The Age of Enlightenment

 A Brief History Lesson

Since the beginning of time men have  formed communities for their protection and mutual benefit. Gradually, over time these communities evolved and were organized and powerful men assumed the role as leaders. It was their responsibility to make the political decisions for the good of the community. 

The rulers ultimately became kings and queens and the people became their subjects. All of the political power in the realm was vested in the monarch and the people had no rights. The people were taught to believe that their King was appointed by God to rule over them and that it was their duty to obey his commands.

In the a period know as the Age of Enlightenment men like John Locke questioned the status quo and suggested that all men were created with a natural right to life, liberty and property. His ideas influenced the men who signed the Declaration of Independence.

As a result of this paradigm shift a government was created for the purpose of protecting the rights of the people from the abuse of power by their rulers. The founding fathers created a government where the rulers accountable to the people.

The founders wrote a Constitution that established a republican form of government that was governed by the rule of law. The Constitution was written to govern the government and not the people. They understood that men with too much power could not be trusted.

The colonists fought a bloody eight year war to obtain their freedom from a tyrannical king and wanted above all else to permanently secure the God-given rights of the people. They understood that just governments must be governed by the principles of natural law and not by the whims of the majority.

The founders created a Federal government where the political power was shared between the states and the national government In the Constitution the central government was granted a short list of delegated powers and reserved all other powers to themselves. 

Gradually, over time our republican form of government has been turned into a democracy  where the will of the majority trumos the rule of law. The founders feared that whims of the majority would turn our Constitutional Republic into Democracy where our natural rights  would become privileges granted to them by the government.

The political parties were created for the purpose of promoting a government ruled by the will of the majority. Individual rights can not be secure in a democracy.  When individuals are forced  to surrender  anyof their rights for the greater good of the greater number, you are living in Karl Marx's version of an ideal society.

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