Chapter Four
THE PLAN OF GOD AS THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT
Everything is subject to government. Everything. From atoms, to wolves, to people, outside forces direct and control every activity in the universe. Scientists tell us the reason everything in the universe does not erupt in one massive explosion of energy contained within atoms is because that energy is held in check by opposing forces. The force holding things in place is called gravity by physicists. If we believe in what scientists tell us about gravity, we are logically forced to admit that all things are governed.
Government is the process whereby things are moved to cooperate through obedience to rules. Even if one perceives the universe to be governed by mindless rules, human government is understood to involve the subjection of the will of one to the will of another.
Human governments are a product of Reason. Reason is the process through which we consciously define in words that which is and that which is not.
Reason occurs because we all make certain presuppositions about our brains. We have Reason because we believe our brains can determine the distinction between that which is and that which is not. The proof of that presupposition is impossible to find because Reason is a product of faith in the brain. Without this faith, Reason cannot exist. At least to this degree, all who seek to Reason together are believers.
In order to act we must first believe. Any person who presumes to enforce their will on another thing in reality, whether it be mosquito, man, or mouse, must believe, at least for the split second in which power is exercised, that they have the right to exercise that power, to govern. Once again, the belief used to justify the right to exercise government power is defined by words.
The fundamental difference between governments established by wolves and governments established by people is wolves don't need words to justify the use of brute force, people do. Without those justifying words, the use of power by people is the work of a beast, or The Beast, depending on your theology.
Every government on earth has worked hard to find words to justify itself because nobody, or very few bodies, wants to be the beast. The words used to justify governments are called laws or Principles (A law is the Prince of the People. Principle. Get it?).
A law defines the relationship between governor and governed, and explains the consequences created by that relationship. Law is the realm of cause and effect. Government is the cause, and the governed is the effect. Government is the instrument through which cause and effect is controlled.
History shows us that the people of every nation on the face of the earth have always been willing to subsume themselves, their individual identity, under propositions--words--that defined the purpose of government. These propositions have always been the foundation upon which authority rested or fell, as the case may be. In this sense, all human governments share the same foundation.
The only real difference between any nation in recorded history is what the people considered to be the self-evident purpose of government. For most of recorded history, the purpose of government was defined in theological terms. Before the later part of the eighteenth century on western civilization's calendar, there was a strong consensus among the peoples of the earth concerning the presence of external force or forces (referred to by the word god or gods). Most people believed these external forces were the actual causes of all events on earth whether human or natural. Therefore all governments justified their existence by explaining how the existing government was in concert with the plan of the outside force or forces called god.
While there was agreement on the presence of something called god or gods, there was great disagreement among people concerning the plan of god. This led to radically different justifications for the various governments on earth.
In ancient Egypt, the people subsumed themselves under propositions that defined the purpose of government as the fulfillment of the will of Pharaoh. Why? Because Pharaoh was reputed to be the embodiment of god on earth. The nation had as its end the perpetuation of that self-evident proposition.
The Roman Empire chose a similar self-evident proposition for centuries--the referent for the word "god" was understood to be Caesar himself.
In the middle ages, the referent for the word "god" shifted away from people here on earth, but the foundation of authority rested on the idea that the government (the king) was fulfilling the will of God. Medieval Europe was filled with kings supported by nations of people all of whom appeared to accept the self-evident proposition that the kings ruled because God had given them the right to rule. The idea was called the Divine Right of Kings.
In any overview analysis of government, the American Revolution has to be seen to be a pivotal event, a hinge upon which the door of government opened onto a brand new room. Citizens of other nations cannot ever clearly understand the concept of government as it has evolved on this planet unless they grasp clearly what happened when the United States of America was founded.
