Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, what are the 11th and 12th principles in the 5,000-year leap? We at New Geneva have been tracking with some very important principles of the American Constitution that have been delineated in one important book for America, and that is the 5,000-year leap. What document has distilled the wisdom of the last 5,000 years of human experience with government?

What document was crafted by gifted men who sifted through the governments of the last 5,000 years and culled the best from them and shaped those elements into one of the purest republics ever seen on earth? Well, of course, that document is the Constitution of the United States of America, formed by our founding fathers in 1787 and which oversaw the most flourishing period of cultural and scientific advancement in human history. Tell me, in what other country in human history has man gone from horse and buggy to supersonic air travel and put American footprints on the moon?

In what other country have we progressed from log cabins with wood stoves and kerosene lamps to digital TV cell phones and a laptop computer? In the accumulated history of the last 5,000 years, no progress has been so dramatic or prosperous as has been the progress of a free humanity under the Constitution of the United States of America. The service which this book, the 5,000-year leap, has accomplished for us is reducing the vast and sometimes complicated worldview of our founding fathers into 28 discrete principles. These 28 principles do not exhaust everything that can be said about our Constitution. It doesn't pretend to do that.

But those 28 principles do summarize the essential elements of that Constitution. And what we would ask of you, dear listener, is to listen to and digest these 28 principles one at a time. And as you do, you will either rejoice that your previous knowledge of and enthusiasm for the Constitution has been confirmed, or else that you'll rejoice that the gap in your understanding of it has been bridged. So, one way or another, you will no longer be able to plead ignorance of the Constitution to anyone.

In fact, we would recommend that you go ahead and purchase this book from the website of its publisher, the National Center for Constitutional Studies, excuse me, the National Center for Constitutional Studies, nccs.org. Buy their books, send them money for support, for they do work that no other group on the face of the earth does. So, with this in mind, let's now turn to principles 11 and 12 of the 28 principles of the Constitution. Principle 11 is, the majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical. The majority of people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical.

And I like this one. Oh, come on, everyone. Away with a massive tyrannical monster that has become our federal government. Let's start tomorrow. Let me dig out my constitutional magic wand and wave it over Washington, D.C. so that, poof, we have the Constitutional Republic created for us by our founding fathers.

Oh, if it were only that easy. But I don't think that is what they had in mind when men like Adams and Jefferson and Hamilton crafted our founding documents. They had just 11 years before the Constitutional Convention abolished a government which had become tyrannical, quote-unquote, when they entered on the Revolution of 1776. And the Constitutional Convention itself was a step to alter a government which had become not tyrannical but ineffective. That is, the Articles of Confederation.

Yes, very few people realize this. But the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were sent there ostensibly to tweak the Articles of Confederation a little bit and then come home. But once there, the delegates from the respective state congresses realized that it would be easier and faster to scrap the articles and start afresh with a new document. Voila! We have our Constitution, then, as we know it.

And our founding fathers knew what it was both to abolish and alter governments. Ah, this is a very important principle to understand precisely and correctly because it is fraught with danger. There are two dark and deep ditches on either side of this road and a straight and narrow road right down the middle, which our founding fathers traveled very successfully. And one of those ditches on one side of the road is that of the socialist toady. The socialist toady.

We see a lot of them in our country today. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a toady as servile, an obsequious hanger-on, slavish, unthinking follower, unquote. This is the road of progressives in our land today. They mindlessly automatically accept what has fed them from socialist central, whether that be the Obama White House or news outlets like MSNBC.

The socialist toady is preoccupied with being accepted as a right thinker, quote-unquote, even as the citizens of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World strove to be in line with the party on right thinking when it came to a test-tube mother, which was far more sophisticated, rather than a viviparous mother that is a natural live-born child from a woman's womb, which was far too primitive and repugnant so politically incorrect as it's becoming more and more in our country today. Well, the socialist toady will accept the chains of slavery under any condition and do so for a variety of reasons.

