Restoring Education Central to American Greatness http://davidanorris.posterous.com David A. Norris Blog posterous.com Tue, 26 Mar 2013 07:13:00 -0700 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-74472 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-74472

American Principle Fifteen 

 

The Benevolent Provision and Heart Of God For Mankind

Are Recognized By Our Founding Fathers

 

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

It is the deeply felt expression of faith in the God who gave us life and the respect for unchanging laws of creation's nature that reversed the historic tide of oppression by government officials.

 

Our duty is to be public about the fact that reliable standards for law come with knowledge of the non-sectarian Creator-based meaning of the Declaration of Independence and the First Amendment.  In 1835, the significance of this connection was observed by Alexis de Tocqueville, "… in America religion is the road to knowledge, and the observance of the divine laws leads man to civil freedom…"

 

We must be honest.  There is an imperative need to restore American law that upheld the impartial life-enhancing morality, known then as Common Law and will always be known as the Laws of Nature.  The Declaration of Independence reads "… the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind…"  This is not only the basis for our nation's charters, it is also the unifier of our immigrant nation for the greatness that has been achieved.  

 

The wisdom of leaders who drafted the American charters is illustrated by the recommendation made for the American Seal.  Originally Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams proposed that the Seal pay tribute to the benevolent provision and heart of God for mankind.  Their design depicted the Old Testament journey of the Israelites who were guided by God through the wilderness.  The other side displayed Anglo-Saxons from Germanic tribes who descended to England and influenced the making of laws.  The Anglo-Saxons introduced morality for law comparable to the values of right and wrong identified by the human conscience at birth.  Undoubtedly, the most significant guide for law chosen by Americans was the Ten Commandments presented by God to Moses at Mount Sinai.

 

Secular authoritarians who abuse citizen sovereignty in practice and the Constitutional concept of unalienable God-given human rights have always menaced society.  "I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations" (James Madison, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788).  The quest for power is reflected in their tax and spend authoritarian militancy.  While claiming patriotism, they promote fear and employ every conceivable means to remove any knowledge of America's Judeo-Christian heritage and the principles of the Declaration of Independence that gave birth to the United States of America.

 

The Declaration of Independence concludes: "We, therefore, 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, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.  And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" (the final paragraph from the Declaration of Independence unanimously adopted by the thirteen United States of America, CONGRESS, July 4, 1776).

 

The Constitution concludes: "Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present on the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the independence [Declaration of Independence] of the United States of America the Twelfth [adopted earlier] In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our names."

 

 

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Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:15:30 -0700 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-84462 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-84462

American Principle Thirteen 

 

Government Power and Taxes

Must Be Limited For Liberty's Sake

 

"… imposing Taxes on us without our Consent…"

Declaration of Independence

 

 

Low taxes and limited government are indispensable supports for property ownership and liberty.  "He [the king] has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance" (Declaration of Independence).

 

"The public money of this country [citizens' bank, the public treasury] is the toil and labor of the people… reasonable frugality ought to be observed.  And we would recommend particularly, the strictest care and the utmost firmness to prevent all unconstitutional draughts upon the public treasury" (instructions of the town of Braintree, Massachusetts to their legislative representative, 1765).

 

"That Government is instituted and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right of acquiring and using property, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety" (James Madison, during the first session of Congress, proposing Bill of Rights amendments to the U.S. Constitution).

 

John Dickinson, presentation to the Pennsylvania Provincial Convention, 1774, "Let these truths be indelibly impressed on our minds--that we cannot be happy, without being free--that we cannot be free, without being secure in our property--that we cannot be secure in our property [without representation that forcefully opposes confiscatory taxes]…  But if when we plow--sow--reap--gather--and thresh--we find, that we plow--sow--reap--gather--and thresh for others, whose pleasure is to be the sole limitation how much they shall take, and how much they shall leave, why should we repeat the unprofitable toil?  Let us [citizens of Pennsylvania and even other colony states be alert] take care of our rights, and we therein take care of our prosperity.  'Slavery is ever preceded by sleep.'" (John Dickinson served as a member of the Continental Congress, Governor of Pennsylvania, a member of the Constitutional Convention and the Delaware Constitutional Convention, 1792).

 

Alexander Hamilton, in The Federalist No. 17, emphasizes that taxes should not be imposed at the federal level that enable the government to do things that go beyond the enumerated powers of the federal government and thereby take money from the people that should be available for state and local government needs (in effect, enabling the enemies of citizen sovereignty to use federal government to overpower representative government of, by, and for the people).  The Tenth Amendment was ratified December 15, 1791.  It restates the Constitution's principle of federalism by providing that powers not granted to the national government or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or to the people.

