July 28, 2024
Dear Editor,
As the group administrator for Patriots for Liberty and Constitution, I have been asked why we need to learn about the Constitution and isn’t America’s priority to live righteously instead, and then everything else will fall back in place. As a person of faith and a follower of Jesus Christ, I quite understand this sentiment. I want to take this opportunity to tell you why – why do we need to know the freedom principles?
John Adams explains:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
He clearly states that we need to be moral and religious. So, does it settle the question about learning about the Constitution? … Not quite. In John Adams’ quote, what would happen if we were led by immoral, anti-religious, and inadequate people?
I will return to John Adams. I love the Federalist Papers. James Madison explains in Federalist 51 that we won’t even need governments if we are angels. But we are not. It means that we make mistakes, even in governing. For this reason, the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to give us the best possible government system. A system where We The People are at the top, and We are to check the government.
You might be familiar with this quote by Christopher Hitchens:
“One of the greatest human weaknesses is that once a totalitarian regime is voted in, it can only be removed by bloodshed.”
That is, regardless of how righteous and moral the people are!
But why? John Adams, whom I quoted earlier, gave us the answer. This one is from a letter that he wrote to his cousin Samuel Adams, who shares the view that we need morality with the people. This is what John Adams wrote:
“You agree, that there are undoubtedly Principles of Political Architecture: but instead of particularizing any of them, You Seem to place all your hopes in the universal or at least more general prevalence of Knowledge and Benevolence. I think with you that Knowledge and Benevolence ought to be promoted as much as possible: but despairing of ever Seeing them Sufficiently general for the Security of Society, I am for Seeking Institutions which may Supply in some degree the defect.— If there were no Ignorance Error or Vice, there would be neither Principles nor Systems of civil or political Government.
I am not often Satisfied with the opinions of Hume but in this he Seems well founded that all Projects of Government founded in the Supposition or Expectation of extraordinary degrees of Virtue are evidently chimerical. Nor do I believe it possible, humanly Speaking that Men should ever be greatly improved in Knowledge or Benevolence without assistance from the Principles and system of Government.” (https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-20-02-0254)
John Adams explained that it is not enough for us to place our hope in promoting virtue among the people. We need more. We need a government system that is checked, balanced, and its scope limited. Additionally, we need a population, an active group of citizens, that is knowledgeable about the Constitution and its freedom principles to check on the government.
The group, Patriots of Liberty and Constitution, is a discussion that studies these principles in depth. We are studying the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers now. We are free to join. And I am writing to you, asking you to join us. We meet weekly at the Mountain Valley Baptist Church (202 S Seventh Ave, Pocatello).
In the next month, I plan to write a series of articles on the importance of learning the Constitution and the freedom principles. I invite you to join us.
Art da Rosa, PE, MPA, CFM – Inkom, Idaho