Yes, I have a friend who is so obsessed with his own safety and the state of his 401k that he would never think of risking to speak out on any issue of conscience. I also have a relative who is so obsessed with looking good in the eyes of her progressive colleagues that whatever the party line may be, she'll parrot it without a moment's hesitation or thought. Generations of public school educated citizens now know how to put a condom on a cucumber or weave a basket, but they've never taken an American history course or government or civics course in their lives.

They have no clue about the Constitution or the difference between a democracy and a republic, and consequently they are led like sheep by socialist goats like Barack Obama and Joe Biden and they're slaughtered like sheep in their taxes, freedoms and rights. This is a deep naive ditch into which so many slavish progressives have fallen, but it's not the predicament of our founding fathers. No, no, no, no. Andrew Ford puts it this way. He says the price of liberty is always has been and always will be blood.

The person who is not willing to die for his liberty has already lost it to the first scoundrel who is willing to risk dying to violate that person's liberty. Unquote. Are you free? He goes on to ask. Are you free?

Well, are you free, dear listener? Are you willing to risk your life to maintain your liberties? Most people are not, and they continue to lose their liberty to the first scoundrel willing to risk his life to violate those liberties. Oh, this is the first and prior ditch into which most of Americans fall, the ditch of the socialist toady. The second is like unto it, as our Lord might say about the greatest commandments.

The second is like unto it, that second ditch. That is, not only is there a man unwilling to fight for his liberty, but there's the man willing to rashly throw it away in a violent fit of temper. This character we might call the revolutionary hothead. For how many foolish revolutions in the history of our race is this kind of person responsible? The premier example is that of the French Revolution of 1789.

Rarely in the history of man have we had a more fit contrast than the revolution of 1776 in America and that of France in 1789. In America, God was worshipped and revered and acknowledged as the great providence who guided our destiny. In France, the goddess of reason was fashioned by the mobs in the so-called tennis court revolution and God declared to be dead. In the revolution of 1776 in America, the direct consequence of our revolutionary war was the fashioning of a constitutional republic.

In France, the direct consequence of the series of mob actions in the streets in the French Revolution was the reign of terror where thousands of citizens were slaughtered at the guillotine. The revolution of 1776 produced men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, each of whom served as president in a constitutional republic. The French Revolution of 1789 eventually deteriorated to such a state of anarchy that it produced men like Robespierre and eventually the tyrant Napoleon.

Many other examples could be cited of rash, spontaneous outbursts of mob-like action where the criteria for altering or abolishing a tyrannical government are not present. Whether we think of the grain riots in Rome under the ancient empire or the so-called Prague Spring of 1956 where brave but rash patriots tried to throw off the yoke of the Soviet Union but were crushed by Russian tanks or even the foolish revolutionaries of the 60s in America who rioted in the streets and produced radicals like Bill Ayers and his offshoot of the SDS, the Weathermen.

In response to the fast creeping socialist tyranny overtaking America in our own day, we must be careful not to respond as revolutionary hotheads but rather ask, what would Washington and Jefferson do? That's not to deny that our constitutional republic is swiftly deteriorating into a socialist tyranny. The very term tyrant is derived from the Latin tyrannos which is derived from the Greek tyrannos which originally indicated tyrannos, a ruler in whom all power had been concentrated. In the Greek city-states ironically, tyrannies developed when pure democracies collapsed because of their inefficiencies and inequities.

When people cried out for solutions to their problems, a variety of saviors rode to their rescue and imposed their will on the masses, creating some of the purest tyrannies the world has ever known. Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines a tyranny as arbitrary or despotic power, the exercise of power over subjects and others with a rigor not authorized by law or justice, nor not requisite for the purposes of government." Unquote. I like this definition because it includes an inerrant measure of tyranny, that is, law, justice, and the requisite purposes of government.

When a tyrant, whether he calls himself a president or senator or governor, exercises power against law and justice or against the expressed purposes of government, then he rightly deserves the title of tyrant. Such a man in such a system must be altered or abolished by the majority of the people. This is an important component of the eleventh principle to keep in mind. It is the majority of the government that must make the change.

