Friday, July 20, 2012

Principles of a Christian State

Principles of a Christian State
Thomas Allen

    This paper sets out the basic principles for a Christian state. Basic social, political, and economic principles are covered.

Fundamental Principles
    A Christian state recognizes that it is under the authority of the Sovereign King Christ Jesus and, therefore, has limited authority.

    The government of a Christian state is strictly limited and is under God and should administer justice in faithfulness to His word. It has the duty to serve God as the ministry of justice and social order. Its authority is always ministerial or delegated from God and never creative or independent. It should not assume as its own those areas and activities that are properly the spheres of the family, church, or economy. It should not deny any citizen his freedom to work out his divine mandate as God's image-bearer.

    A Christian state is a state where God’s law rules instead of man’s, where family, church, and state are separated and distinct institutions, yet all are ruled by God and under His law, and where all religions are tolerated that do not actively promote the destruction of Christianity (for those that do are evil and intolerant and are at war with Christianity).

    The constitution forming a Christian state and its government is a compact between each citizen individually and all citizens and federated parts collectively. This compact places certain obligations on all parties thereof. Each citizen is obliged (1) to worship and serve God in his own way, (2) to provide for himself and his family, (3) to defend his homeland and community from foreign invasion and from domestic despotism, (4) not to trespass against his neighbor and fellow man, and (5) to maintain his racial purity. The state through the government is obliged (1) to allow and to protect the freedom of each citizen to worship and serve God in his own way, (2) to allow and to protect the right of each citizen to acquire and use property as he sees fit and to keep and use the fruits of his labor, land, and capital to provide for himself and his family, (3) to allow and to protect the freedom of each citizen to acquire the means to defend his homeland and community against foreign invasion and domestic despotism as well as to protect each citizen from the same, (4) to protect each citizen from trespass against his person and his property, and (5) to guarantee the racial purity of the land.

    The government of a Christian state should be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the community and people thereof. Its primary objective should be to protect citizens in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. A basic function of government should be to prevent the use of coercion (compulsion, force, violence, intimidation, fraud, deceit, theft, confiscation, trespass, slavery, involuntary servitude, etc.) in constructive productive activities and in the distributive activities of the market by maintaining the peace, defining property, settling disputes, and enforcing voluntary agreements,

Economic System
    The economic system of a Christian state is the universal capitalistic free market, free enterprise economic system of voluntary cooperation. Capital and land should be privately owned by the greatest number of people. Governmental intervention in the economy should be minimized.

    The basic economic policy of a Christian state should be agrarianism. Agrarian agriculture should be the leading occupation and economic activity with industry enough for self-sufficiency whenever such self-sufficiency is economical. Such industry should be decentralized whenever feasible, both as to ownership and physical structure. Such industry should not be protected by tariffs, quotas, licenses, permits, and other restrictions on free trade. Absentee ownership of land, industry, and natural resources should be minimal.

    The economic system of a Christian state should be based on the freedom to produce, the freedom to trade the products of one’s labor, land, and capital in a free market, and the freedom of individuals to keep the fruits of their labor, land, and capital. Such an economic system is based on voluntary cooperation, consumer sovereignty, private ownership of the means of production including land, free initiative, and a labor market not manipulated by government or labor union monopolies.

    The rights of private ownership of property in capital and land should be preserved, respected, and protected. Each person should be free to plan for himself and to trade freely; monopolies and protectionism should be avoided.

    Economic equality is incompatible with liberty, limited government, and the free market and is contrary to Christianity. Therefore, a Christian state should never engage in any program of redistribution of wealth.

Social System
    The social system is a Christian state is a triumvirate of family, church, and state under the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. The basic unit of society is the family.

    The social objective of a Christian state is to be a free society. A free society is a society of variety, complexity, and individuality. It is a society of diversity, not conformity. It is a society of individual freedom within a framework of respect for, and willingness not to violate, the equally valid freedom of each individual in society. Association with others is free of coercion.

    If more than one race inhabits the society, then it is or should be a multiracial society. In a multiracial society, each race should be allowed to retain its identity, independence, and integrity and should be allowed to develop at its own pace. Each race should be free to develop the highest type of civilization of which it is capable. Therefore, the races must be distinct and must not be merged into an integrated society in which intermarriage can occur, for this would destroy the integrity and identity of the races.

    A Christian state is composed of multiple social and economic classes. Like economic equality, social equality destroy liberty and is contrary to Christianity. Therefore, social egalitarianism should be opposed. However, social status should not be guaranteed by law.

