28 Principles that Make the United States of America Possible
[taken from The 5000 Year Leap, by W. Cleon Skousen]
1. The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is natural law. (Read John's Essay.)
2. A free people cannot survive under a Republican Constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong. (Read John's Essay.)
3. The most promising method of securing a virtuous and morally stable people is to elect virtuous leaders. (Read John's Essay.)
4. Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained. (Read John's Essay.)
5. All things were created by God. Therefore upon him all mankind are equally dependent, and to him they are equally responsible. (Read John's Essay.)
6. All men are created equal. (Read John's Essay.)
7. The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things. (Read John's Essay.)
8. Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. (Read John's Essay.)
9. To protect Man's rights, God has revealed certain principles of Divine law. (Read John's Essay.)
10. The God given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people. (Read John's Essay.)
11. The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical. (Read John's Essay.)
12. The United States shall be a Republic. (Read John's Essay.)
13. A Constitution should be structured to permanently protect the people from the human frailties of their rulers.
14. Life and liberty are secure only so long as the right of property is secure.
15. The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free market economy and a minimum of government regulations.
16.The government should be separated into three branches, Legislative, Executive and Judicial.
17. A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power.
18.The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written Constitution.
19. Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, all others being retained in the people.
20. Efficiency and dispatch require government to operate according to the will of the majority, but most Constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority.
21. Strong, local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom.
22. A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.
23. A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.
24. A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.
25. Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations-entangling alliances with none.
26. The core unit, which determines the strength of any society, is the family, therefore, the government should foster and protect its integrity.
27. The burden of debt is as destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest.
28. The United States has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race.