In the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776, those Virginia Declaration of Rights said this, when any government shall be found contrary to these purposes, that is the commonwealth of all, a majority of the community has an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it in such a manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public will." Unquote. There is never a system so perfect that it is not possible for a few to be tyrannized by the majority. This is why the rights of the minority in America are protected, though not necessarily their will allowed to prevail.

That must be kept in mind by impertinent minorities, too, in our country. Their rights are guaranteed, not the prevalence of their wills. John Locke, the philosopher of the revolution, put it this way. He said, it is impossible for one or a few oppressed men to disturb the government where the body of the people, that is the majority, do not think themselves concerned in it. And that was from his second essay concerning civil government.

And thus, although a few American citizens may have their property taken from them in an eminent domain case, for example, by a tyrannical government, those agreed citizens are not justified in making a revolution if the people do not share their outrage. In one eloquent passage of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson echoed the long suffering patience of the colonists when he said, prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." This is good advice to all of us who see the quickening pace of tyranny in America. Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. But we must ask ourselves, is the seizure of our property, whether it be our homes in eminent domain lawsuits or our guns during the raids in New Orleans during the Katrina emergency? Are these light and transient causes?

Is the recent homeland security report issued by the tyrant-esque homeland security chief Janet Napolitano a light and transient cause? And this piece of hysterical right-wing creative journalism, it's not really a report, not a sliver of evidence for any of the assertions just offered. She characterizes those who oppose abortion or illegal immigration or oppose the erosion of our Second Amendment rights as right-wing extremists. And Joe Biden is followed right along with her, right? Where they are the most significant threat to homeland security, white supremacists supposedly.

When a long train of abuses and usurpations, Jefferson adds in the Declaration of Independence. He says, when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security." Unquote from the Declaration of Independence. Well, if so, then we must frankly acknowledge Principle 11, that is, the majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical.

Principle number 12 is a good companion to this one, and it is, the United States of America shall be a republic. The United States of America shall be a republic. We are a republic, dear listener, not a democracy. And this is not a mere hair-splitting distinction for pointy-head intellectuals to debate in their river towers. No, this goes to the heart of who we are as a people.

It goes to the heart of your liberties, fellow citizen. It concerns you intimately and directly. Once again, Webster's 1828 dictionary defines republic as a commonwealth, a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged in representatives elected by the people." Unquote. Our founding fathers studied what they called the divine science of government.

The divine science of government. And they studied it closely all of their lives. And they concluded that democracy was one of the most dangerous, unreliable forms of government ever created. Because in a democracy, the people as a whole participate in every component, every branch of government. They directly make and administer laws and they act as judges over laws violations and every decision of government they participate in.

That is, they vote on every issue. This kind of pure democracy was tried at various times and places in history and invariably led to disaster and eventual tyranny. Why? Well, there really are four reasons why. Number one, in a democracy, issues are dispatched with shallow treatment.

As James Madison pointed out in the Federalist Papers, most men are preoccupied with the daily tasks of making a living practicing their trades, crafts and professions. They don't have time to study every issue that crops up in government in the depth and detail required to make a decision. Hearings, studies, reports are either not produced or participated in by citizens in a democracy. No. So, the likelihood that a vote on any given issue will be ill-informed and disastrally mistaken dramatically increases.

In fact, this was proved out in Athens on several occasions when democracy was tried. Oh, global warming scam science, for example, is a good modern example. Could you imagine the laws that would have been passed by now in a democracy with the general public having been so erroneously misled by the hysteria in the left-wing science community? So, number one, in a democracy, issues are dispatched with shallow treatment. Number two, in a democracy, government must be confined to a small area.

Every citizen must participate in a democracy, then they all must be present for every decision. This is a physical impossibility in the vast hinterlands that comprise the continental United States. Our founding fathers realized that if America was going to be practically governed and grow as they saw God working, then representatives sent to a central capital must do the work of the people. A republic can grow, a democracy cannot. Number three, in a democracy, mob rule invariably results.

