Posted by
SquiddyPopPerkyJean on Monday, August 18, 2008 9:10:49 PM
Here is part one of a very wise essay that I think all Americans should read:
by The Honorable Ezra Taft Benson
Former Secretary of Agriculture
(also a former President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after retirement from public office and before his death in the early 90s.)
Men in the public spotlight constantly are asked to express an opinion on a myriad of government proposals and projects. "What do
you think of TVA?" "What is your opinion of Medicare?" "How do you feel about Urban Renewal?" The list is endless. All too often, answers to these questions seem to be based, not upon any solid principle, but upon the popularity of the specific government program in question. Seldom are men willing to oppose a popular program if they, themselves, wish to be popular--especially if they seek public office.
Government Should Be Based Upon Sound Principles
Such an approach to vital political questions of the day can only lead to public confusion and legislative chaos. Decisions of this nature
should be based upon and measured against certain basic principles regarding the proper role of government. If principles are correct, then they can be applied to any specific proposal with confidence.
Are there not, in reality, underlying, universal principles with reference to which all issues must be resolved whether the society be
simple or complex in its mechanical organization? It seems to me we could relieve ourselves of most of the bewilderment which so unsettles and distracts us by subjecting each situation to the simple test of right or wrong. Right and wrong as moral principles do not change. They are applicable and reliable determinants whether the situations with which we deal are simple or complicated. There is always a right and wrong to every question which requires our solution. (Albert E. Bowen, Prophets, Principles and National Survival, p. 21-22)
Unlike the political opportunist, the true statesman values principle above popularity, and works to create popularity for those political principles which are wise and just.
The Correct Role of Government
I should like to out line in clear, concise, and straight-forward terms the political principles to which I subscribe. These are the
guidelines which determine, now and in the future, my attitudes and actions toward all domestic proposals and projects of government.
These are the principles which, in my opinion, proclaim the proper role of government in the domestic affairs of the nation:
[I] believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to
them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society.
[I] believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the
free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life...
[I] believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their
inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest; at the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience. (D&C 134: 1-2,5.)
The Most Important Function Of Government
It is generally agreed that the most important single function of government is to secure the rights and freedoms of individual citizens.
But, what are those rights? And what is their source? Until these questions are answered there is little likelihood that we can correctly
determine how government can best secure them. Thomas Paine, back in the days of the American Revolution, explained that:
Rights are not gifts from one man to another, nor from one class of men to another...It is impossible to discover any origin of rights
otherwise than in the origin of man; it consequently follows that rights appertain to man in right of his existence, and must therefore be equal to every man. (P.P.N.S., p. 134.)
The great Thomas Jefferson asked:
Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that
these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? (Works 8:404; P.P.N.S. p. 141.)
Starting at the foundation of the pyramid, let us first consider the origin of those freedoms we have come to know as human rights. There
are only two possible sources. Rights are either God-given as part of the Divine Plan, or they are granted by government as part of the political plan. Reason, necessity, tradition and religious conviction all lead me to accept the divine origin of these rights. If we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government, then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government. I, for one, shall never accept that premise. As the French political economist, Frederick-Bastiat, phrased it so succinctly, "Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." (The Law, p. 6)
The Real Meaning Of The Separation Of Church And State
I support the doctrine of separation of church and state as traditionally interpreted to prohibit the establishment of an official national
religion. But I am opposed to the doctrine of separation of church and state as currently interpreted to divorce government from any formal recognition of God. The current trend strikes a potentially fatal blow at the concept of the divine origin or our rights, and unlocks the door for an easy entry of future tyranny. If Americans should ever come to believe that their rights and freedoms are instituted among men by politicians and bureaucrats, then they will no longer carry the proud inheritance of their forefathers, but will grovel before their masters seeking favors and dispensations--a throwback to the Feudal System of the Dark Ages. We must ever keep in mind the inspired words of Thomas Jefferson, as found in the Declaration of Independence:
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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. (P.P.N.S., p. 519)
Since God created man with certain unalienable rights, and man, in turn, created government to help secure and safeguard those rights, it
follows that man is superior to the creature which he created. Man is superior to government and should remain master over it, not the other way around. Even the non-believer can appreciate the logic of this relationship.