The Rights of the American Citizen

Remember these famous words from 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."

Did you catch that? They believed the basis for basic human rights came from a Supreme Being that was above government. Does that make you uncomfortable in today's multi-cultural, pluralistic, secular society? Do you believe that sentiment is no longer important?

If so, then where do we get our rights? From the government? Any government that has the power to grant something also has the power to take it away.


It might be instructive to examine the very next sentences in the Declaration:

"That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to 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."

Apparently the founders considered this pretty important, and put no trust in government to protect them without being constrained to do so. People today blithely assume they can trust their government, even though historically, the number of benign governments that have existed are vanishingly small, and most of those did not maintain their benevolence. It can be easily demonstrated that the founders were incredibly well educated even compared to the brightest of our leaders today. We ignore their hard-earned conclusions at our own peril.

The words of John Rushdoony in This Independent Republic speak to the importance of our Founders conclusions:

"If sovereignty resides in God and is only held ministerially by men, then the basic responsibility of ruler and ruled is to God, who is also the source of freedom. But if sovereignty resides in the state, whether a monarchy or democracy, man has no appeal beyond the law of the state, and no source of ethics apart from it. He is totally responsible to that order and has only those rights which the state chooses to confer upon him."

How important is this? These quotes from Thomas Jefferson, writ large in stone on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC serve as a warning:


 "God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever."
Do you tremble?   Should you?