America: Sacrificing Foundational Principles for Transitory Issues

The rule of law is a founding principle. Gay marriage is an issue. A nation governed by law, not men, is a founding principle. Welfare is an issue.

When Congress, with its 435 members of the House and 100 members of the Senate, passed, and President Cinton signed into law, the Defense of Marriage Act, that was representative government. Our elected representatives acted on our behalf and the affirmation that marriage was the union between one man and one woman was the law of the land.

But when President Obama unilaterally refused to abide by the law, that was the rule of men.

When Congress passed, and President Clinton signed into law, the work requirement for welfare, that was representative government and the rule of law.

When President Obama unilaterally took the work requirement out of the law, that was the rule of men.

This dangerous departure from a basic, foundational principle is a primary source of the division we face in America today. Without its founding principles, America would be just another average nation, standing for really not much of anything, its people mostly looking out for their own self-interests.

That so many Americans don’t seem to realize the enormity of such a foundational shift, and how much we as Americans have to lose, tells me one of two things:

Either they don’t know or they don’t care.

A Principle Bigger Than Us

The battle over comprehensive healthcare reform is not just a debate of liberal vs conservative, Democrat vs. Republican; it is a debate on whether we will remain a nation ruled by laws and not by men.

The idea of taking what rightfully belongs to one to give to another because someone deems it “fair” is fundamentally flawed. And that is exactly what Obamacare does.

The Law: The 5th Amendment to the Constitution states in part:

“No person shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

That is the fundamental principle we have trampled. And I am so, so frustrated that so many can’t or won’t see it. Property is that which is earned as well as that which is owned. It applies to individuals as well as corporations.

Thou Shalt Not Steal is one of the 10 Commandments. As Economist Walter Williams likes to point out, stealing a person’s property whether by gun or by government – it’s still stealing. Having a majority in Congress does not make it any less so.

Thomas Jefferson, a man of great thoughts, words and deeds said,

“To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association—the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.”

I could not agree more. How about you?