Know Jack #520 True Originals

“A despotic government knows no principle but WILL. Whatever the sovereign wills to do, the government admits him the inherent right, and the uncontrouled power of doing. He is restrained by no fixed rule of right and wrong, for he makes the right and wrong himself and as he pleases.

 Thomas Paine

It is now taught that the American founding was not guided by Christian principles. The kindest reasoning behind that position is that the founders were Deists and thus more followers of the Enlightenment than Christianity. Enter Thomas Paine. He went right to the heart of every imperfection associated with the “necessary evil” of government people have experienced throughout history.

The problem with any form of government is human nature. Original sin has nothing to do with fruit, and very little at all to do with law. At the center of the story is who decides good and evil, right and wrong. Mankind chose self-will over God’s desire. Unrestrained by a fixed rule, people choose right and wrong as they please. It doesn’t matter if it is an individual or a group that decides right and wrong. They will choose what pleases them. That has always been true and ever will be. It is written in our very nature.

The founders understood that human nature cannot be excluded from government and the evils of which it is capable. That understanding came from the Christian scriptures, and the proof of it came from human history. Their goal was not to legislate away human nature, but to try and control it. For 250 years, their experiment in representative government has worked better than any other.

The founders did not give us freedom; they believed God did that. They gave us access to as much freedom in the exercise of our God-given rights as they believed “do unto others” would allow. The result wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t meant to be. It was meant to be the best they could do. For those who are critical of their effort to limit government, I submit hindsight is 20/20.

However, hindsight is not the problem; foresight is. The current idea that we can divide the spoils equally, let everyone pursue “their truth” in a diverse, equitable, and inclusive society, and live happily ever after is to deny human nature. To do that is to be willfully ignorant. To give free reign to our desire “to be as gods” is to open the door to every form of evil.