Greetings!
This Friday is Constitution Day. On September 17, 1787, our founding fathers ratified the Constitution of the United States. Intentionally, the Declaration of Independence was included in our Constitution that recognizes that our rights come from God and our government has a responsibility to protect those rights. We should never forget the principles that are contained in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 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, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.”
Safeguards are built into the constitution to create checks and balances to protect us from tyranny. The first 10 amendments of the constitution is our Bill of Rights. It sets limitations on government.
Even with safeguards, our founding fathers recognized pitfalls caused by the depravity of man can jeopardize our liberty and freedom. They recognized “We the People” have a role to play in maintaining the republic. As Benjamin Franklin stated:
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters”. Franklin also said: “Our form of government 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.”
In 1787, as our founding fathers were ratifying our constitution, Scottish history professor Alexander Tyler completed a great study of the fall of the Athenian Republic. His conclusions were:
- A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.
- Democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.
- From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to lose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.
- The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years.
- During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back to bondage.
I believe that if our nation turns back to Biblical principles we can avoid repeating historical trends and restore the United States of American to our Godly heritage.
Paul Parisi
Director-Government Domain
520-869-1679
Paul@4Tucson.com
