November 2006     

Principles of Government

By Fred Gielow

According to W. Cleon Skousen, in his interesting book, The 5000 Year Leap, (National Center for Constitutional Studies, seventh printing, June 2006), the design of the U.S. government was based on 28 major principles. They are:

• The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law (God's order of things).

• A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong.

• The most promising method of securing a virtuous and morally stable people is to elect virtuous leaders.

• Without religion, the government of a free people cannot be maintained.

• All things were created by God, therefore upon Him all mankind are equally dependent, and to Him they are equally responsible.

• All men are created equal.

• The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things.

• Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.

• To protect man's rights, God has revealed certain principles of divine law.

• The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people.

• The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical.

• The United States of America shall be a republic.

• A constitution should be structured to permanently protect the people from the human frailties of their rulers.

• Life and liberty are secure only so long as the right to property is secure.

• The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free-market economy and a minimum of government regulations.

• The government should be separated into three branches - legislative, executive, and judicial.

• A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power.

• The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written constitution.

• Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, all others being retained in the people.

• Efficiency and dispatch require government to operate according to the will of the Majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority.

• Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom.

• A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.

• A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.

• A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.

• "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none."

• The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore, the government should foster and protect it's Integrity.

• The burden of debt is as destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest.

• The United States has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race.

Do these characteristics describe our government today?

Fred Gielow is the author of "You Don't Say," and is involved in property rights activities at: www.youdontsay.org.