American leadership & law

Saturday, November 28, 2009

American leadership & law

"American leadership and law"

I was reading this week in I Samuel Chapter 4. In this text, we find something interesting, a nation left without its former glory, its previous victories succumbing to its present defeats.

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Its leadership had become corrupted, and though its governing documents were still in tack, they were no longer valuable to the leadership. The documents were being misused to benefit the selfishness of the leadership itself. The people were discontented, but they did not demand the obedience of those in charge to conform to the ordained laws of the nation.

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This is of interest because Israel then was in some ways similar to that of the United States. Their government consisted over the years of various Kings and at times Judges. Though they were not elected officials like ours, those in charge, whether Kings or Judges, were subject to the governing documents of the land, the law that was given to them by God.

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We here in America are not governed by the President, courts, or Congress, but by a Document called the Constitution of the United States and State Constitutions under that. Those we place in positions of leadership are simply granted authority to govern under the dictates of those Constitutions.

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They serve the people in administering the justice and law of those Documents. This nation was founded upon the principle that there are absolutes in right and wrong, good and evil, just and unjust.  As our Founders would pen it, “the law of nature and nature’s God”.

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They believed these principles were inalienable, rights that are not transferable or capable of being taken away or nullified. These fundamental rights they believed were endowed on every human being by his or her Creator, and are often referred to as “natural rights.” These are the principles we live by in this nation, principles set in place to protect and secure these rights. If America has achieved its success as a nation by its obedience to these founding principles, could we stretch our imagination to see our condition, were we to depart from them? Were we to allow our leadership to disregard and use them for their own selfish desires, could we expect perhaps the same results as Israel of old? Do you suppose our previous victories could be turned into present defeats? Could our former glory fade away?

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Much change is being proposed in our nation currently, would one think it wise to look to these principles of our founding and see if they are in agreement with the change being presented to us as a people? Our Constitution is not a complex document, it was written for us, we the people. The words of our Founders were not obscure and vague, but clear and precise in their thought.

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In their desperation, Israel brought the Ark of the Covenant into the camp and gave a great shout that reminded their enemies of Israel’s previous victories as a nation. But because of the condition of their state, all was lost, even their law. Could we go so far, that even with a great cry of the greatness of our Constitution, all could still be lost because we also have wandered from our principles?

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Just some questions for us to ask ourselves in these unsettled times. Just how valuable is our Constitution to us? Just how valuable is our culture to us? Just how valuable is our freedom? Is it worth our attention, our effort to study it, and our commitment to preserve it?

May God bless each of you,
David

"A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about." - Woodrow Wilson