The United States of American was founded on a radical new definition of the plan of god, a definition that destroyed the power of the Divine Right of Kings. The fundamental issue facing the founding Fathers of the United States of America was this question: what gives you the right to overrule the will of a king who exercises his authority by Divine Right? As with all governments throughout history, the Founders had to explain in words why it was Right for their government to exist. The Founders had to explain their nation in theological terms because the United States of America arose out of insurrection against a king who claimed to have the right to rule because God had given him that right. Even though England itself had evolved by the time of the American Revolution to be a limited monarchy, the king's authority to rule was still justified by the doctrine of Divine Right of Kings. Monarchists believed that anyone who denied the king's right to rule was arguing not only with the king but with God himself. The Founders of the United States of America had to answer the question about the king's authority--"the greatest question which ever was debated in America," as John Adams called it--or they could never in good conscience rise up in rebellion against the king, nor could they expect the support of the masses of people who had been taught all their lives to respect the doctrine of Divine Right of Kings.
The Second Continental Congress of the states that became the United States of America answered the question in the Declaration of Independence, which is now, was when it was written, and always will be, a theological statement about God's relationship with mankind:
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation--
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. 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. But..."(what follows is a list of grievances against the King of England.)
The Declaration of Independence is a definition of truth--self-evident truth. The statement of truth had as its subject, rights. The signers declared that all men are created equal. Did they mean that any distinction between you and I, or them and us, must be a false distinction. Is that what is declared self-evident? No. All men are declared to be created equal because they are all equally endowed with certain rights. It is in that sense alone that this equality is couched. Instead of being a statement that declares there are no distinctions between people, the statement identifies precisely where equality between people is located.
How did those people receive this state of equality? A Creator who had earlier in the Document been identified as Nature's God had endowed them with this state of equality. The will of the Creator was identified as the source of individual Rights. All men were endowed with equal rights precisely because the Creator willed it. Not because people willed it, but because the Creator willed it.
The Founders presupposed an image of God, an idea of God, upon which they constructed a philosophy of government. The Creator could not have been portrayed as having a Will unless the Creator was understood to have a Mind. A Mind of His Own. And this Mind could not have been conceived unless the Mind belonged to a Being. Therefore the Founders declared to be self-evident the fact that there was a Being out there with a Will and a Mind of His Own, whose Will the Founders were dedicated to seeing realized in the government being established in the United States of America.
The purpose of this government was then defined building upon the premise that the creator had willed certain things to be "self-evident." This purpose is explained: "... that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men." These words clearly communicate the idea that the purpose of government is to accomplish what has been defined as the will of the creator: namely, the securing of the rights endowed on men by their creator.
In this way, the problem posed by the Doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings was eliminated. Where before God was understood to have decreed that governments were to be instituted so that the rights of the king would be upheld, the American government was Declared to be instituted so that the rights God had endowed on people could be secured.
In the Declaration of Independence a new "self-evident" fact was decreed to exist on earth. And it was truly a revolutionary fact. In political affairs a new world was proclaimed to exist, a world where instead of all governmental power being devoted to protecting the rights of the king, all power was to be devoted to protecting the rights of the people (or men as the Declaration stated.)
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America declared to be self-evident truth that rights are not granted by any nation, or king, or person, or society, or human agency of any kind. They knew that if rights were understood to be granted by people, rights could be withdrawn by people. The signers of the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that the Creator, an independent Being with a will and plan of His own, is the source of rights--and right. That which God had granted could not be withdrawn by anyone, whether called King or commoner.
Upon these propositions the United States of America was built. In defense of these propositions a Revolution was launched. God's will was redefined by people committed to seeing that will enacted on earth. To that end they pledged their wealth, their lives, and their sacred honor.
With the American Revolution a fundamental change occurred in people's understanding of government. Where before all governments relied on some variant of the Divine Rights of Kings for justification, now in the United States of America, a new government had redefined the purpose of government by redefining the plan of god.
************************************
The period near the end of the eighteenth century has been called the climax of the Age of Revolution because two very different solutions to the problem of government occurred in close proximity. We have examined the ideas that led to the American Revolution. An examination of the ideas loosed in the French Revolution gives us insight into another channel being dredged for the ship of state. Anyone who fails to follow the ship of state into that channel will never understand government as it exists on earth today.
Go To The Creator's Rights Party Website
You Can Mail A Donation To: Neal Horsley, PO Box 1081, Carrollton, Ga 30116,
Or If You Can't Donate Now, Click Below and Join The We Choose Life Network.
Use Your Internet Connection Fee To Help Deter People From Butchering God's Children
|