Long Live The Republic
The lady sidled up to Ben Franklin. “Well, Dr. Franklin, what have you given us?” Dr. Franklin turned to her and replied: “You have a republic, madam. If you can keep it.”
For 200 plus years now, by God’s grace, America has kept herself a republic. Our forefathers knew of Plato’s warning that unrestricted democracy must result in dictatorship. Our founding fathers also knew the misuse of those so-called “divine rights of kings.” Thus we have a government of law, not of principles of men, not of whim. And so these sons of liberty joined to erect four fences around their government. These four fences, so that it could not get out of hand or out of bounds: the Executive, the Legislative, the Judicial, and the Individual. Each was to be a check, a balance, on the other. The final fence, the Individual, was to be the greatest check of all. No despot, no tyrant, not even a majority mob was to separate him from his unalienable rights. In the individual’s hand was always to be the power to bring the government to heel.
On this St. Patrick’s Day those thoughts come to mind. Why is the second largest city made up of Polish people in America, not in Poland? Why do we find towns with definite German names throughout our country? Why do people in Southern Louisiana still speak French? Why are the largest St. Patrick celebrations in America? The reason being – we are protected by certain unalienable rights.
We are a country of different people(s). We are not so much an amalgamation or melting pot as much as we are unique individuals.
We use the term Irish Potato, not because they were the first to grow them (they came from South America) – but because these little vegetables kept them alive in famine. America became a second homeland to our Irish kin. Now these people are some of the most successful Americans. Why? Because we are a republic where the individual may enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- Pastor Pope -