1 00:00:04,750 --> 00:00:10,210 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church 2 00:00:10,210 --> 00:00:13,109 with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through 3 00:00:13,109 --> 00:00:19,429 an important issue of life and faith. Today, what is the last and final principle of the 4 00:00:19,429 --> 00:00:25,149 5,000-year leap? It's hard to believe, but we finally reached the end of our formal study 5 00:00:25,149 --> 00:00:32,649 of the 28 principles of the Constitution of the United States of America as found in the book, 6 00:00:32,649 --> 00:00:39,990 The 5,000-Year Leap. So, while I've reached the end of this articulation of the 28 principles, 7 00:00:40,310 --> 00:00:46,590 I hope and pray that it's only the beginning of its application in your life, my life, and the lives 8 00:00:46,590 --> 00:00:53,670 of every American. And why might that be? Well, let me reassert the importance of the 5,000-Year Leap. 9 00:00:53,729 --> 00:00:57,950 One more time, especially for those of you who may only be hearing this for the first time. Well, 10 00:00:57,950 --> 00:01:04,329 the title, The 5,000-Year Leap, derives from the fact that the liberties ensconced within our 11 00:01:04,329 --> 00:01:10,930 Constitution have liberated the human spirit and talents such that Americans have achieved more 12 00:01:10,930 --> 00:01:18,510 in the brief 200-plus years of our existence than the rest of humanity has in the previous 5,000. 13 00:01:18,769 --> 00:01:25,209 Part of the genius of men like Washington and Jefferson and Hamilton and Adams is that they 14 00:01:25,209 --> 00:01:31,129 conceived just enough government in the American Republic to give form and structure to the nation 15 00:01:31,129 --> 00:01:37,469 while giving the widest possible space for liberty and the creative talents of the individual 16 00:01:37,469 --> 00:01:45,390 to achieve greatness in every arena of human endeavor. Where have more inventions and advancements 17 00:01:45,390 --> 00:01:51,450 in science been made in the world than the United States of America, right? From penicillin 18 00:01:51,450 --> 00:01:59,030 to plutonium to plastics. Where have the greatest opportunities for economic advancement, regardless 19 00:01:59,030 --> 00:02:06,409 of race, creed, or color, been found than in the United States of America? Fortunes rise and fall 20 00:02:06,409 --> 00:02:11,610 strictly on the ability of the entrepreneur to deliver goods and services Americans want 21 00:02:11,610 --> 00:02:17,430 at a price they can afford, right? And where have more personal liberties in religion, 22 00:02:17,430 --> 00:02:25,270 personal behavior, and culture been guaranteed than in the United States of America? Ah, where 23 00:02:25,270 --> 00:02:32,930 Jew and Gentile, Christian and Hindu, Hispanic and Chinese, all much more are blended into the American 24 00:02:32,930 --> 00:02:38,969 melting pot, huh? Well, the basic assertion of the 5,000-year leap is that our founding fathers 25 00:02:38,969 --> 00:02:46,569 based this liberty, the Constitution, upon 28 principles, which they may or may not have 26 00:02:46,569 --> 00:02:51,370 consciously agreed were operative, but which were nevertheless shot through in every element 27 00:02:51,370 --> 00:02:58,610 of the Constitution. The 5,000-year leap is thus a brief distillation of the general thought of men 28 00:02:58,610 --> 00:03:05,030 like Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin. And I am convinced that anyone who is going to seriously interact 29 00:03:05,030 --> 00:03:12,590 with our founding ideas is going to have to engage the ideas, at least, that are included in the 5,000-year 30 00:03:12,590 --> 00:03:17,250 leap, if not the book itself. Well, therefore, you can save yourself a lot of work 31 00:03:17,250 --> 00:03:25,289 by first reading this book. This brings us to principle number 28, and that is, the United States 32 00:03:25,289 --> 00:03:33,669 has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race. The United States 33 00:03:33,669 --> 00:03:42,629 of America has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race. This is an 34 00:03:42,629 --> 00:03:48,110 insightful principle with which to conclude the founding principles of our Constitution. It serves 35 00:03:48,110 --> 00:03:56,750 to wrap up the entire thrust of