 

The Federalist No. 10, written by James Madison, condemned taxing the thrifty and financially independent citizens for purposes of leveling (destroying their incentive to prosper financially).  Old European secular controls are "improper" and "wicked."*

*http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=10&page=transcript

 

Government debt that exceeds income cripples nations in the same devastating way that it cripples individuals, families and corporations.  "Indeed, we cannot too often inculcate upon you our desires, that all extraordinary grants and expensive measures may, upon all occasions, as much as possible, be avoided.  The public money of this country is the toil and labor of the people…" (written by representatives of the town of Braintree, Massachusetts, to their legislative representative, Braintree Records 1765-1766).

 

A compact discussion of American principles vital to the family and education can be found in the book, Restoring Education Central to American Greatness.

 

 

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Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:59:00 -0700 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-48165 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-48165

American Principle Twelve 

 

Vital to the American Work Ethic,

Property Ownership Must Be Secure

 

"… are entitled to life, liberty and property…"

Declaration, First Continental Congress, 1774

 

"All men… are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

"That all men… have certain inherent rights… namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property" (Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776).

 

"In the general course of human nature, a power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will [to work and be responsible]" (The Federalist No. 79, by Alexander Hamilton).

 

Karl Marx (1818-1883) helped turn Soviet Russia into a socialist state.  It collapsed after the death of hundreds of millions of people, some by starvation, others murdered by the government.  According to Marx, capitalism would never work because of the inequities between the rich and poor.  He achieved worldwide support of secular intellectuals for taxing the people and redistributing "each according to his ability, to each according to need" still common today.  The truth is that capitalism, man's ownership of the fruits of his labor, helps both the rich and poor get richer.  The promise of ownership encourages men to overcome the pain of labor and take personal responsibility.

 

Socialism was tried in the Plymouth Colony here in America following extensive food shortages.  Instead of the "rule of man," Governor Bradford turned to the Bible for wisdom and then announced that settlers would have a plot of land, and thereafter be responsible for and entitled to the fruits of their own labor (April, 1623).  Entire families went to work, and hard times changed to a plentiful supply of food.*

*http://www.sail1620.org/history/articles/122-plymouth-jamestown.html

 

"That is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where arbitrary restrictions, exemptions, and monopolies deny to part of its citizens that free use of their faculties, and free choice of their occupations, which not only constitute their property in the general sense of the word; but are the means of acquiring property…" (Essay by James Madison, published in the National Gazette, March 29, 1792).

 

Linking the work ethic to the right of property ownership was a monumental break from the world's political history.  The incentive of property ownership is the engine that makes an economy flourish.  It is the increase in value of the products supplied by the worker that leads the buyer to spend his money to own the product.

 

 

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Tue, 05 Mar 2013 08:36:11 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-85354 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-85354

American Principle Ten

 

Government Must Be Decentralized

 

"… repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny [British King] over these States."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

Officials who bypass the principles of limited government are suppressing the supreme right of the people to rule.  Such officials have violated their duties as trustees and are in effect usurpers, oppressors and tyrants.

 

The American system is "a Republic--a federation, or combination, of central and state republics--under which: the different governments will control each other…  Within each republic there are two safeguarding features: (a) a division of powers, as well as (b) a system of checks and balances between separate departments: hence a double security arises [essential] to the rights of the people" (The Federalist No. 51, by James Madison).

 

Regarding the federal government usurping essential citizen rights, "True barriers [for] of our liberty are our State governments" (President Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801).

 

"The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes.  To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them" (President George Washington's Farewell Address, 1796).

 

"Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possesses their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression" (President Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801).

 

 

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Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:18:00 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-13277 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-13277

American Principle Eight

 

The Overriding Concern When Writing the Constitution

Was Imposing a Check On Man's Sin-Prone Behavior

 

"He has combined with others to subject us jurisdiction [control] foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

A high priority when framing the Constitution was to expose government officials who persist in rejecting the message of their own conscience for the short-lived benefits of dishonesty and immoral conduct.

 

Upholding the responsibilities of civility is the necessary predicate for a liberty-friendly Constitution; liberty being the absence of authoritarian oppression.  This dictates the values that must be upheld by legislators, judges and administrators.  These values include sacredness of the family - one man and one woman in marriage; upholding the right to life and liberty, meaning citizen self-rule; equal treatment by law for all, leaders and non-leaders; protecting the labors of citizens' property rights, meaning to keep thieves out of the corn crib and taxes low; respect for God-honoring leaders.  And absolutely no government involvement in education and church except supporting unfettered competition among education and religion providers.  This protects the people's right as sovereigns to choose.  The people can be trusted (historic "rule of law"); government officials cannot be trusted (historic "rule of man").  The clear lesson from history is that government-established education, church authorities, and sanctioned monopoly unions empower tyrants who confuse, exploit and enslave.

 

The testimony of the Constitutional Fathers reminds us that government must be continually restored to the control of law-abiding citizens.

