America is (or was intended to be) a Christian nation.
More specifically, a Protestant nation.
More specific than that, a Presbyterian nation.
The British (Church of England) referred to the American Revolution as "the Presbyterian junto"
I'm a Calvinist. I believe in the Calvinist doctrine of "the depravity of man."
The Framers of the U.S. Constitution believed in "the depravity of man."
James Madison studied under John Witherspoon, the Calvinist President of Princeton University and Signer of the Declaration of Independence. As Madison put it, " If men were angels, no government would be necessary." This is arguably the most famous line from The Federalist Papers. We've all heard this in our civics class. We need "government" to keep society in line.
But in that particular essay (#51), Madison was not trying to emphasize the need for society to have a civil government. Everybody already agreed on that. He was stressing the need to control the controllers:
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.
Hence the need for such "auxiliary precautions" as "checks and balances," a "separation of powers," and a Bill of Rights. All because we cannot trust men with political power. Trusting the government is un-American.
But, as we know, the Framers trusted men with political power anyway. They (wrongly) believed that God required men to form governments. If you go through the Bible verse by verse, at each step asking the question, "did God just now command human beings to form what we know as 'the State?'" after each of the 31,103 verses you will have to answer "No." God never commanded human beings to form "the State." "The State" was invented by unGodly rebels like Nimrod. I'll betcha.
The institution called "the State" is responsible for more evil than any other institution ever created by man. More evil than all organized crime. More evil than all "private sector" evil. And the United States, believe it or not, is the most evil government on the planet.
Some will say, "But if we don't have any government, society will be plunged into anarchy."
"Anarchy" in this case means "chaos, lawlessness, rampant crime."
Why would "chaos, lawlessness, and rampant crime" break out without politicians? Because of "the depravity of man." That's the usual conservative answer.
I would like to suggest that human beings are better than that.
The Bible says that every human being knows it is immoral to steal or to hurt other people. See the first two chapters of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans.
14 The Gentiles do not have the law [which was given through Moses]. But they do what the law says because their own hearts tell them to. They have a law of their own, even though they do not know the law [of Moses].
15 They show that the law is written in their hearts. They know what is right to do and what is wrong to do. Their own thoughts tell them they have done what is wrong or what is not wrong.)
Romans 2:14-15
The King James Version renders verse 15:
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another
Christians are often told they should not judge homosexuals, adulterers or abortionists. That, of course, is an intolerant judgment of/against Christians.
I believe judging people is a good thing. The world would have been a better place if the German people had properly judged the Nazis, and been a little less "tolerant" and a little more "bigoted."
As the KJV suggests, we all accuse or excuse other people all the time, based on our internal moral compass.
This capacity for judging others holds us all in check. I would like to suggest that our concern over the moral judgments of our family, neighbors, co-workers, employers, and Facebook friends, is more immediately important to us than what politicians in Washington D.C. think about us.
If Washington D.C. were to fall into hell, nobody would notice. "Anarchy" would not break out, even if we lived in a state of literal anarchy, that is, a stateless condition. People will still be judgmental. There will be social pressure not to steal. The Bible says unbelievers tend to pretend to be believers. This is why you have so many "hypocrites" in church.
If you believe in the "depravity of man," you might admit that there are times when you would like to steal, but you're afraid someone will find out. You don't want to be publicly branded as a thief.
Not simply that you don't want to be arrested by the government's police. Most criminals think they can evade the police and "get away with it." Non-criminals like you are more concerned about what other non-criminals like you think about you.
People who don't care what others think are called "sociopaths."
They can inflict harm on others, because they don't care what others feel.
They are not social.
Here's why anarchy (a society without politicians) is our best option.
First, the cost of creating a "civil government" -- a socialist monopoly on security -- to deal with the small percentage of people who are criminal sociopaths is greater than the cost to society inflicted by those sociopaths. You pay about 2/3 of everything you earn to the federal government. Every year. Do you think if we abolished the federal government that private sector criminals would inflict that much damage on you? By abolishing corporate income taxes (which you pay at the checkstand) and income taxes and all other ways Washington D.C. has its hand in your wallet, your disposable income would double, and you could afford to buy a much better system of security than the government provides, at a more competitive price. Capitalists would see to that very quickly. (Right now, there's less of a market for private security because consumers live under the illusion that the government protects them. Which it doesn't.)
Second, government destroys the family, and it is families that create empathy and prevent children from growing up to be sociopaths. More powerful government means less powerful families, with mothers forced to get a job outside the home to pay the government's taxes, and more sociopaths. Then the cry goes up for more government, and you have a vicious cycle of declining civilization.
Third, sociopaths are attracted to government like bees to honey. Politicians are more likely to be sociopaths than any other occupation. You want more government? Get ready to pay more taxes to hire more sociopaths. Sociopaths love the power to control, to steal, to inflict pain, and -- best of all -- to do it "legally." And get paid handsomely to do it. Why on earth would you hire sociopaths to protect you from sociopaths?
Let's start imagining a less sociopathic society. Let's imagine how human beings would interact without sociopaths in "government." Start here.