Oh, that's one of the great pernicious effects of democracy. Mob rule invariably results. And it's difficult to communicate to a modern audience the passion of violence that rules in democracies. Have you ever been part of a mob? That is a large group of people aroused in a single passion with a single purpose, anonymous, ready to do violence?

Oh, I've talked with people who are part of the protest against the Vietnam War in the 1960s, for example, or even in the George Floyd mobs when you were anonymous. Oh, democracy rules in mobs, dear listeners. The advocates of democracy are some of the most violent people on the face of the earth. And we saw this in the George Floyd riots all over America, did we not in 2020? As James Madison points out in Federalist paper number 10, he says, democracies have ever been a spectacle of turbulence and contention, have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property.

Democracies have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths, unquote. A very poignant point to make. And number four, in a democracy, tyranny eventually obtains. It may seem counterintuitive, but we can draw a straight line from democracy to tyranny. Madison was sagely observing the results of history when he noted that democracies have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property, right?

In the first place, a dynamic kind of occurs where the majority ends up not only making decisions over the minority, but taking rights and property from a minority as well. This happened in several city states in Greece, and we see it in America too, with the persecution of the taking of rights of vaccine resistors during the panic pandemic that occurred just a few years ago. The rights of, and the property even, of vaccine resistors were appropriated, or even during the Floyd riots, the George Floyd riots, again, personal property neglected and destroyed, rights trampled upon in those riots.

In a republic, a written constitution protects the rights and property of the minority. In a democracy, the ignorant, passion-driven will of the majority can override the rights and property of the minority with tyranny resulting. What is more, the inequities and errors of judgment of the mob and the misery and suffering that results invariably causes a cry of deliver us to well up in the hearts of the people? Yes. Our founding fathers observed this to be the case in ancient Athens, where the democracy established by Salon, for example, fell prey to all of the weaknesses cited above.

Their money became worthless, disasters in the military resulted from poor judgments of the majority, and others tyrannized by the the majority began to plot treason. In the end, misery and suffering so predominated in Athens that the people cried out for a strong man to deliver them. This provided the opportunity for the tyrant Pesistratus to seize power, Pesistratus, and his promise of change you can believe in became real with a vengeance. This is just one example from history noted well by our founders of how we can draw a straight line from democracy to tyranny.

Oh, for all of these reasons and more, our founding fathers rejected democracy as a form of government and embraced a republic as the best form for the United States of America. And in intervening years, this distinction has been blurred, however, and obscured by a number of movements and people. But it's time that we return to and recapture the original vision of our Constitution that establishes not a democracy but a representative republic. Your God-given rights, dear listener, depend on it.

When the property of the individual is at the disposal of the collective, liable to seizure and redistribution at the whim of government, then no man's property is safe. When your rights are amenable to change or violation depending upon the vote of the majority, then no man's rights are guaranteed any longer. Presently, a large portion of our nation is charging over the precipice of socialism and democracy like lemmings to their own destruction. They're filled with envy for other men's property and jealousy over other men's lives. Our present leaders use these passions too to gain power and then tyrannize other citizens' lives.

They are ignorant of Jesus' rule of the Spirit, that is, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Jesus says that in Luke 12, verse 15. And those who advocate democracy and want to seize the property and rights of the minority, they are ignorant of the fact that their life, liberty, and happiness can be had with an abundance of the things of life, or their life, liberty, and happiness can be had with the meagerness of things. Oh, it depends upon the soul and character of the individual, whether you can be happy with much or little.

It depends upon the soul and character of the individual, not upon the generosity of government. No. Oh, our fellow citizens, I'm afraid, are also manifestly ignorant of principles 11 and 12 too, which we've outlined today. That is principle level 11, the majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical. And principle number 12, the United States shall be a republic.

This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And I would just encourage you to join us, cross our threshold, visit us. Summer's a good time to do that. Though summer's closing quickly, isn't it?

And come and join us. We're preaching through the Gospel of John right now. And I would just encourage you to come and join us at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. You will receive a warm welcome. We worship at 10 a.m. on Sunday, 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard.

And you can call us for feedback or more information at area code 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.