4. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
5. We the People
6. To Secure These Rights Governments are Instituted
7. The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God
8. Morality is the Necessary Spring for Popular Government
9. In Order to Form a More Perfect Union, Establish Justice…
10. That Government is Best which Governs Least
11. Congress Shall Make no Law Respecting…
12. The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms
Mr. Jungé has done a masterful job of gathering together and organizing
the words of the founders, and then with his own comments showing how they
apply to the great issues of our time.
For example, among the pithy observations by Benjamin Franklin is this:
“He that cannot obey, cannot command.” Mr. Jungé notes that whatever else
Franklin may have had in mind, this means that someone who cannot obey
the laws of God and his conscience, should not presume to govern others.
With that in mind, although he does not refer to current issues, consider
the recent scandals in two major American cities where politicians resisted
intense pressure to step down because of clearly inappropriate behavior. Could
Franklin’s dictum be any more timely?
Timely also are Mr. Jungé’s words: “In so far as our nation needs reform
today, it can come about if God is at the heart of it. True patriots must look
to their Creator as the true Source of the nation’s inspiration and vision. Our
founders did, and so must we. Our founders prayed for their country, and so
must we.”
Up until fairly recently in American history, the founders’ religious beliefs,
and our nation’s religious heritage, were widely taught, acknowledged and
taken for granted. Now, in our increasingly secular culture, America’s religious
roots are often called into question and repudiated, or ignored altogether.
Works such as Mr. Jungé’s are sorely needed if the nation is not to be entirely
torn from its spiritual roots – a process which is already well underway.
When a body dies, it decays. When the spirit that gave it life and form
departs from a body politic, that nation sinks into decadence. And a decadent
people lack the self-discipline and other virtues required for self-government.
Many older Americans today worry, with good reason, about what kind
of country their children and grandchildren will inherit. There are many
problems looming – economic, environmental, cultural – but underlying
them all, and most serious, is a spiritual crisis.
The Cold War is over, but the real war, of which it was but a symptom,
rages on – that is, the war between good and evil in the hearts and minds
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