“Let me add, only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

~ Benjamin Franklin

 

It is said that republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms. After over 240 years, has America grown incapable of freedom? How long can a nation remain free if the citizens no longer place a high value on freedom and liberty? These are rather fascinating questions given our current political and spiritual landscape. In order to find some answers we must start this journey at the beginning. At the founding of our republic.

Our republic was founded by men who strongly believed in God. There was no doubt in their minds that the victory over the British was divinely aided. Ben Franklin stated, “All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor.” He went even further, “…the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”

That then leads to this logical adjunct. Is it also then probable an empire can fall when God is pushed away? As generation after generation has passed, that once righteous and religious people that fought for freedom and founded our republic have moved to live in compromise and now outright rebellion. Ben Franklin added, “I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than builders of Babel.”

“No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign invaders.”

~ Samuel Adams

This past year has shown just how easily the American people have tamely surrendered their freedom and liberty for a virus. Many have surrendered freedom for what they believe is some security. Could you imagine even just twenty years ago the American population so easily surrendering to government mandates by politicians and unelected health officials?

We have become a population that has more and more abandoned God and morality and replaced Him with the state. It’s a Faustian bargain. Americans have exchanged freedom and liberty for the security of government. They wish for government to take care of them from the cradle to the grave. They would rather give up individual freedom and liberty to let a small elite class of people manage and dictate for the collective good. Liberty is not collective, it is personal. All liberty is individual liberty.

That brings us back to the core question. Has America grown incapable of freedom? Is their a direct correlation between how moral and righteous a people are and how much they value freedom and liberty? Ben Franklin said only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. John Adams said our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people and it was totally inadequate for the government of any other. So has America become so immoral and debauched by rejecting God and His laws that we have lost the ability to comprehend the importance of freedom and liberty?

Americans need to take a long hard look in the mirror and evaluate the state of this republic as it stands. A spring will cease to flow if its source dries up and a tree will wither if its roots are destroyed. That source and those roots were built on God. By removing God from America we have seen a steady deterioration of our culture and politics. Freedom and liberty aren’t tangible things one can touch or see. They are ideals. They have their source and roots in religious convictions. They are able to be lost if the citizens don’t hold them sacred and pass those values down from generation to generation.

We have no doubt become more corrupt and vicious as a nation and in need of more masters. We have become an elective despotism. This is clearly not what our founding fathers fought for. Is it too late to turn around this ill-fated course? That’s the money question. Once liberty and freedom are lost, they are lost forever. Ultimately, it falls upon the American people to decide how history writes the final chapter of this republic. Are there enough Americans left who place the highest value on freedom and liberty to do whatever it takes to change course or has America grown incapable of freedom?

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