Rick Perry is no Ronald Reagan:
He walks the walk as well as talks the talk. He doesn't just denounce Big Government, but he hast taken on the task of taking the Federal Government to task, a message which is resonating with the entire country, not just the Tea Party Movement.
He is no George W. Bush. Aside from the broad Southern Drawl and Texas Swagger, Perry is more than a Conservative in Name Only. He is brash and articulate, speaking beyond the stutterings, sputtering, and gaffes of the previous Commander in Chief.
He has presided over a healthy business climate while the rest of the nation has languished near double-digit unemployment. Despite his near nanny-state encroachment with mandated vaccinations, he has been chided by a legislature which has operated from a more moderate stance than he.
Unlike Bush 43, Perry led the state of Texas through good times and bad, getting elected into the Governor's mansion three times. Rather than softening his stance on the issues, his partisan tack on politics is just what the Beltway needs.
He is definitely no Fred Thompson. "Lazy" would be more than a misnomer, but a fatuous smear if applied to the galvanized Texas Governor, strong candidate in sharp contrast to the near non-campaign of the former "Law and Order" District Attorney who served one sleepy term as US Senator for Tennessee.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Do not be a child -- be child-like
Forever Young, the stirring pop song from Alphaville, is a worthy exhortation.
"Forever young, I want to be forever young."
Be like little children.
The key word is "like".
Jesus does not exhort his followers to BE children.
He exhorts us to be full grown, growing in Grace and Knowledge of Him who loved us and died for us, to make us one with Him and receive all the fullness of His goodness. (cf 2 Peter 3:18)
"Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:1-7 KJV)
We are Sons of the Living God by faith through Jesus Christ, yet that is not a call to act irresponsibly, in behavior and comportment no different that a slave in the household.
In fact, we are exhorted to grow in our walk with God throughout the New Testament Epistles:
"As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:14-16)
Paul's term for "children" -- νήπιοι nēpioi -- is very telling, a clear reference to a child who has not learned to speak yet, a child who babbles, who does not yet possess the power to use words.
Yet which words, or rather Word is Paul inferring? Why, the Word of God, "the truth in love", by which every believer may "grow up in all aspects into Him."
We grow by our knowledge of the Word of God, which is Truth (cf John 17:17)
If we in any way to resemble children, it should only be in our utter dependence on the Word of God in our lives:
" As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby." (1 Peter 2:2 KJV)
The Word of God is our stable staple in a world of unstable, unreliable, and unholy sustenance. "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." (Luke 4:4)
"Forever young, I want to be forever young."
Be like little children.
The key word is "like".
Jesus does not exhort his followers to BE children.
He exhorts us to be full grown, growing in Grace and Knowledge of Him who loved us and died for us, to make us one with Him and receive all the fullness of His goodness. (cf 2 Peter 3:18)
"Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:1-7 KJV)
We are Sons of the Living God by faith through Jesus Christ, yet that is not a call to act irresponsibly, in behavior and comportment no different that a slave in the household.
In fact, we are exhorted to grow in our walk with God throughout the New Testament Epistles:
"As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:14-16)
Paul's term for "children" -- νήπιοι nēpioi -- is very telling, a clear reference to a child who has not learned to speak yet, a child who babbles, who does not yet possess the power to use words.
Yet which words, or rather Word is Paul inferring? Why, the Word of God, "the truth in love", by which every believer may "grow up in all aspects into Him."
We grow by our knowledge of the Word of God, which is Truth (cf John 17:17)
If we in any way to resemble children, it should only be in our utter dependence on the Word of God in our lives:
" As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby." (1 Peter 2:2 KJV)
The Word of God is our stable staple in a world of unstable, unreliable, and unholy sustenance. "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." (Luke 4:4)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Real, The Rational, and the Truth
"The Real is Rational, and the Rational is Real" -- George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
"Man is a synthesis of the finite and the infinite, of the temporal and the eternal.” - -Soren Kierkegaard
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." -- Jesus Christ
Though our sense and sensibilities cry out that there is danger ahead, that we are angry with foregone conclusions and long-gone calamities, the truth that we believe can set us free.
The truth speaks to eternal verities, unchanged by time and circumstance.
