By Mark Baisley
Monday, September 02, 2013
The good old United States of America has enjoyed 232
years of exceptionalism thanks to the course set for her by the 56 signers of
the Declaration of Independence. The
Founders had peered thousands of years into the past and understood the
timeless principles of Natural Law.
With the Atlantic Ocean providing a buffer, Thomas
Jefferson and the boys had the unique opportunity to take a giant leap forward
in civilization. Unlike the typical
conquering of a new territory to impose a replacement ruler, the founders
seized the opportunity of a clean slate to embrace Eden.
The Declaration of Independence was an elegant revolution
from King George III’s monarchy. It
began with, “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another
and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to
the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.”
The new nation was founded on the Laws of Nature, with
the authority of the Creator who intended for their enjoyment to all
mankind. Jefferson had not made this
stuff up. He had studied the science of
two thousand years of pursuing that understanding.
Theorizing about Natural Law appears to be quite natural
in of itself. Studies and philosophies
of the existence of Natural Law are as old as Western Civilization. The idea is that, apart from force and
religious beliefs, humans generally expect and respect certain prerogatives for
themselves and others. Even Aristotle
pressed that the intention of human design could be observed through peoples’
global, natural tendencies.
The concept of Natural Law has been studied and debated
by notable philosophers for centuries.
And perhaps the single greatest point of debate is whether there is an
effect for the cause. In other words, is
there a Creator of humans who intended this Natural Law? Some have denied a deistic cause, but the
argument collapses under the weight of reason.
Even one of the earliest observers on the topic, Greek philosopher
Heraclitus (560BC-480BC) wrote, “For all human laws are fed by the one divine
law.”
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) advanced the theory in the
13th Century with inspiration from Plato and Aristotle, some 1,600 years
earlier. Aquinas’ typology asserts that
Natural Law has three counterparts: Eternal Law, encompassing the natural
sciences (physics, chemistry, biology); the Divine Law, defining eternal
happiness through theological virtues of faith, hope, love; and Human Law, that
which is instituted by governments.
Eternal Law is the root of the other three laws. Therefore, the only legitimate Human Law is
one that reflects the rational order and divine wisdom of the Creator.
Aquinas defined natural law as, “an ordinance of reason
directed towards the common good and promulgated by the one who has the care of
the community.” And, in the case of the
world, that “one who has the care” would be God.
Aquinas’ writings conclude that the rights that humans
hold as extensions of Natural Law include (1) the right to life, (2) the right
to pursue happiness, (3) the right to peace, (4) the right to bodily integrity
(no personal violence), and (5) the right of human dignity (no slavery, public
humiliation, nor rape). Aquinas asserted
that Natural Law is discoverable through reason and the choosing between good
and evil. He wrote that Natural Law is,
“nothing else but a participation of the eternal law in a rational creature.”
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is the author of the famous
book on social contract theory, Leviathan.
Hobbes explored libertarian ideas, a civilization without government,
and concluded that such an environment would be chaotic and untenable. But his rejection of the tenet that man is
basically good was displaced by recognizing the constructive characteristic of
man tending to act in his own self-interest.
Hobbes concludes that humans will deliberately interact respectfully toward
the ultimate goal of benefiting themselves and their interests.
It was John Locke (1632-1704) who laid the contemporary
tracks for Thomas Jefferson’s writing of America’s founding document. Stanford’s Encyclopedia of Philosophy
portrays Locke with a near word-for-word outline of the Declaration of
Independence, “he defended the claim that men are by nature free and equal
against claims that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch. He
argued that people have rights, such as the right to life, liberty, and
property, that have a foundation independent of the laws of any particular
society. Locke used the claim that men are naturally free and equal as part of
the justification for understanding legitimate political government as the
result of a social contract where people in the state of nature conditionally
transfer some of their rights to the government in order to better ensure the
stable, comfortable enjoyment of their lives, liberty, and property. Since
governments exist by the consent of the people in order to protect the rights
of the people and promote the public good, governments that fail to do so can
be resisted and replaced with new governments. Locke is thus also important for
his defense of the right of revolution.”
And so it flowed from Jefferson’s quill, “We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed.”
Natural Law preserves each person’s right to define and
pursue happiness. The state exists to
ensure that one person’s pursuits do not prevent another person’s life,
liberty, or pursuit.
This Natural Law is rarely understood today. American
Conservatism seeks natural order towards the assurance of liberty. Modern American Liberalism imposes order at
the expense of liberty.
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