 

"But there is a Degree of Watchfulness over all Men possessed of Power or influence upon which the liberties of mankind much depend.  It is necessary to guard against the Infirmities of the best as well as the Wickedness of the worst of Men.  Such is the Weakness of human Nature that Tyranny has oftener sprang from than any other Source.  It is this that unravels the Mystery of Millions being enslaved by a few" (Samuel Adams, Letter to Elbridge Gerry, 1784, emphasis by Adams, Samuel Adams was a Delegate to the First Continental Congress, 1774; signed the Declaration of Independence, 1776: member of Massachusetts State Constitutional Convention, 1781).

 

"Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty!  I say that the loss of that dearest privilege has ever followed, with absolute certainty, every such mad attempt" (Patrick Henry, Virginia Convention for accepting or rejecting the Federal Constitution, 1788).

 

James Madison wrote, "The only distinction between freedom and slavery consists of this: in the former state, man is governed by laws to which he has given his consent, either in person or, by his representative.  In the latter he is governed by the will of another…  If men were angels, no government would be necessary" (cited by Forrest McDonald, The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution, Lawrence, Kansas, University of Kansas Press, 1985, 160 and 205 respectively).

 

 

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Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:31:00 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-54116 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-54116

American Principle Three

 

Upholding the Traditional Family Is Paramount

 

"laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

Protecting the traditional family as a distinct institution is among the highest priorities for a nation's laws.  This historic arrangement has proven overwhelmingly to be the best setting for raising children to live healthy, responsible and productive lives (Genesis 2:23,24).

 

"That government is instituted and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety" (James Madison in the first session of the US Congress, proposing the "Bill of Rights" amendments be added to the Constitution of the United States).

 

It is interesting to note that Genesis chapter 2 of the Bible reads, "… a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).  In the New Testament, Ephesians 5:25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it."

 

"The most important consequence of marriage is, that the husband and the wife become in law only one person" (James Wilson, Natural Rights of Marriage, 1792). 

 

 

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Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:00:00 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government

Part I

Government

Chapters 1 to 6

 

 

James-madison-picture

James Madison

 

"Although all men are born free, and all nations might be so, yet too true it is, that slavery has been the general lot of the human race.  Ignorant--they have been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised; divided--the yoke has been forced upon them.  But what is the lesson?  That because the people may betray themselves, they ought to give themselves up, blindfold, to those who have an interest in betraying them?  Rather conclude that the people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united."  

 

James Madison, Essay:  Who Are the Keepers of the People's Liberties?  Madison served as the fourth president of the United States (1809-1817) and is considered the principal author of the United States Constitution.  In 1788, he wrote over a third of the Federalist Papers, still the most influential commentary on the Constitution.  Madison was responsible for writing the first ten amendments to the Constitution, also known as the Bill of Rights.

 

 

Image from http://www.visitingdc.com/president/james-madison-picture.htm

 

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Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:01:00 -0700 Curriculum That Is Profoundly American http://davidanorris.posterous.com/curriculum-that-is-profoundly-american http://davidanorris.posterous.com/curriculum-that-is-profoundly-american

The proposal for education advanced by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and adopted by the University of Virginia provides an excellent formula for teaching American history and government.  It provides indisputable evidence of the American principles that are imperative for education in the taxpayer-funded classroom.

 

The resolution stated that "all students shall be inculcated with the basic American principles of government…  None should be inculcated [taught] which are incompatible with those on which the Constitution of this State, and of the United States were genuinely based, in the common opinion."  The resolution also stated that the faculty had a standard of responsibility and were required to teach affirmatively these unique American principles.  Only after they had done so were they to teach the conflicting principles as such, judging them by the soundness of the American principles that served as a basis.  The resolution then specified six writings that, in the board's opinion, reflected the unanimously supported principles unique to America that youth should be taught.  "These documents were John Locke's Essay Concerning the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government (1690), Algernon Sidney's Discourses Concerning Government (1698), the Declaration of Independence, Washington's Farewell Address, the Virginia Resolutions of 1799 (adopted by the Virginia legislature), and the Federalist Papers."*

 

The character-building curriculum now taught by homeschool parents and many Christian private schools is comparable to the curriculum taught in common schools and one-room neighborhood schools in early America.  At that time, such schools often had, say, thirty students, some at nearly every grade level, with one teacher.

 

Noah Webster's textbooks, including the Webster's Blue-Back Speller, were standard for American schools until early 1930.  Conversant in many languages, he spent several years writing the Webster's Dictionary that preceded the dictionary used in America today.  His definitions were often supported by Scripture.