What is real, what is rational, what our minds understand or comprehend, what presents itself apparently to our thoughts and feelings, lasts for a time, but will change, fade away, or disappear.
Human beings are dust defined within by divinity, breathed to rebirth by faith in the Grace of Him who died for us.
We carry within us the eternal power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, yet our minds need evermore to be renewed, and our outer man daily dies.
So, the great struggle, as outlined by Paul the Apostle in Romans 7, that we desire what we do not, that we do what we desire not, animates the conflict of our infinite spirit versus our finite flesh.
Will we believe what He has said, the One who loved us and gave His life for us, or will we still succumb to ourselves, deceptive and degenerate, one day to be transformed into forever-glory?
As Jesus said the night that He was betrayed: "Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak." (Mark 14:38, KJV)
By His Word, by His Spirit, we overcome.
"Man is a synthesis of the finite and the infinite, of the temporal and the eternal.” - -Soren Kierkegaard
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." -- Jesus Christ
Though our sense and sensibilities cry out that there is danger ahead, that we are angry with foregone conclusions and long-gone calamities, the truth that we believe can set us free.
The truth speaks to eternal verities, unchanged by time and circumstance.
What is real, what is rational, what our minds understand or comprehend, what presents itself apparently to our thoughts and feelings, lasts for a time, but will change, fade away, or disappear.
Human beings are dust defined within by divinity, breathed to rebirth by faith in the Grace of Him who died for us.
We carry within us the eternal power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, yet our minds need evermore to be renewed, and our outer man daily dies.
So, the great struggle, as outlined by Paul the Apostle in Romans 7, that we desire what we do not, that we do what we desire not, animates the conflict of our infinite spirit versus our finite flesh.
Will we believe what He has said, the One who loved us and gave His life for us, or will we still succumb to ourselves, deceptive and degenerate, one day to be transformed into forever-glory?
As Jesus said the night that He was betrayed: "Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak." (Mark 14:38, KJV)
By His Word, by His Spirit, we overcome.
James Madison the Anti-Welfare Statesman
"The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government."
Charity begins, and ends, at home. The federal government, too large, too concentrated, too given to interposing a foreign will on the diverse and sacred will of the individual, can never appreciate, let alone facilitate, the wanton or worthy needs of the people, or individual persons.
The personal liberties of the inhabitants, as enshrined in the Bill of Rights, including the much-ignored Ninth and Tenth Amendments, provide the simple framework for preserving the will and ability of the several states and their inhabitants.
Above all, Madison secures once again the limiting, confining nature of the Constitution on the Federal Government in the face of the glowering alarm of lesser and local governments losing key powers at the expense of a central authority.
Charity begins, and ends, at home. The federal government, too large, too concentrated, too given to interposing a foreign will on the diverse and sacred will of the individual, can never appreciate, let alone facilitate, the wanton or worthy needs of the people, or individual persons.
The personal liberties of the inhabitants, as enshrined in the Bill of Rights, including the much-ignored Ninth and Tenth Amendments, provide the simple framework for preserving the will and ability of the several states and their inhabitants.
Above all, Madison secures once again the limiting, confining nature of the Constitution on the Federal Government in the face of the glowering alarm of lesser and local governments losing key powers at the expense of a central authority.
James Madison, and the Taming of the Tyrannical Majority
"Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents."
"By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community."
Mob rule, more than elitist fanaticism, has been the germ which has plagued mankind in the last century with massive wars and mass murder.
From the Nazi Worker's party turned genocide-machine to the Utopian paradise-turned-nightmare of Communism, from the temporary public benefits turned up-ending Ponzi Schemes of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, public clamor for en masse military action and public revenue for private perusal has undermined the health and welfare of the United States, jeopardizing its full faith and credit at home and abroad.
From the have-nots who demand more from the have-mores, so that they have little or nothing, to the military-industrial complex that harasses distant shores, we are witnessing the abject nihilistic power of public abuse of public office, not just of politicians' arbitrary appropriations, but the unconscientious voters who engage and enable such illegitimately legitimate looting of the public treasury.
