founding fathers

By Design: Why Natural Law Matters

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John Trumbull’s “Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776”

Cicero, a favorite political philosopher of the Founding Fathers, was the first to speak of Natural Law as a moral or political law.  In his books on the Republic and the Laws, he projected the grandeur and promise of a future society based on Natural Law.  The American Founders had a profound appreciation for Cicero because they shared his vision of a commonwealth of prosperity and justice for themselves and their posterity.  In his writings the Founders recognized the necessary ingredients for the model society they hoped to build.  According to Cicero, true law is “right reason.”  Constant and eternal, it is in accordance with nature.  He characterized the universal law this way:

“There will not be one law at Rome and another at Athens, one now and another later; but all nations at all times will be bound by this one eternal and unchangeable law, and the god will be the one common master and general of all people.  He is the author, expounder, and mover of this law; and the person who does not obey it will be in exile from himself.  Insofar as he scorns his nature as a human being, by this very fact he will pay the greatest penalty, even if he escapes all the other things that are generally recognized as punishments . . .”

Belief in the moral truth of Natural Law inspired the Founders and spurred their quest for independence.  In fact, The Declaration is “an act of obedience to a law that persists beyond the English law and beyond any law that the Founders themselves might make, notes Dr. Arynn, President of Hillsdale College.  It is an act of obedience to the ‘Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,’ and to certain self-evident truths,” primarily the equal and unalienable Rights of all human beings.  To live in ignorance and disregard for the moral principles of Natural Law is to risk exile from life’s ultimate goods like the inestimable blessings of civil and religious liberty.

By Design: Aiming at the Heart of Natural Law

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Just government is an ultimate good and the aim of Constitution

Just government is an ultimate good and the aim of the constitutional ordering of separate and arranged powers

Identify target, take aim, fire!  Archery has as its effect the focusing and synchronizing of individual efforts into a common aim at a desired target of highest value.  Even when the mark (bullseye) is missed, the presence of the target produces the likelihood of better outcomes than those that exist in the absence of it.  Aristotle used the archer’s example to illustrate Natural Law.  His Hierarchy of Goods composes the rings of the target, culminating in the ultimate good.  The ordering of goods is as follows:

1.  The good is that at which all things aim

2.  The good is in each thing

3.  The things – and so, the good in each – are arranged in a hierarchy (known as the Creator’s natural order of things)

4.  The ultimate goods – highest ordered – are pursued for their own sake

The founders of America believed just government to be an ultimate good.  This is the aim of the Constitutional ordering of separate and arranged powers.  The Constitution prescribes the optimal arrangement of political power to achieve a government of, by, and for the people.

By Design: Example of Natural Order?

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Cicero (c. 106-43 B.C.) The founders favorite expositor of Natural Law

Cicero (c. 106-43 B.C.)
The founders favorite expositor of Natural Law

Natural Law interests me as it relates to the founding of America.  References to it recur frequently in the founding documents of our country, perhaps most notably in the Declaration of Independence as “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”  Cicero, a favorite political philosopher of the founders, was the first to speak of Natural Law as a moral or political law.  As such, he believed it to be the only reliable basis for good government and just human relations.  Because man shares the gift of reason with his Creator the only rational, common sense approach to governing is through the laws already established by the Creator.  The Creator’s order of things is called Natural Law.

So what then is the natural order of things?  While I can’t efficiently articulate this yet,  I believe I recognized an example of it recently.  During a conversation with Aunt Ginger, who recently lost a grown child, she said that of all the people that she’d loved and lost – husband, parents and friends – the loss of her youngest son was the worst.  “It is just different than the others” she remarked before tearing up.  Confirming what I’ve heard before, the death of a child is the worst loss a human being may experience.  This speaks to the natural order of things.  Regardless of any moral or religious beliefs, it is unnatural for a child to precede his parent in death.  It’s a violation of the Creator’s order of things.

Personal Note: The Second ‘Near Miss’

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Ty's Karate Kid pose

Ty strikes his best Karate Kid pose! (Anne says he looks like a pink flamingo!)

In my haste to draw conclusions from our ‘near miss‘ at Lake Austin a week ago, I think I may have missed the most important lesson;  the second ‘near miss‘ if you will, or in in the mathematical sense:  ‘near miss squared‘ (the near miss of the near miss).  Sorry, my meticulous nature gets the better of me occasionally!  This occurred as I was relaying the incident to Roger’s great aunt at a family gathering a few days later.

My history of sharing scary kid stories with Aunt Ginger goes way back as we’ve both had terrifying, health-related issues with a child at a young age.  This is the bond we share.  After I relayed the incident,  Aunt Ginger looked squarely at me and stated:  “Well, it wasn’t Ty’s time because IF it WAS, He wouldn’t still be HERE!”   Light bulb!

That’s the take-away . . . as mere mortals we are not in charge!  And Ty’s near miss was a startling reminder of this fact.  Now I know the existence of The Creator, God, is a matter of opinion that is accepted on faith by believers, of which I am one.  But it IS worth noting that our founder’s belief in the equal, natural rights of all human beings forms the moral foundation of our nation.  And so religion, like the Constitution, is just the expression of how we choose to govern ourselves in accordance with that belief.

Benjamin Franklin summarized religion like this:

“Here is my creed:  I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe.  That he governs it by his providence.  That he ought to be worshipped.  That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children.  That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this.  These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion.”

Amen.

Personal Note: Tax Day 2013 – “The Perfect Storm”

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I don’t know when I’ve felt this unnerved about anything in the recent past. For the first time in 20+ years my husband and I filed a tax extension this year. Our tax filing proved especially challenging because we underestimated our withholding and changed an investment strategy from “pre-tax” to “post-tax”. Additionally, the small company another mom and myself started two years ago miraculously turned a “profit”, at least in an accounting sense. These three factors combined to form a staggering tax liability that left me “gasping for air” when I opened my accountant’s email several days ago. I refer to it now as “the perfect storm” both for the shear size of the amount owed and for the way it’s made my stomach churn since learning the news.

I want to cry but I know it’s as useless as “crying over spilt milk”. Plus I don’t want to worry my three kids. Like any kids, they get especially freaked out when mom cries. The thing that bothers me the most is that my kids are the reason I started the company. Several years ago I began worrying – almost to the point of anxiety – over the direction of our country. Deciding that I needed to take action, I started a small company called The Liberty Brand Co. with another concerned mom. We’ve worked tirelessly, without pay, for the last two years because we are devoted to our cause (Liberty’s kids) and convinced of its importance. We’ve funded our enterprise solely through personal savings.  Needless to say, due to the ignorance of accounting principles on my part we show a profit, despite the fact that we’ve spent far more than we’ve taken in. The thing that astounds me the most is that it increased my personal income taxes by more than the “profit” we produced! For all that work, I only made matters worse.

I look at my kids and know I won’t give up but I’m discouraged. I answered “the call” and have tried to steward it faithfully and to the best of my ability. To date I’ve fallen short. I just wonder if these are some of the feelings the founding fathers had when they “mutually pledge(d) to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor ” on a hot July day that was the antithesis of today – “Tax Day”?!