 

Webster taught school in West Hartford, Connecticut, and later served as a soldier during the American Revolution.  He spent nine terms in the Connecticut legislature and three terms in the Massachusetts legislature.  A strong proponent for convening the Constitutional Convention, he wrote what became Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

 

Webster was concerned that the youth of our nation would learn to check their emotions and avoid the fears and pitfalls of foolish imaginations.  Karl Marx stirred up the emotions of heady intellectuals.  With promises of a utopia, he captured millions who, to the great loss of their families and even nations, embraced secular popularism.  The Webster dictionary defined emotions as the "strong impression, or vivid sensation that immediately produces a reaction.  The nature of the reaction is to either 'appropriate and enjoy, or avoid and repel' the cause for the impression."**

 

Abraham Lincoln's strong foundation in language was a result of his stepmother's curriculum--the Bible and Shakespeare (The Encyclopaedia Britannica: a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences…, Vol. 16, by Hugh Chisholm, p 703).

Albert Einstein and Bill Gates were university dropouts but not learning dropouts.  They were challenged to learn about the unvarying reliability and order of creation's design.

 

American_schools

 

*Nathaniel F. Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, as contained in the "Letters of Thomas Jefferson and Joseph B. Cabell," (n.p.: Richmond, Virginia, 1856), 339.  Repeated in Hamilton Albert Long, The American Ideal of 1776, Your American Heritage Books, 141-44, 147.

**Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, G. and C. Merriam Company, 1828; cited by David A. Norris, Lasting Success (Ames, IA Alpha Heartland Press, 2003), 7.

 

Image from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-old-new-one-room-schoolhouse.html

 

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Mon, 16 Jul 2012 08:50:00 -0700 American Education Philosophy Corrupted http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-education-philosophy-corrupted http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-education-philosophy-corrupted

Those who champion the atheistic-secular concept of open-mindedness use it to justify exclusivity for imposing their God-rejecting life view upon captive classroom students.  "Not only must school teachers and principles be 'exemplars of open-mindedness and free inquiry, but severally and collectively, they must be prepared to proclaim their faith in that open-mindedness and free inquiry.'"  Here we must hearken to Dewey:  "The administrator will… realize that public education is essentially education of the public: directly, through teachers and students… in the transformation of society [into a God-rejecting, socialistic society]."*

 

Atheistic-secular demands that "school teachers and principals be exemplars of open-mindedness [in] the transformation of society" undermine the moral foundations of civil society.  The justification for a tax on the people for education, in a representative republic, requires that the curriculum promote foundational moral boundaries.  The constitutions of the Soviet Union, China and Cuba proclaimed liberty.  But in the absence of a moral predicate providing certainties for Constitutional law--such as provided in the American Declaration of Independence and Northwest Ordinance, they rule by what Solon of Athens called "incalculable and changeable decrees."**

 

Prior to the leftist takeover, the National Education Association published God-honoring, character-building booklets for students and parents as recently as 1950.  For example, A Golden Treasury from the Bible, contained twenty-four Bible verses, including Psalm 1; Proverbs 20:1; Exodus 20 (the Ten Commandments); Romans 12; John 3:16, 6:23, 14:1-4 and 15:1-4; 1 Corinthians 13; and Ecclesiastes 12:1, "remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth."

 

In contrast to the old European secular philosophy, the American philosophy of education requires that all prominent views, including the atheistic-secular view, be introduced, but that they are taught in the context of the history of their outcomes.  This is seen in the resolution proposed by both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and adopted by the newly founded University of Virginia (see Chapter 10 of Restoring Education Central to American Greatness).  Their resolution identifies the great need of our day, stressing citizen responsibility and the need for a thorough knowledge of historic American foundations.

 

The education guidelines set forth for the University of Virginia emphasize that "all students shall be 'inculcated' with the basic American principles for government," and, "None should be inculcated which are incompatible with those on which the Constitution of this States, and of the United States were genuinely based, in the common opinion."  The resolution also stated that the faculty had a standard of responsibility and were required to teach affirmatively these unique American principles.  Only after they had done so were they to teach the conflicting principles as such, judging them by the soundness of the American principles that served as a basis.***  These principles are detailed in Chapter 10 of Restoring Education Central to American Greatness.

 

Faithful school boards and administrators take seriously the fact that youthful trust, inexperience and vulnerability to exploitation by the enemies of the family and self-government require that the learning environment be protected.  God has given mankind a wonderful mind to use and explore the universe, with but one exception:  we are not to use our minds to absorb the details and wiles (deceptive snares) of evil (Genesis 3:13; Isaiah 5:15-16, 20; Romans 16:19; and James 1:12-17).

 

Image_nea_booklet

 

*James Allen Johnson, "A Note on Academic Freedom: Schoolmen Must Declare Their Faith," Phi Delta Kappan, 44:185-88 (January, 1963), in Robert Hoffman, Foundations of American Education (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1970), 192.

**Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, vol. 2, The Life of Greece (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939), 118.

***Nathaniel F. Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia as contained in the "Letters of Thomas Jefferson and Joseph B. Cabell" (n.p.: Richmond, Virginia, 1856), 339.  Repeated in Hamilton Albert Long, The American Ideal of 1776, Your American Heritage Books, 141-44, 147.

