Filed under: Ten Commandments

John Marshall: A Government of Laws and Not of Men

A related cause of judicial incompetence is the foolishness of judges who have closeted the true role of the nation's basis for law--the non-sectarian Biblical principles of the Declaration of Independence.

 

John Marshall wrote the landmark 1803 Marbury v. Madison opinion that inaugurated the concept of judicial review.  He served as chief justice of the Supreme Court from February 4, 1801 to July 4, 1835.  Marshall saw the importance of biblical morality in civic affairs as did the other Founding Fathers.

 

When writing the Marbury v. Madison opinion, Marshall said:  "The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men… That the people have an original right to establish, for their future government, such principles as, in their opinion, shall most conduce to their own happiness, is the basis, on which the whole American fabric has been erected.  The principles, therefore, so established, are deemed fundamental.  And as the authority, from which they proceed, is supreme, and can seldom act, they are designed to be permanent."*

 

The meaning and intent of Chief Justice Marshall's statement--"The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men"--is clear.  "The government of laws" is based upon impartial Higher Authority moral law, "and not of men."  The benefit is that "government of laws, and not of men" is anchored in the timeless principles revealed by Scripture and proven beneficial in the American experience.  This stands in contrast to arbitrary rule and oppression that follow governments "of men," meaning rule by privileged authoritarians.  Application of this basic understanding preserves the all-important predicate for the safe and impartial application of government power.  It is the "rule of law," emphasized by Moses, that identifies with the desirable outcomes that prevail over circumstances and diverse cultural environments.

 

The rule or "government of laws" occurs when the voting sovereigns base their preferences for government on the wisdom that is available from the Creator and the self-evident boundaries of creation's nature.  The people then elect like-minded representatives to serve as lawmakers.  In contrast, self-righteous liberals, especially law professors who are given captive audiences (not held accountable to those who pay their salaries), fool people by teaching them that God has no relevance.  Citizens and judges must reject the wisdom of creation's God.  Then hierarchical elites slip into the vacuum as god, and society experiences the tyranny of the rule or "government of man."

 

John Marshall's Higher Authority basis for rejecting the atheistic secular government "of men" also concurs in full with the public standard of Benjamin Franklin whose call for prayer was adopted by the delegates at the Constitutional Convention.  In this regard, Henry Steele Commager, eminent historian of the twentieth century, points to the Creator-based Declaration of Independence as the source of America's unique principles of government, and refers to America's new political system for the vindication of God-given rights as "matchless logic" and of "permanent" rather than "transient" value.**

 

Unabashed belief in the providence of the universal and impartial God of creation, as a political principle, is fully American.  This was the source of the courage of the Founding Fathers when risking confrontation by the greatest military force on earth at the time.  The Higher Authority standard for morality in matters of law is indelibly written in American history:  "The Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions… And for the support of this Declaration [of Independence], with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

 

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*http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/democrac/9.htm

**Henry Steele Commager, forward to McGuffey's Sixth Reader (New York: The American Library, 1962), xiv.

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From Chapter 6, The Defilement of the Judiciary

Definite and specific American principles for law do exist.  Under the influence of these principles, our nation became the overwhelming choice of immigrants throughout the world.  Chief among the foundations of the American philosophy for governing is the belief that man is the beneficiary of unalienable rights which come from God and that are superior to secular claims, governments, and things material.

 

The law given from Sinai [Ten Commandments] was civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code; it contained many statutes… of universal application--laws essential to the existence of men in society and most of which have been enacted by every nation which ever professed any code of laws" (John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States).*

 

Under the false premise that professors must be independent from the values of taxpayers and parents for determination of the truth to be used in the behavioral and political sciences, leftist union bosses demand that teachers be sheltered from the people by tenure laws.  This violation of government by and for the people has enabled secular militants to take moral law, which makes liberty achievable, out of soft science curriculums.  Consequently small cadres of atheistic teachers bully the good teachers and dumb down American youth.  The all-out war against the nonsectarian God of life, liberty and human decency is clear.

 

Failure of public schools to teach respect for "In God We Trust," along with the self-evident laws of creation's nature, and emphasize the principles of the Declaration of Independence raises a pertinent question:  "How does this classroom strategy differ from that of the Fascists and the Communists?"

 

Our Federalist approach, which divides and limits the authority of the national government, the states, and thirdly, the authority for controlling the policies of local units, such as counties, cities and schools belongs to the people therein.  Central government authority is needed to facilitate harmony between the states in such matters as interstate commerce, transportation, foreign policy, and national defense.  This protects the nation as a whole.  The central government, however, is not to get involved in domestic policy unless there was a trend in a region of the country that threatened the unity and survival of the nation as a whole.  Because needs within individual states, counties and cities differ and are better resolved locally, the right to make such laws belongs to the individual states and local citizens.  Failure of legislators and judges to respect the superior value of local control in domestic matters leads to a citizen-to-government disconnect and the tyranny of centralized authoritarian rule.

