The Cause of Liberty

 
| 10 Foundational Questions | Introduction | Question #1 | Question #2 | Question #3 | Question #4 | Question #5 | Question #6 |
 

“The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority. –Alexander Hamilton

 
Simply put, legitimate foundation means the will of the People at large, while legitimate authority is the express permission granted by the People to the government to perform some function.

Put together, they form the philosophical foundation of the powerful idea that man does not exist for the state, but that the state exists for man.

Legitimate Foundation

The idea that the government should exist according to the will of the People and solely to benefit the People at large was revolutionary in the 18th Century. Previously, governments primarily benefited those governing, or special interests.

The American Founders taught that the will of the People, as expressed through constitutional means, is the only solid, sustainable, and legitimate foundation of republican government.

This does not mean, however, that they were referring simply to the concept of majority rule alone, as we learn from Federalist Paper #51; the idea is to guide the nation by the will of the majority, while protecting minority rights (i.e. preventing the majority from taking private property).

Legitimate Authority

Thomas Jefferson spoke of legitimate authority in the Declaration of Independence when he wrote, “…That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”

The United States Constitution was the first (and to my knowledge the only) constitution to be instigated by, or to have originated in, the People, then ratified by the People. In other words, the People, through their colonial representatives, called for the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Representatives at the Convention represented the People within their respective territories–not the government itself.

They were authorized by the People to do the will of the People. Our Constitution was initiated and created from the bottom up, rather than dictated from the top down. Then, after its creation by the representatives of the People, the Constitution was taken back to the People–once again through their colonial representatives–to be ratified, or accepted.

Previously, the historical norm was for the government–whether through a monarchy, aristocracy, or other form of ruler’s law–to dictate from the top down the laws and constitutional forms that the People must obey.

Why It Matters

To drive the point home with these critical concepts, think of Continue reading »

| 10 Foundational Questions | Introduction | Question #1 | Question #2 | Question #3 | Question #4 | Question #5 |
 

“To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.” -Confucius

 
Although this is certainly debatable, it seems clear, when considering the four foundations of freedom, that culture is far more important than politics and government.

What I mean by culture is the social patterns, activities, mores, customs, belief systems, and sense of morality inherent to a society. It’s how the people at large behave in the absence of force. It’s how they view each other and their place in society and how they interact with one another.

In other words, in an aristocratic culture, poor members of society are unlikely to consider that they have the opportunity to attain a higher social status. In social democracies or meritocracies, however, individuals understand that they have the opportunity to be mobile in their social status. (And remember that there is a fundamental difference between a social democracy and a governmental democracy.)

Politics refers to how members of society make group decisions, and government is the institutionalization of force, or the way that political decisions are enforced.

Why It Matters

Although there is some overlap, morality is mainly the purview of culture. So if a nation has a government that stays within its proper realm–to protect unalienable rights–yet voluntary virtue is required to sustain this arrangement, then culture is far more important than its system of government.

By the way, it’s important to define morality, since there’s a tendency to think of morality only in terms of sexual purity. However, by morality I’m referring to a holistic sense of the word, a morality that includes far more than sexuality, including philanthropy, providence (or living up to one’s full potential and doing what they were born to do), personal responsibility, and stewardship.

Another way to explain the preeminence of culture of politics and government is through the principle of voluntarism, which states that the health of a society is equal to what individuals will do voluntarily without the force or assistance of the government.

James Madison explained this concept well in Federalist Paper #51. He wrote, “But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”

In other words, he says that the primary way to preserve the society is through virtue in the people, but auxiliary precautions are also necessary, auxiliary precautions being the form of government.

For far too long, we’ve both depended on the government to do things we should be doing as private citizens in the realm of culture, and then blamed them when things go wrong.

It’s time for America to realize that our voluntary culture, or how we act in the absence of government, is far more important than anything the government does, since the government is nothing but a collective reflection of our private lives anyway.

Focus less on changing the government, and focus more on creating a family culture that makes illegitimate government functions unnecessary.

Recommended Reading:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Giver by Lois Lowry
1984 by George Orwell

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Written By Stephen Palmer. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

| 10 Foundational Questions | Introduction | Question #1 | Question #2 | Question #3 | Question #4 |

The Four Foundations of Freedom are:

• Private Virtue
• Public Virtue
• Widespread Education
• Auxiliary Precautions

The Founders consistently taught that, in the absence of these foundations, no society can survive, or at least maintain its freedom.

