In this inaugural edition of Founders Freedom we will examine the effect that the system of government created by the Founders in the Constitution has had, not only on us here in America, but across the entire planet. We will come to understand that the entire human race owes unfathomable thanks to these brave men. Human beings have been organizing themselves into communities for thousands of years. In every instance, no matter how large or powerful the group became, every society came and went.
In 1607 another attempt was undertaken to start a civilization from scratch. History proves this one was different. It was called Jamestown, after James I of England. When Jamestown was founded over 400 years ago very little progress had been made by the human family in the previous 5,000 years. Their tools still consisted of shovel, ax, hoe, and plow which had shown only slight improvement since the civilizations of ancient China, Egypt, Greece, and others. Everything from how their clothing was made to their mode of transportation had shown little improvement or innovation. It is no coincidence that in each of these cases the form of government was some variation of totalitarian or authoritarian system which thwarted individual liberty.
Jamestown experimented with communal economics and found it to be an utter failure. Eventually an economic system centered on free enterprise principles began to emerge and life began to improve in colonial America. These early beginnings led slowly but surely to the stunning and historic contributions of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington, and so many others 180 years later.
Fast forward 230 years from the time of our founding. This noble experiment of free enterprise which focused on American ingenuity, and not on government, has produced unthinkable results. Just a few of the incredible achievements in this historically short period of time include the automobile, the airplane, space travel, nuclear energy, the telephone, television, and the internet. Other happy by-products included a doubling of life expectancy, central heating and cooling, and a dramatic increase in the literacy rate. All of this from a free enterprise economic system in a span of less than 250 years, after virtually no progress in the previous 5,000 years! There can be no other explanation for this other than what the Founding Fathers created 222 years ago was a miracle.
While all of this is quite interesting, one might ask what relevance does this hold for us today. The answer is it has tremendous relevance. As we ponder solutions for issues like unemployment and a faltering economy, cap and trade legislation, and health care reform will be instructive to find out what the Founding Fathers would say about these issues. Studying the Founders success formula is absolutely essential because their principles are based on Natural Law. Natural Law is God's Law and is therefore timeless. It is as valid today as it was in 1787 as it was at the birth of Jesus Christ. This understanding is critical because it is possible to lose this success formula and undo all of the astounding achievements we've experienced since the birth of our nation in less than one generation, and many fear it could be our generation. In order to regain the greatness created by our Founding Fathers we must first learn the principles they used as guidance and then apply those timeless principles to our situation today. Here the Founding Fathers will come back to life! They will be revived to comment on the issues and problems of our day. Let us return to our Founders Freedom!