 

In his Farewell Address to the nation, President Washington expressed what has proven to be of vital importance:  "If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates.  But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.  The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield."

 

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*Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son, www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/48640.>

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Public Education Shuns Reality

The secularization of education discriminates against students.  The idea of the Ten Commandments as a basis for personal decision-making is fully substantiated by beneficial outcomes.  Without that moral compass, our nation's youth are left in the dark and under the CONTROL of destructive thinking.  They are not given the knowledge for healthy families, fiscal common sense and national prosperity.  When taxpayers figure this out, marginalization by teacher union bosses and teacher tenure will be exposed.  This will open things up and give parents, along with 95% of the teachers (who are in agreement with the citizen majority), the freedom to install religious diversity back as a source of knowledge.

 

This struggle within our education system is not a debate between science and religion, but between religion and religion, atheism and theism.  Science is simply the sphere in which the debate is taking place.

 

Dr. Michael Ruse, a leading evolutionist and authority on philosophy, points out in his recently published book The Evolution-Creation Struggle that the "theory of evolution is, in fact, religion."*  Dr. Ruse also writes:  "Evolution is promoted by its practitioners as more than mere science.  Evolution is an ideology, a secular religion, a full-fledged alternative to Christianity with meaning and morality.  Evolution is a religion.  This was true of evolution in the beginning and is true of evolution today."

 

The change in American culture since the 1947 Supreme Court decision in Everson v. Board of Education, teacher unionization, and tenure law has led to a colossal increase in family breakdown, abortion, homosexuality, use of addictive drugs, and burgeoning needs for hospital and prison space.  Universities and colleges dominated by the old European secular philosophy have become havens for alcoholism and dorm cohabitation by unmarried students.  Some state universities have a department of religion dominated by atheists who serve as a campus mafia to destroy the academic standing of any faculty member who dares to suggest that there is such an alternative to Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species as intelligent design or a God of creation.

 

"The first national study of four common sexually transmitted diseases among girls and young women has found that one in four [is] infected with at least one of the diseases, US health officials reported Tuesday" (Laurence K. Altman, The New York Times, Tuesday, Mark 11, 2008).  One in four US teenage girls have STDs.  The diseases, which are infections caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites, can produce acute symptoms … and potentially fatal entropic pregnancy … and cervical cancer."**

 

In 2010, according to Pam Stenzel, a leading lecturer to young people regarding sexual abstinence, teenage girls in America today are carrying, on average, 2.3 sexually transmitted diseases.  In one 24 hour period, 12,000 teens contract a sexually transmitted disease.***  In the 1950s there were five known sexually transmitted diseases.  They could be treated with antibiotics.  Today, there are over thirty sexually transmitted diseases and thirty percent of them are absolutely incurable.  Among the possible disastrous results are a lifelong necessity of treatment as well as sterility, infertility, radical hysterectomy, cervical cancer and death.****

 

"One of every 100 adults are in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America's rank as the world's No. 1 incarcerator," states a report from a new study by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.  With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates" (David Crary, New York Associated Press, February 28, 2008).

 

These are merely symptoms of the consequences of the courts' detachment from written and permanent law.  Far greater damage is the hidden loss to the soul of American youth.  Is it any wonder that studies show a significantly higher percentage of public school teachers send their children to private schools than non-teacher parents" (George Archibald, The Washington Times, September 22, 2004)?


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*Dr. Michael Ruse, The Evolution-Creation Struggle, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005), 327.

**Lawrence K. Altman, "One In Four US Teenage Girls Have STD's, Study Finds," International Herald Tribune, March 12, 2008.

***Pam Stenzel, http://pamstenzel.com/

****Pam Stenzel, http://pamstenzel.com/


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Ban the Ten Commandments? What For?

The laws of creation's nature include the perimeters for civil behavior provided by the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5).  Because of the universal benefits that come from applying the Commandments, they are a common part of the moral religions throughout the world.  Prior to the time that supremacist judges embraced the intolerance of a tiny minority (the laws of man), the rest of us had the benefits that come when the Commandments were emphasized in the schools and on public properties throughout the nation.

 

 

Americans recognize that the promotion of life-building attitudes is important, but that it is not right to punish harmful attitudes that have not been expressed by criminal actions.  "We, The People" places the consequences of attitudes, good or bad, in the hands of God.  He sees and hears all.  Over time, the failure to police one's own thoughts renders severe punishments in direct proportion to the evil committed.  These six commandments pertain directly to such matters of the heart:


You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself a graven image.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor your father and mother.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey,  nor anything that is your neighbor's.

