Issue 26.16
Part 1:
There seems to be a view of some persistence in our nation that we should not care too much about the personal or private virtue of our leaders. While I admit that some good men have been poor presidents or legislators, I believe that a lack of conscience and character will eventually create damage to our nation when those people of immoral intent remain in power. For the next couple of articles, I will defer to the words of our founding fathers as they established our country and created the path that has provided most of the prosperity, happiness and freedom we have enjoyed and are now in danger of losing. I recommend their thoughts to all for serious consideration and reflection.
From George Washingon:
Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience. The Rules of Civility, Circa 1748
No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency….. There exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained. First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789
Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free Government. Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
Your love of liberty — your respect for the laws — your habits of industry — and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual happiness. letter to the Residents of Boston, October 27, 1789
[A] good moral character is the first essential in a man, and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous. letter to Steptoe Washington, December 5, 1790
From James Madison:
Conscience is the most sacred of all property. Essay on Property, March 29, 1792
Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them. speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 20, 1788
We will continue these words of caution and wisdom in the next couple of articles
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.