the book. The term manifest destiny is a term unique to America, first coined 36 00:03:56,750 --> 00:04:07,750 by a literary journalist, John L. O'Sullivan, in 1837. Well, it described a concept that had been 37 00:04:07,750 --> 00:04:16,170 developing for generations in America, but without a name. And he used this manifest destiny repeatedly 38 00:04:16,170 --> 00:04:23,589 in the debates over the annexation of Texas and Oregon into the Union. Manifest means that 39 00:04:23,589 --> 00:04:31,290 this is a thing which is clear and evident. Manifest means that which is clear and evident 40 00:04:31,290 --> 00:04:37,329 to the understanding. And destiny, of course, means the preordained course of events set by God. 41 00:04:37,329 --> 00:04:43,930 Well, taken together, manifest destiny meant to O'Sullivan and his contemporaries that it was clear 42 00:04:43,930 --> 00:04:49,250 and evident to the world that God himself had preordained the course of America to stretch from 43 00:04:49,250 --> 00:04:54,649 the Atlantic to the Pacific on the North American continent. But it was more than this, too. Many 44 00:04:54,649 --> 00:05:00,829 modern histories of America limit the understanding of manifest destiny to this simplistic one-dimensional 45 00:05:00,829 --> 00:05:07,370 notion. Well, certainly everyone from Jefferson to Lincoln to Roosevelt thought that America would 46 00:05:07,370 --> 00:05:13,689 eventually stretch from sea to shining sea. But our founders envisioned so much more. What else could 47 00:05:13,689 --> 00:05:20,050 they possibly have meant by manifest destiny? Well, number one, America would be a city upon a hill, 48 00:05:20,050 --> 00:05:27,310 a shining example to the world. That was also included. John Winthrop first said that we would 49 00:05:27,310 --> 00:05:35,170 be as a shining city upon a hill if we were obedient in propagating the gospel and laboring diligently 50 00:05:35,170 --> 00:05:42,750 to be faithful to God and his word in settling this new land. This was early in our colonial history 51 00:05:42,750 --> 00:05:48,250 during the settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. And there's a dark straight line from those days 52 00:05:48,250 --> 00:05:54,870 to our founders, who felt perhaps even more strongly that the United States would be an example for the 53 00:05:54,870 --> 00:06:01,589 world, owing to its having grown in that direction in the interim. John Adams puts it this way, 54 00:06:01,990 --> 00:06:09,110 I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder as the opening of a grand scene 55 00:06:09,110 --> 00:06:16,589 and design in providence for the illumination of the ignorant, the emancipation of the slavish part of 56 00:06:16,589 --> 00:06:25,050 mankind all over the earth. Unquote. John Adams, the free Republican institutions created by the people, 57 00:06:25,449 --> 00:06:31,250 the bustling prosperous trade created by the people, the Christian gospel proclaimed by the people, 58 00:06:31,449 --> 00:06:37,490 and that gospel integrated into the lives of the people would all testify to the world 59 00:06:37,490 --> 00:06:44,189 that the United States Constitution is something unique in history. Instead of kings and pharaohs 60 00:06:44,189 --> 00:06:50,449 and czars and tyrants dictating to the people on the one hand, as during England's most recent history 61 00:06:50,449 --> 00:06:57,889 with King George III, or destructive, chaotic anarchy ravaging the people on the other hand, 62 00:06:58,089 --> 00:07:04,930 as during the Dark Ages or the Black Death in Europe, or even the most recent French Revolution, 63 00:07:04,930 --> 00:07:11,529 while our founders instead created a constitution that gives just enough government to the people 64 00:07:11,529 --> 00:07:17,769 to keep from lapsing into anarchy, while giving the maximum amount of liberty to let a Christian, 65 00:07:17,990 --> 00:07:25,290 responsible people obtain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These things the peoples of the earth 66 00:07:25,290 --> 00:07:32,329 would see and pursue themselves. Thomas Jefferson was a most enthusiastic proponent of this model, 67 00:07:32,329 --> 00:07:40,709 calling the United States of America the world's best hope, a standing monument and example for the aim 68 00:07:40,709 --> 00:07:47,149 and imitation of the people of other countries, unquote. But modeling and exemplifying were not 69 00:07:47,149 --> 00:07:53,550 the only things America was known for in regards to manifest destiny. Secondly, we must also note, 70 00:07:53,910 --> 00:08:00,790 America would become in and of itself the last asylum of liberty to the human family. 