What Exactly Did The Founders Want?

Anyone who has studied American history knows that this nation was founded on liberty for its citizens following Judeo-Christian principles. Many of the founders were Christians, or at least believers in God, and they incorporated those beliefs into their writings, their politics, even into government documents.

God is mentioned four times in the very first official document of the United States of America - the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson penned the words but the committee consisted of Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. God was definitely a part of it. He is mentioned in the very first sentence:

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

The second reference to God comes in the first sentence of the second paragraph:

"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." 

The founders knew that our rights come not from man/government but from God and the new American government was intended to ensure those God-given rights were not infringed.

And the final two references to God are in the last paragraph:

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Certainly the founders intended God to be a part of the government of the new United States of America. The First Amendment clause about freedom of religion is there to prevent the government from declaring a national religion rather than to prevent religion from being a part of the government. And the infamous "separation of church and state" was never a part of any official legislative document. It was a phrase used by religious leaders in the beginning times of our nation to remind the government to stay out of church affairs and was once written by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to a church in New England. There is no such official, legal thing as separation of church and state.

Secularists today argue that because God himself isn't mentioned in the Constitution that He wasn't supposed to be a part of the government. However, that theory is blown away by President George Washington's actions. In the second paragraph of his first inaugural address Washington referenced God three separate times.

"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station; it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. 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."

In the fourth paragraph Washington again referenced God:

"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..."

Immediately following his inauguration he led the entire Congress a couple of blocks away to St. Paul's church for a worship service. There is no doubt the founders included God in our government.

The founders wanted us to have as many liberties as possible while adhering to the will of God. They also wanted us to be educated. 

Thomas Jefferson once wrote "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and what never will be." His meaning was simple. A free people cannot remain so if they do not educate themselves. Never was that more true in these United States than today - when only one third of the population votes for our elected officials and many of those really are uninformed as to for what and whom they are voting.

Our founders also knew that liberty and the free market go hand in hand for a free nation to be successful. Samuel Adams once wrote "The Utopian schemes of leveling, and a community of goods, are as visionary and impracticable as those which vest all property in the Crown. These ideas are arbitrary, despotic, and, in our government, unconstitutional." 

Adams knew that too much government control and regulating income and property equally was doomed to failure and would be no different than life under the British crown. And he was correct. Free market capitalism is what built this nation. Not until the Presidency of FDR did the American government adopt the economic teachings of John Maynard Keynes, the so-called "Keynesian economics," the theory that "in the short run, especially during recessions, economic output is strongly influenced by aggregate demand (total spending in the economy), usually by the government."

The problem with Keynesian economics is that the government simply continues to go further and further into debt while stimulus to the economy often is minimal and doesn't change anything. Beginning with George W. Bush in 2008, government "stimulus" of the economy put us more in debt than ever and the results were minimal. Obama did it again in 2009, 2013 and 2014, also with minimal effect. And while Obama likes to tout how our economy is improving steadily the truth is that its growth is still minimal. They lie about unemployment numbers which are, when those no longer looking for work are taken into effect, right around 12%. The 5% numbers put out by the Obama administration conveniently leave off certain details.

The founders wrote the Constitution to protect American liberties from leaders like President Obama. They divided the government into three branches to keep any one branch from having too much power.

President Obama doesn't much like the Constitution because it gets in the way of some of the radical, left-wing things he wants to do. Back in 2002, well before he was President, Obama said:

"The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as it’s been interpreted, and the Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf."

A man with that attitude shouldn't even be in U.S. politics, let alone the President of the United States. I defer back to the paragraph above about the uninformed voters. Look what they've given us. Twice.