Belief in depravity was a major factor in forming the new government of the United States of America. (A redundant statement on these Pages – deliberate) George Washington harbored strong doubts about the success of the new venture because he felt mankind to be deeply flawed. Others too felt that depravity would be so influential that human beings, in some majority opinions, might prove to be more oppressive than royalty. That was fundamental motivation for three independent institutions in one government – president, congress and court. Even with that model there was unease in that each would be occupied by flawed persons making decisions for a flawed population. Europe saw the new nation as experimental in that it would have no royal house to manage the rabble in their nefarious interests. Some nations continue to feel that the United States has not yet proved the advantage of democracy over some other form of government. Resistance is dropping away as the democratic system, even with its faults, appears to win citizen support over any other form of government. Though troublesome, it appears most free.
The founding fathers were rather 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 laws of God that would serve well, but there were many persons, even of their own close acquaintance, who did not believe in God or any plan of God. These men of nature 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 mankind needed government, but by that same nature the government would have to be limited so as not to prevail in depraved ways as a human institution. Partly to overcome that issue, the government would contract with the people, in a Constitution. Up to the time of this writing, there has not emerged any form of government that manages really well a mass population of flawed persons, governed by a flawed mass of officials. Plato, long before Christ’s birth, devoted considerable time to the matter.
A means for controlling the troublesome issue was to determine that the population would periodically elect the officials, but those officials would come from the educated (prepared) elite. One of the basic services of this combination is to provide controls to protect against crime. In the laws of God, the violation is identified as a condition of sin, and the commitment of sins. Mankind judges (evaluates in human terms – what is workable) and God judges (evaluates in spiritual terms – what is moral). Mankind muddles along, but does better when the whole of the electorate bears the burden than when the responsibility is left to the royal few. Democracy is necessary because we prefer, in personal or social mass, to make our own mistakes corporately. And, we do make corporate mistakes, as we fumble about for preference. Objectivity takes a hit when public casualness betrays values. We fail for drop-out attitudes and ignorance.
If education for living in democracy were to include effectively a study of human nature, and discovered as God interprets that nature, we face the revolt of those citizens who do not permit God to analyze mankind. Part of resistance is found in the contradictions of religious citizens who can’t agree about God. We know that Washington wondered if good government would ever be possible. He had faced a dismal matter in the way the continental congress managed eight years of revolution. As we note a number of times in these Pages, each of the three departments of government (legislative, administrative, judicial) was formed to counter, to the best way perceived, the depravity of mankind. Washington, even in his Cabinet wondered about outcomes, the imperfect experimenting with a government, presumably 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 the morality found in Scripture. Mankind will succeed best when acknowledging need for morality based policy, and with humility plans human activity in any area – as personal and social extensions. In America there is common call for God’s blessing, but most persons continue on their way without conscious attempt to apply that blessing. Our ancestors may have had a better grasp of conflicting issues about human nature than we do in our era. One solution might be to establish a College devoted to preparing candidates for office in a democracy. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020