These articles will not be the usual article on preparedness, but I hope you still read them as they point out reasons to prepare. I’ll touch on two things I generally stay away from; politics and prophecy. There might even be a little civics lesson but I promise not to bore you.
Some time ago I started studying some of the founding fathers and the creation of our nation. What I found was that many of our founding fathers were men of God who wanted separation from a king (government) that was over reaching into almost every aspect of their lives. Our nation was, in fact, based on Judeo-Christian values, though many today would say that is untrue.
When you look at what the vision of the Founding Fathers was and when you read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, you begin to see how far we are from the Democratic Republic they set out to build. Please don’t misunderstand, I think our form of government is still the best in the world, but I do see where we have gone astray.
Also to be clear, over the next three days, you might get the feeling that I am anti-government. This is not true. I am just very pro citizen and for small government.
The Founding Fathers
The Founders knew that government was not the answer, the governed were. We are to be a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
The way that our electoral system is supposed to run, someone would leave their normal job to run for office, win the majority of votes or Electoral College votes and then stay in office for a term or two. I believe it was their intent that the elected would leave office and return to their normal job after their service, not stay in office their entire lives.
They did not want the federal government to be the immense size it is today. They wanted the state to regulate its people and when the state over reached, the federal government would step in.
They went to great lengths to make sure the President could not be set up to be another king. He was granted only so much power, with two other branches of government to keep him in check.
There was much conversation and debate to craft a document that would limit the scope of government while defining the rights of the people.
The Constitution defines the rights and roles of the three branches of government, giving powers and setting limitations. Many other countries have modeled their constitution after the United States of America’s.
Is it perfect? Of course not. It was written by men. If it were perfect is wouldn’t have counted a slave as 1/5 of a man. Yes, I know that counting as 1/5 was a step in the right direction and no, I am not condoning slavery.
The constitution defines how a bill shall become law, gives the power to collect taxes, coin money, keep an Army and Navy and even defines how to make an amendment to correct, add or remove something in the future, such as the Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery.
The Bill of Rights puts limits on government and empowers and protects citizens. It gives us the right to free speech and to bear arms. It gives us protection from unlawful search and seizure, the right to “plead the fifth” and to not incriminate oneself. This is also where amendments are made, such as ending slavery as well as starting and stopping prohibition.
The Declaration of Independence
This document, in my opinion, took great courage to write. Aside from the bible, it is one of the most important documents in existence, largely due to the following sentence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The reason that one sentence is so important is because it states that the rights mentioned above in the Bill of Rights and the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are granted by God, and what God grants, man cannot take away.
This article is from a series of three, they are:
A Short Prepper Civics Lesson
The Future of America
God’s Law vs Man’s Law