 

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Mon, 25 Jun 2012 04:36:28 -0700 The Limited Role of Judges http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-limited-role-of-judges http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-limited-role-of-judges

The boundaries of authority that limit the role of judges to settling disputes is mandated by the construct of the Constitution.  Chief Justice John Roberts compares the role of the judges with the role of baseball umpires.  Baseball needs umpires to call balls and strikes, but umpires are never allowed to change the rules in the middle of the game.

 

The umpire illustration is consistent with the Federalist Papers.  They were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay in 1787 and published to encourage the people in the states to ratify the Constitution.  Federalist Paper No. 78 described the judiciary as being the "least dangerous" and "weakest" of the three branches of government because it is the arbitrator of disputes:  "The judiciary… has no influence over either the sword [imposing the penalties advocated by the court] or the purse; no direction either of the strength or the wealth of society, and can take no active resolution whatever.  It may truly be said that to have neither force nor will but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm for efficacy of its judgments."*

 

Defensive actions by one branch of government over another (separation of powers) is intended by the Constitution.  On occasion, the court may settle a dispute involving the other branches of government and law-making Representatives of the people may and should intervene and correct the Supreme Court.  Also, the administrative branch may challenge the courts to change a court's mandate.  The American system is "a Republic--a federation, or combination, of central and state republics--under which: the different governments will control each other…  Within each republic there are two safeguarding features: (a) a division of powers, as well as (b) a system of checks and balances between separate departments [including the judiciary]: hence a double security arises [essential] to the rights of the people" (Federalist, No. 51, by James Madison).

 

Chief Justice Marshall in Marbury v. Madison stated:  "This original and supreme will [of the people] organizes the government, and assigns, to different departments, their respective powers.  It may either stop here; or establish certain limits not to be transcended by those departments.  The government of the United States is of the latter description.  The powers of the legislature [as well as the judiciary and the administrative] are defined, and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the Constitution is written."**  The Marbury v. Madison decision was simply to settle a dispute.  

 

The original purpose of judicial review established by the Marbury v. Madison decision was certainly NOT to empower judges to become unelected legislators or administrators.


Judicial_umpire-toon-290x201

*http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa78.htm

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

Image from http://www.thefreemanonline.org/features/of-fallible-umpires-and-rogue-judges/

 

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Tue, 22 May 2012 10:24:00 -0700 Government by Written and Permanent Law: Republic vs Regime http://davidanorris.posterous.com/government-by-written-and-permanent-law-repub http://davidanorris.posterous.com/government-by-written-and-permanent-law-repub

The American system of government is a Federal Republic, meaning a confederation of many--a central government and state governments.  James Madison describes the American system as "a Republic--a federation, or combination, of central and state republics--under which: the different governments will control each other…" (Federalist No. 51).

 

The powers are divided between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government which remain subject to the sovereignty of the people (electorate) under creation's God per the Declaration of Independence.  "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence" (Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution).

 

The federal and state governments are Republics which are distinguished by the fact that they are representative and limited in their power by written constitutions (Federalist No. 45).  The citizen electorate adopts the constitutions, and they are only changeable from the original through amendment by the people.  


The law has been defined as "a set of rules for conduct prescribed by a controlling authority and having binding legal force" (Black's Law Dictionary).*  The overriding concern is: What are the beliefs of the controlling authority?  Sadly, some public servants, including some law professors, do not respect the fact that government gets its power from the sovereigns, the taxpayers who created the government and pay their salaries.

 

In Europe, kings, popes, academician elites and others claimed to be supreme.  This is comparable to what self-indulgent judges are now doing in America.  Rejecting the meaning and intent of the Constitution, they seek to impose societal values of their own choosing.  When federal laws dealing with local concerns descend downward, they become oppressive and often harmful to society.  

 

What sets the American constitution apart from those of so many other nations is that its use is rooted in the Higher Authority Judeo-Christian tradition for civil order.  The Constitution is a tool composed of directives, checks and obstacles.  When the principles of the Creator-based Declaration articulated in the Bill of Rights are upheld, the obstacles built into the Constitution become morally effective, and it becomes difficult for government employees to empower a partisan political agenda or line their pockets with taxpayers' money.

 

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force.

Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

George Washington

 

Bigstock_american_justice_still_life_5794375_300dpi
 *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black's_Law_Dictionary

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Tue, 15 May 2012 04:12:43 -0700 Finding the Place of Personal Faith in Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/130870924 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/130870924

The two classifications of religion, civic and personal, can live openly side by side.  The fact that Americans are free to share their personal religious convictions in public is indispensable.  Different beliefs can then be known, evaluated and decided upon by individuals.  Citizens are to be trusted with this freedom to know and choose.  This is to be respected.

