The God of reason.

While discussing the Divine Providence of our country's founding it was suggested that we are no more divinely inspired than any other country. While I agree that all nations are lifted up and thrown down by God, the difference in ours was obvious (just read the Declaration of Independence). Some differences I gave were:

1) The equal application of justice to all, 2) The right of one to enjoy the fruit of his labor, 3) The understanding that men are inherently wicked and should have checks upon their power, 4) The investiture of government's power in the people (and their right to overthrow it and institute a new one should it not protect their God-given rights).

A friend then gave a quote by Thomas Jefferson suggesting that this foundation was due more to humanity's ability to reason than to God who blesses. The quote reads:

‎"Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must approve more of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

It's a great quote and I agree with it to the extent that if mankind truly is made in God's image then we have the ability to reason, in part, as God reasons. Thus, the scripture is granted meaning when God proclaims to all men in Isaiah 1, "Come, let us reason together."

Still, the distinction between God as God and reason as god needed to be clarified. My thought process concluded that:

"Reason is a passionless god to serve. In any case, if not for man's depravity it would be reasonable to state that he would not be in need of redemption. Reason suggests that man, on the whole, is quite depraved, however. The truth is that reason is a quality of God and, like many of His qualities, we choose to serve it as opposed to the One who possesses it. Thus was Jefferson correct that we should serve a God of reason over fear but, more importantly, we trust that the unreasonable kindness of God in the face of our depravity is what leads us to salvation."

Regardless of what you think of our government now though, the promise that is to come is much better if you are His child! Isaiah 9:6-7 declares:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing it and upholding it in justice and righteousness from that time on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."

Government by coercion or conscience?

Government should have a very specific and limited jurisdiction which can be expressed using the idea of natural law which is a characteristic of the Creator. We will get back to natural law, but for now, this begs the question: What is government? There are two types: An impartial, coercive external government and a personal, internal, conscience-driven or spirit-led self-government. Relating to external governance, the institutionalized type we have all encountered I will simply call "the government." This encapsulates the regulatory, bureaucratic, legislative, judicial and executive authorities of national, state and local governments. In defining these two types, it is now possible to determine the authorities of each.

According to natural law, the authority of the external governance must extrapolate an order of individualistic natural rights according to human nature that it is authorized to defend. Because natural rights are vested in the person and not the government, the authority of the external governance comes from a society of moral individuals. Using reason, this can only be done by a community through the application of rational thought and techniques to observe the universe. Because all created things bear a partial image of their creator, we can discern that there are things we humans have in common with our own. One of these commonalities is reason and it is shared with no other creature.

Because we can discern aspects of creation, we see around us a reasoned universe that obeys certain laws. Our Creator vested interest and skill into us as His creation and provides specific natural laws for us to abide by. Just as the laws of physics apply equally over time and space, natural law, by definition of being a law, applies to all people equally. Thus, an edict is handed down by our Creator that obligates those under natural law to protect the unalienable rights of all by "[organizing the government's] powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness." (Declaration of Independence)


No governing structure has the authority to bind and loose one law-abiding individual over another. It is necessary then for the government's power to be universally enforced over the law-breaker. When relativistic social laws are allowed to discriminate between people, class and race warfare erupt and justice is lost. Natural laws and the rights given therein must transcend class and race. The Declaration of Independence states that among these rights are "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

We are not given the gift of life so that it can be arbitrarily taken away by another recipient of the same gift. Having been given life, we have a cosmic expectation and the liberty to enjoy it as we see fit insofar as it does not infringe upon the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of others. We exercise the liberty of enjoying our life through the pursuit of happiness (or property as the Founders would also have said). Thus, without the protection of our pursuit of happiness, or fruits of our labor such as land and wages, we are stripped of the liberty to pursue happiness in our lives. Without the right to pursue happiness in our lives, the right to the gift of life has little meaning.

Reasonably, any use of a sovereign's self-government that infringes upon the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of another is cause for the coercive authority, or government, to engage itself in order to protect the victim, bind the law-breaker, reestablish order and force restitution. In a two realm system of governance in which natural rights are extended to individuals and the protection of those rights given by the people to the government, this is consistent. Quite simply, the protection offered by the government provides for equality of all people as a gift from God, equality before the law, and equal protection of rights.

Government operates by the consent of a moral, law-abiding citizenry in order for it to punish behaviors that infringe upon the natural rights of others. Government being instituted by the people, it is a fundamental responsibility of said people to dispel any government that fails them in such a duty. As our Declaration states, "...Whenever any form of government becomes destructive [of securing our rights], it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government." Is our government operating under the consent of the governed and protecting us?

The government gets the jam and we get the jar.