71 00:08:00,790 --> 00:08:08,230 Yes, America would become in and of itself the last asylum of liberty to the human family. 72 00:08:08,730 --> 00:08:14,110 As the original template for freedom, the United States of America would always be creating itself 73 00:08:14,110 --> 00:08:20,250 afresh. We have observed this time and again as change upon change has overtaken the world, 74 00:08:20,769 --> 00:08:25,910 whether it be the Industrial Revolution or the Computer Revolution or two world wars, 75 00:08:25,910 --> 00:08:33,570 the advent of the nuclear age. But our Constitution has proved visionary and flexible enough not only to 76 00:08:33,570 --> 00:08:40,289 adapt to these changes, but to have actually helped create them. Yes, it can be argued that without the 77 00:08:40,289 --> 00:08:46,070 spirit of innovation encouraged by liberty here, without the guarantee of invention and intellectual 78 00:08:46,070 --> 00:08:53,570 patent rights in our Constitution, without the free market capitalist economy nurtured by the commerce 79 00:08:53,570 --> 00:09:01,370 clauses of our Constitution, and without the personal liberties guaranteed us by the first ten amendments to the 80 00:09:01,370 --> 00:09:07,909 Constitution, well, in short, without the culture and rights guaranteed us in that Constitution, well, 81 00:09:08,190 --> 00:09:15,070 America would not have become the very place to which the world flocks. By the millions, whether they drift in 82 00:09:15,070 --> 00:09:23,330 tiny rubber rafts from Cuba, or they hide in containers destined for LA Harbor from China, or they come as 83 00:09:23,330 --> 00:09:30,549 illegal aliens from Mexico, or they wait patiently through the visa and naturalization progress in 84 00:09:30,549 --> 00:09:38,990 Bulgaria, people from all over the world flood here first for liberty and opportunity. The great waves of 85 00:09:38,990 --> 00:09:46,830 European migration that settled us initially from Northern Europe during the colonial period, from Southern 86 00:09:46,830 --> 00:09:54,269 Europe in the late 19th century, and from Eastern Europe in the early 20th century, well, these migrations 87 00:09:54,269 --> 00:10:02,789 stand as a testimony to the oasis of liberty America has become over the centuries of its existence. My own 88 00:10:02,789 --> 00:10:12,570 great-grandfather fled here from Holland in the 1870s for religious freedom. Oh, yes, I found out later, but it was not 89 00:10:12,570 --> 00:10:20,610 because he was persecuted for his belief in God, but because he was the village atheist in his hometown. Wow, it was 90 00:10:20,610 --> 00:10:30,049 our manifest destiny to be such a refuge. Even as Abraham Lincoln's political opponent, Stephen Douglas put it, who said, 91 00:10:30,049 --> 00:10:37,549 who would blot out the lines on the map that now mark our national boundaries on this continent and make the area of 92 00:10:37,549 --> 00:10:45,889 liberty as broad as the continent itself, unquote. I like that phrase, the area of liberty as broad as the continent 93 00:10:45,889 --> 00:10:54,009 itself, because it encapsulates what our founders meant by manifest destiny, meaning in part that we would be the last 94 00:10:54,009 --> 00:11:00,029 asylum, the best hope of the earth for freedom. The French nation understood this when they gave us the 95 00:11:00,029 --> 00:11:07,629 statue of liberty and every tired, poor, wretched refuse of humanity who longs to be free. Understands it, 96 00:11:07,730 --> 00:11:13,950 right, when they first come to our shores to become Americans. Well, thirdly, about manifest destiny, 97 00:11:14,269 --> 00:11:21,629 it also means, number three, America would stretch geographically from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific 98 00:11:21,629 --> 00:11:27,970 Ocean. We take for granted today our borders as part of the problem of immigration policy in our own 99 00:11:27,970 --> 00:11:34,389 country. We take our borders for granted. But this was not always so in our history. For most of the 19th century, 100 00:11:34,750 --> 00:11:43,710 the territorial extent of the United States was still at issue. Would Texas or New Mexico and Arizona be provinces of 101 00:11:43,710 --> 00:11:52,429 Mexico or sovereign states of the United States of America? Would Washington and Oregon and our own Idaho be 102 00:11:52,429 --> 00:12:00,549 provinces of Canada or England or even Russia? Or would they be sovereign states of the United States? 