Duties of the Church
    The Church is the ministry of grace of the Word and sacraments (or ordinances) and the discipline of faith.

    The Church should give society and the state what is necessary to sustain their existence and oppose anarchy within their ranks. The Church should watch over the state and warn the state against transgressing its legitimate limits. The Church should deny the state whatever it demands beyond its legitimate limits.

Copyright © 1991 by Thomas Coley Allen.

More articles on politics.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Statists Verse Libertists

Statists Versus Libertists
Thomas Allen

    Throughout the history of America, two political and economic philosophies have competed for control of America. They are the philosophies of the statist party or Hamiltonians and the libertist party or Jeffersonians. Today, the statist party has clearly won the contest. A third but insignificant philosophy, anarchism, also exists.

    Below is a description of the statist party, the libertist party, and the anarchist party and a comparison of the philosophies of the Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians.

Statist Party
    The statist party is the party of the pietists (remaking man in the image of the pietist: hence, public schooling, anti-drug and anti-smoking laws, prohibition [ever lowering of driving under the influence standard], democratizing the world, etc.);  the progressive (remaking man in the image of the progressive: hence public schooling, welfare state, governmentally provided healthcare, democratization of the world, globalism, foreign interventionism, etc.); Hamiltonians (protection and promotion of big business: hence, mercantilism, commercialism, central banking, protective tariffs and import quotas, fair trade, managed trade, globalism, extensive regulation of manufacturing and commerce, agribusiness, warfare state, etc.), hence:

    ‒ adherents and advocates of ever-growing government,
    ‒ concentration and centralization of political power,
    ‒ welfare-warfare state,
    ‒ military-industrial complex,
    ‒ large standing armed force,
    ‒ socialism, state capitalism, corporatism, fascism,
    ‒ empire building, imperialism, globalism,
    ‒ fiat money,
    ‒ civil rights movement,
    ‒ parental government,
    ‒ false diversity and amalgamation,
    ‒ rule of man although statutes and regulations abound, etc.

    Statists trust politicians and bureaucrats and distrust the people.

    It is the party of mainline Republicans, Democrats, progressives, populists, modern liberals, New Left, neo-conservatives, living constitutionalists, socialists, fascists, communists, authoritarians, totalitarians, Zionists, etc.

    Government is the answer: What is the problem?

Libertist Party
    The libertist party is the party of the Jeffersonians (agrarianism, local business, artisanism, decentralized banking, voluntary markets [free enterprise, free markets, free trade], limited government, etc.), hence:

    ‒ adherents and advocates of small government (government restricted to the protection of life, liberty, and property from theft, fraud, and trespass; remaking man is not a proper function of government),
    ‒ dispersal and decentralization of political power (states’ rights),
    ‒ personal liberty (but not libertinism) and freedom,
    ‒ personal responsibility,
    ‒ individualism,
    ‒ self-reliance,
    ‒ home and private schooling,
    ‒ commodity money,
    ‒ laissez-faire economics,
    ‒ nationalism, localism,
    ‒ noninterventionist foreign policy,
    ‒ small standing armed force with well-armed local militias,
    ‒ true diversity and preservation,
    ‒ rule of law although statutes and regulations are sparse, etc.

    Libertists trust the people and distrust politicians and bureaucrats.

    It is the party of paleo-conservatives, Old Right, classical liberals, strict constitutionalists, libertarians, etc.

    Freedom is the answer: What is the problem?.

Anarchist Party
    The anarchist party adheres to and advocates the abolition of all governments and governmental authority, which are replaced by voluntary cooperation among individuals and groups and ranges from extreme individualism (adherents of economic freedom) to collectivism (rejecters of economic freedom). Anarchism is highly unstable and has seldom existed. It generally and quickly degenerates into some form of statism imposed by the stronger internal factions or by external conquering powers.

Hamiltonians Verse Jeffersonians
    Hamilton was a statist. Jefferson was a libertist. Since the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1789, two philosophies, that of Hamilton and that of Jefferson, have competed to control the political and economic views and policies of America. The following compares the philosophy of the Hamiltonians and the Jeffersonians.

Government.
    Hamiltonians trust politicians and bureaucrats and believe that:
    ‒    government should be highly centralized and unlimited and unrestrained;
    ‒    the best government is that which governs most;
    ‒    the purpose of government is national greatness;
    ‒    citizens are servants of the government; the government is the master of the people;
    ‒    taxes should be high with an abusive and arbitrary tax collection system and a standing army of tax collectors; taxes should be pervasive and confiscatory;
    ‒    governmental debt should be large;
    ‒    executive power should dominate;
    ‒    judicial activists should centralize all power into the U.S. government and then into the imperial president.

