Happy Government Dependence Day

This is the most dismal Independence Day in memory.

I’m sure that there have been more dreary Fourths of July in our nation’s history. The first few were under British rule and it seemed that the young nation might not survive to celebrate the anniversary of its birth in peace. In 1826, two American heroes, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4. In 1863, although most Americans did not know it yet, almost 8,000 Americans had just died in battle at Gettysburg. In 1942, Pearl Harbor was a recent memory but the American victory at Midway had lessened the sting of the surprise attack. On several Independence Days it seemed that the country might not be around to celebrate another.

There have been other Independence Days when the celebrations must have felt hollow. Rarely has that been due to the actions of our own government, however.

This year the celebrations come less than a week after the Supreme Court upheld the largest expansion of federal power since the New Deal. The federal government exercised unprecedented control over every American citizen and almost 20 percent of the U.S. economy. The founders, proponents of weak and limited central government, are undoubtedly spinning in their graves.

The passage of the health care law was a betrayal on many levels. Most obviously, the Democrats who voted for the bill betrayed their constituents. A strong majority opposed the bill when it was passed. Rather than persuading people to support their legislation, the Democrats, led by an elitist minority, rammed the bill through Congress using the parliamentary trick of budget reconciliation to avoid a Republican filibuster. They betrayed their oath of office by passing a law that was clearly unconstitutional (Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion notwithstanding).

The Democrats also betrayed the ideals of the founders of the United States. The founder of their own party, Thomas Jefferson said, “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of our felicities.”

Jefferson would have been appalled at Obamacare, which is the antithesis of his goals for America. Our government, $17 trillion in debt, cannot be called frugal. It is increasingly involved in even the most trivial aspects of our lives. It takes bread from the mouths of labor to give to those who do not work. By Jefferson’s definition, our government is not good.

Jefferson, who authored the Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom would oppose the government forcing religious groups and believers to purchase contraceptive and abortifacient drugs. He would likely oppose abortion, having penned the phrase “right to life” in the Declaration of Independence. He would also oppose the attempts to silence those oppose abortion and same-sex marriage. “No man,” Jefferson wrote, shall “suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.”

As the author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson would rebuke the authoritarian tendencies of our current president, a man who is only too willing to circumvent the will of the people and their elected representatives in Congress by legislating with federal agencies and Executive Orders. The Revolutionary War was fought to rid Americans of a king. Jefferson would not want a president who acts like one.

Jefferson, who warned that “the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered,” would be angry at the collusion between government and business that birthed Obamacare. Democrats in Congress attacked insurance and pharmaceutical companies as profiteers in the media, but secretly worked with them to craft and pass the bill. The loser in this “crony capitalism” is the American people.

The courts, whose judges swear to “faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me under the Constitution” “without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich,” ignored critical aspects of the Constitution, U.S. law, and American history. Justice Roberts rewrote the ACA and changed the mandate from a penalty to a tax. Thomas Jefferson would say, “Taxation without representation is tyranny!”

Much has been written about the failings of Obamacare, how it will result in a lower quality of health care in the United States, higher prices, and, ultimately, shortages and rationing. Economically, all of these outcomes are extremely likely.

Perhaps more importantly, however, Obamacare might be the undoing of the entire country. For a nation with $17 trillion in debt and a debt-to-GDP ratio that is greater than 100 percent, the last thing that is needed is another multi-trillion dollar entitlement, complete with tax increases, that will suck money out of the private sector and further slow growth. Even worse, the mounting debt load brings the nation even closer to a complete financial collapse.

As the Democrats systematically destroy the aspects of this country that made it great, the current economic morass is increasingly likely to indeed be the “new normal.” Emulating Europe’s welfare state means that the U.S. will also have Europe’s chronically high unemployment, lower income and wages, higher poverty, slower growth, and higher taxes.

By financing entitlements with debt to be repaid in the future, we are mortgaging our children’s lives and making them slaves to the countries and corporations that buy our debt. We are selling their future just as surely as if we blew their inheritance in the casinos of Las Vegas. In the end there will be nothing left: No money and nothing to show for it. We are impoverishing ourselves. As Rep. Paul Ryan said, “This is the most predictable crisis we have ever had.”

The Democrats have no solution to the crisis. Their only answer is to spend more and hope the economy recovers. Most do not even acknowledge the problem.

