The First Principle of Liberty: Natural Law (Part 3)

Today is our wrap-up day for the first Principle of Liberty. Read the previous two posts to familiarize yourself with the first precept W. Cleon Skousen covers in his book The 5000 Year Leap.

As we conclude, I am grateful our Founding Fathers agreed with the principles Cicero laid out. Skousen writes that the Founding Fathers “embraced the obvious necessity of building a highly moral and virtuous society. The Founders wanted to lift mankind from the common depravity and chicanery of past civilizations, and to lay the foundation for a new kind of civilization built on freedom for the individual and prosperity for the whole commonwealth. That is why they built their system on Natural Law.” Unfortunately we continue our daily slide away from that absolute standard.

Skousen ends this section with a list of examples of how the Founding Fathers use the principle of Natural Law in writing the Constitution (and in how they lived). He notes the following ideas are based on Natural Law: Unalienable Rights, Unalienable Duties, Habeas Corpus, Limited Government, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, Self-Preservation, the right to Contracts, protection of the Family and Marriage, Justice by Reparation, the Right to Bear Arms, and No Taxation Without Representation. He notes (and of course he’s right) that these are only a few examples. . . .

When we understand the baseline for what the Framers of the Constitution wrote (the “why”), we better understand what they wrote. Too few know the Constitution, and that’s something I hope to change along the way. . . .

For now, digest what Cicero and Skousen have written. It’s a lot, but it’s critical. THERE MUST BE A FOUNDATION, A SOLID ROCK—all other ground is sinking sand. Indeed: all other ground is sinking sand.