Morality and the Equitable Exercise of Unalienable
Rights
by Jeff Head (Idaho)
* * *
What is morality?
How is it defined?
Is immorality wrong?
Is immorality damaging to the individual?
Is immorality damaging to a society? …
Questions like these are the root of much of the debate regarding the
successful and appropriate exercise of unalienable rights by a free
society.
How did the founders of this great nation hit upon a formula for the
exercise of unalienable rights that has been so successful and produced,
for the longest time, the most equitable state, or government, created
by mankind, which has been very much the envy of most of the world?
Let me share a few of the reasons that I believe our founders were
successful, as well as a few of the reasons why I believe it is in the
process of failing.
Formula for Success :
1) Our founders recognized that our unalienable rights came from
the Creator, God in Heaven. Not from the King, not from the
President, not from the attorney general, not from the police
officer, not from the Czar, not from the chairman, and not from any
man or manmade institution or creation ... including not from any
"Rule of Law".
2) Our founders recognized (regardless of their particular brands
of religion) that morality within society in general was
indispensable to the exercising of unalienable rights we derive from
God. They simply recognized that the basic foundation for exercising
their unalienable rights was this morality. This allowed folks to
understand where the end of their arm was in relation to the nose on
someone else's face ... and not just physically, but morally as
well.
3) The system of governmental, institutional powers which were put
in place around these understandings was weak centrally, and
stronger the closer you got to the individual, and it was a
Constitutional Republic based on all of this with clearly defined
limitations and separations. It was not a democracy.
4) The majority of society in those day was much more humble and
naturally tended to look to God and His moral standards (or Gospel)
for strength and faith in exercising their daily routine and
exercising their rights.
5) Most people in those days, based on the society and morality of
the day, knew what was right and what was wrong, even if they chose
to "partake" of the wrong.
6) In the context of all of the above, the free people of the day
were pretty much their own masters and were not weighed down by too
many regulations or rules, or institutional powers of government.
Also, they had an entire "wilderness" to run to, if they
did not fit in, or chose not to.
Now, here are several of the pertinent reasons I believe that our
Republic is having the tremendous difficulties it is having today,
wherein agendas contrary to the intent of our Founders have found
fertile soil, have taken root and germinated.
Recipe for Failure:
1) In my opinion, the largest root cause for our dilemma today is
a loss of our moral foundation. What was "known" by
society to be wrong in earlier days is embraced and paraded today in
an environment of amorality and moral relativism which has weakened
our character as a people. We are literally having a terrible time
understanding where our arms end and other's noses begin, both
physically and morally. Equitable exercise of unalienable rights, as
recognized by the founders, can not last long in such an environment
in my opinion. It will either give way to anarchy, which leads to
totalitarianism; or, it will lead to a progressively brutal
"state" which will be built up to "protect" us
from ourselves ... which ends up in the same place as the former ...
totalitarianism.
2) Many today have forgotten God in Heaven and the fact that He
has granted us our unalienable rights, and defines for each of us
the moral compass ... and that He does it through free choice,
letting us reap what are the just results of those choices. With
certain types of behavior (and I believe homosexuality and abortion
are two of them) the consequences ultimately play out at the
societal level, irrespective of where the choice is made. In times
gone by, very few people ever even consider openly engaging in, or
professing such practices. It would have had immediate social
consequences, and in most localities, would have had legal
consequences as well. This is not because the people of that day
were not "enlightened", or did not understand the basis
for exercising unalienable rights. On the contrary, they understood
the basis for exercising their rights very well and also understood
morality and the lessons of history. This number (2) that I have
described is really an extension of number (1).
3) Today's governmental institutional powers are fast becoming the
opposite of that laid out by our founders. Strong centrally and
getting progressively weaker the closer they get to the individual.
Much of this, in my opinion, is due to the negative consequences of
(1) and (2). This has in turn caused most of the separations and
limitations of our government to be blurred or erased as it strives
to "protect" us from ourselves ... to the point where we
have been transformed into a virtual democracy, instead of the
Constitutional Republic designed by the founders.
4) We are not very humble as a people today. There are notable
exceptions, but generally, as a society, we are affluent and most do
not feel a need for God or His guidance or moral standards.
5) There is literally, very little place to run for those who want
to "be different".
I personally believe that these are the root ills. I do not believe
that it will be fixed without what used to be called a
"revival", both morally and politically ... and probably
economically as well, and which impacts the vast majority of the people.
In this context, the moral revival is the most important, for without
it, the others are meaningless in the end.
How will this come about? I believe we must take seriously the charge
and effort to educate ourselves and those around us in what made our
Constitutional Republic successful.
Clearly, understanding unalienable rights, what they are, where they
come from and how they relate to society and societal institutions is
critical. Equally critical is how we can exercise unalienable rights
amongst our fellowman equitably. This is impossible to do, in my
opinion, and according to the founders, without understanding morality,
what it is, where it comes from and a basic definition of its basis. I
believe that the best foundation for morality rests in two great codes
of conduct found in the basic religious underpinning of most of our
society. They are:
1) The Ten Commandments.
2) The Golden Rule.
In this way, our founders, with all of their imperfections, created a
government of man which recognized and respected God's hand. In my
opinion, we need to find a way to get back there. It is a very delicate
thing to do, particularly the issue between compulsion and free choice.
Compulsion leads to tyranny, but that does not obviate the fact that
unbridled and reckless free choice taken by larger and larger segments
of society will lead to the same. Strong morals keep both from
happening.
Therefore, I believe we as a people have to freely choose to align
ourselves with as firm a moral compass as can be found, like the two
standards mentioned above. This "free choice", or "free
agency" is a critical and indispensable term which must be
understood if morality is to influence the equitable exercise of
unalienable rights. When large numbers of Americans choose a firm moral
foundation freely, we will receive Providence's help. As it used to be
said, Providence will "smile" on us as He has done throughout
much of our history.