103 00:12:01,049 --> 00:12:08,090 We actually went to war with Mexico in 1845 over these issues and almost went to war with Great Britain 104 00:12:08,090 --> 00:12:15,169 over the borders of Washington and Canada. Do you remember the campaign slogan that James Buchanan had 105 00:12:15,169 --> 00:12:25,789 to try and defeat Polk in 1846? It was 54-40 or fight. 54-40. What an odd campaign slogan, right? But it meant 106 00:12:25,789 --> 00:12:33,990 that England must cede to America all of the territory of Oregon to the 54th parallel and 40th 107 00:12:33,990 --> 00:12:39,950 longitude. Or the United States would go to war with England. Oh, but fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. 108 00:12:39,950 --> 00:12:47,470 And President James K. Polk signed a compromise in which the Oregon territory, which included present-day 109 00:12:47,470 --> 00:12:53,529 state of Washington, would extend to the 49th parallel. And we have our present-day borders. 110 00:12:53,850 --> 00:13:00,669 Well, what we also tend to forget is that California was not a hippie state tapping its foot, 111 00:13:01,070 --> 00:13:06,450 waiting around with Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and a trillion-dollar deficit for Arnold Schwarzenegger 112 00:13:06,450 --> 00:13:12,970 to claim it for America. No, it was an unsettled, California was. It was an old west territory as 113 00:13:12,970 --> 00:13:20,809 wild as any in Montana or Wyoming. California was once rugged, self-reliant, and had an ornery 114 00:13:20,809 --> 00:13:27,110 independence all of its own. It was not the soft, government-dependent, and politically correct 115 00:13:27,110 --> 00:13:35,070 place like it is today. California's status was at issue for decades, having claims made to it by 116 00:13:35,070 --> 00:13:41,870 Mexico, Great Britain, and even Russia. Yeah, a few people know that Russia even claimed territory in 117 00:13:41,870 --> 00:13:49,590 what is now California. Well, owing to brave men like General John C. Fremont, California was literally 118 00:13:49,590 --> 00:13:56,830 conquered by military force. And as I have asserted many times before, no great nation has ever achieved 119 00:13:56,830 --> 00:14:04,230 greatness without being a martial nation. What we know now as Hotel California, maybe, home of fruits and 120 00:14:04,230 --> 00:14:10,309 nuts and flakes, where Berkeley is so radical it is nicknamed berserkly, and where San Francisco is so 121 00:14:10,309 --> 00:14:17,970 left-winged that it is known as San Francisco, well, this California was once as originally American 122 00:14:17,970 --> 00:14:26,350 and conservative as any county in Idaho. Oh, dear listener, may it return to those original values 123 00:14:26,350 --> 00:14:34,450 very soon. Well, what we see with manifest destiny is the courage, foresight, and boldness of action 124 00:14:34,450 --> 00:14:42,210 of the American character to seize what is ours by a God-given right and cultivate and nurture and bring 125 00:14:42,210 --> 00:14:48,590 it to full fruition. We can assert in all modesty that no one has done it better or with more faithfulness 126 00:14:48,590 --> 00:14:56,190 to the principles of God and His order than has the United States of America as it crafted the 127 00:14:56,190 --> 00:15:03,789 Constitution. Unlike the haphazard tyrannies of the world before that of our founders, as Madison would 128 00:15:03,789 --> 00:15:09,809 put it, I love this quote from James Madison in the Federalist Papers, Federalist Paper number 14, 129 00:15:10,309 --> 00:15:18,009 Madison says, happily for America, happily, we trust for the whole human race, they, that is the founders, 130 00:15:18,269 --> 00:15:24,009 Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, even himself, they pursued a new and more noble course. 