The Cause of Liberty

| 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.

If you were left wondering whether you should laugh or cry after reading my last post, you got the point.

America really is at a crossroads, a momentous point in history infinitely more critical than anything Rome, Greece, or the ancient Israelites ever faced because of how much our decisions impact the rest of humanity.

However, I’m an optimist at heart and believe that Americans can and will conquer any challenge, no matter how difficult or even if it is self-imposed. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, “It is a part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate, to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.”

With this in mind, I wish to transcend the gloomy picture painted in my last post and offer the ten most important things that average Americans can do to ensure that our current decline doesn’t engulf us and last interminably.

10. Read at least one classic a month.

According to George Wythe College, “Classics are original works of depth and substance–writing, painting, sculpture, philosophy, music, theory, law, etc.–that engage the student in the great questions of life. Works that have wide application and scope, they offer valuable ideas to a variety of cultures and times, and can be applied to nations as well as communities, families and individuals. These timeless works change us and ask the hard questions that cut to the core of human nature and human institutions.”

Study the nature and anatomy of freedom through classics. Learn what it takes to preserve and promote freedom for yourself and your posterity.

9. Discuss the classics you read with groups of your peers on a regular basis.

Similar groups were formed long before the American Revolution erupted, and they had an integral role in shaping the views and direction of the entire populace. As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

8. Keep entertainment in proper perspective.

We’re flooded with an infinite variety of ways to divert us from our highest potential and purpose. When entertainment becomes excessive, it prevents us from living the ideals necessary to sustain freedom.

7. Raise a family worth emulating.

Love and serve your family. Be true to your spouse, be kind and inspiring to and patient with your children. Take responsibility for the education of your children. Build America from the inside out with the solid bricks of family values and relationships.

6. Forgive those who have wronged you.

World peace will never be achieved until individuals become conscious of their own contribution to or detraction from that goal.

5. Be a person of integrity.

Keep your word, no matter how difficult, no matter how tempting it may be to follow the crowd and become casual. Do what you say you will do. Live what you say you believe.

4. Be vigilant about how you spend your private time.

As I have written elsewhere, “The ultimate measure of a person’s integrity is how they act when they are absolutely alone, and what they do when no one else will ever know. It is the quiet moments spent in solitude that determine if you are true to what you say you believe in.”

3. Become a constitutional scholar.

Know the Constitution backward and forward. Study its foundations. Study the works that its creators read. Learn what habeas corpus, bills of attainder, and ex post facto laws are. Learn what the different branches of government are authorized to do, and prohibited from doing. Know the intended balance between the States and the Federal Government.

2. Live your mission.

Discover, develop, and utilize your natural gifts and abilities. Do what you were born to do, even if it takes quitting your current job. Live the spirit of providence in your life. In the words of Steve Farber, “Do what you love in the service of those who love what you do.”

And the number one way to lead an American Renaissance is… Continue reading »

An Unlikely Combination, Amazing Results

A friend once flattered my brother and me by commenting that we were “salt of the earth” people. When he asked about the environment in which we were raised relative to his compliment, I said the first thing that came to my mind: I told him that we were raised in a salty environment.

It was just a joke at the time, but little did I know how much I would learn about salt and how it relates to families as a result.

The compliment was, of course, referring to the words spoken by the master teacher Jesus Christ who said, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?” Christ also makes a strange request in the book of Mark, where he directs his disciples to “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”

These phrases and the conversation with my friend led me to research salt, with the purpose to answer the following questions: What are the qualities of salt that lend themselves to Christ’s parables? Why should we become like salt? And most importantly, what can… Continue reading »

Information Age Casualties, and How To Reclaim Them

Why is it that the more digitally connected we become, the more we feel disconnected from the things that matter most?

Picture the following scene, played out many evenings in typical American homes. The father is on his computer in the office, finishing up some last minute work details and reading up on the latest election news on the internet, while the mother is watching TV in the living room. The son is downstairs playing video games while the daughter listens to music on her iPod in her bedroom while instant messaging with friends online.

As you picture this scene (and ponder what’s wrong with it), try to comprehend the magnitude of what we’ve accomplished in the Information Age, the ability to bring the entire world into our living rooms and bedrooms, the ability to connect in real time with almost anyone across the globe.

Want to learn about Zambia? A quick Google search brings up 124 million sites. Want to download the latest song from an obscure artist in Australia? You’re about two clicks away.

What’s the current price of crude oil? Who won Academy Awards? How many delegates does Barack Obama currently have? How can you defeat the final challenge on your favorite video game?

Whatever is on your mind, in whatever corner of the globe or concerning the most esoteric and specialized concepts, you have almost instant access to your questions. Technology has given us a brave new–and small–world, with more information, opportunity, and connectivity than our ancestors could even dream of.

And yet, in an age largely defined by connectivity, we’re losing our lifelines to the most important things. Specifically, there are three main connections that, ironically enough, are being systematically severed the more digitally connected we become.

