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Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church

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with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and

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faith. And today, what are the principles numbered 16 and 17 of the 28 principles of our Constitution

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as described in the book, The 5,000-Year Leap by Dr. Cleon Skousen? I am returning to

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this book, The 5,000-Year Leap, after a winter and spring dealing with other topics. But in the

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summer, I like to catch up a little bit on the 28 principles of the Constitution as described in

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the book, The 5,000-Year Leap by Dr. Leon Skousen. And up to this point, we have covered the first

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15 of those. And you can find those cataloged on our podcast website, which is americastruths.org,

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americastruths.org. And there you'll find under the heading series, the series, this particular series

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on the 28 principles of the Constitution. And this summer, I hope to work my way from

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principle 16 all the way through to principle 28. And I'm looking forward to covering those

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with you. Just to have, as things fall apart in our country, and memory seems to be lost

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as to exactly who and what we are and were and where we've come from, we need to have recorded

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the principles of our Constitution for future generations. So I hope this contributes in some

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small way towards that end. But today, I want to cover principles number 16 and 17 of the 28

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principles of our Constitution as described in the book, The 5,000-Year Leap by Dr. Leon Skousen.

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Get this book, read it, teach it to your kids. Now, in the past, we have covered the previous 15

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principles, and they're beginning to fill out our worldview of the Founding Fathers when it comes to

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what John Adams calls the divine science of government. Yes, it may seem dirty politics to many

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of us, but the Founding Fathers saw when practiced right, when practiced biblically, they saw government

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as the divine science. And one of the superb accomplishments of this book, The 5,000-Year

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Leap, is that it so succinctly encompasses the philosophy of men like Washington and Jefferson

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and Adams as they sought to bring together the best of governments of the past into the great

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experiment of the American continent. In our own day, the Constitution is under subtle and indirect

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assault, increasingly less subtle and more direct assaults by every branch of our government, and in

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particular by the fourth branch of government, I like to call it, and that is the intelligence branch,

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that is the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, all the alphabet soup agencies, increasingly under attack. Our

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Constitution is. To them, our Founding Fathers were just a bunch of old white men who were chauvinist males who owned

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slaves and grew the deadly weed tobacco, which they stole from the peaceful Native Americans who were the real

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owners of the land. And with our evolutionary model of human development, however, it's time to evolve and grow up

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beyond the stale Constitution, these people would say. Beyond the stale Constitution. And we should govern

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ourselves in line with the systems of the rest of the world. But the only trouble is, most of the people of the

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United States still love and revere the Constitution, and pretty much ignorant of what we, the wise ones,

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know about the world and government. And so we cannot do it all at once or reveal the true nature and extent of

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how we want to change things. This is what they tell themselves. This is why you hear such exponents,

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use code words and phrases like, the Constitution is a living, breathing document, which we can alter and

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interpret in a variety of ways, right? Or we must be free to consult, as one jurist was fond of saying

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on the Supreme Court, we must be free to consult the international standard of jurisprudence when

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deciding cases. Oh, on and on we could go, but all of these ideas our Founding Fathers would reject,

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of course, having encountered them in their own thorough study of human governments from the

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past, a study far deeper and more thorough than the people who pretend to know better today.

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Which brings us to principle number 16, a principle hammered out after a great deal of study, and that

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is the government should be separated into three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial.

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Principle number 16 of the 5,000-year leap is government should be separated into three branches,

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legislative, executive, and judicial. This is the seminal principle we sometimes refer to as

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the separation of powers. This principle is not a mere academic abstraction that George Washington

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dreamed up so that your kids' civics textbooks could have something to fill it. No, the separation of

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powers doctrine goes right to the heart of why we are a nation of laws and not of men.

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What it does then, the separation of powers, is break down and decentralize power. Formerly in history,

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supreme power was lodged in one of several forms of rule. I'll give you three of them. Monarchy.

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Here, all power was centralized in one kingly figure. He made the laws, enforced the laws, judged cases that

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came to trial through his surrogates, and positively, it was tremendously efficient, decisive, clear for

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managing the affairs of state. But negatively, of course, the potential for corruption and tyranny was

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obvious and had plagued mankind from the days of Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible to Napoleon in the

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Founder's Day. The second system of government, aristocracy. Here, all power was invested in a few

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ruling families or the wealthy of the land, which was technically an oligarchy. Positively,

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an aristocracy. Wealth and developed resources of the land would be conscientiously represented and

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nurtured, of course, but negatively, these interests became narrow and selfish, as they did in

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pre-revolutionary France, resulting in oppression and tyranny for the vast majority of the impoverished

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peasants, and issued, of course, in the French, the bloody French Revolution. And then there is,

