I thought it relevant to point out something I realized today about the Founding Fathers and their Constitution. As I have read William Penn's writings, I enjoyed the book because it allowed me to study the scriptures at the same time as I read about economics, politics, and family. It also taught me something about how they put together the Constitution and how important it was for them that we all be able to choose their own adventure.
Had they so wished it, the Founders could have set up a utopia on this land and compelled men to conform to their morays. They were Puritans and Quakers and they could have filled the Constitution chock full of laws that outlawed behaviors with which they disagreed like adultery, sodomy, profanity, blasphemy, etc. The fact of the matter and the only relevant detail is that they did no such thing. They left that kind of thing where it belonged- with the pastors at their pulpits. They knew that unless men were free to choose they could not progress. They knew the words of Joshua who told the Israelites: “and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve ; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).” Unless men were able to choose, they could not really show their loyalty or be happy. The Founders advocated the pursuit of happiness. If you think it be by way of sexual indiscretion or fiduciary malfeasance, then go head and try. If you think you can do better than God, good luck and good bye.
Our Founders left us with one more unwritten freedom- the freedom to leave. If you think it's wrong, then go somewhere else. If you want to live another way, then live somewhere else. While not explicitly mentioned, that was what they practiced in their townships, that you conform locally to efforts rather than imposition of global federal law. They were Federalists, for State's Rights. This is why I support originalists on the Supreme Court and why I oppose a large federal government. That is the only place I value restraint. When the Supreme Court struck down Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, they went against the states. Some 37 states already had laws outlawing sodomy, and so Anthony Kennedy as swing vote essentially said that we have a Constitutional right to Sodomy. It's not really there, maybe it's in invisible ink on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Someone call Nicolas Cage.
That meant there were 13 states where you could sodomize if you like. Yuck. Yet, that's exactly where they were headed. Do it if you must, but do it somewhere else.
Man cannot grow unless he is free to choose. He cannot choose unless he is inticed to act by both options. If we prevent wickedness, ultimately we prevent righteousness. If you keep people from disobedience, you prevent them from obedience. They "obey" because they have no other option. That is a dead end, and the Founders knew it. If they had meant it otherwise, they would have banned those things in the Constitution.
It's not so much what the Constitution says as much as it strikes me whereon it remains silent. Think about it.
Had they so wished it, the Founders could have set up a utopia on this land and compelled men to conform to their morays. They were Puritans and Quakers and they could have filled the Constitution chock full of laws that outlawed behaviors with which they disagreed like adultery, sodomy, profanity, blasphemy, etc. The fact of the matter and the only relevant detail is that they did no such thing. They left that kind of thing where it belonged- with the pastors at their pulpits. They knew that unless men were free to choose they could not progress. They knew the words of Joshua who told the Israelites: “and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve ; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).” Unless men were able to choose, they could not really show their loyalty or be happy. The Founders advocated the pursuit of happiness. If you think it be by way of sexual indiscretion or fiduciary malfeasance, then go head and try. If you think you can do better than God, good luck and good bye.
Our Founders left us with one more unwritten freedom- the freedom to leave. If you think it's wrong, then go somewhere else. If you want to live another way, then live somewhere else. While not explicitly mentioned, that was what they practiced in their townships, that you conform locally to efforts rather than imposition of global federal law. They were Federalists, for State's Rights. This is why I support originalists on the Supreme Court and why I oppose a large federal government. That is the only place I value restraint. When the Supreme Court struck down Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, they went against the states. Some 37 states already had laws outlawing sodomy, and so Anthony Kennedy as swing vote essentially said that we have a Constitutional right to Sodomy. It's not really there, maybe it's in invisible ink on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Someone call Nicolas Cage.
That meant there were 13 states where you could sodomize if you like. Yuck. Yet, that's exactly where they were headed. Do it if you must, but do it somewhere else.
Man cannot grow unless he is free to choose. He cannot choose unless he is inticed to act by both options. If we prevent wickedness, ultimately we prevent righteousness. If you keep people from disobedience, you prevent them from obedience. They "obey" because they have no other option. That is a dead end, and the Founders knew it. If they had meant it otherwise, they would have banned those things in the Constitution.
It's not so much what the Constitution says as much as it strikes me whereon it remains silent. Think about it.
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