New Rulers in the USA Are Reducing Our God-given Freedoms

In 1776, the colonists of the American colony sought their God-given freedoms from England’s rulers. To secure these natural freedoms, they implemented the social contract theory of England’s John Locke. The first step of this contract unifies the colonists. This unification occurred on July 4, 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. It created a whole consisting of ‘the people’ and ‘God.’ The second step creates another whole of, by, and for ‘the people.’ In this step, ‘the people’ thus create a ‘limited government’ by reducing some of their God-given freedoms. This new kind of government was formed when a constitution was prepared in the autumn of 1787. It was ratified by representatives of ‘the people’ by June 21, 1788. This first social contract is known as ‘the first experiment of democracy.’

Today, more and more people are calling the US experiment in democracy a failure because the US economy divides Americans spiritually and materially. Further, some people are saying that the USA democracy is not ready to be promoted in the world. For instance, they ask, “Is Operation Freedom in Iraq a wise military decision when our nation has many social problems and when terrorism is growing and is preparing to kill many US citizens?”

I argue that the USA experiment in democracy has failed drastically. This failure has occurred because the limited government of the USA has extended its activities well beyond the freedoms that any human receives from God. This extension was made possible by US Supreme Court when it eliminated God from government. This Supreme Court act was undeclarational because the Declaration of Independence is the highest law of the land. With this extension and elimination, government gains sovereignty, ‘the people’ lose sovereignty, and God becomes a concern only of ‘the people.’ But, something else happened. This extension and elimination destroyed Locke’s social contract and turned the USA back into a ruler-ruled nation. So, Americans are governed today like the colonists were governed prior to 1776. Further, the wholeness of ‘government’ and ‘the people’ was also destroyed. The division of the people and government destroyed this first world experiment on freedom.

I go further and argue that government failed because it was influenced by new forms of rulers. These new rulers are landowners, moneyed interests, free traders, title sellers, etc These new rulers view money as an end rather than a means. This view allows any American, not only Congress, to create money. Without means, the US economy turned into laissez-faire, the most ungodly economy to implement. With an end, money becomes the only purpose of life. Without means, ‘the people’ have no desired hopes and do not live in the future. And, their children and grandchildren learn to live without accepting responsibilities to God and helping other people. Essentially, the USA changed to the old ruler-ruled politics. The only change is the way rulers rule and use their powers.