Lest anyone accuse me of favoritism, the Republicans have contributed to the problem as well. The Republican spending spree under George W. Bush was exceeded only by that of Barack Obama and Franklin Roosevelt. Republicans expanded government through the Medicare prescription drug entitlement (which at least did consider market realities) and the No Child Left Behind Act. On the plus side, the Republicans may have learned their lesson.

The Republicans are our last hope in government. We have already been failed by one political party that is now ideologically closer to Marx and Engels than Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison. We have been failed by the president and failed by Congress. We have been failed by the courts, all the way up to the Supreme Court. Some Catholics already see the need for civil disobedience in resisting Obamacare’s anti-religious mandates. If Republicans are elected and fail to change the direction of the country, civil disobedience will be our only recourse.

As Abraham Lincoln said, “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.” America isn’t dead, but she is critically ill. It is up to the people to save her.

This Independence Day, let us vow that it will be our last Government Dependence Day.

Church and state

The Bill of Rights

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. – First Amendment to the Constitution

The First Amendment is the workhorse amendment of the Constitution.  It recognizes the natural right of Americans to the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and to lobby the government.  Its forty-five words are arguably some of the most important and powerful words in our government and culture.  Yet, in spite of our First Amendment protections against prohibitions of the “free exercise” of religion, Americans today face unprecedented attacks on religion in the public square. 

Today it is taken for granted that the phrase “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” means that there should be a “wall of separation between church and state.”  However, the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear within the Constitution and seems to actually contradict the phrase “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  The Establishment Clause today seems to take precedence over the Free Exercise Clause. 

If we look back to the early days of our republic, we see that religion and government often worked together.  One of the most popular marching songs of the Continental Army, “Chester” by William Billings, is unmistakably spiritual.  The Declaration of Independence, our founding document, also makes explicit, though nondenominational, references to our “Creator” and “Nature’s God.”  While the Revolution still raged, Congress authorized the printing of an American Bible in 1781.  The Robert Aitken Bible was printed in 1782 and was commended by George Washington. 

From the earliest days of our history as well, Congress, the states, and presidents have proclaimed national days of “Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer” according to Dr. John S. Uebersax.  The authors of these early proclamations are a veritable who’s who list of American founders including John Hancock, John Jay, Sam Adams, John Adams, and James Madison.  George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation, titled “General Thanksgiving,” in 1789 to acknowledge “with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness…" 

When Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, it stated, “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”  Congress clearly wanted to promote religion as a means to promoting good citizenship.

After the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were ratified in 1788 and 1791 respectively, there was still no separation of church and state.  The U.S. Capitol building was begun in 1793, but was not occupied by Congress until 1800.  In the meantime, the building was used for public worship services beginning in 1795.  According to the Library of Congress, these nondenominational services were attended by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, and many other presidents and members of Congress.  The Marine band often provided music and congressional chaplains delivered sermons.  The services continued until after the War Between the States.

A relief on Federal Hall in New York depicts George Washington praying at Valley Forge.  (OptimumPx/Public Domain)

In 1794, the “Act to Provide Naval Armament” created the U.S. Navy and required that a chaplain be assigned to each of the six forty-four gun warships that were authorized.  As the Navy grew, chaplains were authorized on smaller ships as well and by 1799 Congress required by law that naval vessels have two divine services each day and a sermon on Sunday and that captains should “cause all, or as many of the ship’s company as can be spared from duty, to attend at every performance of the worship of Almighty God” according to the Navy’s “History of the Chaplain Corps.”

Further, the “Indian Civilization Fund Act” of 1818 specifically appropriated federal money to missionaries working with the Indians.  These Protestant missionaries used the money to expand schools that helped educate and assimilate Indians into the mainstream American society.  This followed earlier treaties with the Indians (specifically the Kaskaskia, Wynadotte, and Cherokee tribes) by President Thomas Jefferson that used federal funds to send missionaries to these tribes specifically for promotion of Christianity. 

There are numerous references to Christianity as the unofficial religion of the United States by America’s founders and leaders throughout our history.  These references are too numerous to list here, but are widely available on the internet.  Many are cited as well in a 2009 spiritual heritage resolution that was cosponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia.  From our founding, America has been a Judeo-Christian nation, not in only law, but in fact.