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of course, number three, democracy. Here, the power is vested in the people as a whole, with every matter

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of state being voted on by the whole of the people. Positively, it represents the interests of the mass

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of the people, without whose support no government can exist. But negatively, democracies have always

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sunk into rash, inefficient populist movements, where the passions and prejudices of the masses end

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up destroying and working against the good of the whole nation. Back and forth, humanity is gone for

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millennial, trying first one and then another form, each time failing because of the various weaknesses

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built into the respective systems. And two men stood alone in history, suggesting a better way,

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the very way that was eventually adopted by our founding fathers. These men were the Greek philosopher

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Polybius, who lived during the second century BC, and the French philosopher, Baron Charles de Montesquieu,

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who lived during the 18th century. Maybe you've never heard of these men, but both of them suggested a

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variation of a separation of powers, which they called a mixed constitution. Montesquieu especially

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drew heavily upon Polybius, and he expanded that notion of separated powers in his great work,

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Spirit of the Laws. You must read this. This is worth reading today. Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Montesquieu.

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It was this work that our founding fathers picked up and read very carefully. Very few people know this.

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And I point this out to you so that you know our founding fathers did not pull our government out of a hat,

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but from their heads. They thought carefully and thoroughly about every component of our system,

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and they drew richly, drank deeply from Montesquieu. Well, there are several points that we must observe

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over which much discussion was given. Number one, there is the ever-present danger of human frailty.

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This reality we've dealt with in some detail in principle number 13, that is the constitution should

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be permanently structured to protect the people from the human frailties of their rulers. And this

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principle now helps to do this, separation of powers, by carefully dividing the three main power

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functions of government, that is the making of laws, which is legislative, the enforcement of laws,

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which is executive, and the adjudication of laws, which is judicial. By dividing these major functions

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into three separate branches, the likelihood of power concentrating in the hands of one or a few men

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were dramatically reduced. Doesn't mean it can't happen, it might be happening today for that matter.

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Now, our founding fathers realized that even the best of intentioned men often succumbed to the

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temptations of absolute power, and grasped after more and more of it, even to accomplish the supposed

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good, quote-unquote, on behalf of their fellow citizens. Even the tyrant king Charles I of England

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flattered himself. He thought, I truly desire the people's liberty and freedom as much as anybody. But then he

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went on to rule in an arbitrary, foolish way. He was perplexed beyond wonder on the way to the executioner when

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he became the first and only modern tyrant to be executed by beheading by parliament in 1649.

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Well, with these lessons fresh on the minds of our founding fathers, they carefully considered the human

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frailty of their rulers and separated the powers of government. And secondly, they also understood the

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problem of the one, the few, and the many. Our founders wrestled with a question that very few ask

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today. How do we balance the needs of the one, the few, and the many? Mankind is wired to associate at

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these three levels. At the one level, for example, as an individual. Looking to an individual in power as

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dwell, that's why men are drawn to kings, and ultimately to God himself, the one. He also dwells,

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man, the individual, dwells with the few. He dwells with the few in family or church or a local

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community. And he looks then to a few in power. But he also dwells with the many, that is the great

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mass of his fellow citizens. And he also looks to the great democratic mass in power, too. The few,

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the one, the few, and the many. Previously, these three levels were represented by the aforementioned

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forms of government. Monarchy, representing the one. Aristocracy, representing the few. And democracy,

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representing the many. No one of these systems fully and adequately represented all three of these

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levels of human relations. But by separating the powers of government, such representation could be

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achieved. The one in a president, the few in a Senate, and the many in a Congress. So our founding

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fathers wisely solved the ancient riddle of the one, the few, and the many. And then number three as

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well. The exact form separated powers should take. They considered, they thought about this

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very thoroughly. The exact form that separated powers should take. The system we have now did not

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come into being whole cloth the first day of the Constitutional Convention. For example, how many

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presidents should there be in the executive? The New Jersey plan called for two. And Governor Randolph

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of Virginia advocated for three presidents. James Wilson held with Montesquieu for one president, which is

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eventually what the convention adopted. One of the most contested matters of separated powers

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was whether Congress should have proportional representation or equal representation. Should

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the states have representatives in proportion to their respective populations, which the large states like

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New York loved? Or should they have representation with equal representation across the board that small

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states like Rhode Island loved? Now, as this debate raged day after day with large states threatening to

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walk out when it seemed like equal representation was about to win, and it was small states threatening to

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walk out when it seemed proportional representation was about to win, well, the convention seemed at a

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real impasse. Part of the real genius of our Constitution is the solution arrived at over this particular

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dilemma. The Congress would be divided into two houses, a bicameral legislature, that is called. The final