131 00:15:24,009 --> 00:15:31,169 They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society. They reared the 132 00:15:31,169 --> 00:15:37,529 fabrics of governments which have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the design of a great 133 00:15:37,529 --> 00:15:46,309 confederacy which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate, unquote. Dear fellow citizen, 134 00:15:46,669 --> 00:15:53,610 fellow believer, and listener, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are their successors. We are the 135 00:15:53,610 --> 00:16:01,070 beneficiaries of their labors. We have to look into the mirror of history collectively as a people and 136 00:16:01,070 --> 00:16:07,889 we have to ask ourselves, have we been faithful in improving and perpetuating that great confederacy of 137 00:16:07,889 --> 00:16:14,129 which Madison spoke? Or have we surrendered our liberties for the same old, same old of world tyranny 138 00:16:14,129 --> 00:16:20,970 and socialism that has characterized the bulk of human history? Increasingly, we are captivating 139 00:16:20,970 --> 00:16:27,590 and capitulating to the siren song that every tyrant has sung, give me your liberty and I will give you 140 00:16:27,590 --> 00:16:35,450 death. That is the security I'll give you of a shack, stale bread, and low-paying, back-breaking jobs. 141 00:16:35,450 --> 00:16:43,529 Well, consequently, no man in such tyranny ever utterly fails, nor does he ever completely succeed 142 00:16:43,529 --> 00:16:50,129 either, although to his fullest capacity. But such a man settles and drifts into a deadening 143 00:16:50,129 --> 00:16:55,909 mediocrity where there is no great success and no great failure, but only an equal sharing of the 144 00:16:55,909 --> 00:17:03,730 misery of the human condition. Ah, behold, equity, dear listener, despising equity. Someone wants to 145 00:17:03,730 --> 00:17:10,329 find capitalism as the unequal distribution of wealth, while socialism is the equal distribution 146 00:17:10,329 --> 00:17:19,089 of poverty. Dear listener, we are swiftly headed towards the latter, right, under Bidenomics or 147 00:17:19,089 --> 00:17:27,170 Harris. Oh, may America awake to this slug-like state and throw off the chains of slavery and embrace 148 00:17:27,170 --> 00:17:33,609 the liberty that our founding fathers bequeathed to us in the Constitution of the United States of 149 00:17:33,609 --> 00:17:41,410 America. This, indeed, is our manifest destiny. What I'd like to do now is ever so briefly review 150 00:17:41,410 --> 00:17:47,890 for you all 28 principles so that you have a chance to hear them all together. We have been some six 151 00:17:47,890 --> 00:17:53,430 months treating one or two per half-hour segment, right? So I want you to hear them all at once to 152 00:17:53,430 --> 00:18:00,210 get a kind of collective impact for the whole. Here we go. Number one, the only reliable basis for 153 00:18:00,210 --> 00:18:07,109 sound government and just human relations is natural law, right? God has wired into us a basic 154 00:18:07,109 --> 00:18:12,349 understanding of law and government that, with the aid of right reason and the Bible and a largely 155 00:18:12,349 --> 00:18:18,869 Christian people, can issue in liberty an equal opportunity for all. Number two, a free people 156 00:18:18,869 --> 00:18:26,950 cannot survive under a Republican Constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong. Oh, 157 00:18:26,950 --> 00:18:32,329 the kinds of liberty and its breadth and depth and height are freeing to a righteous man guided by 158 00:18:32,329 --> 00:18:38,930 principle, but they are enslaving and crushing to the immoral and debauched man who only uses his liberty 159 00:18:38,930 --> 00:18:45,930 for a license to sin. Oh, and number three, the most promising method of securing a virtuous and morally 160 00:18:45,930 --> 00:18:53,349 stable people is to elect virtuous leaders. Oh, dear listener, our leaders come from our own midst. 161 00:18:53,349 --> 00:19:00,470 We send them to do our local, state, and national government policies. If the people are scoundrels, 162 00:19:00,589 --> 00:19:05,930 they'll send scoundrels to do their dirty work. If they're virtuous and moral, they will send righteous 163 00:19:05,930 --> 00:19:12,329 men to represent them. Oh, in the end, we get the government we deserve, do we not? Number four, 164 00:19:12,670 --> 00:19:18,369 without religion, the government of a free people cannot be maintained. Oh, important. Every man, 165 00:19:18,369 --> 00:19:23,029 especially the atheist, has a religion that shapes his moral and ethical framework. 