13 November 2024
Those who follow this blog will know much of the following, but for those who don’t, this post applies a sound foundation to Trump’s now well-known plan to downsize or dismantle much of the Federal Government and return its usurped powers to the States.
This may take some work, depending on how deep you want to go—the deeper, the better.
I’ll start with some priceless advice, which comes from a speech by President Calvin Coolidge, a 4th of July speech he made on 5 July 1926 (because the 4th was a Sunday), the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. (In my opinion, the greatest speech ever given by a President: condemning communism through affirmation of our better principles.)
He advised that if anyone sincerely wants to understand the principles, which he called “final” (not able to be improved upon), found in it (the Declaration), they must follow the paths the founders took, read the things they read, and study the ideas they studied. He also speaks of the deep spiritual insight that came not only upon them but upon the entire population of the Colonies.
He speaks of their understanding of natural law (mentioned in the Declaration as one of the reasons that compelled us to separate from England: the denial of our right to live under it and the law of God from whom our rights came) coming from studying philosophers like Samuel Von Pufendorf, who wrote, among other books on the topic, The Whole Duty of Man According to the Law of Nature.
As we know, the beginning of this title refers to its appearance in Ecclesiastes 12:13, in which (and verse 14) Solomon says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
President Coolidge also speaks of the principles of decentralized (self) government coming from people like Reverend John Wise and his book The Vindication of the Government of New England Churches. The book championed the right of the American Churches not to be controlled by the Church of England (from whom they declared independence).
I encourage everyone to read President Coolidge’s speech, the two books above, and W. Cleon Skousen’s The 5000 Year Leap.
In closing, here is the final paragraph of his speech:
“No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren scepter in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped.”