The Public Interest of the United States will never be served by the General Will of its inhabitants: this sobering reality of human nature was Madison's central pretext for the Constitutional division of powers in the first place. Since the Constitution's ratification, we have witnessed this delicate ingenuity slowly undermined from the first convocation of Congress, to the passage of the 17th Amendment, to the nonsensical installation of entitlement programs, all in flagrant violation of the Ninth and Tenth amendments.
Tyranny of the majority, by voice, vote, or violence, will wreak havoc on a nation. Yet the current fiscal crises have sparked the concerted outrage of a conscientious minority demanding constitutional government and fiscal discipline, i.e. the Tea Party Movement.
Madison's reasoned concern regarding factional interests will serve this nation well, if the Populist Tea Party populism entrenches itself and perseveres in the face of the checks, balances, and stalling tactics of the statist status quo, and restore the Constitution to its proper respectful Supremacy.
"By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community."
Mob rule, more than elitist fanaticism, has been the germ which has plagued mankind in the last century with massive wars and mass murder.
From the Nazi Worker's party turned genocide-machine to the Utopian paradise-turned-nightmare of Communism, from the temporary public benefits turned up-ending Ponzi Schemes of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, public clamor for en masse military action and public revenue for private perusal has undermined the health and welfare of the United States, jeopardizing its full faith and credit at home and abroad.
From the have-nots who demand more from the have-mores, so that they have little or nothing, to the military-industrial complex that harasses distant shores, we are witnessing the abject nihilistic power of public abuse of public office, not just of politicians' arbitrary appropriations, but the unconscientious voters who engage and enable such illegitimately legitimate looting of the public treasury.
The Public Interest of the United States will never be served by the General Will of its inhabitants: this sobering reality of human nature was Madison's central pretext for the Constitutional division of powers in the first place. Since the Constitution's ratification, we have witnessed this delicate ingenuity slowly undermined from the first convocation of Congress, to the passage of the 17th Amendment, to the nonsensical installation of entitlement programs, all in flagrant violation of the Ninth and Tenth amendments.
Tyranny of the majority, by voice, vote, or violence, will wreak havoc on a nation. Yet the current fiscal crises have sparked the concerted outrage of a conscientious minority demanding constitutional government and fiscal discipline, i.e. the Tea Party Movement.
Madison's reasoned concern regarding factional interests will serve this nation well, if the Populist Tea Party populism entrenches itself and perseveres in the face of the checks, balances, and stalling tactics of the statist status quo, and restore the Constitution to its proper respectful Supremacy.
PTSD: Overdiagnosed and Easily Defeated
We have all had to endure trying times in our lives.
Whether we have been abused by a loved one, physically, mentally, or spiritually.
Whether we have lost our way, whether we deceived ourselves with thinking too much or leaning on the understanding of others fraught with mistakes and misjudgments.
Yet the human mind is of such a limited and distorted capacity, that it will generalize, nay globalize one local mishap of our lives into a Defining Moment, one which may haunt us repeatedly throughout the day.
What instigates this self-flagellation?
We are desperate to reconcile are disparate recollections with the unexpected outcomes and painful results of our lives.
If only I had spoken up. . .
Why was I afraid to say something. . .?
What will happen if I do what I feel is right, even if it makes no sense to me or anyone else?
How do I protect myself from being hurt again?
Our obsessive need for self-defense, rather than protecting us, causes us to self-destruct or self-implode, cutting us off from the One who does protect us, from the world which is real, and closes us into a world within us, built on a false premise.
Hence, the widespread surge of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among victims of abuse, a pernicious, over-diagnosed non-military variety. Victims relive or repress the hurt, only to find that, like a wayward uncompromising beach ball, the emotionally taut moment bursts forth again.
Rather than attacking emotions, rather than living as victims of one's apprehensions, which have no bearing on the world as is before oneself, let every person who rethinks, relives, and regrets consider a different frame of mind.
What exactly happened? What was your part, for better or for worse?
If abused, if lost, if mistaken inexorably, ask yourself: was it because you reflected too little, or perhaps too much on devising and ideal outcome for yourself?
Did you misplace your trust? Do you now feel that you must discharge completely, never again to place yourself at the grace -- or mercy -- of another? One person hurt you, it was not your fault, but do not allow the harm of one person to harm yourself or others.