What are those three connections, and how can we strengthen them in our own lives?

Continue reading »

Improve the World, One Small Act of Service At A Time

Public virtue, voluntarily sacrificing personal benefits and desires for the good of society, can be a tough concept to grasp and believe in.

This may be so because it can seem like a daunting task; we may feel like small and daily sacrifices just don’t cut it. We may read accounts of men like George Washington suffering through Valley Forge and think that comparatively our daily efforts are insignificant and meaningless.

I don’t think this is the case at all; in fact, I believe the best way for us to show public virtue is by making a small yet significant effort every day to make the world a better place. Without public virtue, our republic cannot last.

With this in mind, I have compiled a list of 101 ways that contemporary Americans can display public virtue in small, significant, practical, and consistent ways:

1. Vote
2. Pick up garbage in your neighborhood
3. Read to a child/teach a child how to read
4. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
5. Attend a city council meeting
6. Make a meal for a struggling family
7. Donate money to a non-profit organization
8. Get out and stay out of debt
9. Study the Constitution
10. Volunteer at your child’s school
Continue reading »

What stories will your great-grandchildren tell about you?

I once stood in the cemetery where several of my ancestors have been laid. In a deeply sentimental mood I thought to myself, “How many stories cry from the ground here? How many hopes and dreams, joys and sorrows do these cold headstones represent? Can we even begin to comprehend all that these people went through for us to enjoy our freedom today?”

I quietly listened to my father as he told fascinating stories of these mysterious people I had never met. I began to feel an intimate bond with these faceless Pioneers.

The realization sank deep into my soul that we stand on the shoulders of Those Who Have Gone Before. But have we become Those Who Have Forgotten? It is critical that we remember our heritage; the future of our nation depends on it.

Allow me to help us remember by…

Continue reading »

Live For the Cause of Freedom

One of the best examples of public virtue in the Revolutionary War period was John Hart. He was a farmer, known throughout his state as “Honest John Hart.” He served with distinction in the pre-Revolutionary legislatures of New Jersey, and was one of the first to recognize the tyranny of the Stamp Act. During the enemy invasion of New Jersey, Hart was besieged in his farmhouse. His wife lay dying at the time, and he refused to leave her. After her death he managed to make his escape at the age of 65, and for a year was hunted through the woods, where he existed as an exile and fugitive, eluding every effort of his pursuers, hiding in caves. Hessian mercenaries destroyed his farm, livestock, mills, and property. An old man, he never lost his spirit, and joined Washington’s army as a private after the battle of Princeton. He died at the age of 68, having given his life, liberty, wife, and property to the cause of freedom.

Unlike the John Hart, most of us will probably not have to suffer so much and die defending freedom. However, our duty is perhaps more difficult: to live a life of virtue, courage, and contribution in the midst of relative ease and prosperity. There are many who claim that they would die for their freedom, yet they fail to live for it on a consistent basis. Our average voting percentage for presidential elections is barely over 50%, and between 1960 and 1990, America saw a 560% increase in violent crime, a 419% increase in illegitimate births, a quadrupling of divorce rates, a tripling of the percentage of children living in single-parent homes, more than a 200% increase in teenage suicides, and a drop of almost 80 points in SAT scores (see full report here).

Many of our ancestors displayed their virtue by dying for the cause of freedom; we must show ours by living the cause daily.

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

Viktor Frankl once wrote, “Being human always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself–be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself–by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love–the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself…self-actualization is only possible as a side-effect of self-transcendence.”

As paradoxical as it may seem, self-fulfillment is a product of serving others. The more we forget about what we want and seek to help others get what they want they happier we will become, and the more we will find and develop our unique abilities; or in other words, the more we will become our true Selves.

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

Freemen must be men and women of integrity. Integrity means that what you know to be true is integrated with how you act. It is doing what you say you will do and being who you know you can and should be.

The great leader Gandhi was once approached by a mother who wanted him to have a few words with her son. The boy was eating too much sugar and it was harming his teeth and diet. When the mother asked Gandhi to talk to her son he replied, “I cannot tell him that. But you may bring him back in a month.” Obviously the woman was discouraged because of all the travel involved to see Gandhi and what she felt should have been a simple answer to a simple request to support her parenting skills. However, one month later she returned with her son. Gandhi tenderly held the boy’s hands and told him to not eat sugar because it was harmful to his health. The mother was pleased but perplexed. She asked him why he had not simply said this to the boy a month earlier during her first visit. Gandhi replied, “Well, a month ago, I was still eating sugar.”

Gandhi was a powerful example of integrity. He was unwilling to correct someone for a weakness while he still had the same weakness. By overcoming the weakness himself, he would not have been a hypocrite by correcting another.

Suggested reading: Gandhi: An Autobiography, The Story of My Experiments With Truth

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