 

Four of the commandments provide the foundation for civil and criminal law in America:


You shall not murder (the right to life).

You shall not commit adultery (the sanctity of marriage).

You shall not steal (the right to own property).

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (the right to be truthfully represented).

 

It is citizen support for moral absolutes reflected in the Ten Commandments that promotes the passage of good laws by elected representatives.  It is, exclusively, this moral climate within our society and government that can prevail over the curse of moral relativism practiced by the masters of political deception.

 

 

To justify taxpayer support, educators must teach the truth about the God-honoring Declaration of Independence and Ten Commandments that have enabled Americans to change a wilderness into the greatest nation on earth.

 

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Biblical Government

When the early Americans searched their Bibles to learn about government, what did they find?

 

The first level of government is individual self-government.  Lasting success comes by giving attention to God's standards, the laws of creation's nature that were the norm before man's rebellion opened the door for Satan's influence (Exodus 20:1-17, Romans 13:13-14).  Big government, the abundance of police, prisons, and hospitals are the consequences of sinful life practices.  When man restrains his own selfish impulses and desires, the tyranny and exploitation of big government can be avoided.

 

The second level of government is the family.  From the beginning, it has been the holy commitment of one man and one woman in marriage that has defeated the will of Satan in his war against civilization (Genesis 2:18-24).  God instituted marriage to facilitate companionship and the nurturing of children in the truth.  The husband cares for his wife in a loving way and she respects him (Ephesians 5:22-23).  Parents are responsible for the education of their children.  By learning to honor and obey their parents, children also learn to honor the lordship of God and become responsible citizens (Ephesians 6:1-4, Proverbs 15:5).  The Bible makes it clear that property ownership and wealth come through labor, while laziness produces poverty (Proverbs 10:4-5).  Recognition of this aspect of the laws of creation's nature benefits families (1 Timothy 5:8, Proverbs 31:13-27).

 

The third level of government is the voluntary union of people belonging to a church, churches of different denominations to edify citizens through biblical principles for faith and community (1 Timothy 5:17) and discipline (Matthew 18:16-19).  Churches also have the biblical mandate to be societal caregivers (1 John 3:17).  Families and churches are united in the promotion of citizen self-reliance and limited civil governments.

 

The fourth level of government is civil government on local, regional and national levels.  Its prime function is to protect the citizens from criminals inside and outside government and from external aggression (Romans 13:1-4, 1 Peter 2:13-14).

 

Detailed in Chapter 4 of Restoring Education Central to American Greatness, these guidelines for government were applied by America's Founding Fathers.

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Telling Taxpayers the Truth

The Declaration of Independence is universal and immortal in scope. It provides the design for freedom, justice and tolerance.

 

In their quest for liberty, our Founding Fathers focused upon 1) the conspicuous Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God, 2) the Declaration of Independence, 3) the governing character of humility, 4) the Golden Rule, and 5) the morality of the Ten Commandments.  The Constitution was prepared and establishedThe Constitution is the tool for implementing that design of freedom, justice and tolerance.

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Leftist union bosses and unelected judges who allege entitlement to dictate our laws ARE THE ENEMIES of the American concept of man under God over government. Laws should reflect the will of the people who choose like-minded representatives to establish their laws. 

 

The purpose of Restoring Education Central to American Greatness is to tell people the TRUTH. When taxpayers realize what is happening, they resolve to restore their control.  For example, most Americans would be appalled to know how their education tax is being used in captive student classrooms. As a citizen, your help in this important matter is needed.

 

After reading only four chapters of the book, a public school teacher from Ames, Iowa said in amazement, “This was not taught to me in American history.”  She offered some great ideas for improving education; I agreed, but had to tell her that those ideas could not be instituted.  The problem that must be corrected in order to effect the changes she is looking for goes much deeper than that: it is with the system itself. The problem is that parents and the great majority of teachers no longer have control over what is being taught.

 

 

A full discussion of these vital American Principles can be found in my book, Restoring Education Central to American Greatness.

 

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Yesterday's Foundation for Today's Liberty

From the beginning, Judeo-Christian principles have been the

foundation for American public dialogue and government policy. They

serve as the solid basis for political activism in support of a better

socioeconomic environment. Found in American homes, truth from

the Hebrew Christian Bible has enabled individual liberty to prevail

over secular empires because it is a practical message about reality from

man’s Creator.

 

In their quest for liberty, Americans focused upon the conspicuously

self-evident “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” It is the governing

character of these principles (laws), such as humility, the Golden Rule,

and the Ten Commandments, that leads to success. This is the sure

foundation upon which man’s right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of

happiness” rests. Called “virtue” by America’s Founding Fathers, the

impartial and divine element frees man to do what is right. “Where the

Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17).

First

 

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