Belief in depravity (or its universal concept of flawed humanity) was a major factor in the forming of the new government of the United States of America. George Washington harbored deep concerns about the success of the new venture because he felt mankind had been deeply flawed, commonly identified as depravity. Others felt that depravity would be so strong that mankind, in some majority opinions, might prove to be more oppressive than inherited royalty. That was at base motivation of the idea of three independent institutions in one government – congress, administration, and court. Even with that model there was unease in that each was occupied by flawed human beings making decisions for flawed human beings. Europe saw the new nation as experimental in that it would have no royal house to manage rabble publics in varied, perhaps nefarious interests. Some nations continue to feel that the United States has not yet proved the advantage of democracy (experiment) over other forms of government. However, the resistance is dropping away as the democratic system appears to win over other forms. Democracy is seen as less flawed. It comes down to the people who will make any system work or fail.
The founding fathers were well educated in Christian theology. They believed there were laws of nature that were strong and useful if they were harnessed. They knew also there were the laws of God that would serve mankind well, but there were many persons, even of their own close acquaintances, who did not believe in God or a plan from God. These nature (secular) persons might well scuttle the divine directives, if the assumed benefits did not serve their purposes. They had various word choices to express themselves. James Madison, important to the nation’s history, and serving as an early president, simply believed that the negative nature of man needed government, but by that same nature the government would have to be limited so as not to prevail in depraved ways as an institution of mankind. Partly to overcome that issue, the government would contract with the people, a contract known as the Constitution. Up to the time of this writing, there has not emerged any form of government that manages continuously well a mass population of flawed persons, governed by flawed officials. Long before Christ’s birth, Plato devoted considerable attention to the matter. A means for controlling the troublesome issue was to determine that the population would periodically elect the officials. However, the officials were to be special persons above the ordinary, educated and ethical – qualified, not from the rabble. A basic service of the proposal was to provide ethical controls to protect against deviations and wrongdoing. In the laws of God, the violation of truth is identified as a condition of sin, and the commitment of sins. Man judges in nature and God judges all things in righteousness related to truth. Mankind muddles, but does better when the whole electorate bears the burden than when the responsibility is left to the royal few. Democracy is chosen because mankind prefers to make controls, advances and outcomes corporate even if the model is unwieldy.
If education for living in democracy were to include effectively the nature of mankind, and interpreted as God interprets that nature, we would have the revolt of those citizens who do not admit God to analyze mankind, and the religious citizens who cannot agree about God’s involvement. As noted above and repeated on other of these Pages, George Washington wrestled seriously with the matter. Democracy as practiced in America was designed with the doctrine of depravity in mind. Each of the three departments of government was formed to counter, to the best way possible, human depravity. Washington sometimes despaired even of this effort, the imperfect experimenting with a government under God for the imperfect. Israel did not succeed in the various forms it tried in the Old Testament, and there has been only spotty success in nations shying from methodologies of Scripture. We succeed best when acknowledging our natural need for divine presence (even if only in imagination) in our activity in any area – personal, family, and society. Whatever mankind chooses as a government it needs a super check that includes an independent court system, tied to a constitution, and applied with an attitude of prayer and morality relating to a citizenry that acts in respect for mankind’s family duty. There is at least a tendency in democratic societies to gesture toward Deity for rights (righteousness). In God we trust. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020