WHO IS FIT TO SERVE IN GOVERNMENT?

I have long pondered this great question in detail. Is there, by any chance at all, a quick and easy marker or guideline to determine, up front, who is fit to serve in government and who is not? Yes, indeed there is.

Now, dear reader, you need to understand a few things very clearly. Your very life, not to mention a decent life, hangs upon this very marked principle.

I am now 89 years old, a Navy veteran of W.W.II and I am a person who greatly desires to leave some legacy from his life which will benefit mankind, and especially U.S. citizens, regardless of age or social standing.

I have practiced two professions – maybe you could say three. Being a registered pharmacist for 30 plus years would be one. Being a rental landlord and business building owner, would be two. And I now am a practicing professional musician. This would be the third profession.

My dad was a career public school teacher and administrator, and he was a bit of a philosopher, as was his own father.

Perhaps I am a bit more of a political thinker than either of them, but considering that the times were different, maybe not.

Our federal government is, frankly, a disaster today – proceeding to marry the citizens of the U.S.A. to a system of Socialism – or worse. We have a president who has exceeded his constitutional authority well exceeding 28 to 30 times, in matters of extreme importance. He has not, and will not, follow the Constitution of our great country, which gives powers to the President, the Congress (both Houses), the states, and the people.

I expect to be challenged here, as to my statements and my conclusions, and I would be glad to be challenged as a younger man, but now – especially as an elderly person – for what I believe and WHY.

Let me review, for each of you readers, a great statement from the Declaration of Independence, a document having equal authority with the Constitution of the United States of America:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident – that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

You may see this portion of the Declaration discussed in my writing entitled “Big Government.” In this present article, I am talking about a different aspect of the same thing.

Now please read carefully and understand – any person who does not totally believe that our rights come from God should never be allowed to hold high public office, either federal or state level and maybe not even municipal level. WHY? I know that I will hear that said, maybe shouted!!

And here is my answer to the “WHY.”

Anyone who does not believe that God gives us these rights must believe that someone or some group gave these rights to us. That leaves the obvious conclusion: our rights then, as outlined in the Declaration, are given to us by some person or government official, or group of people. Now, what do we have?

Why, we have the rule of man over our lives. And, what kind of man or what kinds of men do we then have? Men of power, men of influence, men of prestige, men of money and wealth and whatever else men might need to keep themselves in a position of power.

Now God is not about to take away the rights He has given to a people whom He has designed to be free – oh, yes, “we the people” may neglect these rights, or question them (if we are that ignorant), or try to change the meaning of these rights, so as to make them of no effect.

Now I need to remind my readers of something that they may wish to avoid or question. If a person or group of people does not acknowledge God as the giver of these rights, then they believe that our rights come from man – not “any” man or group, but the man or group who now has the rights of all of us in his human hand. It should be an obvious deduction, but I am afraid it has been missed.

Anyone who believes in anything, any premise, any philosophy, will, in his or her position of power, do all in their power to accomplish what THEY believe in.

What one believes, one will try to mold, make, and establish. In the entire history of man, it has never been different. The kindly, the benevolent person tries to establish kindness, in attitude and in deed. The power-grabber, the dictator, the unscrupulous leader will quickly try to act out the things he believes in. And ever so slowly (and sometimes quickly), the leader or leaders in power seek to accomplish what THEY believe in – at the cost of ANYONE standing in their way.

So, in essence, what a person believes, he will try to accomplish and establish. And so, another possibility arises – might such a person use lies, cruelty, abuse, or loss of life against anyone who disagrees with him and his so-called “beliefs?” ABSOLUTELY!!!

You have heard the quotation: “Power corrupts – Absolute Power corrupts absolutely”!!

If we, as a free people (or having once been a free people), expect to regain the God-given freedoms we once had, and retain them, we, therefore, cannot allow people who believe our rights do not come from God to hold any public position of trust – for they who believe our rights come from man will do all in their power to take away our God-given rights and give us the miserable so-called rights of whatever man in power deems necessary to keep us from rebelling.

Now I am not saying that a man who believes our rights come from man and groups of men has no rights and privileges. We would allow him or her to be a decent law-abiding person, good marriage mate, and allowed to bounce grandchildren and great-grandchildren on their knee as often as they wish. But should we allow them to hold high public office?

To do so, we would forfeit our rights to provide fair treatment for everyone and dignity for all deserving of such. We would neglect to follow God’s recipe for successful lives for all and equal opportunity for all.

Now one more thing – being “created equal” does not mean we all have equal mentality or equal abilities. It merely means that our lives are of equal value and of equal importance to God, regardless of our financial or social status. We all should be equal under the law.

We could very likely, in my system, need new political parties, with different names. It would be a very small price to pay. We would have individual freedom within laws that protect everyone.

Shouldn’t this be what the U.S.A. is all about?