Private virtue means being a person of integrity; being honest in your dealings with others, being faithful in your duties to your family, controlling your appetites, etc.

Public virtue means to voluntarily sacrifice personal benefit for the good of society. For example, George Washington served two terms as President even when, as he was accepting the post, he wrote that it “would be the greatest sacrifice of my personal feelings and wishes that ever I have been called upon to make.”

Contrary to our modern conception of education, widespread education to the Founders didn’t mean job training; it meant classical, liberal education designed to teach individuals how to think, not what to think (see A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille).

And finally, auxiliary precautions are a society’s forms of government that ideally protect life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. Auxiliary precautions include Legitimate Foundation, Legitimate Authority, Legitimate Role, Separation of Powers, Checks, Balances, Federalism, Written Constitution, Enumerated Limited Powers, Periodic Elections, Electoral College, and Factionalization.

Why It Matters

What matters most about the four foundations is their order of importance. The Founders understood that no free government, however enlightened, can survive unless the people that it governs are moral and virtuous.

Constitutional government is nothing but words on paper unless its principles are alive in the souls of the people; free nations get the government that they deserve. When a free people fails to internalize and exhibit public and private virtue, no government on earth can keep them from destroying themselves. On the other hand, people who cultivate and maintain virtue and value their principles above their privileges enjoy unlimited prosperity, peace, and happiness.

As Benjamin Franklin said, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

James Madison added, “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”

In a free government, the People get the government that they deserve. The only way to maintain freedom is to maintain private and public virtue. This leads to the next question…

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Written By Stephen Palmer. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

| 10 Foundational Questions | Introduction | Question #1 | Question #2 | Question #3 |

The most common–and grossly incorrect–answer to this question is that we are a democracy. The right–albeit simplistic–answer is that we are a republic. A more sophisticated answer is that we are a constitutional republic.

The most thorough answer came from James Madison, who said that our form of government is an “Extended Limited Commercial Federal Democratic Republic.”

By “extended” he was referring to geography–never before in history has there been a republic that covered so much territory.

“Limited” refers to the fact that the Constitution expressly defines what the government can and cannot do.

“Commercial” refers to our national character. The Founders said that there were three main national characters–martial, religious, and commercial. Rome had a martial character, as does China. Ancient Israel had a religious character. Since religious and martial-character nations tend toward tyranny, the Founders chose commercial.

By “federal,” Madison meant as much power as possible was preserved with the People, and that the federal government only existed for specific and limited purposes. The idea of federalism is that the closer one gets to the People the more power there is, while the closer one gets to the federal government, the less power one finds.

“Democratic” refers to the idea that we are a social democracy, although not a governmental democracy. Social democracy is the concept that intrinsic in our culture is the understanding that all men and women are created equal, that no individual is better than another, and that everyone has equal opportunity to succeed.

(As an interesting side note, Dr. Oliver DeMille, founder and President of George Wythe College, gives an updated version of Madison’s lengthy label. DeMille says that we are now an “Internationalist, Sometimes Constitutional (Except Where Prohibited By Law), Extended (Globally), Increasingly Commercial, National, Representative/Virtual/Popular Democracy, With a Technocratic Supremacist Court.” But that’s a conversation for another day…)

Why It Matters

As James Madison wrote Continue reading »

Before I give my answers to the questions in my last post, let me explain why I ask them.

In creating them, my thought process was to identify the foundational premises for the main competing views in political philosophy. The answers to each of these questions boil all of the political issues down to the roots of why and how different people develop their political views. By knowing these base premises, one is able to understand where others are coming from and be more persuasive in the fight for liberty.

In other words, knowing the answers to these ten questions will help you cut through peripheral issues and strike at the heart of political arguments that are eroding America’s freedom. The answers provide a foundation of political philosophy that, when understood by enough Americans, will restore our Republic.

Beware the Boredom Factor!

Let’s be honest with each other–political philosophy is boring (unless you’re a geek like me). Discussing these questions will not be exciting, sexy, or entertaining.