The question remains as to where the notion of the “wall of separation” comes from.  It is commonly attributed to Jefferson’s “Letter to the Danbury Baptists” from 1802.  An early reference to the letter was in “Reynolds v. United States (1878)” in which the Supreme Court ruled that “Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere opinion, but was left free to reach actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order.”  In other words, Congress could legislate against polygamy, same-sex marriage, or human sacrifice for the good of society, but it could not legislate against ideas.

In the 1940s, the Supreme Court used Jefferson’s phrase when deciding a pair of cases involving religion and schools.  In the first case, “Everson v. Board of Education (1947),” the Court ruled that a New Jersey law reimbursing parents for the cost of transportation to and from schools, even private schools, was constitutional even though the vast majority of people to benefit under the law were the parents of children in Catholic schools.  Justice Hugo Black’s ruling reads in part:  “The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance.”  The landmark case applied the First Amendment to state as well as federal law.

More troublesome was the ruling in “McCollum v. Board of Education (1948)” which struck down the practice of allowing voluntary religious classes in public schools.  The practice of using public buildings for religious purposes had, until then, been common throughout American history as we have seen. 

The use of Jefferson’s Danbury letter in legal matters was an error.  First, it was not legislative or legal in any sense.  The letter was the personal correspondence of a man who was not even in the country as the Constitution and Bill of Rights were being drafted and therefore could not have been a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.  From 1784 to 1790, he was ambassador to France.  Instead, James Madison, the author of the “Federalist Papers,” is remembered as the “Father of the Constitution” as well as its lead framer.  In any case, Jefferson’s letter does not preclude the government promoting religion in general, only establishing a specific religion.  This is consistent with Jefferson’s own actions as president.

Much has also been made of the Treaty of Tripoli which states that “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion….”  The senators present at ratification unanimously confirmed the treaty.  The treaty, which was signed for the United States by Joel Barlow in 1797, is technically correct.  The government of the United States is itself secular, but it presides over a Christian nation. 

Frank Lambert, author of “the Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America,” explains the apparent contradiction this way: 

“By their actions, the Founding Fathers made clear that their primary concern was religious freedom, not the advancement of a state religion. Individuals, not the government, would define religious faith and practice in the United States. Thus the Founders ensured that in no official sense would America be a Christian Republic. Ten years after the Constitutional Convention ended its work, the country assured the world that the United States was a secular state, and that its negotiations would adhere to the rule of law, not the dictates of the Christian faith. The assurances were contained in the Treaty of Tripoli of 1797 and were intended to allay the fears of the Muslim state by insisting that religion would not govern how the treaty was interpreted and enforced.  John Adams and the Senate made clear that the pact was between two sovereign states, not between two religious powers.”

Joseph Story, an early justice on the Supreme Court  who published commentaries on the Constitution, was likely correct when he wrote “The real object of the [first] amendment was, not to countenance, much less to advance Mahometanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity; but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects, and to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment, which should give to an hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government.”

The Mt. Soledad Cross (Will Fresch/Wikimedia)

In Story’s view, the true purpose of the Establishment Clause was not to erect a “wall of separation between church and state,” but to prevent national recognition of any one Christian denomination or sect.  When viewed within the context of the time this makes sense.  Europe had just emerged from a period of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants.  Religious persecution to the point of executions had been commonplace in Europe and even in some American colonies.  For example, the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony fined, whipped, tarred, banished and even killed religious dissenters, notably Quakers.  The framers of the Constitution did not want this to become a divisive national struggle between denominations.

It is also noteworthy that the Constitution did not mandate an end to the government supported religions of the states.  Georgia never had an official state religion but many other colonies did.  Maryland’s official Anglican religion may be recalled from high school U.S. history classes and was shared by five of the original thirteen colonies.  The status of the Congregational Church as New Hampshire’s official state religion lasted until 1877.  The concept of federalism meant that states made choices about most issues for themselves rather than being dictated to by the federal government.

The fact that the original intent of the First Amendment was not to separate church and state does not mean that practitioners of other religions would be forced to adopt Christianity.  It does mean that Christianity is the original and preferred religion of the United States.  While the government of the United States is nondenominational, the people of the United States have always been predominantly Christian and the government has always realized that it was in the best interest of the country as a whole to promote religious beliefs. 

For more examples of Christianity in early American life go to:

http://www.captainkudzu.com/2009/07/america-celebrating-god-and-country.html

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/church-and-state">