Issue 9.17
Principles are guiding influences that shape our decisions. Those among us who are without principle continue to make decisions based on other considerations such as profit, personal power, benefitting their friends, revenge, etc. These motives could also be considered principles, but for the purposes of this article, I would like to define the word principle to mean “principles of truth”.
If we make decisions based on this definition of principle, we tend to not only make decisions that have an impact for good, but we also pave the way for our posterity to inherit freedom and opportunity. Decisions made for the purposes listed above are in opposition to truth and responsibility and not only cause problems now, but degrade the future for all of us. Here are just a few of the principles that made our country great but are under attack in our day.
Personal Responsibility – When each person and family take responsibility to the extent possible for their own financial and societal well-being, security, honesty and civic duty, the community and nation thrive and have little that needs government control or intervention. When there is a lack of this in society, much time, effort and money has to be expended to control destructive actions, force people to comply with rules and limit freedoms to protect other citizens.
Civic Education – When individuals make the effort to understand what works in a free society and support those policies and attitudes that create and maintain freedom and prosperity, we encourage liberty and success. When people are uninformed as to these important principles, we end up electing those who care little for our freedoms and well-being. They become dictators instead of servants. In our form of government, we can remove them when they become abusive of power and position, but only if we stay informed and require their compliance with the principles of freedom and only if we actually inform ourselves of what they are doing in the name of “we the people”.
Informed Involvement – I hear complaints all the time about what is being done wrong by a city, county, state or federal government entity, be it a president, a bureaucracy or a elected representative. These same people often have never attended a city council meeting, the state legislature or have not written or communicated with their elected representatives. Make sure you know what you are talking about, understand all sides of the issue and have solid proposals to improve what is happening – then take that information to those involved and ask that they act. If they are unwilling to do the right thing, remove them from office at the next election by working for someone who will replace them and act correctly. Don’t count on the media to give you all the facts as many that work there have their own agendas. Do your own research.
Public and Private Virtue – Some people use the concept of a wall between church and state to convince us that morality should not be a part of government. That wall only exists in law to avoid state control of religions and religions controlling the state. The fact of the matter is that we must insist on virtues such as honor, humility, fidelity, honesty, integrity and commitment to principles above the petty selfishness and greed of dishonest people. If we do not, we get all the negative types of actions, laws and restrictions on our freedoms that the type of people that we then elect can force upon us. This fear of insisting on virtue in our elected officials is leading us down a path that will be hard to recover from.
There are many other Principles of Freedom which we will examine in future articles, but this is a good start. If we don’t make these part of government and our actions in relation to it, we will continue the downward slide that has been accelerating in recent decades.
Lynn West is a thinker, a teacher and a patriot. You can reach him through email at forgingthefuture2021@gmail.com or through this newspaper. Liberty is a state of being which must be continually created. These articles can help all of us discover the ways we can contribute to that outcome.