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solution was the Congress would be divided into two houses, a bicameral legislature, that is, one would be

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represented in proportion to the population of the respective states, that's the House of Representatives,

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they now number 435, and the other would be represented with an equal number of delegates from each state, and that

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would be the Senate, with two senators from each state. Well, with these and many other issues, our founders

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wrestled as they sought to hand down to their posterity a form of government with carefully

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separated powers. If that posterity had the wisdom and care to preserve and keep it, our own generation,

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however, is like a spoiled teenage son who's been given a carefully engineered and maintained Maserati,

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but who treats it carelessly as if it were an old jalopy, refusing to change the oil, rotate the tires,

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lube the joints, tune the engine, or even drive it with care and respect. No, we carelessly blur the lines,

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between the branches, right? It seems to be, especially with the onset and the growth of that

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fourth branch of government, the intelligence branch. Oh, do not underestimate its power and

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influence, dear listener. In fact, so insidious is this tendency of despots in any given branch of

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government. It doesn't have to be a president either who turns into a dictator. We see the encroachment

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of the judiciary in the fourth branch of government, the deep state in our own day to usurp power that

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our founding fathers saw the separation of powers to be bound up with the essence of liberty and the

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grasping after concentrated power would be the essence of tyranny. James Madison in Federalist paper

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number 47 puts it this way. He says, the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive,

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and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary,

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self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. Oh,

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the accumulation of power into one hands. Oh, if we are to return to greatness and goodness,

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we must begin the process of returning to our founding fathers vision of our constitution,

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of which this principle number 16 is crucial. The government should be separated into three

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branches, legislative, executive, and judicial. Well, additionally, if we are to return to greatness

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and goodness, we must return to another vital principle. That's number 17. A system of checks

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and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power. Principle number 17 of the 28

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principles of the constitution as found in the 5,000-year leap. That is, a system of checks and

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balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power. Our founding fathers emphatically wanted

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to separate the powers of government into three branches, but their intention was never to isolate

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the respective branches in their own autonomous spheres. No, they saw with prescience that while a

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president may not have legislative or judicial power at his disposal, he might well run away

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unchecked with the powers he did have within his own sphere. What is to stop a president as

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commander-in-chief, for example, from declaring war for his own personal reasons at odds with the

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interest of the nation? Oh, that was part of the problem with the kings of France, like Louis XIV and

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XV, or the kings of England, like Charles I. That was front and center in the minds of the founding

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fathers. And of course, the answer there was only Congress had the authority to declare war. Well, what is

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to stop Congress from passing rash and foolish legislation at the pressure from the passions

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of the moment, as Congress did when it passed the foolish Medicare drug supplement bill? Well, the answer

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is, the president has veto power over bills passed by Congress. What is to stop a president from

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potentially vetoing legislation willy-nilly that's good and necessary for the people, as Bill Clinton did

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time and again with welfare reform bills? Remember those days? Sent to him by Congress in the 90s? Well,

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the answer was, Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote. Oh, part of the greatness

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of our Constitution, dear listener, is the ingenious way our founding fathers not only separated power into

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three distinct branches, but how they then brought them back together at crucial interfaces to check one

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another's potential abuse of power. As the 5,000-year leap notes, and Madison says, the trick was to

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separate the powers and then delicately lace them back together again as a balanced unit, unquote.

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This balanced unit is the one functioning federal government, we now know, embodying the separated

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powers with checks and balances against abuse of those separated powers. Could you construct such a

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system, given the strong wills of the men gathered at the Continental Convention? Could I do this? Oh,

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all of this required the greatest skill, crafting our founding document, the Constitution. It is agreed

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by many that only by God's distinguishing providence could such a thing have occurred. J. Reuben Clark,

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Jr., who was a former undersecretary of state, but a student of the Constitution, he puts it this way,

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while severally independent, the three branches were at the same time mutually dependent. It is this union

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of independence and dependence of those branches, legislative, executive, and judicial, that

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constitutes the marvelous genius of this unrivaled document. The framers had no direct guide in this

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work, no historical governmental precedence upon which to rely. As I see it, Clark says, it is here

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that the divine inspiration comes. It was truly a miracle. Unquote. J. Reuben Clark, student of the

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Constitution. Well, it's difficult to overestimate the importance of this principle to our liberty and

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freedom as a nation by decentralizing power to the states and then taking what remained in the federal

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government and dividing it further into three branches, who then turned around to provide mutual

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checks to each other's power, has provided the maximum opportunity for individual freedom for

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the citizen, while providing the requisite authority for government to exercise its duties. Some

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examples. Well, the House and Senate have a mutual check upon one another. Now, bills must pass both

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houses of Congress. While financial bills must originate in the House, they must pass the Senate, too.