Post Traumatic Stress Order as a life-and-death breach is understandable and lamentable. The men and women who fought for us, who risked their lives to preserve our rights, deserve every effort to integrate the truth of their more secure, state-side status apart from the tortures of combat.
Those who have suffered in their homes or at the behest of friends and family: do not live a victim of a lie, a devilish deception born of trying to safeguard yourself from the harm of one person, or one situation. Destroy the lie that you must protect yourself at all costs. Do away once and for all with the perverse deception that exaggerated self-apprehension can, will, or should protect.
Jesus said:
"And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind." (Luke 12:29, KJV)
The phrase "doubtful mind" in the original language reads "meteōrizesthe", which means "unsettled", or literally ""suspended in midair," like a "meteor." Jesus has not called us to live in constant dread and suspense, above the desirable eternal stability of His Love. Why?
"For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:30-32, KJV)
No matter what predation or deprivation you may have endured, the one thing, the same one needful thing that Mary received -- despite her harried and hurried sister -- is to sit at the feet of the Master and receive his Word, His Love, His Spirit, and His consummate power.
And the one thing that you need, God himself wishes to give you! It is His Good pleasure, His Greatest Desire for you to Have his Holy Spirit (cf Luke 11:13), his powerful, ever-present love, a Certainty unwavering and unassailable.
No Trauma past, present, or future, can separate you from the all-encompassing power of God (cf Romans 8:35)
His Perfect Love casts out fear ((1 John 4:18)
What if your faith in His love is imperfect, or incomplete?
Cry out: "I believe, help thou mine unbelief!" (Mark 9:24)
The lie, the unbelief, borne of that one event, which permeates into our daily interactions, must be eradicated.
Remember: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:12)
And fear not! because:
"Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." (I John 4:4)
and
"And having spoiled principalities and powers, he [Jeus!] made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2:15)
So, the one thing you need, He is more than ready to give you.
The one enemy, the powerless powers and principalities, can be dispensed with easily, for you are at war with a defeated foe, whatever the lie may be that still traumatizes you needlessly.
We are not called to be victims of our past, our miserable in our present, or fearful of our future, for,
"We are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8:37)
Whether we have been abused by a loved one, physically, mentally, or spiritually.
Whether we have lost our way, whether we deceived ourselves with thinking too much or leaning on the understanding of others fraught with mistakes and misjudgments.
Yet the human mind is of such a limited and distorted capacity, that it will generalize, nay globalize one local mishap of our lives into a Defining Moment, one which may haunt us repeatedly throughout the day.
What instigates this self-flagellation?
We are desperate to reconcile are disparate recollections with the unexpected outcomes and painful results of our lives.
If only I had spoken up. . .
Why was I afraid to say something. . .?
What will happen if I do what I feel is right, even if it makes no sense to me or anyone else?
How do I protect myself from being hurt again?
Our obsessive need for self-defense, rather than protecting us, causes us to self-destruct or self-implode, cutting us off from the One who does protect us, from the world which is real, and closes us into a world within us, built on a false premise.
Hence, the widespread surge of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among victims of abuse, a pernicious, over-diagnosed non-military variety. Victims relive or repress the hurt, only to find that, like a wayward uncompromising beach ball, the emotionally taut moment bursts forth again.
Rather than attacking emotions, rather than living as victims of one's apprehensions, which have no bearing on the world as is before oneself, let every person who rethinks, relives, and regrets consider a different frame of mind.
What exactly happened? What was your part, for better or for worse?
If abused, if lost, if mistaken inexorably, ask yourself: was it because you reflected too little, or perhaps too much on devising and ideal outcome for yourself?
Did you misplace your trust? Do you now feel that you must discharge completely, never again to place yourself at the grace -- or mercy -- of another? One person hurt you, it was not your fault, but do not allow the harm of one person to harm yourself or others.
Post Traumatic Stress Order as a life-and-death breach is understandable and lamentable. The men and women who fought for us, who risked their lives to preserve our rights, deserve every effort to integrate the truth of their more secure, state-side status apart from the tortures of combat.
Those who have suffered in their homes or at the behest of friends and family: do not live a victim of a lie, a devilish deception born of trying to safeguard yourself from the harm of one person, or one situation. Destroy the lie that you must protect yourself at all costs. Do away once and for all with the perverse deception that exaggerated self-apprehension can, will, or should protect.