 

The morality in one's personal faith and beliefs about education, government, politics and law are inseparable.  Personal faith is primary, and the nonsectarian American civic religion which is so vital to public education is the composite result.  The purity of America's civic religion that advances individual liberty is totally dependent on religious freedom, which in turn requires freedom from intimidation by government-established ideologues (educators, clergy, etc.).

 

The Founding Fathers were not only avid Creationists; they were members of many different church denominations, and the vast majority of them were, in their personal faith, born-again Christians.*

 

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:

old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

2 Corinthians 5:17

 

For you have been "born again, not of corruptible seed,

but of incorruptible, by the word of God,

which liveth and abideth for ever."

1 Peter 1:23

 

The Founding Fathers who adopted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution came from eleven Christian groups that held different views about church ordinances, baptism, communion, church polity, discipline, worship and so on.  Alexander Hamilton said in an essay published soon after the Constitutional Convention adjourned: "For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system, which, without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests."**  Madison expressed the same belief in The Federalist No. 37.

 

"Hast thou not known?  Hast thou not heard, [that] the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?  [There is] no searching of his understanding.  He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength."

Isaiah 10:28-29

 

Colonial churches were clearly Biblical.  Schools such as Harvard and the local public grade schools were Bible-based and evangelical.  Noah Webster (1758-1843), a contributor to the Constitution and widely acknowledged as the most influential educator for over a hundred years, unabashedly proclaimed his conversion to Christ during a campus revival at Yale.***

 

Webster, who was skilled in six languages, published the American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828.  In 1833, he said, "It is extremely important to our nation, in a political as well as religious view, that all possible authority and influence should be given to the scriptures, for these furnish the best principles of civil liberty and the most effectual support of republican [meaning republic] government."

 

Public school students must be taught to understand and appreciate the importance of the all-encompassing concept of an impartial, nonsectarian God of creation's nature.  This is America's civic religion.  Inculcation, however, in the personal faith relating to worship and a denomination's specific religious doctrine must not be allowed to become a function of government education.

 

64167_338209979564091_133149703403454_1001074_1990975054_n

 

 

*http://www.adherents.com/gov/Founding_Fathers_Religion.html

**http://www.zeios.com/OurRepublic/Author/22

***http://www.yalestandard.com/tidbits/voices-of-yales-past/

Image from https://ioan17.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/where-you-ats/

 

Note:  In the Judeo-Christian Bible, we learn of the personal faith shared by many different Christian denominations:  "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17).

 

Justice and grace meet at the cross of Calvary, where the price of sin was paid by Christ, Who loves us more than we love ourselves (see also Romans 5:8-9; 10:9-13 for more context of the phrase "born again").  When individuals acknowledge their need for forgiveness and humbly accept God's gift of salvation from the penalty of sin, a divine God-to-man cooperative becomes a reality.

 

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Fri, 04 May 2012 05:41:16 -0700 America's Civic Religion in Light of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln http://davidanorris.posterous.com/americas-civic-religion-in-light-of-george-wa http://davidanorris.posterous.com/americas-civic-religion-in-light-of-george-wa

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln understood that America has a civic religion.  As previously noted, this civic religion is different than the personal faith of individuals--their manner of worship, fellowship and practice.  Religion is embedded in the foundation of our government.

 

George Washington, so immersed in the entire process of the founding of this nation, praised the effectiveness of critics for insisting upon the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, and he complimented both James Madison and Alexander Hamilton for their work in writing the Federalist Papers saying,  they "have thrown new light upon the science of government; they have given the rights of man a full and fair discussion, and explained them in so clear and forcible a manner as cannot fail to make a lasting impression."

 

During the swearing-in ceremony for President Washington, he placed his hand on an open Bible at Genesis, chapter 49..  Of his own volition, he took the oath of office concluding with the precedent-setting foundation, "So help me God."  Immediately the new president bent down and kissed the sacred book (Peter A. Lillback with Jerry Newcombe, George Washington's Sacred Fire, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Dickson Press, 2006, 224).

 

In his Farewell Address of 1796, Washington reminded Americans that:  "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.  In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.  The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.  A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity.  Let it simply be asked:  Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?  And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.  Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."*

 

Contemporary liberals insist that the Declaration of Independence has no relevance to the Constitution.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  That was the argument used by Stephen A. Douglas in the historic Lincoln-Douglas debates.  Douglas, who practiced constitutional revisionism, rejected Abraham Lincoln's insistence that moral judgment applies to situations calling for decision.  Lincoln quoted from the Declaration of Independence to affirm the moral predicate of constitutional law.

