Here is the final post of this series.  In the last post we asked: Do We Deserve To Be A Free People? Now we consider an action plan.

What Must We Do To Remain A Free People?

Our nation’s greatest problem is apathy. If no one cares about the Constitution, then it has no power.

Instead of behaving as spirited citizens enthusiastically participating in public life, we spinelessly wait for others to act. No republic can survive such an indifferent citizenry.

Participating As The Citizen Of A Great Republic

When we were born in the United States, God gave us a great blessing and a great responsibility. Unlike most men and women, we can affect the course of the most influential nation that has ever existed. Because the men and women who founded the United States created something special, people all over the world look to America. They look to you and to me.

As citizens of a Great Republic, we have a duty to elect virtuous leadership. To elect good leaders, we must understand the political process.

• We must know how our government works. That includes knowing some history.
• We must study the problems of our day, and we must assess the appropriate role of government.
• We must understand how we select candidates for public office.
• We must participate both in the nomination of candidates and in the general election.
• We must vote for the good of our nation. We must understand that no election is about inflating the size of our personal pocketbooks.

Overcoming The Obstacles Posed By Information Warfare

We live in the Information Age, a development not anticipated by The Establishment. Thus, The Establishment has yet to render the Internet useless to a citizenry bent upon protecting its God-given rights. What that means is that we can each use the Internet to learn about the different candidates running for political office. What that means is that if we make the effort, we can nominate virtuous candidates who will cut the size of government and return power to the people.

For example, in Virginia this year we will elect a new senator. Because both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have nominated their candidates, we now have a choice between George Allen and Tim Kaine. Both these candidates were the candidates preferred by The Establishment. That is, regardless of which of these men win, neither is likely to rock The Establishment‘s boat. All we can hope for is that if Allen wins, he will spend less money and do less damage to our Constitution.

Yet there was a time we had a real choice. When the Republican Party had its primary for the U.S. Senate in June, there were four candidates. Four candidates had qualified to be on the ballot. Did you vote? Not likely. Only 5 percent of eligible voters did. Since Allen, The Establishment‘s candidate, had far more money to spend, he coasted to victory. That should not have happened, but a People that does not bother to inform itself cannot remain a free people.

Don’t Expect The Government To Function As A Public Charity

If we listen some people, you would think government invented charity. If it were not for government, no one would get educated, and the poor would starve. Medical treatment? The poor would have none. Yet somehow before our government grew so huge, America’s poor survived, and relative to the rest of the world, they prospered.

Some time back I wrote THE RIGHT OF FREE ASSOCIATION. Here I quoted Alexis De Tocqueville’s classic work, Democracy in America. As a Frenchman, Tocqueville wrote about American in the early 1830′s. He saw something he thought amazing. He saw Americans spontaneously formed civic associations devoted to accomplishing a public good. Here is a small part of that post.

The political associations which exist in the United States are only a single feature in the midst of the immense assemblage of associations in that country. Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form associations. They have not only commercial and manufacturing companies, in which all take part, but associations of a thousand other kinds—religious, moral, serious, futile, extensive, or restricted, enormous or diminutive. The Americans make associations to give entertainments, to found establishments for education, to build inns, to construct churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; and in this manner they found hospitals, prisons, and schools. If it be proposed to advance some truth, or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society.

Instead of looking to government, Americans looked to each other and went to work. Why? Consider something the Apostle Paul said.

Ephesians 4:7-12 Good News Translation (GNT)

⁷ Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given.⁸As the scripture says,

When he went up to the very heights,
he took many captives with him;
he gave gifts to people.

⁹ Now, what does he went up mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth.¹⁰ So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence.¹¹ It was he who gave gifts to people; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.¹² He did this to prepare all God’s people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.

Because not all can be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers; throughout the Bible Paul speaks of many different kinds of gifts. God created each of us for a purpose, to render some kind of service to our neighbors, and He gave us each gifts to accomplish our purpose. To make use of our gifts, we must give ourselves over to God and serve others. That is how we can best achieve our fulfillment, and that is something that the Americans Tocqueville observed still understood.

No government agency is likely to help you achieve your fulfillment. Politicians are not in that business. What politicians do is take our money and spend it for us. What politicians seek to buy with our money is our votes. Because politicians seek reliable votes, what government-run charity invariably produces is dependence.

True charity is voluntary and comes from the heart. If we want to resolve the problem of poverty, we must each seek to be charitable human beings. Instead of waiting for government to act, we must voluntarily choose to exercise the gifts God has given us.

Rouse Your Neighbors With Your Own Example

If we want to make America a true republic once again, we must each begin with our self. To save our family, friends, and neighbors from Socialist tyranny, we must first throw off our own apathy.

Have you prayed? What is God calling you to do? Have you examined your gifts? Have you seen a need? Do you know how you might help? Then take that first step. Just do what you can. If you do not give up, others will follow your example. Consider the affect an old woman had upon Jesus’ disciples.

Mark 12:41-44 Good News Translation (GNT)

The Widow’s Offering()

⁴¹ As Jesus sat near the Temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich men dropped in a lot of money;⁴² then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny.⁴³ He called his disciples together and said to them,

I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others.⁴⁴ For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had—she gave all she had to live on.

Here are the previous posts in this series.

• Part 1: Robin Hood’s Merry Men — posted on June 11, 2012.
• Part 2: What is the moral logic that justifies Robin Hood government? – posted on June 18, 2012.
• Part 3: What Are The Consequences Of Accepting The Logical Argument For Robin Hood Government? – posting on June 20, 2012.
• Part 4: Do We Deserve To Be A Free People? – posted on July 1, 2012.