Individual Sovereignty: The Foundation of Our Republic

“(twelve-score & six) years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or a nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure...

We here [today should] highly resolve that (our) dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth.”

adapted Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, 19 Nov 1883

If we are to restore our nation, we need to return to the principles that made our nation great. Those principles are laid out for us in the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,”

These are the values of our Republic; these are the ideas that established man as individually sovereign, as image bearers of a Sovereign God.

These are the ideas that inspired less than 3% of fledgling, backwater nation to take up arms against the most powerful empire in the world, in light of almost certain death. These ideas are the birthright we’ve traded for the pottage of convenience and security because our vigilance faltered.

These are the truths we must embrace and defend to rekindle the flame of liberty.

But, to understand our Unalienable Rights, we need to look back as to why they are “unalienable,” and we’ll find it embedded in the first paragraph–a precursor.

“The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” “the separate and equal station” – “independent,” and “equal,” as “entitled”--given to us like a title, like royalty–to us by “the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God.”

St Thomas Aquinas considered there to be four different types of law–eternal, natural, human and divine. While Eternal Law means “God’s rational purpose and plan,” Natural Law means internal rules which are not imposed externally, and that we can deduce according to reason, and must be true for all people in all instances. Human Laws follow,“But, if in any point it deflects from the law of nature, it is no longer a law but a perversion of law.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr cited Aquinas in his Letter from Birmingham City Jail, writing “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.”

John Locke (1632-1704), considered by many to be “the Father of Liberalism”, held that “Natural Law” consisted of moral rules as founded on divine, universal and absolute laws, discernible through reason, and are obligatory, owing to their divine authorship.

More importantly for our Constitution, Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780) defined “law” as “a rule of action dictated by some superior being”, and “the Law of Nature” as “the will of the Maker”--the unchanging laws of nature which God imposed on Creation. As such, any law violating the law of nature was not valid.

“Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.”

Now we can better discuss those Rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Whether “natural law” or “the laws of nature,” all law originates with God. That something is “self-evident” means that it does not require proof, and the first of the self-evident truths is that “all men are created equal.”

Since we are all equal, none can be sovereign over another, and our sovereignty is subject only to that of our Creator. In turn, men created villages, villages formed counties, counties formed states, states formed countries, with each creator sovereign over the created.

It is no surprise that there is scriptural backing:

‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ John 15:20

“Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” Romans 9:19

“So God created man in His own image; ... and God said to them “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it;” Genesis 1:27

The second self-evident truth is “that they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights,” which means certain rights were given or “bequeathed” to us from a higher agency–God—and they are unable to be given away by, or taken from the possessor. What’s often overlooked is that among created equals, if one has certain unalienable Rights, then all do, and therefore acting in a manner contrary is to deny those rights on your own behalf. The only way I can claim a right for myself is to not violate your Life, Liberty, (or)Pursuit of Happiness.”

A truly revolutionary self-evident truth is “that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed.” Note that it doesn’t say “all powers are derived from the consent of the governed”, just the “just” powers. In Colorado, primacy is given to the Constitution of the United States, from which Colorado and its constitution were written, and from that the laws. There are currently laws that are in violation of one or both constitutions, which means they were made unlawfully, and are unlawful. Preceding our declaration of independence and constitution, however, are “the Laws of Nature” from which they were derived, and so any laws in violation of “the Laws of Nature” are invalid perversions of the Law itself.

Examples:

Does one animal enslave another?

Does “foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests” that they will defend? Are offspring created and cared for by a male/female parent group?

“Go to the ant and be wise” is economic theory 101

Now, what happens in atheist materialism when “The Fear of the Lord1 (as) the beginning of wisdom” is rejected? BTW,

Romans 1:24-25 “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

So, how does this go wrong? In rejecting the knowledge of God, there is no law and no law-giver & where there is no law giver, there is no relationship based on shared sovereignty, so our relationships are based on power alone, as recognized by marxist doctrine.

It really doesn’t matter if you believe in “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God,” to understand that this is idea is foundational to our founding and laws.

For these reasons, I prefer to reframe the scope of any political conversation into “individual sovereignty” vs “state sovereignty”

Often we have a difficulty because we’ve allowed “the Left” to classify everything “not Left”--not communist–as “Right” or “Far Right”. But, if you look at the systems through the lens of sovereignty, you’ll see that both communism and fascism are solidly in the camp of “state as sovereign” --they are the same (feces) sandwich with different condiments.

I hope that gives you a better understanding of the values of our Republic, and therefore what it means to be a Republican.

_________________________________

Footnotes:

1 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way, and the perverse mouth I hate.” Proverbs 8:13

2 (Prov 9:10, 1:7, 15:33, Ps 2:10-11)

3 While many applaud the seeming benevolence of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” they generally ignore that this only follows the abolition of private property and “the enslaving subordination (where) labor has become not only a means of life but lifes prime want...”

Whether Marxism works or does not might be judged in terms of his poetry “..Worlds I would destroy forever, Since I can create no world”, “Then I will be able to walk triumphantly, Like a god, through the ruins of their kingdom. Every word of mine is fire and action. My breast is equal to that of the Creator.” “I shall build my throne high overhead...it’s marshall–blackest agony”, “see this sword? The prince of darkness sold it to me”, “with satan I have struck my deal / he chalks the signs, beats time for me / I play the death march fast and free.”

With that, I’d surmise that the Marxist god-State has succeeded 100% of the time, as it averages a murder rate of over one million every year.