time it hit me. The United Stated has been "Scrooged."

Take a close look at the relationship between the attitude expressed by many people from welfare recipients to government officials in Washington and you will see that they all think, like Scrooge, that the taxes that are paid should take care of everyone that can't or won't take care of themselves. (Can't because they failed to get the education equivalent to maintain a lifestyle that they desire or are now in need of, or won't because they have become so accustomed to having the welfare check, government housing, Medicaid and unemployment compensation that supports their lifestyle.) Initially Scrooge expresses his disdain for Christmas as a holiday of exploitation. (Which it has become in this country based on the number of people that are killed or injured just trying to be the first to get the newest Nike(R) Air Jordan (T) sneakers.)

In the end, however, Scrooge begins to see the light when he is shown "his children", "Ignorance and want." He begins to realize that just because he pays his taxes, he isn't showing the compassion that is his to show. Today, we have politicians that tout that the rich must pay their "fair share" even though thy themselves have legislated a higher percentage of taxes on income for the rich than any other class pays. At the same time they incorporate loop-holes in the tax code so that they themselves, and anyone who is rich enough to have tax lawyers working for them, won't have to pay the high percentage. Then we hear from the Oval Office that the rich aren't paying their fair share and need to be taxed even more.

At the same time those who are the recipients of the government dole are being bated into class warfare to demand that the rich pay more to sustain them in their self-indulgence. Our government refuses to take any responsibility for the financial state we find ourselves in. Those who are the major contributors to our national debt are desperate to continue the government programs which are draining our financial pot because they have promised all of this government aid to pay for the votes from the dole recipients that keep them in office. All the while government, through the medium of the Department of Education and other government agencies, are ensuring that any mention of Christ or Christmas are taken from our textbooks, schools, classrooms and many other public venues.

It took the apparition of three spirits to convince Scrooge that he needed to mend his ways. What will it take to turn an entire nation around so that we don't suffer the fate that was staring Scrooge in the face before he changed?

Principles of Liberty (Three)

Principle Number Three
By William L. Pressgrove

“The most promising method of securing virtuous and morally stable people is to elect virtuous leaders.”

As with principle number two, the Founding Fathers felt that it was very important for the people of this country to be virtuous and morally strong and therefore, principle three brings to the forefront the fact that the leaders have to be the examples of that virtue and morality. Throughout this country’s history there have been those who have lead the country by the virtuous and moral example and others that have been put forth the antithetical. The Founding Fathers expressed their concern about the leadership of the country. They knew if the positions of prominence in this country ever became lucrative that it would lead those seeking for money as well as power to apply for and gain those positions.

A good look at American history reveals a cycle in which leadership has gone from those who would lead this country into socialism and those who want to return the responsibility to govern back to the states and the people. At present, the country is experiencing the closest thing to total socialism as it has experienced in the history of its current Constitution. Socialism is the modern form of tyranny. Whether that tyranny is in the hands of a king (monarchy) or Congress (oligarchy) matters little. If the idea is to control every facet of life, the “cradle to grave” concept, it is the same. Virtue and morality do not seek to control other’s lives any more than is necessary to maintain the peace and prosperity of the individual.

The responsibility of the average citizen is to search out those who can and will govern the nation in a virtuous and moral manner, returning to the people their freedom as well as the responsibility for their own lives, prosperity, and wellbeing. This principle should be one of the most followed criteria when it comes to finding leadership for the country. It is almost self-evident that individuals who are virtuous and morally upright will seek solutions to problems that will be in the best interest of the people as a whole.

Principles of Liberty (Two)

Principle Number Two
By William L. Pressgrove

“A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong.”

You don’t have to look very far to find evidence of the truthfulness of this principle. There are so many laws on the books that even the district attorneys can’t keep up with them all. The courts are so packed with cases that it takes several years for them to come to trial. Students go to school with the attitude that if they don’t get “caught” they haven’t broken any rules. When they do get caught, instead of accepting the consequences, they try to run so that they can get away from those enforcing the rules. Of course they get that idea from watching high speed chases on the nightly news. These symptoms show that today’s society is just the opposite of what the principle says needs to be maintained to “survive under a republican constitution.”

The Founding Fathers knew that the only way that the rule of law would work was if the citizens were willing to obey those rules. There always have been people in our society that have been disobedient to the laws, local, state, and national, but they have always been a very small minority, now the number of perpetrators of lawlessness is increasing and the degree of seriousness of the violations is on the rise as well.