 

The following is from Lincoln's Peoria speech, October 16, 1854:  "I have quoted so much [of the Declaration] at this time to show that according to our ancient faith, the just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed.  Now the relation of masters and slaves is, pro tanto, a total violation of this principle.  The master not only governs the slave without his consent:  but he governs him by a set of rules altogether different from those he prescribes for himself.  Allow all the governed an equal voice in their government, and that, and that only, is self-government."  Harry V. Jaffa, reviewing Lincoln's speech, added, "Aristotle, in his only reference to piety in the Nicomachean Ethics, says that virtue requires us to honor truth before our friends.  That is because we would not otherwise be worth having as friends."**

 

"I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man."

Abraham Lincoln

 

Presidents-day

 

 

*George Washington, Farewell Address, http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=15

**Harry V. Jaffa, "In Defense of Political Philosophy," National Review, January 22, 1982, http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/6068362/defense-political-philosophy

 

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Tue, 20 Mar 2012 07:55:00 -0700 The Paper Trail of Our Constitution III http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-paper-trail-of-our-constitution-iii http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-paper-trail-of-our-constitution-iii

In 1777, on November 15, the Articles of Confederation, our nation's first written constitution (which proved to be too weak), was adopted by the Congress.  It was not ratified by the states until near the end of the war, but it served as the procedure for governing throughout the war.  On March 2, 1781--the day after the Articles of Confederation were ratified--the Continental Congress became known as the Confederation of Congress, and the confederacy claimed the title "the United States of America."*

 

On May 14 of 1787, a few statesmen began to assemble in Philadelphia to assess the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.  Their meetings soon became a convention for framing a new constitution.  On May 25, 1787, George Washington was elected president of the Constitutional Convention.  The general outline proposed for the new constitution was presented by Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia.  The outline came from consultation with seven men, among whom James Madison was prominent.

 

Their work, spanning almost five months, was an ordeal that required attention to tedious debate and late-hour committee responsibilities with the added discomforts of hot, humid weather and longings for home.  Washington himself, disagreeing with one of the delegates, cautioned that regardless of whether or not the states would adopt a new constitution, popular fallacies must be avoided:  "Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God."** Because it was conducted in secret, the public was unaware that the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were on the verge of failure.  When opinions came to an impasse during the Constitutional Convention, Franklin called the delegates to their knees in prayer.  

 

"In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?  In the beginning of the Contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection.  Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered…  I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God governs in the affairs of men.  Can an empire rise without his aid?  We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that 'except the Lord build the House they labor in vain that build it.'  I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel:  We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages."*** The practice of prayer continues today when a session of the United States Senate or House convenes.

 

The Committee of Style and Arrangements, elected by the Constitutional Congress, proceeded to codify what had started out on May 28 as a list of fifteen resolutions presented four months earlier by Edmund Randolph.  Twenty-three resolutions for the Constitution emerged from their debate.  Rearranging them for orderly reading, Governor Morris of Pennsylvania put them together as the Constitution.  It contained seven articles with short subsections and a preamble that starts with the sovereigns under God, "We the People."****

Image_hope_in_me_not_disappointed_in_god_we_trust

*Articles of Confederation, Article 1.

**Harry Atwood, The Constitution Explained, 4th ed. (Merrimac, MA: Destiny Publishers, 1992), 4.

***http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/franklin.html

****http://www.history.army.mil/books/revwar/ss/morrisg.htm


 

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Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:13:00 -0700 The Paper Trail of Our Constitution II http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-paper-trail-of-our-constitution-ii http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-paper-trail-of-our-constitution-ii

In 1776, on February 28, George Washington acknowledged a poem written in his honor and sent to him by Phillis Wheatley.  "To His Excellency General Washington"   was the title.  This occurred before the Declaration of Independence was completed and accepted by the Continental Congress.  Who was Phillis Wheatley?  She had been captured in Senegal/Gambia at the age of seven or eight and sold in Boston to John and Susanna Wheatley.  They treated her lovingly as a daughter and taught her to read and write; she even learned Latin.  An accomplished poet, she was an admirer of the minister George Whitefield and a strong supporter of independence from Great Britain.

 

The Northwest Ordinance passed in 1787 by the Continental Congress was helpful as the new constitution was drafted.  It specified the requirements of territories seeking statehood.  The ordinance declared:  "The fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws, and constitutions are erected; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments, which forever hereafter shall be formed in the said territory: to provide also for the establishment of States, and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the federal councils on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest."*

 

Also known as the Freedom Ordinance, the Northwest Ordinance is a rock-solid example of the nonsectarian religious predicate embraced as constitutional law.  When the Articles of Confederation was replaced by a new constitution, the Northwest Ordinance was passed again and became effective under the Constitution.  George Washington signed the Northwest Ordinance back into law on August 7, 1789.  The ordinance also prohibited slavery in any new state, and Article III specified that "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education, shall forever be encouraged."**

 

"During this same period of time (July 17 to August 7, 1789), the same men who had implemented the Northwest Ordinance were writing the First Amendment to the Constitution [prohibiting government officials from interfering with religious freedom, printing press and education competition]."***

 

In 1792, James Madison, in his Essay, Who Are the Keepers of the People's Liberties?, said, "Although all men are born free, and all nations might be so, yet too true it is, that slavery has been the general lot of the human race.  Ignorant--they have been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised; divided--the yoke has been forced upon them.  But what is the lesson?  That because the people may betray themselves, they ought to give themselves up, blindfold, to those who have an interest in betraying them?  Rather conclude that the people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united."  Madison served as the fourth president of the United States and is considered to be the principal author of the United States Constitution.  In 1788, he wrote over a third of the Federalist Papers, still the most influential commentary on the Constitution.  James Madison wrote the first ten amendments to the Constitution, also known as the Bill of Rights.  

