GunnyFreedom
12-03-2012, 10:59 PM
As Ron Paul correctly quoted, our Constitution is only fit for the government of a moral people. Too many Americans do not understand morality. Most people genuinely want to be 'moral' they just don't know what that means. A big part of what we need to be doing is teaching people what morality means, and helping them to achieve it. We do that, and like the snowball rolling down hill the rest of our task becomes a lot easier.
Here is an example of the argument I have been framing for Tea Partiers and Christian Conservatives to great effect.
...
No Christian in their right mind would walk up to their neighbor, hold a pistol to their head, and demand that they comply with the will of God and start acting like Christ. We all would know on first blush that this is blatantly immoral. And yet we seem to believe that if we get the government to do our dirty work for us than we can wash the blood from our hands like Pontius Pilate.
George Washington said "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington understood that all of government boils down to the end of a gun. To hold someone at gunpoint and demand that they behave the way we think God wants them to is immoral. It's even immoral when we get government to do it for us.
John Adams said "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Unless we the people are a moral people, then our Constitution will not function. We are the Christians. We are the conservatives. Morality begins at home. When we wink and nod at the initiation of aggressive violence at home and abroad just because we agree with reason that force is being used, then we are perpetuating immorality and helping to destroy the Constitution.
If we are serious about saving this country, then we have to restore the Constitution. If we are going to restore the Constitution, then we have to find some clarity about what is, and is not moral. The Pharisees thought they were moral because they used force to enforce the law of God, but they were not, and Jesus called them out for it.
So also we today think we are being moral when we demand that government use force to enforce the will of God, but we are not. What we are doing is demonstrating that we lack the measure of faith in the power of God to maintain His Kingdom holy.
Instead, as we have rejected the initiation of aggressive violence by our own hand, let us also reject the notion that we can make the government do that for us. Then we can restore a moral foundation for America, restore the Constitution, and save the United States for ourselves and our posterity.
...
This is an argument that has so far in my experience been very effective with traditional conservatives and Christian conservatives towards re-establishing the proper foundation for an American government that obeys the Constitution and secures the liberty of the people.
Try articulating it in your own words, and see how it works with the traditional and Christian conservatives in your circles.
In any case, it is a good idea to heed the advice of Ron Paul and understand that a key component to restoring the Constitution and restoring liberty in America, will be restoring the moral fabric of America. Only we must also understand what morality is. It is not the moralizing action of the Pharisee who gave thanks to God for being without sin, it is rather in the humble nature of the tax collecter who could scarcely lift his hand to God to seek forgiveness.
Here is an example of the argument I have been framing for Tea Partiers and Christian Conservatives to great effect.
...
No Christian in their right mind would walk up to their neighbor, hold a pistol to their head, and demand that they comply with the will of God and start acting like Christ. We all would know on first blush that this is blatantly immoral. And yet we seem to believe that if we get the government to do our dirty work for us than we can wash the blood from our hands like Pontius Pilate.
George Washington said "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington understood that all of government boils down to the end of a gun. To hold someone at gunpoint and demand that they behave the way we think God wants them to is immoral. It's even immoral when we get government to do it for us.
John Adams said "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Unless we the people are a moral people, then our Constitution will not function. We are the Christians. We are the conservatives. Morality begins at home. When we wink and nod at the initiation of aggressive violence at home and abroad just because we agree with reason that force is being used, then we are perpetuating immorality and helping to destroy the Constitution.
If we are serious about saving this country, then we have to restore the Constitution. If we are going to restore the Constitution, then we have to find some clarity about what is, and is not moral. The Pharisees thought they were moral because they used force to enforce the law of God, but they were not, and Jesus called them out for it.
So also we today think we are being moral when we demand that government use force to enforce the will of God, but we are not. What we are doing is demonstrating that we lack the measure of faith in the power of God to maintain His Kingdom holy.
Instead, as we have rejected the initiation of aggressive violence by our own hand, let us also reject the notion that we can make the government do that for us. Then we can restore a moral foundation for America, restore the Constitution, and save the United States for ourselves and our posterity.
...
This is an argument that has so far in my experience been very effective with traditional conservatives and Christian conservatives towards re-establishing the proper foundation for an American government that obeys the Constitution and secures the liberty of the people.
Try articulating it in your own words, and see how it works with the traditional and Christian conservatives in your circles.
In any case, it is a good idea to heed the advice of Ron Paul and understand that a key component to restoring the Constitution and restoring liberty in America, will be restoring the moral fabric of America. Only we must also understand what morality is. It is not the moralizing action of the Pharisee who gave thanks to God for being without sin, it is rather in the humble nature of the tax collecter who could scarcely lift his hand to God to seek forgiveness.