Jesus said:
"And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind." (Luke 12:29, KJV)
The phrase "doubtful mind" in the original language reads "meteōrizesthe", which means "unsettled", or literally ""suspended in midair," like a "meteor." Jesus has not called us to live in constant dread and suspense, above the desirable eternal stability of His Love. Why?
"For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:30-32, KJV)
No matter what predation or deprivation you may have endured, the one thing, the same one needful thing that Mary received -- despite her harried and hurried sister -- is to sit at the feet of the Master and receive his Word, His Love, His Spirit, and His consummate power.
And the one thing that you need, God himself wishes to give you! It is His Good pleasure, His Greatest Desire for you to Have his Holy Spirit (cf Luke 11:13), his powerful, ever-present love, a Certainty unwavering and unassailable.
No Trauma past, present, or future, can separate you from the all-encompassing power of God (cf Romans 8:35)
His Perfect Love casts out fear ((1 John 4:18)
What if your faith in His love is imperfect, or incomplete?
Cry out: "I believe, help thou mine unbelief!" (Mark 9:24)
The lie, the unbelief, borne of that one event, which permeates into our daily interactions, must be eradicated.
Remember: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:12)
And fear not! because:
"Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." (I John 4:4)
and
"And having spoiled principalities and powers, he [Jeus!] made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2:15)
So, the one thing you need, He is more than ready to give you.
The one enemy, the powerless powers and principalities, can be dispensed with easily, for you are at war with a defeated foe, whatever the lie may be that still traumatizes you needlessly.
We are not called to be victims of our past, our miserable in our present, or fearful of our future, for,
"We are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8:37)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
God Bless You, David Hume
David Hume, Scottish Historian and Skeptical Philsopher, initiated the rift in the human sciences, forever dividing natural and psychological philosophy.
Hume underscored man's innate capacity for bias and historicity within human tradition, forever negating pure reason as pure guide for proper action and understanding
He upheld the triumph of tradition and human interaction, which better safeguard our senses and sensibilities than any thinking man can do.
We cannot reason our way to the truth, no more than a map can lead us through a dark tunnel without external light.
The truth as eternal light, as guidance for wandering minds, cannot be kindled in the finite recesses of human reason. Our capacity to reflect from within must necessarily draw us to depend on the Source without.
By faith we connect the infinitesimal instances of human experience. Though we cannot know for sure that the sun will rise tomorrow, our implied optimism, for want of a better word, enables us to live for today and plan for tomorrow.
Despite our surface-knowledge of those whom we meet, we trust their communication, until context or corruption would suggest otherwise.
We devine the proper course of action based on the best information available to us, yet resolved that the ultimate outcomes remains beyond our senses and sanity.
"The moment of decision is madness," Kierkegaard quipped, not to infer the innate insanity of human experience, but the inherent limitation of our reason alone to articulate the right, wrong, and benefit our actions and circumstances.
Despite his virulent atheism and anti-Christian posture, David Hume conceded at the end of his life the definite existence and need for God in the lives of men, no matter how violently in offends his forever impoverished sense and sensibility.
God bless you, David Hume, for making reasonable the certainty of inexplicable certainties to the craven human mind.
Hume underscored man's innate capacity for bias and historicity within human tradition, forever negating pure reason as pure guide for proper action and understanding
He upheld the triumph of tradition and human interaction, which better safeguard our senses and sensibilities than any thinking man can do.
We cannot reason our way to the truth, no more than a map can lead us through a dark tunnel without external light.
The truth as eternal light, as guidance for wandering minds, cannot be kindled in the finite recesses of human reason. Our capacity to reflect from within must necessarily draw us to depend on the Source without.
By faith we connect the infinitesimal instances of human experience. Though we cannot know for sure that the sun will rise tomorrow, our implied optimism, for want of a better word, enables us to live for today and plan for tomorrow.
Despite our surface-knowledge of those whom we meet, we trust their communication, until context or corruption would suggest otherwise.
We devine the proper course of action based on the best information available to us, yet resolved that the ultimate outcomes remains beyond our senses and sanity.
