What Is the Purpose of Government?

There is a God. Our rights come from Him. The purpose of civil government is to protect and secure God given rights.

This is the American View of Law and Government. It is also the Christian View. It is set forth very concisely and precisely in our Declaration of Independence.

Under this Christian, American view, civil government is charged with two principle functions.

First, civil government is responsible for protecting the integrity of our borders.

Secondly, civil government is duty bound to administer the justice system. However, in making and enforcing laws, civil government is required to follow God’s law as the ultimate standard to determine the validity of all earthly laws.

This ultimate standard which limits what civil government can do is referred to in the Declaration of Independence as “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”.

Although it was drafted and signed many years ago, the Declaration is still valid today. It is still the law of the land. Because it sets forth the principles upon which the validity of the Constitution and all statutes depend, the US Code refers to the Declaration as the Organic Law of these United States.

The Declaration is not void or invalid because it is old or because it acknowledges the Creator God as the Source of life and law and liberty. On the contrary, its principles are fresh and alive and vital. And both the knowledge of these principles – and their vitality in the hearts of Americans, are fundamental to the future of freedom.

Now, despite what we hear repeatedly today, the redistribution of wealth is NOT a function of government. There exists no valid authority for civil government to feed, clothe, or shelter anyone.

Frederick Bastiat, author of a famous book called “The Law” wrote the following words concerning redistribution of wealth which he termed “legal plunder”:

When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.

Legal plunder occurs when government officials, who are charged with protecting our rights to property, actually become the thieves who covet and convert our property to their own uses. In other words, they use the authority of the law to break the law.

Obamacare serves as an example of this. The Constitution provides no authority for the Federal government to regulate any aspect of health care. Nevertheless, Obamacare is used to decimate the economy and destroy the most fundamental property right of all – the right to control our own bodies.

Of course, none of this could occur, without the prior adoption of the perverse moral code that Bastiat referred to. Legislatures, Executives and Courts who believe that they are so wise that they can redefine God-ordained marriage, limit your ability to defend yourself with a weapon, or declare the killing of babies to be legal represents both the lawless state of the civil government and the failure of Americans to keep their government servants “in check”.

The rule of law has now become the rule of lawlessness.

While the road back to lawful government is possible it will require not only your education but your painstaking commitment and resolve.

Watch the video of this column:

*** Jake MacAulay *** is a Life and Liberty News Contributor and serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Institute on the Constitution (IOTC), an educational outreach that presents the founders’ “American View” of law and government. The former co-host of the syndicated talk show, The Sons of Liberty, he is an ordained minister and has spoken to audiences nation-wide, and has established the American Club, a constitutional study group in public and private schools.

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