Political Power

                    The topic of discussion for this Freedom Friday is that the ideal circumstances for freedom is for the political power to be in the center and not either far "right" or far "left."  Our Founding Fathers had a way to measure the political power of any selected type of government that is different than the "yardstick" we use today.  The Founders did not measure political issues in the terms we use today.  When we think of Democrats being on the left and Republicans being on the right or in terms of leftist or rightist, do we really understand what we are talking about?

                    The terms "Left" and "Right" refer to the way the various parties are seated in the European parliaments.  The radical revolutionaries sit on the far left, and the military dictators sit on the far right; all other parties sit somewhere in the middle.  The people in the farthest left group are usually communists, and the people in the farthest right group are usually fascists - even though communists and fascists are simply two different names for the police state and are practically identical.

                    Government is considered to be a "system for ruling or controlling."  Since the Founders understood this meaning of the word, they realized that the yardstick to measure any system of government was political power.  The Founders took their imaginary yardstick and marked one end anarchy and the other end tyranny.  The Founders considered anarchy to be the name or description of no government, no law, and no control, and they considered tyranny to be the opposite extreme or too much government, control, and oppression.  The Founders wanted to establish a government that was mid-way between the two extremes; they wanted a system where there was "enough government to maintain security, justice, and good order, but not enough government to abuse the people."

                    Our Founders wanted their fellow Americans to recognize the "subversive characteristics of oppressive Ruler's Law which they identified primarily with a tyrannical monarchy.  Here are its basic characteristics:  1) Authority under Ruler's Law is nearly always established by force, violence and conquest.  2) Therefore, all sovereign power is considered to be in the conqueror or his descendants.  3) The people are not equal, but are divided into classes, and are all looked upon as subjects of the king.  4) The entire country is considered to be the property of the ruler, who speaks of it as his `realm.'  5) The thrust of government power is from the top down, not from the people upward.  6) The people have no unalienable rights.  The King giveth and the King taketh away.  7) Government is by the whims of men, not by the fixed rule of law which the people need in order to govern the affairs with confidence.  8) The Ruler issues edicts which are called `The Law,' who then interprets the law and enforces it, thus maintaining tyrannical control over the people.  9) Problems are always solved by issuing more edicts or laws, setting up more bureaus, harassing the people with more regulators, and charging the people for these `services' by continually adding to their burden of taxes.  10) Freedom is never looked upon as a viable solution to anything.  11) The long history of Ruler's Law is one of blood and terror, both anciently and in modern times.  Under it, the people are stratified into an aristocracy of the Ruler's retinue while the law to the common people is one of perpetual poverty, excessive taxation, stringent regulations and a continuous existence of misery."

                    When I read through those characteristics for a tyrannical monarchy, I realized that our government is slowly - and lately not so slowly - moving towards tyranny.  Our government has not yet conquered us by force or violence, but more and more the people in Washington, D.C., considered themselves to be more knowledgeable and better than the common citizen.  President Obama works at keeping the citizenry divided between races, between economic levels, between education levels, etc.  The continual increase in regulations is forcing the government to be from the top down rather than people up.  Our rights are being steadily eroded in the name of "security."  The Constitution apparently doesn't mean much to the Obama Administration, and our President rules by Executive Order or "recess" appointments and not by law.

                    While typing this article, I've been thinking about the differences between the American Revolution and the French Revolution.  The American Revolution consisted of the people rising up against tyranny, establishing independence, and then organizing a government "of the people by the people and for the people."  The French Revolution became anarchy with no law, no control, and no government.  Control and more tyranny came to France in the name of a conqueror.

                    As Americans we need to measure the political power in our nation by the "yardstick" used by the Founders.  Do you think we are moving towards tyranny or anarchy?  What do you think is the best way to keep our government in the center where the political power is in the people?  When the political power is in the center with the people, there is total freedom.

                    Many of the ideas and all of the quotes for this article are from W. Cleon Skousen in The Five Thousand Year Leap - 28 Great Ideas That Changed the World, pp 11-12.  If you do not yet own a copy of this book, I suggest that you purchase a copy of it as soon as your finances will permit.  This book is very informative as to the principles of freedom and will increase your knowledge of freedom.  Any group of people who desires freedom should at least know what freedom is!

                   

                   

Gettysburg Address

There are few people in America who have not heard the words that began, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal ….." and ended "… and that governments of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1 and ended on July 3, 1863, and marked a turning point in the Civil War in favor of the North. The Northern army of about 90,000 men was led to victory by General George G. Meade against the Southern army of 75,000 men led by General Robert E. Lee. The battle began when the two armies accidentally met in the little town of Gettysburg.

In the battle, the Confederate army took the town, but the Union army took a better and stronger position on high ground south of town. About 3,000 Union soldiers and 4,000 Confederate soldiers were killed in the battle. The total number of casualties - those killed, wounded, missing, or captured - was about 23,000 for the Northern army and 25,000-28,000 for the Southern army.

The Gettysburg Address was a short speech given by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863. This speech was delivered at the place of the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania at ceremonies to dedicate part of the battleground as a cemetery for those who died there. Lincoln wrote the speech because he wanted to define the purposes for the Civil War for those people who lived in the North. His simple and inspired words are among the most remembered in American history.

Lincoln wrote five versions of the speech and signed the fifth version. The version given below is based on shorthand notes of a reporter who heard Lincoln deliver the speech. In a comparison of the two speeches, I found a few minor differences but nothing major. Some examples of the differences are "We are met…" instead of "We have come…" and "carried on" instead of "advanced." Historians are reasonably sure of what he actually said because several reporters attended the ceremonies and wrote his words as he spoke. The nobility of Lincoln's brief remarks were recognized by many people and newspapers of the time.

"Four score and seven year ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
"But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain - that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom - and that governments of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Facts for this blog post are from articles by Gabor S. Boritt, World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, 176-177.