"The moment of decision is madness," Kierkegaard quipped, not to infer the innate insanity of human experience, but the inherent limitation of our reason alone to articulate the right, wrong, and benefit our actions and circumstances.
Despite his virulent atheism and anti-Christian posture, David Hume conceded at the end of his life the definite existence and need for God in the lives of men, no matter how violently in offends his forever impoverished sense and sensibility.
God bless you, David Hume, for making reasonable the certainty of inexplicable certainties to the craven human mind.
Fiscal Discipline and Constitutional Government: Complementary, not Identical
Constitutional Government will necessarily induce limited government, as the Constitution prescribed the Federal Government to clearly outlined limitations.
Yet we must not confuse the over-desire for less government with no government, nor should we starve the beast, at risk of killing it outright.
The Constitution, properly interpreted in light of its original ratification, must guide the proper slash and burn retraction of government that will eliminate the outrageous overgrowth of government in the private, local, and state spheres.
Respect the law of the land, which respects the limits of federal authority, which respects the supremacy of individual right and state sovereignty, all of which will reduce the size, scope, and cost of government.
If populist rhetoric must reform its message, it would be to consolidate the demands for fiscal discipline and limited government into Restoration of the full impact, import, and imputation of the United States Constitution.
Yet we must not confuse the over-desire for less government with no government, nor should we starve the beast, at risk of killing it outright.
The Constitution, properly interpreted in light of its original ratification, must guide the proper slash and burn retraction of government that will eliminate the outrageous overgrowth of government in the private, local, and state spheres.
Respect the law of the land, which respects the limits of federal authority, which respects the supremacy of individual right and state sovereignty, all of which will reduce the size, scope, and cost of government.
If populist rhetoric must reform its message, it would be to consolidate the demands for fiscal discipline and limited government into Restoration of the full impact, import, and imputation of the United States Constitution.
James Madisonand the Proper Interpretation of the Constitution
On the proper interpretation of the Constitution:
"… I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that be not the guide in expounding it, there can be no security for a consistent and stable, more than for a faithful exercise of its powers. If the meaning of the text be sought in the changeable meaning of the words composing it, it is evident that the shape and attributes of the Government must partake of the changes to which the words and phrases of all living languages are constantly subject. What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense!"
No originalist could have better made the case for respecting the Constitution as written.
Then how are we to interpret the supreme law of the land in the wake of every changing social situations and technological innovations?
Simple. .. the Tenth Amendment:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Since when did we get the ignorant notion that the federal government should have a say on every issue which the American people? Part of the Genius of the Constitution is the subtle, simple trust in the American people to make these decisions for themselves, whether they want to or not, whether they are capable individually or not.
Madison provided safeguards within the document, at least in word and parchment, that would defend the rights of states and citizens in the face of word-munching bowdlerizers who would distort the simple meaning of the Constitution to serve complex and perverse ends inimical to personal freedom and limited government.
Sadly, Madison did not institute a featured process for interpreting disputes and disagreements on the fullest sense of the Constitution--apart from the establishment of a federal judiciary, whose activist tendencies have bordered on arrogant and atavistic in their implications.
"… I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that be not the guide in expounding it, there can be no security for a consistent and stable, more than for a faithful exercise of its powers. If the meaning of the text be sought in the changeable meaning of the words composing it, it is evident that the shape and attributes of the Government must partake of the changes to which the words and phrases of all living languages are constantly subject. What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense!"
No originalist could have better made the case for respecting the Constitution as written.
Then how are we to interpret the supreme law of the land in the wake of every changing social situations and technological innovations?
Simple. .. the Tenth Amendment:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Since when did we get the ignorant notion that the federal government should have a say on every issue which the American people? Part of the Genius of the Constitution is the subtle, simple trust in the American people to make these decisions for themselves, whether they want to or not, whether they are capable individually or not.
Madison provided safeguards within the document, at least in word and parchment, that would defend the rights of states and citizens in the face of word-munching bowdlerizers who would distort the simple meaning of the Constitution to serve complex and perverse ends inimical to personal freedom and limited government.
Sadly, Madison did not institute a featured process for interpreting disputes and disagreements on the fullest sense of the Constitution--apart from the establishment of a federal judiciary, whose activist tendencies have bordered on arrogant and atavistic in their implications.
