It is hot, and we are in the last days of July. So we move slowly, trying to keep cool. Thus, I sit in my basement, in front of my computer, wondering what is taking me so long to finishing writing this interesting post. :grin:
What is the subject? It is a review of Nullifying Tyranny: Creating Moral Communities in an Immoral Society. Here are links to the earlier posts:
Section II: Godly Principles of Limited Government
Here is what the authors say Section II is about.
Ten basic principles necessary for the establishment of legitimate, limited and moral government that serves as the political support and defender of a moral community.
This post will cover the first half (chapters 4 through 
of section II of Nullifying Tyranny. Since each chapter covers a different principle, I decided it would not be impractical to list and review all those principles in one post.
Chapter 4 considers the principle of self-ownership.
Principle Number 1: Liberty is based upon the principle of self-ownership and personal accountability. Human liberty is indispensible for the promotion, development, and maintenance of a prosperous, peaceful and moral society.
Here the authors define the requirements for self-ownership and the consequences for society.
- Property rights: “Self-ownership is the highest form of property rights.”
- Self-sufficiency: “What self-sufficiency implies is that the individual takes responsibility for the care and keeping of himself–other people will not be forced by government to bear his burden.”
- Personal Accountability: The description of personal accountability begins thus: “No one had to remind early American pioneers that they were accountable for their action or inaction.” What the authors point out is that politicians have put people on the dole in return for their votes.
- The Family: In a free society, family ties provide self-owning individuals “mutual aid and protection.” “Strong and healthy families, extended families, and close friends are an essential element in creating and maintaining free and moral local communities.”
Chapter 4 ends with this observation.
As individuals become dependent upon government–the once free (self-owning) individual becomes a government dependent, then a government serf, and eventually a slave in a completely socialized society where neither individual nor family is important– the state becomes all, and “we the people” become expendable fodder.
Chapter 5 defines “legitimate government.”
Principle Number 2: For government to be legitimate it must be founded on the free, unfettered, and qualified consent of the governed.
Here the authors define the following:
- The need for government.
- The origin of legitimate government.
- How citizens give their consent to government.
- How citizens protect their right to consent once given.
- The role of state governments in protecting the rights of the minority.
In Chapter 5, the authors aim to show the following:
In the American system, consent of the sovereign community is granted to their respective states. The states then are the source of the delegated authority exercised by the Federal government. Un the original system of constitutionally limited federalism the sovereign state acted as the final arbiter of whether or not an act of the Federal government was constitutional — whether an act of the Federal Government was in fact legitimate, requiring citizens to comply.
A personal note: Because of the emphasis on states’ rights, the ideas presented in this chapter are among the most controversial in the book. However, the authors provide a practical solution for a real problem. Much of the authority the Federal government now exercises it unconstitutionally expropriated from state governments. Unless state governments fight back, we will be unable to restore the principle of federalism — clearly embodied in our Constitution — to its proper balance.
Chapter 6 takes on the inherently oppressive nature of government.
Principle Number 3: Human government, regardless of its size or form, is inherently oppressive of human liberty.
With this principle, the authors remind us that our government is a fallible human creation, that blind obedience to government is irresponsible. They begin with this question:
Whose money is it– the taxpayer’s or the Tax Collector’s?
Most of this chapter addresses the ethics of taxation and our “fawning behavior towards the tax collector.” The authors claim that high taxation compromises the principle of self-ownership and stipulate that:
The only legitimate role of the Federal government is to protect the national borders from foreign invasion, assure free trade among those sovereign states that voluntarily elect to be part of the national confederation (republic of republics), and protect or adjudicate disputes regarding property rights involving citizens from different states or adjudicate disputes between citizens of a state and the Federal government.
Chapter 7 advocates the principle of limited government.
Principle Number 4: All governments are oppressive of liberty with a strong tendency toward tyranny; therefore, to protect liberty human government must be minimal.
Because limited government requires minimizing the role of the Federal government, the author’s want to revive the concept of State’s Rights. Therefore, much of Nullifying Tyranny is devoted to a condemnation of the elite.
Those anti-State’s Rights, Federal supremacists, who over the years have desired to enlarge the powers of the Federal government in order to use it for personal gain, have successfully stigmatized the American political concept of State’s Rights (state sovereignty), by asserting that States Rights was an evil tool used to protect slavery, Jim Crow laws, white supremacy, and racial segregation.
A personal note: As a matter of fact, State’s Rights is a tool like any other tool. It can be used correctly to accomplish good things or incorrectly to accomplish bad things. For example, abolitionists used State’s Rights to opposed slavery. That happened when the Supreme Court approved the Dred Scott decision. See SO THAT’S WHY IT IS AN INSULT.
Chapter 8 explains how the elite seek to divide us.
Principle Number 4: Human government, regardless of its size or form, always divides people into those who benefit from government and those who pay for government.
This chapter begins with these words:
America’s founding fathers were so concerned about the possible excesses of popular democracy that some referred to democracy as “mobocracy.” The excesses of the French Revolution (1790-99) remain as an example of the type of excesses the founding fathers sought to avoid when they established our American republic of republics.
What concerns the authors in this chapter is the fact that elite seek to bribe tax consumers (nonproductive citizens) to vote for them with the monies paid by taxpayers (productive citizens). In fact they fear we have already reached the tipping point, a society that has more tax consumers than taxpayers. They fear this condition will lead to moral degeneration as well as financial degeneration. So the chapter ends with these words.
How long will it be before those who preach sermons that are not politically correct will be subject to charges of hate crimes and prosecuted by the Federal Office for Civil Rights? Liberals and secular humanists can now use monies expropriated from the moral numerical minority to finance programs that encourage immorality. The current system of American government has reached the moral tipping point as well as the tax tipping point.
Interlude
Undoubtedly, the authors of Nullifying Tyranny will sound alarmist to many. That attitude, however, is naive, particularly in light of recent events, a rogue Congress that repeatedly legislates against the clear will of the majority. That attitude is also ignores the clear lessons of history and current world events. The liberties enjoyed by citizens of the United States are atypical. We enjoy a degree of freedom and prosperity enjoyed by very few people, and we enjoy this freedom and prosperity only because our forebears fought tooth and nail for the right to exercise their Christian values.
Based upon the outline of the book, I intend to do two more posts. That includes the second half of Section II.
- Section II: Godly Principles of Limited Government (the principles explained in chapter 9 through 13)
- Section III: Godly Republic Lost–Godly Republic Regained
