Moses gave the children of Israel the most sublime principles of
government and human behavior, which would have led them to the most
prosperous society ever. But he seemed to know that after his departure, it would be difficult to hold. No doubt he knew from personal
experiences that the Israelites would soon depart from his inspired
counsel. He said: "For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold,
while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against
the Lord; and how much more after my death?" (Deuteronomy 31:27) He
even predicted that they would eventually fall from being the most
prosperous and blessed nation on earth into a state of slavery, devoured
by other nations, and losing the great blessings of freedom.
The Savior's Sermon on the Mount contained principles of human
behavior which, if followed, would have created the highest level of
prosperity and freedom ever seen on the face of the earth. But before
His ministry was concluded, He gave direct warnings concerning the fate
of those who would reject His teachings. As a result, few groups have
seen more persecution in the history of the world than those who turned
from His true gospel.
When the American Founders set up the first free people in modern
times, they knew it was risky business. They all realized that any
man-made institution -- even under the inspiration of the Almighty --
would be subject to foibles and human weaknesses of those who worked
under its canopy. Nevertheless, these men who masterminded the United
States of America had the highest aspirations for the great nation they
were founding. It was only in their quiet, more somber moments that
their apprehensions concerning the future of America came out in
concrete phrases and words.
Strong Warnings from the Founders and Early American Leaders
Many state constitutions include words similar to what is contained
in the Arizona Constitution: "A frequent recurrence to fundamental
principles is essential to the security of individual rights and the
perpetuity of free government." (
Arizona State Constitution,
Art. II, Sec. 1) Just as we need to periodically review the principles
the Founders gave us, so should we periodically review the warnings they
uttered about the temptation of a free people to use this freedom to
give license to human weaknesses and thus pull down a great
civilization.
In Dr. Skousen's
The Majesty of God's Law,
he includes a whole chapter outlining some of the most powerful
warnings of the American Founders. The rest of this letter is drawn from
Chapter 32 of this book, giving the Founders' quotes and Dr. Skousen's
comments.
The Warnings of Benjamin Franklin
Franklin served as one of the foremost architects in structuring the
Constitution, and while most of the Founders were congratulating one
another on their remarkable charter of liberty, Benjamin Franklin
injected this note of prophetic insight.
"I agree to this Constitution ... and I believe, further, that this
is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only
end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people
shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being
incapable of any other."
All of this went along with Franklin's basic philosophy of sound
government, namely, that no people can remain free if they become wicked
and immoral.
When a society decays to the point where people begin to fear for
their lives and their property, the demands for a police state have
always been inevitable.
The Warnings of George Washington
One of the most significant doctrines set forth in the Farewell
Address was Washington's extremely insightful warning concerning the
peril of allowing candidates to be nominated and national policies to be
promoted by competing political parties. In fact, he prophesied exactly
what would happen if the American leaders ever fell into the seductive
trap of trying to run the nation with opposing parties. He said:
"They serve to organize factions ... to put in the place of the
delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but
artful and enterprising minority....
"Let me ... warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party...."
Almost prophetically, he anticipated the encroachment of one branch of government over the others.
He said:"It is important ... that ... those entrusted with its administration
... confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres,
avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department any
encroachment upon another.... The spirit of encroachment tends to
consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create
... a real despotism."
Nothing aroused the wrath of Washington more than arrogant
bureaucrats actually changing the fundamental structure of government by
sheer despotic assertion of administrative power. He said:
"If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification
of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be
corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates.
But let there be no change by usurpations; for though this, in one
instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by
which free governments are destroyed."
The Warning of John Adams
Among the warning voices of the Founders, none was more forceful in
proclaiming the need for a virtuous people to make the Constitution
function than John Adams. He said:
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
The Warnings of Thomas Jefferson
During his two terms as President, Jefferson detected some evil and
subversive trends that were luring the American people away from the
original Constitution. Notice how direct he was in pointing the finger
of accusation at the judiciary for corrupting the original
constitutional plan:
"Our government is now taking so steady a course as to show by what
road it will pass to destruction, to wit, by consolidation first, and
then corruption.... The engine of consolidation will be the federal
judiciary; the two other branches are the corrupting and corrupted
instruments."