Understanding these ten questions and knowing the answers to them, however, is absolutely vital if we wish to preserve freedom for ourselves and our posterity. As boring as it may be, without this knowledge we cannot and will not survive as a free nation.

So what will it be for you: entertainment or freedom?

Now, on to the questions…

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Written By Stephen Palmer. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

Do you know why the following questions matter? Can you list at least three sources of opposing views on the answers?

Read the questions then answer them by commenting below.

1. What is the source of man’s rights?

2. What are the differences between unalienable and civil rights?

3. What is the proper role of government?

4. What is the American form of government?

5. What are the four foundations of freedom, according to the American Founders?

6. What is more important–culture, or politics and government?

7. What are “legitimate foundation” and “legitimate authority” in political philosophy?

8. What is the fundamental character of human beings?

9. What are the seven major societal forms, or institutions, and what are the roles of each?

10. What are the connections between liberty and property?

Share your answers by commenting below.

Bonus Question: What is the significance of the picture I used on this post?

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Written By Stephen Palmer. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

Finding New Heroes, Forging America’s New Future

What, or who will save America? How will America be saved? Can she be saved at all?

I recently found profound answers to these consequential questions from “Whale Rider,” the powerful movie about a young girl’s struggle to “confront the past, change the present and determine the future.”

From the website; “In a small New Zealand coastal village, Maori claim descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider. In every generation for more than 1000 years, a male heir born to the Chief succeeds to the title. The time is now. The Chief’s eldest son, Porourangi, fathers twins - a boy and a girl. But the boy and his mother die in childbirth. The surviving girl is named Pai.

“Grief-stricken, her father leaves her to be raised by her grandparents. Koro, her grandfather who is the Chief, refuses to acknowledge Pai as the inheritor of the tradition and claims she is of no use to him. But her grandmother, Flowers, sees more than a broken line–she sees a child in desperate need of love.

“When Pai’s father, Porourangi, returns home after twelve years, Koro hopes everything is resolved and Porourangi will accept destiny and become his successor. But Porourangi has no intention of becoming Chief. He has moved away from his people both physically and emotionally.

“Koro is blinded by prejudice and even Flowers cannot convince him that Pai is the natural heir. The old Chief is convinced that the tribe’s misfortunes began at Pai’s birth and calls for his people to bring their 12-year-old boys to him for training. He is certain that through a grueling process of teaching the ancient chants, tribal lore and warrior techniques, the future leader of their tribe will be revealed to him.

“Meanwhile, deep within the ocean, a massive herd of whales is responding, drawn towards Pai and their twin destinies. When the whales become stranded on the beach, Koro is sure this signals an apocalyptic end to his tribe. Until one person prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the people. Pai, the Whale Rider.”

Pai, young and female in a tribe that values age and male leadership, rises to the occasion against all odds, finds and fills a critical need that she appears to be unqualified for, and instills courage, dignity, and vision to a struggling people. She is an unlikely heroine, the one seemingly least likely to be able to create change and have lasting impact. But she ignores the limited perceptions around her, stays true to her heart and intuition, and quietly, humbly, yet persistently takes the daunting path of leadership.

Pai is an example of precisely what and who will save America. Leadership needs a new story. If America wants to be saved from our various and urgent problems, we need fresh, new ways of viewing, approaching, and dealing with them. The old stories, the old leadership models, have proven to be ineffective at best, and destructive at worst.

The new story is that ordinary, common Americans will rise up from the trenches of daily living and become the heroes and heroines our culture has been waiting for. The silent majority will be silent no longer. The good-hearted will become the great-hearted. Earthly beings will rise up to their divinity. The weak and the simple will cut through layers of complex bureaucracy to find empowering principles, liberating natural laws, and transcendent truths. Then, through diligence and sincerity, they will become a beacon in the darkness, a foundation of strength in seas of change and corruption.

Americans will stop looking outward to blame others and upward to wait for the government to save them. They will instead start looking inward to themselves and downward to the People for solutions. Where before they relied upon force and institutions, they will rely upon voluntarism, charity, individuals, and families. Where before they waited for politicians to hash out solutions, they will act immediately and self-reliantly. Where before they depended upon “command and control” to get things done, they will now trust in the goodness of citizenship.