What did the Founding Fathers have in mind to maintain a virtuous and morally strong people? At the time the diversity of religions wasn’t as great. Most people in the country were Christian. Although the Founding Fathers were forward looking individuals, it is hard to conceive that they would have been able to see the religious and ethnic diversity that exists in this country today. However, in their other writings they confirmed a strong hope that this nation would remain primarily a Christian nation. Although there is a fundamental foundation in morality in most religions, some religion's understanding of morality is different from that of Christianity. Even with those differences the country would remain stronger if all would live by the moral codes of their respective religions.

The problem that has arisen is that religious morals from all religions have come under fire by those who don’t share the same ideology about a Supreme Being. This trend has placed the country in a situation where the basic foundation for law and order, the fundamental Christian religion, is under attack by those who hold no religious beliefs. The courts and government have succumbed to the insistence of the very few that “religious” morals and virtue cannot be reinforced in the public schools through religious friendly instruction. By some stretch of the imagination the court has concluded that the classroom is an extension of the hallowed halls of Congress. Because school systems receive federal funds the courts have justified their position that the first amendment applies to schools as well. David Barton author of The Myth of Separation established a connection between the social deviance, lower SAT scores and the separation of church and state ruling effecting prayer in schools. Barton's research states that ever since organized prayer was banned from schools, crime and sexual misbehavior have increased significantly as well as SAT scores have experienced a marked declined.

To resolve the problem, expose the secularist ideology for the detrimental influence it is. Students must be taught that they are responsible for their own actions. Returning the religious component to the school system would cause students to think about their actions. Helping the student understand that the Constitution was written for a moral and religious people and is wholly inadequate to govern a lawless people would prick their social consciences in a way that hasn't been done in 40 years. Without returning to the morality and virtue that the Supreme Law of the Land represents, this country cannot return to its former greatness.

Principles of Liberty (One)

Principles Number One
By William L. Pressgrove

Because of the concern I have for this country’s future, I would like to share with you my feelings about the 28 “Principles of Liberty” that the Founding Fathers placed at the foundation of our country’s government as outlined in The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen. I decided to start with the first one: “The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law.”

My understanding of this principle would be worthless without a definition of Natural Law. So let me give you what I understand that definition to be (most of my understanding of Natural Law comes from The 5000 Year Leap). Cicero is quoted as saying: “True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging, and everlasting...” (The 5000 Year Leap, p.40). So what I understand from this is that Natural Law is that law which can be applied to every situation without contradicting the natural order of things. Stephen Covey’s “law of the farm” is a prime example of Natural Law.

The rest of the principle is firmly founded on that one truth. You can’t have a sound government unless you have just human relations. You can’t have just human relations without first having immutable laws as their foundation. In essence this foundation is that every soul is just as precious to our Creator as every other soul. Each is to treat the other with the same respect and dignity that they would require of others. Without this foundation, our form of government cannot survive. Secularists would like to think that it can, but the principles of fairness and equality are only found in the fundamentals of Christianity. Take that away and there is no reason to treat each other as equals. In Christianity, equality means all are equal in the eyes of the Creator; therefore, if you deny the existence of a Creator, there is no reason to think that any individual is equal to any other because we all have different levels of intelligence, abilities, interests, physical capabilities, etc. So without this understanding of Natural Law and equality, humanity reverts back to the “survival of the fittest” mentality which would eliminate that equality.

Basically that is what is behind the first principle. Learn it and you will be able to see through the different philosophies that spout fairness, not equality is what human relations are founded upon. A prime example of this in government today is the idea that heavily graduated income tax is a fair policy and that all Americans are being treated fairly in spite of the disparity in responsibility for financing the government.

The idea that government has to bring all people onto equal financial footing for them to have “equality” is a misunderstanding of the intended meaning of “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence. What was intended was that all mankind is worthy of equal respect and to be valued equally as being “endowed by their Creator” with unalienable rights. Take that foundation away and there is no need for feeling that any human being is on equal footing with any other. People become more of a commodity to be used and manipulated, yes, even enslaved if it benefits the one in power.

The Founding Fathers were inspired when they set this principle at the foundation of the liberty with which the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were endowed. We need to contemplate how important that principle is to the governance of this country.