Introduction to the Constitution with Hillsdale College Professor Larry P. Arnn
Pre-Video set up
Limited Government vs. Government overreach through agencies
https://online.hillsdale.edu/course-list
Falsehood: separation of church and state as interpreted today
D. James Kennedy Ministries excerpt.
The “wall of separation” between church and state - That phrase never appears in the Constitution, but many now think it’s what the Constitution says because they’ve heard it so often. What the First Amendment actually says is that the federal government will not establish its own church, and that it will leave the people alone to freely exercise their religion. Because of the brainwashing regarding the non-existent wall of separation, Christians are told they must keep their religious opinions out of government and that the affairs of state are to be purely secular. Christians cannot be ashamed to bring the Word of God into the political realm, and in fact they should insist on it.
Significance: Separation of Powers
-Revolutionary War was fought to remove the king who had power over all the 3 branches of government our founding fathers structured through the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
-Today, in the name of general welfare we gave government ultimate power so political agencies has become weaponized
-90% of laws are made by regulatory agencies (FDA, EPA, Climate Justice)
-Regulatory agencies enforce the laws (lockdown, Covid shots, mask mandates)
-Regulatory agencies hear and adjudicate disputes concerning those laws so they are the judge and jury (no shot no work, no mask no no shop, arrested for gathering even outside during lockdowns)
Founding Father Quotes
“Oh the mercy of my Redeemer I rely on for salvation and on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts” (Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence).
“The propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected in a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained” (George Washington).
Video 1:Universals and Particulars
Form of government where all get to participate
Declaration of Independence
-Thomas Jefferson argued that the purpose of government was to protect the rights that man received from their creator. SO
-Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
-The Constitution connects life with Government, “ He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.”
-It establishes a contract with people and government
-Fundamental point: If we are going to live under laws
-if we live under bad laws make people miserable
-we need good laws that allow for the pursuit of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
-these a human kin universal pursuits that appeal to all human beings
-Reminder that Philadelphia is along the sea so the King of England wanted the founding fathers captured and brought back to him for a death penalty
***Last line “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” (same room the Constitution-pledge to God and to each other)
-Starts with all people no reference to a particular people or place, but to every place and to every person, but end in the utmost particular
-moves from the ultimate sense of right that we all carry down to the particular circumstances in which they are going to act right now.
-The whole document is a connected chain from the general to the particular- It is the same process we each go through when making a hard decision/choice
***It is the middle that connects the universal to finite to the list of particulars***
The outline of the Constitution is in the middle of the Declaration of Independence
Video 2:The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God
”general rule” or first authority cited in the Declaration of Independence
That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights
-And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence
-And appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions
Branches of Government=
Legislative Branch of government: God is a lawmaker-laws of nature and nature’s God
Judiciary Branch of government: Supreme Judge of the world is God
Executive Branch of government: Divine Providence of God
***God=original founding father and Constitution maker
-In the Middle are the Charges:
King has offended the legislature and judiciary
The king was trying to be all 3 branches: Executive, Judicial, and Legislative
The only name in the constitution that can hold all 3 is God
-God is cited as a creator, but also as the law-giver, protector, and judge
-implication being that only He can rightfully exercise all three functions of government
-the meaning of the word “nature” is explained from its etymological roots to its revolutionary implications
“The word nature is borrowed from the Old French nature and is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth".
-Source of the law up to this point was the king and parliament-these men went to God as the ultimate higher authority-so our founding fathers needed to start a revolution against the king
-nature-birth-living things have a way to come to be (Genesis is how we came to be)
-child raising is essential-living things grow and decay
-law of nature-conditions for things to grow well-what makes it thrive-God responsible for all order of all things
***Christians-never going to get to heaven because someone passed a law to make you do something
Video 3: All Men Are Created Equal
-equality is a simple and clear principle and is rooted in the fundamental human capacity to speak.
-Aristotle stated the gift of speech is why we can reason and have rationality
-when you are talking you are thinking to yourself
-capacity to speak makes us human
-we are created equal as people we can speak front the just to the unjust
-statement of the just and unjust is what it is to be human
Ex. Thomas Jefferson-some not born with saddles on their backs- can do that to horses but can’t do that to people unless they allow them to do so (a horse cannot speak out against a saddle being put on their backs, but a human being can say o or give consent for another to put a saddle on a back)
-equality-Greek-isegoria (equal right to address the political assemblies), isopsephia polis (one man one vote) and isokratis (equality of power).
-dignity-The word dignity comes from the Latin word 'dignus' which means worth or value. It is a helpful term when it is used to remind us of our essential value as human beings. Each human life is of equal value, of equal dignity. We have this dignity when we are born, and we have it right up until the time we die.
Ex. The newly born baby and puppy are brought home and much the same, but as they grow the baby learns to speak, reason, make decisions, rebel, etc.. The puppy grows into a dog but is still unable to speak, open a can of dog food, open a door, no transformation closer to being human, etc….
