OPINION:
In America, all roads lead to God — or should. And when they don’t, trouble ensues. Explanation?
The Founding Fathers created a system of governance that said individual rights come from the Creator, and that the political class was in place simply to protect and preserve those individual rights — that politicians were to be the humble servants to the people, i.e. their bosses.
Americans don’t get their rights from the government.
Americans are born into their rights, which are given — freely, no less — by an all-powerful, all-sovereign God.
So as America’s belief in, regard for and reliance upon God goes, so goes America’s political, cultural, educational, economic and military structures.
It’s a simple formula for success, really.
“Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people,” George Washington wrote. “The general government can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy or any despotic or oppressive form so long as there is any virtue in the body of the people.”
Truer words are rarely spoken.
Those with solid morals and principled virtues don’t need government to regulate them into obeying proper societal rules and regulations and laws and expectations. They can self-regulate; they can control their own selves.
It’s only the lawless who need laws, so as to give the lawful the tools to regulate and reinforce standards and, if necessary, inflict course corrections and punishments.
And the ultimate arbiter of rights versus wrongs is the Bible.
The Ten Commandments, at the least, is a foundation of America’s judiciary.
But more than that, biblical standards — the Judeo-Christian teachings — are the very threads that hold the fabric of America’s freedoms together.
When wayward school board members get it into their heads that they know better than parents on how to raise children, and therefore impose ridiculous face mask mandates as conditions of attending class — the battles may focus on child safety, or teacher fears, or on the will of the unions. But the war is about God-given rights versus government-granted authorities.
When Dr. Anthony Fauci and medical bureaucrats working under his direction decide that American citizens must get vaccinated and boosted once, twice, three times in order to be deemed safe to travel, safe to associate with others — the battles may focus on science and research and health field findings. But the war, once again, is about God-given rights versus government-granted freedoms.
When President Biden sends in his Labor Department officials to tell private businesses they must do that, but not this; and when court officials find cause to debate about Biden’s dictates and determine whether his administration can properly tell private businesses to do this, but not that — the various battles may focus on the “this” and the “that” and the particular situations pertaining to the “that” and the “this.” But the war, once again, is about God-given versus government-granted.
All roads lead to God. Or should.
God-given allows individuals the right to decide if they should face mask; if they should stay home from church; if they should close their businesses down because they’re nonessential in a time of pandemic panic; if they should keep their kids home from school, or force them to wear masks as conditions of going to class; if they should download contact tracing apps on their smartphones to let government track their every moves — for the good of the nation’s health, dontcha know; if they should question government narratives about deep state nefarious goings-on — or keep quiet; and more.
Government-granted says shut up and obey. And when the government orders change, sometimes overnight? Government-granted says shut up and switch gears and obey once again.
The battles take many forms; the skirmishes take many, many shapes.
But it’s the fight to keep “God-given” that’s the war. That’s the principle the left wants to conquer; that’s the spirit of individualism the leftists must kill. They want collectivism and to do it, they must drive out God.
Ultimately, truthfully, horrifically, they want the worship of the people for themselves.
Again, the solution to the onslaught is simple.
It’s all about the moral compass. It’s all about the road America travels. We’re either with God, or without. And without is to lose all.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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