166 00:19:23,349 --> 00:19:29,849 Our founding fathers recognized that it was biblical Christianity that shaped our constitution and 167 00:19:29,849 --> 00:19:36,150 thus uninculcated Christianity, not any other. Number five, all things were created by God. 168 00:19:36,470 --> 00:19:42,670 Therefore, upon him, all mankind are equally dependent and to him are equally responsible. 169 00:19:43,190 --> 00:19:49,490 Oh, yes, we are responsible to God. Number six, all men are created equal. Number six, 170 00:19:49,490 --> 00:19:56,170 principle number six, all men are created equal. Stirring phrase from our Declaration of Independence 171 00:19:56,170 --> 00:20:03,309 asserts that every citizen is entitled by God, their creator, to equal treatment before the law, 172 00:20:03,450 --> 00:20:09,690 not equal outcomes. Number seven, the proper role of government is to protect equal rights, 173 00:20:09,829 --> 00:20:16,690 not provide equal things. Oh, important in our day to hear this. When we protect equal rights 174 00:20:16,690 --> 00:20:24,930 and enable open-ended opportunity, we all prosper. We prosper to the degree to which we have God-given 175 00:20:24,930 --> 00:20:29,890 gifts and energy. Some will have more and some will have less. That's just the way it is. We don't 176 00:20:29,890 --> 00:20:37,190 guarantee equal outcomes, equity for all. No. Number eight, men are endowed by their creator with 177 00:20:37,190 --> 00:20:43,369 certain unalienable rights. Once again, from the Declaration of Independence. Number nine, 178 00:20:43,369 --> 00:20:49,509 to protect man's rights, God has revealed certain principles of divine law. Very important to 179 00:20:49,509 --> 00:20:56,210 understand. Special, special, excuse me, revelation. The Bible is necessary for the full and complete 180 00:20:56,210 --> 00:21:03,950 salvation and happiness of mankind. Yes. Principle number 10, the God-given right to govern is vested 181 00:21:03,950 --> 00:21:11,109 in the sovereign authority of the whole people. We the people. Oh, there is no king. No, America's battle 182 00:21:11,109 --> 00:21:17,650 cry during the revolution was, there is no king but Jesus. No divine right as sovereign, but that in 183 00:21:17,650 --> 00:21:24,150 God, as our founders maintain. No king but Jesus. Number 11, the majority of the people, principle 184 00:21:24,150 --> 00:21:30,789 number 11, the majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical. 185 00:21:31,130 --> 00:21:37,410 Oh, the people have sovereign authority. They and they alone can change that constitution. Number 12, 186 00:21:37,410 --> 00:21:43,890 principle number 12, the United States of America shall be a republic. Democracy has become a code word 187 00:21:43,890 --> 00:21:50,490 for socialism in America. No, a republic strikes a balance between the one, the few, and the many 188 00:21:50,490 --> 00:21:57,609 by governing through representatives in a federal system. Principle number 13, a constitution should 189 00:21:57,609 --> 00:22:04,130 be structured to permanently protect the people. Once again, we the people, right? Principle number 14, 190 00:22:04,130 --> 00:22:12,349 life and liberty are secure only so long as the right to property is secure. So important just 191 00:22:12,349 --> 00:22:18,250 because you burn down a city and say, it's just property. We didn't hurt anybody. No, it's an 192 00:22:18,250 --> 00:22:25,390 extension of the man, the property, protect his property. Number 15, principle 15, the highest level 193 00:22:25,390 --> 00:22:31,690 of prosperity occurs when there's a free market economy and a minimum of government regulations. 194 00:22:31,690 --> 00:22:39,069 Sweep it away. Sweep away the government regulations and liberate the American producer and consumer. 