“When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.” - Thomas Jefferson1
The Highest Authority
Given the recent addition of protections to the Missouri Constitution for those who would mutilate and murder children and babies, it seemed appropriate to remind everyone about one of the inconvenient truths that secularists would want you to forget. If I asked you what the highest authority in the U.S. is, what would you say? Most people today would say the federal government… and they would be wrong. I won’t hold it against you if you immediately thought that as well, because the federal government does claim to be the highest authority, particularly the U.S. Supreme Court. The vast majority of educational institutions, from government grade schools, to all of the ivy league universities, all teach that the highest authority in the United States is the federal government. There is just one problem. It is not now, nor was it ever, true.
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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
If the statement above looks familiar, it should. It comes right out of the Declaration of Independence. This is the crux of the justification of the founding fathers to sever ties with Britain, and create what came to be the United States. Our “unalienable Rights” come from our Creator, that is, God, not any man, or group of men, regardless of their titles. This small paragraph contains within it the fruit of hundreds of years of reforming thought around concepts such as where does authority come from, what is liberty, what is a just law, and how to respond to tyranny (both in the context of monarchy and democracy). Tracing back through all of that subject matter would require far too much time, and has been done by far more intelligent and eloquent men than I.
For today, I will simply say that both the breaking away from the British crown, and the formation of the new United States were built on the Christian foundation of a Sovereign God, who is the ultimate authority, and delegates certain lesser authority to the individual, family, church, and civil government, and none of this delegated authority is absolute, especially in cases where it violates the natural law of God. Here are a few resources that provide more information and background on a host of related subjects:
Augustine. The City of God. (Many editions available)
Brutus, Stephen Junius. Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos: A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants
Rutherford, Samuel. Lex Rex: The Law is King
Sunshine, Glenn A. Slaying Leviathan: Limited Government and Resistance in the Christian Tradition
Trewhella, Matthew J. The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates: A Proper Resistance to Tyranny and a Repudiation of Unlimited Obedience to Civil Government
Proactive Note for the Fact Checkers: Statists love to claim that Jefferson never said this. The quote is a summarization of his actual words, straight out of the Declaration of Independence.
“When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
So, consider it a “modern day translation”, that just happens to sound cool, too. Glad we could clear that up. Godspeed!