Concerning health care "reform" my dad wrote a nastygram to his Congressman that I thought would make for good reading. He writes:

I just sent this to my Congressman, Martin Heinrich:

Including the government takeover of the student loan program is reason enough to vote against this so-called "reform." I vehemently oppose centralized government control of education purse strings, with all its implications. Further, the President's expressed desire to subsidize the education of those who go into the bureaucracy guarantees ever larger government and higher taxes on the productive to support it. But hey, it's important to spread that wealth around. Inevitably, such a system will be manipulated so that the nomenklatura get the jam and the rest of us get the jar.

I will be campaigning for your opponent in the fall.

I'm "privileged" to be on Mr. Heinrich's mailing list. In his most recent letter he said "I voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act, also known as the House health insurance bill, which passed the House of Representatives on November 7, 2009, by a bipartisan vote of 220 to 215." Emphasis mine. Hey, as long as they're making the rules up as they go along, why not rewrite the dictionary. I sent him a nastygram over that one.

What man-made disaster will take over the global warming fear?

I've been wondering what the political establishment and media will find next to hype in order to find new ways of controlling our lives. I figure the global warming war drum has reached its crescendo and will continue tapering off over the next few years as more and more scientific evidence comes out to disprove all of Al Gore's crazy theories. I have noticed a small but increasingly vocal bit of reporting about the Sargossa Sea and the bigger than Texas sized area of trash that its wind and water currents foster. Check out the links about it and let me know what you think (especially about the bird pictures):

Disclaimer of ocean plastic pollution: http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/006704.html

Supposed pictures (perhaps faked) of birds that died from consumption of plastic: http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=11

Supposed proof debunking some postulations: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4132

I suspect that this might be a sensational environmental story that "scientists" and federal regulatory agencies will use as an example to take even more liberties from us with the venom-dripping question: "You don't want to protect the environment?"

As soon as I find an article I read on how progressives are using the environment to control our lives I will post it also.

Self-government or tyranny?

This comes a little bit late for the 4th of July but we don't have to celebrate the great ideas of this country founding on just one day a year!

I've been reading the Declaration of Independence and find it to be a wise historical explanation on the state of human nature. Take this quote for instance:

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."

What are "light and transient causes" concerning Governments? They are quickly passing things that have little effect on the personal welfare of recipients. What does this welfare include?

In this document, welfare is simply "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" protected by Governments "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" for the ultimate purpose that "when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Reading farther on in the document will evince the "long train of abuses" that the crown of England had placed upon the people of the Americas.

In truth, the document was written to espouse the virtues of self-government over that of tyranny. Why else would the government get its power only from the consent of the governed? The Declaration was written to declare that man had a right to be free from government that did not warrant continued existence because it no longer protected one's opportunity to advance through one's own hard work.

We live in a day though where people vote themselves benefits by burdening the backs of others. The taxpayer is forced to work harder to subsidize the livelihoods of those who don't work. We have allowed some to take power over us that, in order to administer their own pursuit of "happiness," they whittle away at that same right for us. We should be goal-oriented creatures that strive to work for what we need and desire. That is our right. It is not the Government mandated "right" to education, health care, retirement, and such. There is much to be said for earning that which is of value.

Tocqueville said of such a Government that it is a "tutelary power" that is "absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident, and gentle." It would duplicate the "paternal power" that would "prepare men for manhood" but instead will "keep them irrevocably fixed in childhood" in that it bestows "their security, foresees and supplies their needs, guides them in their principal affairs…"

Ultimately, a good government is given to protect the legitimate accumulation of wealth and private property through hard work; not the taking away of such to provide for those who vote themselves benefits without any of the necessary responsibility. Thus, our choices are clear: Will we suffer ourselves to greater increments of dispossession or will we fade slowly into the imposed slavery of a state that promises security at the expense of liberty?

Professor Paul Anthony Rahe defines our worth by saying that, "Human dignity is bound up with taking responsibility for conducting one’s own affairs." He states, "We can be what once we were, or we can settle for a gradual, gentle descent into servitude." Let us choose responsibility and strive to change institutions whose causes are not so "light and transitory" in our lives.

Superhero/Messiah Obama!

For a truly enjoyable experience you really should watch the brilliant embedded video recently published by Jib Jab! Personally, I was happy to see this video not simply because it made fun of the Obamessiah, but because I have the ability to enjoy and support media that pokes fun at the most powerful man in the "free world" without facing repercussions. Meanwhile, my heart aches for the protesters in Iran and their desire to escape from an oppressive regime that allows for the unquestioned murder of its citizens for the purpose of keeping a theocratic government in power. I will not post specifics on the murder of Iranian protester Neda Agha-Sultan on my blog but you may read the condensed version of her life here: < http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-neda23-2009jun23,0,6240992.story?track=rss >. My hope, apart from their obtaining salvation, is that they too would someday have the liberty to make fun of their government. With as bitter as I am towards mine at times I believe that, this side of heaven, humor is one of the most powerful tools used to dispel fear in the absence of God's grace and mercy. Wherever you stand, or sit, politically, or religiously, you will assuredly get a good respite from what concerns you when you watch this video!

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