195 00:22:39,529 --> 00:22:46,609 Well, number 16, the government should be separated into three branches, legislative, executive, and 196 00:22:46,609 --> 00:22:53,569 judicial. This is the famous separation of powers doctrine. When practiced and protected, it guarantees 197 00:22:53,569 --> 00:23:00,750 that no single person or group of persons will gather into its hands all the levers of power to 198 00:23:00,750 --> 00:23:07,990 exercise tyranny. No. Number 17, a system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse 199 00:23:07,990 --> 00:23:16,089 of power. One branch relying on another to check it. Yes, checks and balances on those respective 200 00:23:16,089 --> 00:23:22,569 branches of government. Number 18, the unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved 201 00:23:22,569 --> 00:23:30,369 if the principles of government are set forth in a written constitution. No mere oral traditions. 202 00:23:30,369 --> 00:23:37,390 A written document was provided so we have a clear and objective standard, the constitution written down. 203 00:23:37,950 --> 00:23:44,730 Principle 19, only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, 204 00:23:45,029 --> 00:23:52,349 all others being retained in the people. All our founders severely restricted the federal government, 205 00:23:52,349 --> 00:23:57,369 as it should have been. There are only 20 articulated powers in all the constitution, 206 00:23:57,789 --> 00:24:05,130 but we've obviously metastasized far beyond that. Well, principle number 20, efficiency and dispatch 207 00:24:05,130 --> 00:24:11,269 require a government to operate according to the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made 208 00:24:11,269 --> 00:24:19,349 to protect the rights of the minority. This is the favorability of a republic. You have the will of 209 00:24:19,349 --> 00:24:25,390 the majority, but you protect the rights of the minority. Principle 21, strong local self-government 210 00:24:25,390 --> 00:24:32,309 is the keystone to preserving human freedom. Make it all local. Oh, just as a bullet loses power and 211 00:24:32,309 --> 00:24:38,609 velocity to the further away it travels from the Mosul, so political power loses its efficacy the farther 212 00:24:38,609 --> 00:24:45,910 away it travels from its source. The people in their respective locale. Principle 22, a free people 213 00:24:45,910 --> 00:24:53,950 should be governed by law and not by the whims of men. The rule of law, ever so important. Principle 23, 214 00:24:53,950 --> 00:25:02,130 a free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education. We cannot be free 215 00:25:02,130 --> 00:25:09,109 in ignorance. We must know how we are governed, how we govern ourselves. Principle 24, a free people 216 00:25:09,109 --> 00:25:15,410 will not survive unless they are strong. We treated this recently militarily strong, morally strong, 217 00:25:15,410 --> 00:25:21,869 strong of character. Principle 25, peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, 218 00:25:22,369 --> 00:25:29,670 entangling alliances with none. Oh, so important. Entangling alliances that got us into World War I, 219 00:25:29,829 --> 00:25:37,569 World War II, and the despicable Ukraine war. Principle 26, the core unit which determines the 220 00:25:37,569 --> 00:25:43,269 strength of any society is the family. Therefore, the government should foster and protect the 221 00:25:43,269 --> 00:25:50,650 family's integrity. Oh, that speaks for itself, doesn't it? Principle 27, the burden of debt is as 222 00:25:50,650 --> 00:25:57,190 destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest. We treated that last week. And of course, 28, 223 00:25:57,349 --> 00:26:03,609 principle 28, which we've dealt with today, the United States has a manifest destiny to be an example 224 00:26:03,609 --> 00:26:10,049 and a blessing to the entire human race. Dear listener, fellow citizen, these principles 225 00:26:10,049 --> 00:26:18,009 articulated for you are not a newfangled system, but enduring principles. I urge you to come to know 226 00:26:18,009 --> 00:26:22,890 them thoroughly. Teach them to your children and friends and bring them into the marketplace of ideas 227 00:26:22,890 --> 00:26:29,230 and action. Then, by God's grace, we will make good our responsibility to uphold, protect, 228 00:26:29,230 --> 00:26:36,150 and preserve our Constitution. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. 229 00:26:36,509 --> 00:26:42,890 New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th 230 00:26:42,890 --> 00:26:49,410 and Boulevard. Call us at area code 208-523-0196.