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This is well and good. While plenty of foolish legislation is passed by Congress in spite of this

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check, can you imagine the travesty that would have obtained if there was only one unchecked House of

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Congress? Secondly, we must also point out, for example, Congress has the power to advise and consent

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the president's appointments. Charles Townsend, back in England, was the minister of finance under King

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George III, and he ruthlessly set out to make the American colonists pay for the French and Indian

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War that ended in 16 or 1767. And King George appointed Townsend, nevertheless, to that office with

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impunity, even though there was opposition to him in the parliament. But parliament had no legal right to

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act in this appointment. So, Minister Townsend enacted the infamous Townsend Acts, repressive tax measures

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that helped bring on the American Revolution. And our founding fathers saw this and other abuses,

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and they created the check on executive abuse of appointments by insisting that the Senate have

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the power to advise the president on his appointments and give or withhold their consent on them.

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Well, thirdly, then also, Congress has the absolute right to restrict the jurisdiction of the Supreme

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Court in any matter it so chooses. This is a little known solution that Congress has failed to

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exercise in decades. Congress has the absolute right to restrict the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

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in any matter it chooses. What gives them that right, Congress? Well, it's Article 3, Section 2, Paragraph 2.

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And it states that the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction in all cases, and I quote now from that

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paragraph, with exceptions and under such regulations as Congress shall make, unquote.

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In other words, if Congress had had the guts to do it years ago, it could have taken exception to

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abortion under Roe v. Wade. But it didn't, did it? Well, finally, that's been reversed. Anyway, number four,

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the president has a check on the judiciary by nominating its judges subject to the consent of

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the Senate. Well, if the Supreme Court were autonomous, it would appoint its own judges. But that's not the

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case. The president nominates a candidate for the bench, while the Congress either approves or rejects

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that appointment. And so the court cannot be a self-perpetuating branch of government unto itself.

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And then number five, another check on power, is the judiciary has a check upon the executive and

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legislative branch through a lifetime appointment, although this is coming under question. Well, if a judge

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knew he could be hauled down from his place on the bench, how many of them do you think would be

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beholden to politicians in the executive or legislative branch of government? Well, all of them would be.

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That's why they have lifetime appointments. Number six, the judiciary has a check upon the legislative

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and executive branch by being able to declare a particular act unconstitutional. That's the storied

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principle of judicial review. Okay. So the attempt of the framers, dear listener, despite the efforts of

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modern obfuscators to try to muddy the waters, is that indeed the courts were intended to be passive

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with cases of law brought to them for review, not to legislate from the bench as we so notoriously see

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in our own day, do we not? Well, through a system of checks and balances, dear listener,

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your liberties were to be protected, not proscribed. That's the heart of the principle 17. A system of

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checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power. Over the last few centuries,

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however, beginning with Abraham Lincoln, we have a whole history on this. The executive branch has

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steamrolled unchecked over Congress, hasn't it? While Congress has refused to balance the power of the

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courts. And the court has run over, unchecked our liberties and our rights too. And on top of this

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all is the growth and expansion of that fourth branch of government, the intelligence branch,

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we often call the deep state. Yes, the CIA, the FBI, and the NSA, they have a great deal of blackmail

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power over Congress and over the executive branch, do they not? And they virtually run things in

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Washington, D.C. Now, instead of constitutional checks and balances, the last century has seen

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checks become imbalanced and the imbalance has gone unchecked. Oh, the time has come, dear listener.

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Not only must our elected magistrates learn and relearn this document, the Constitution

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of the United States of America, but so must you and your posterity. If we are to survive as a free

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and independent people, we must take responsibility for this document. The various branches of our

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government have been negligent in their constitutional duty, and we must hold them accountable. Original

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authority and power originates in the God of the Bible and is delegated to the people as a whole in

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the civil covenant. Our Constitution recognizes this when it declares in the preamble, we the people

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ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America. Is this more than words on a page

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to you, or more than empty words ringing in the chamber of your ears, dear listener? Oh, I appeal to

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you to let them ring in the chamber of your heart as well as the chamber of your ear. Reform your heart

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and life in accord with the gospel of grace and salvation by faith in Jesus Christ first,

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and then you will be ready to live under and reform a nation for which the Constitution was written,

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a religious and moral people, as John Adams puts it. May the God of heaven and earth,

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the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, so bless you and keep you, dear listener. This has been Pastor

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David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth. New Geneva meets for

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holy worship at 10 a.m. on Sunday at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. I encourage you to

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check out our website, americastruths.org, where you will find a whole catalog of previous messages,

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recorded messages on that website. That is americastruths.org, all one word. And you can also

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call us for more information and for feedback, too, at 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.