In other words, the Supreme Court uses its judicial mandates to draw
more and more power to Washington; then the Congress and the Executive
use this new power to shatter the Constitution and corrupt the dual
federalism, which was designed to balance the political powers between
the government and the states.
Once Jefferson's distant cousin, John Marshall, became chief justice
of the Supreme Court, Marshall set himself and his associates up as the
"final arbiter" on all constitutional issues. Nowhere in the
Constitution was the federal judiciary given the power to enforce its
will on the states or the other two federal departments. Jefferson had
the Supreme Court in his gun sights when he wrote:
"The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body,
like gravity, ever acting with noiseless foot and unalarming advance,
gaining ground step by step and holding what it gains, is engulfing
insidiously the [state] governments into the jaws of that [federal
government] which feeds them."
The Warnings of James Madison
Madison was known to be the philosophical soul-mate of Thomas
Jefferson, but sometimes his contemporaries considered him somewhat
paranoid and suffering from fears for the nation that would never
happen. But the passing of time was to prove him more insightful than
many of his contemporaries had thought. He said:
"If Congress can employ money indefinitely, for the general welfare,
and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may
take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint
teachers in every state, county, and parish, and pay them out of the
public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of
children, the establishing in like manner schools throughout the union;
they may assume the provision of the poor.... Were the power of Congress
to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the
very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited
government established by the people of America."
The Warnings of Abraham Lincoln
At the age of twenty-eight, Abraham Lincoln gave one of the great
speeches of his life. He had been asked to speak at the Young Men's
Lyceum at Springfield, the capital city of Illinois. He chose as his
subject, "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions." The date was
January 27, 1837. Lincoln deplored the spirit of lawlessness that was
increasing among the people. He said:
"There is even now something of ill omen amongst us. I mean that
increasing disregard for law which pervades the country -- the growing
disposition to substitute the wild and furious passion in lieu of the
sober judgment of courts, and the worse than savage mobs for the
executive ministers of justice. The disposition is awfully fearful in
any community; and that it now exists in ours ... it would be a
violation of truth to deny."
He was not afraid of invasion from without, but he saw the ominous possibility of self-destruction from within. He said:
"At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I
answer, if it ever reaches us, it must spring up among us. It cannot
come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its
author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all
time or die by suicide."
The Warnings of Alex De Tocqueville
In 1830, a young judge from France arrived in America. His name was
Alexis de Tocqueville. He came to study the American system. He and his
friend soaked up more information about the great American experiment in
ten months than most scholars absorb in a lifetime.
Returning to France, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote a two-volume work entitled
Democracy in America. De Tocqueville saw the people of the United States passing through several distinct stages.
First of all, he saw the strength of character and moral integrity
that would make them prosperous. But as they became self-sufficient, he
saw that they would be less concerned about each other and much less
concerned about the principles that made them a great people. This would
leave them vulnerable to the manipulation of clever politicians who
would begin to promise them perpetual security if they accepted certain
schemes contrived by some of their leaders. He then described what
modern students have been led to identify as "democratic socialism.":
"That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It
would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its
object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to
keep them in perpetual childhood; it is well content that the people
should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing.
"For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it
chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it
provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities,
facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs
their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their
inheritances -- what remains, to spare them all the care of thinking and
the trouble of living."
"After having thus successively taken each member of the community in
its powerful grasp, and fashioned them at will, the supreme power then
extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of
society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform,
through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters
cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd.
"The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided --
men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained
from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence;
it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and
stupefies a people, till [the] nation is reduced to be nothing better
than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government
is the shepherd."
Are not these warnings sobering? Can we not see every one of them in
fulfillment today? Yet in spite of all these dire predictions, the
Founders assured us there is a manifest destiny for America that would
cause her to rise from the ashes. It is this prophecy that keeps us
going.
Is each of us doing all we can to help? Have you had a seminar for
your friends in your area yet? Can you spare a little of your resources
to help us continue?
Thank you for all you do or will do.
Sincerely,
Earl Taylor, Jr.
Be sure to check out Earl's website!
From the National Institute for Constitutional Studies
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