Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The Faux Pas of the Founders

From My Perspective - - -

The Founders of our country must have been having a bad day when the idea for This Republic was conceived. The Framers of the Constitution erred in thinking The US Constitution would be a foundation for a free and prosperous nation. What was wrong with the early founders: George Washington; Alexander Hamilton; Thomas Jefferson; Benjamin Franklin; Thomas Paine and countless other Patriots? Were they delusional? Were they writing this document after sipping some home brew? Did they really believe that a country and society would one day jettison many of the principles for which the Founders were willing to state unequivocally: “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor…”? Whatever happened to the originating proposition: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”?

The Faux Pas (a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct; an embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion) did not become apparent until 233 years after the fact. If one wonders what happened, just suppose some of the political leaders of today had been the leaders in 1776 – people like the current President; Nancy Pelosi; Harry Reid; Mitch McConnell; John Boehner; the Federal Court System; Czar Appointees – how would they have framed the Constitution? Would it have included weakening the status and standing of the nation in the world? Would it have included the takeover of Banks and Major Businesses? Would it have championed taking control of one-sixth of the economy so that every legal or illegal resident in the nation could have Health Care provided? Would it contain a favorite status for Labor Unions receiving Government Contracts (rather than the Low Bidder)? Would this nation have survived for 233 years if the present politicians had been involved in preparing a foundational document to “…form a more perfect union…”? Would they have been willing to say: “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor…” in order to form a nation that will endure the test of time?

Focus on the Family released the following in 2006: “The American Experiment has the potential to prove unusually conducive to a deeper understanding of God’s design for the state precisely because it is unique in the history of the world. Here on these shores, and here alone, people with a strong Christian worldview have been afforded an unparalleled opportunity to create from scratch what they considered an ideal system of government...The New England Primer, the second best-selling book (after the Bible) of the colonial era, provides an intriguing window into the attitudes of early Americans. In particular, it reveals an outlook and a way of life powerfully shaped by the teachings of Scripture. The pervasiveness of this outlook is further demonstrated in statements made by America’s early political leaders, legal and social architects, and educational pioneers – people like Benjamin Rush, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, Charles Carroll, Noah Webster, and the founders of Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia Universities. In spite of the fact that not all of them were practicing Christians, these luminaries agreed with President John Adams that the success of America’s republican form of government would prove directly dependent upon the virtue and morality of her people, and that virtue and morality are necessarily founded upon religion – by which all meant the Christian religion…”

We have come a long way from those Founding Principles which seem to be almost forgotten and seldom embraced or championed today! Psalm 33:12 instructs and encourages: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.” Psalm 9:17 [NLT] continues: “The wicked will go down to the grave. This is the fate of all the nations who ignore God.” We have a choice and should have the good sense to return to the Foundation Principles of the Nation – and – of our Faith! Don’t let this become your Faux Pas! Consider these things with me!

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