What will save America? Common citizens becoming the change they wish to see in the world. Common citizens doing uncommon things. Common citizens revolutionizing themselves, their minds, and their hearts, and in the process revolutionizing the nation at large.

Who are these citizens? You and I.

Can America be saved? Yes. That is if you and I put our privileges in proper perspective, rise to our duties as free citizens, and be examples to follow, voices to heed, and rocks to rely upon. Like Pai transcended her limitations of birth, age, and prejudice, we must transcend our own limitations to be 21st Century “Whale Riders.” As Pai’s ancestors called upon her, so do ours call upon us. The government will not save us. Politicians cannot save us. We must save ourselves.

Recommending Reading:

A Renaissance of Kings by Dr. Andrew Groft
A Separate Peace by Peggy Noonan
Finding Our Way: Leadership For An Uncertain Time by Margaret Wheatley

Subscribe to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and receive two free gifts now.

Written By Stephen Palmer. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

If you haven’t heard, April 23rd is Tax Freedom Day. Up until Tax Freedom Day, everything you’ve earned has gone to the government. That’s the bad news. The good news is that this video is funny. Cheer up, you have eight more months to earn money for your own bills!

Subscribe to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and receive two free gifts now.

Illegal immigration poses serious problems for America, on many levels and for many different reasons. It absolutely must be dealt with if we wish to preserve our heritage and culture and “establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, [and] provide for the common defence…”

It is, in fact, such a monumental and profound issue that to arrive at and enact long-term solutions will require us to raise the level, temper the tone, and deepen the wisdom of the current discussion.

We’ve all witnessed or taken part in furious debates about illegal immigration, and undoubtedly received intense mass emails about it. The issue is definitely a turbulent fire raging across America.

My immediate concerns have less to do with illegal immigration as a fact, and more with the virulence surrounding the issue. It’s imperative that we extinguish the flames of fear and enmity and find solutions initiated by love and kindness, infused with human dignity and respect, and based in justice and principle.

Specifically, there are three destructive tendencies that must be eliminated from the anti-illegal immigration stance in order to raise the level of the debate and find real and lasting solutions. These are… Continue reading »

The next time you’re asked about your political affiliation or leaning, say that you’re a problem-solver.

Because I often write about politics, I’m frequently asked what political party I belong to, or if I’m a liberal or a conservative. I always struggle with the answer because politics and society seem much too complex to pigeonhole ourselves into such sweeping generalizations.

For example, I believe that we are stewards of the earth, and as such, we should take care of it and maintain its beauty and sustain its productivity. So does this make me an environmentalist liberal? I believe that the proper role of government is to protect unalienable rights, including the rights of conceived but unborn children. I must be a conservative then, right? I adhere to Thomas Jefferson’s idea of foreign policy, “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.” Since our current neo-conservative foreign policy is at direct odds with this, then I must be a liberal.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. The broad and confusing labels of “conservative” and “liberal,” “Republican” and “Democrat” are prohibitively confining in an age when our problems are immensely complex, party lines are increasingly obscure, platforms are highly evolutionary, and our values seemingly too diverse to find common ground.

Pulitzer-prize winning historian and author of 1776 David McCullough once said something in an interview that resonated with my independent-thinking mind. He said, “….we’re all in this together. And I feel very strongly that we need people who are there to help solve problems. I wish we had a Problem-Solver Party because we have very big problems that need solving. And I think a lot of our attention is addressed to the wrong problems.”

Ah, if only…

If only we had a political party that was actually concerned with solving root problems, rather than selling the people on temporary Bandaids. If only there were politicians concerned with more than proving their opponents wrong, or amassing self-aggrandizing power. If only we had public servants who actually did what their title suggests: served the people out of a sense of true public virtue, as opposed to simply seeking the security of a government job.

I think that Mr. McCullough is on to something, and he just may have the solution that millions of Americans have been searching for. Wouldn’t that be something: an army of open-minded, principle-based, and independent thinkers united behind the common cause of solving problems? Surrendering ego, getting beyond shallow labels, and really being a force for deep, sustainable, and positive change?

The next time someone asks me if I’m a conservative or a liberal, I’m going to answer, “I’m a Problem-Solver.” I invite you to join the new party, or rather, the new political ideal.

Subscribe to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and receive two free gifts now.

Written By Stephen Palmer. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.