Part I: Government

American Principle Seven (Part II)

 

The Moral Duties Of Civility Are Also a Predicate

For Interpreting Constitutional Meaning

 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident ..."

Declaration of Independence

 

"Tis substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.  Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with Indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?"

George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

 

 

The Bill of Rights of Massachusetts provides, with clarity, truth learned from Scripture and the laboratory of history: "The happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality…"  Citizens in four additional states agreed to ratify the Constitution by adopting the same wording for their state's Bill of Rights.

 

Jefferson emphasized justification for taxpayer-funded education: "The first elements of morality too may be instilled in their minds; such as, when further developed as their judgments advance in strength, may teach them how to work out their own greatest happiness, by shewing them that it does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed them, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits" (Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1782).

 

The Grand Jury for the 11th Judicial District of Iowa investigated problems in higher education.  Their Presentment was adopted unanimously December 23, 1968: "In the field of morality all basic truths have been apprehended.  All the changing conditions we hear so much about [the charm of immoral practices] do not affect [negate] the validity or applicability of the central directives of human conduct.  These truths are demonstrable in terms of benefits and as to how it is that those who disregard them fall easily into alien pitfalls of Fascism, lawlessness, drug addiction, etc.  There is no greater contribution a teaching institution can make to human progress and purpose than to endow students at all levels with this knowledge."

 

The few teachers who are militantly opposed to the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" and limited government, present their dogma with godly charm and the promises of an easier life.  Why is secular Political Correctness so dangerous?  Those who disagree, the good teacher majority and students, dare not present data that disproves what is being taught.  Those who do so are victimized by any number of charges… bigotry, unconcern for the destitute, diversity-hating, whatever.  Consequently, students are not taught about the standards of morality that make self-government, prosperity and liberty possible.

 

What is the price?  Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in his Templeton Address, said: "More than a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God: that's why all this has happened.' Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by upheaval.  But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened'" (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Men Have Forgotten God, The Templeton Address, 1983, in National Review, July 22, 1983, 873, quote from David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times, 247-8).

 

The solution requires restoring the intent and meaning of the Bill of Rights that will restore the parents' freedom to choose from among schools that must compete for students.

 

 

For more information or to purchase Restoring Education Central to American Greatness:

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http://www.amazon.com/Restoring-Education-Greatness-Principles-Liberated/dp/1...

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/restoring-education-david-a-norris/1103308053...

 

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