 

The Declaration of Independence condemned slavery, but it took a war to make it enforceable.  On January 1, 1863, near the end of that war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that reversed its momentum.

 

"The consequence is, that happiness of society is the first law of every government.  The people have a right to insist that this rule be observed; and are entitled to demand a moral security that the legislature will observe it.  If they have not the first right, they are slaves; if they have not the second right [moral security], they are, every moment, exposed to slavery" (U.S. Supreme Court Justice James Wilson, Lectures, 1790-91).


Phillis_wheatley

Phillis Wheatley

1753? - 1784

 

*Education Resources Information Center website, ED285786.  Teaching about the US Constitution and the Northwest Ordinance.

**http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Webster

***David Barton, Education and the Founding Fathers (Aledo, Texas: Wallbuilder Press, 1993), 4.

****http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation...

 

Image from http://evolutionofpaper.blogspot.com/2010/02/african-american-literary-firsts...

 

NOTE ~ more information on Wheatley at http://www.enotes.com/his-excellency and http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/whea-phi.htm

 

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Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:47:00 -0800 American Principle Ten: Government Must Be Decentralized http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-ten-government-must-be-dec http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-ten-government-must-be-dec

"…repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny [British King] over these States."

Declaration of Independence

 

Officials who bypass the principles of limited government are suppressing the supreme right of the people to rule.  Such officials have violated their duties as trustees and are in effect usurpers, oppressors and tyrants.

 

The American system is "a Republic--a federation, or combination, of central and state republics--under which: the different governments will control each other…  Within each republic there are two safeguarding features: (a) a division of powers, as well as (b) a system of checks and balances between separate departments: hence a double security arises [essential] to the rights of the people."

(James Madison, Federalist, No. 51, 1788)

 

Regarding the federal government usurping essential citizen rights, "True barriers [for] of our liberty are our State governments."

(President Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801, http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/founders/jefferson/thomas-jefferson-first-...

 

"The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes.  To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them."

(George Washington's Farewell Address, 1796, http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=15)

 

"Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possesses their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression."

(President Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801, http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/founders/jefferson/thomas-jefferson-first-... 

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Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:11:00 -0800 American Principle Eight: The Overriding Concern When Writing the Constitution Was Imposing a Check on Man's Sin-Prone Behavior http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-eight-the-overriding-conce http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-eight-the-overriding-conce

"He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign

to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation."

Declaration of Independence

 

Man has a selfish nature, and those who achieve power tend to abuse it.  James Madison wrote, "The only distinction between freedom and slavery consists of this:  in the former state, man is governed by laws to which he has given his consent, either in person or, by his representative.  In the latter he is governed by the will of another… If men were angels, no government would be necessary" (cited by Forrest McDonald, The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution, Lawrence, Kansas, University of Kansas Press, 1985, pp. 160 and 205 respectively).

 

It is the evil ways of men that make this a dangerous world that requires freedom-loving individuals to be tough-minded.  It is a tough-minded refusal to compromise and negotiate away the timeless principles briefed in the Declaration that sends the enemy down losers' lane.

 

For more information or to purchase the book:

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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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Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:46:04 -0800 American Principle Three: Upholding the Traditional Family Is Paramount http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-three-upholding-the-tradit http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-three-upholding-the-tradit

"laying its foundation on such principles

and organizing its powers

in such form, as to them shall seem

most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Declaration of Independence

 

Protecting the traditional family as a distinct institution is among the highest priorities for a nation's laws.  This historic arrangement has proven overwhelmingly to be the best setting for raising children to live healthy, responsible and productive lives (Genesis 2:23-24).

 

"That government is instituted and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety" (James Madison in the first session of the US Congress, proposing the Bill of Rights amendments be added to the Constitution of the United States).

James_madison

James Madison

1751-1836

Fourth President of the United States,

key author of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

 

 

"The most important consequence of marriage is, that the husband and wife become in law only one person" (James Wilson, Natural Rights of Marriage, 1792, teachingamericanhistory.org).

James_wilson

James Wilson

1742-1798

Signer of the Declaration of Independence, twice member of the

Continental Congress, one of six original Supreme Court justices

appointed by George Washington

 

 

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