James Madison and Winning Incorporation of a Grudging Acceptance
Unlike the unenlightened French intellectuals Rousseau, Diderot, and their ilk, the Framers of the Constitution recognized that human beings, being who they are, are by nature selfish and ambitious, seeking their own at the expense of their fellow man.
Rather than creating a government which idealistically overlooked this sobering reality of human nature, Madison and the Framers crafted a government which would appropriate, channel, and frustrate this volatile tendency, welcome in the individual, yet tyrannical at the level of government.
"But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?"
Indeed, no government would last long-term without reflecting on the innate characteristics of those elected to make it work.
"Ambition must be made to counteract ambition."
Checks and balances, an idea on loan from the Baron de Montesquieu, would define the inner workings of the Federal Legislature and the Chief Executive. Different interests represented in different parts of the Federal Government, from the populist House of Representatives, to the more elite Senate, to the monarchical President, all act upon each other, channeling their respective interests to forge forced compromises which will be the least deleterious to the national interest.
"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."
Government that controls itself -- a telling demand. Better framed in times past as "Quid custodiet ipses custodes?" Even the Romans, who had overcome their brutish king to establish a quaint and calm Republic, eventually gave way to a Consulate and Empire that dominated the world, then imploded under its own size and scope.
Who will indeed watch the watchers themselves? Who? A king will not keep himself in line, even if he is benevolent, and wants only the best for his people. Even a ruler who desires the best will inevitable want something that will clash with the will of individual interests, for better of for worse.
The same limitation emerges in the face of an aristocracy, who have no other interest but to rule on behalf of their limited, elite interests. The minds of the few, no matter how brilliant, cannot foresee the best allocation of resources of the best interests of the people whom they govern, even if they are so morally inclined as to wish exclusively what is in the best moral interest of those whom they lead.
Yet democratic governments transform into fearful monstrosities of mob rule, where majority rule unchecked is in full inhibited sway.
Unicameral leadership of any class was therefore unacceptable.
Divided government representing these clashing interests, in Madison's most enlightened view, was the best way to create a national government that would ultimately govern in the best interests of everyone.
A frustrated and frustrating system by design, the United States Government would ultimately govern best by governing as little as possible.
Dysfunctional and functional at the same time!
Rather than creating a government which idealistically overlooked this sobering reality of human nature, Madison and the Framers crafted a government which would appropriate, channel, and frustrate this volatile tendency, welcome in the individual, yet tyrannical at the level of government.
"But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?"
Indeed, no government would last long-term without reflecting on the innate characteristics of those elected to make it work.
"Ambition must be made to counteract ambition."
Checks and balances, an idea on loan from the Baron de Montesquieu, would define the inner workings of the Federal Legislature and the Chief Executive. Different interests represented in different parts of the Federal Government, from the populist House of Representatives, to the more elite Senate, to the monarchical President, all act upon each other, channeling their respective interests to forge forced compromises which will be the least deleterious to the national interest.
"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."
Government that controls itself -- a telling demand. Better framed in times past as "Quid custodiet ipses custodes?" Even the Romans, who had overcome their brutish king to establish a quaint and calm Republic, eventually gave way to a Consulate and Empire that dominated the world, then imploded under its own size and scope.
Who will indeed watch the watchers themselves? Who? A king will not keep himself in line, even if he is benevolent, and wants only the best for his people. Even a ruler who desires the best will inevitable want something that will clash with the will of individual interests, for better of for worse.
The same limitation emerges in the face of an aristocracy, who have no other interest but to rule on behalf of their limited, elite interests. The minds of the few, no matter how brilliant, cannot foresee the best allocation of resources of the best interests of the people whom they govern, even if they are so morally inclined as to wish exclusively what is in the best moral interest of those whom they lead.
Yet democratic governments transform into fearful monstrosities of mob rule, where majority rule unchecked is in full inhibited sway.
Unicameral leadership of any class was therefore unacceptable.
Divided government representing these clashing interests, in Madison's most enlightened view, was the best way to create a national government that would ultimately govern in the best interests of everyone.
A frustrated and frustrating system by design, the United States Government would ultimately govern best by governing as little as possible.
Dysfunctional and functional at the same time!
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