Wednesday, May 6, 2009

equal rights not equal things

I have been reading an interesting book on the founding fathers and the Constitution called "The 5000 Year Leap" by W. Cleon Skousen. It identifies the 28 major principles on which the American founders established this country and its government.

One of the principles is that the proper role of government is to protect equal rights not to provide equal things. Most of the founders agreed on the following suggestions:

*Do not help the needy completely. Merely help them to help themselves.
*Give the poor the satisfaction of "earned achievement".
*Where emergency help is provided, don't prolong it so that it becomes habitual.
*Enforce levels of responsibility - self, family, church, community, county, or in a disaster the state.

I was very interested to learn that there is absolutely NO Constitutional authority for the federal government to participate in charity or welfare. hmmmm - wonder where we missed that?

3 comments:

  1. very thought provoking. That sounds like a book I would like to read.

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  2. You are welcome to borrow it as soon as I'm finished!

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  3. Hey Soccermama, great post! It is a really good book for those of you who haven't read it. Check out my site when you get a chance, I think you will like it. It should be linked to my name.

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