    Jeffersonians trust the people and believe that:
    ‒    government should be limited, restrained, and decentralized;
    ‒    the best government is that which governs the least;
    ‒    the purpose of government is to protect the lives, liberties, and property of its citizens;
    ‒    citizens of the States are the masters of the government; the government is the servant of the people;
    ‒    taxes should be minimal, and tax collection minimized with the least intrusion possible;
    ‒    government should be frugal and debt-free;
    ‒    the executive power should not dominate; the branches of government should be equal with the legislative branch being first among equals;
    ‒    judges apply the law instead of making it and ensure that laws comply with the Constitution interpreted as it is written, strictly and expressly.

Constitution.
    Hamiltonians believe that:
    ‒    the Constitution is  living, dynamic, and flexible;
    ‒    the Constitution is a grant of power;
    ‒    the Constitution grants the U.S. government implied powers;
    ‒    original sovereignty is in the nation and not the States; the U.S. government is sovereign;
    ‒    the “general welfare” clause authorizes the U.S. government to enact whatever it wants if it claims that it is for the general welfare; Congress may spend money on anything that it declares to be for the general welfare;
    ‒    the interstate commerce clause authorizes the U.S. government to regulate anything that it deems may affect commerce including intrastate commerce and allows the U.S. government to plan every economic enterprise;
    ‒    the U.S. Supreme Court decides what the Constitution means; it is the final arbitrator of the constitutionality of a law;
    ‒    no State may leave the union; any that attempt to must be forced back in.

    Jeffersonians believe that:
    ‒    the Constitution is to be construed strictly;
    ‒    the Constitution is a restrain on the powers of the U.S. government;
    ‒    the Constitution does not grant the U.S. implied powers; it only grants specific and expressly delegated powers;
    ‒    original sovereignty resides in the States; the people as States are sovereign; the U.S. government has only delegated sovereign powers;
    ‒    the “general welfare” clause grants no powers; it authorizes Congress to spend money on the enumerated powers and only if it is for the general welfare as opposed for the benefit of a specific group or region;
    ‒    the interstate commerce clause authorizes the U.S. government to regulate interstate commerce to promote free trade among the States and to prevent States from enforcing protective policies;
    ‒    the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion does not decide the meaning of the Constitution; the President, Congress, and States are equal to the Supreme Court in deciding the meaning of the Constitution; the people themselves, usually but not necessarily acting through their respective States, are the final arbitrator of the constitutionality of a law;
    ‒    States may peacefully leave the union.

Federalism.
    Hamiltonians oppose real federalism and believe in:
    ‒    nationalism with the U.S. government being supreme;
    ‒    opposition to states’ rights;
    ‒    the U.S. government being the master of subordinate puppet States;
    ‒    the States being administrative units of the U.S. government;
    ‒    the consolidation of political power;
    ‒    the people being citizens of and owing their allegiance to the United States.

    Jeffersonians support real federalism and believe in:
    ‒    State governments being as strong as if not stronger than the central government;
    ‒    supporting states’ rights;
    ‒    the States keeping the U.S. government from exceeding its bounds;
    ‒    the States being free and independent sovereigns;
    ‒    dispersal of political power;
    ‒    the people being citizens of and owing their allegiance to their respective States.

Economics.
    Hamiltonians lack confidence in the market economy and believe in:
    ‒    subsidizing business in general and the affluent in particular;
    ‒    corporate welfare; mercantilism; fascism; business-government partnership;
    ‒    governmental (centralized) economic planning;
    ‒    protective tariffs;
    ‒    centralized and highly regulated banking; banking and government partnership;
    ‒    politically controlled money supply; politics driving monetary growth;
    ‒    the government and central bank manipulating the economy, thus creating the boom-bust cycle;
    ‒    government being the best judge of excellence in manufacturing.

    Jeffersonians have confidence in the market economy and believe in:
    ‒    laissez-faire economics without subsidies or centralized planning;
    ‒    government and business remaining separate with the government functioning as an umpire to ensure all follow the same rules; no corporate welfare or subsidies;
    ‒     free trade;
    ‒    decentralized banking with minimal regulation; separation of banking and government;
    ‒    market controlled money supply; economics driving monetary growth;
    ‒    the consumer being the best judge of excellence in manufacturing.

Foreign policy.
    Hamiltonians advocate:
    ‒    interventionism and imperialism;
    ‒    a mercantilist empire;
    ‒    a foreign policy that advances the interest of the politically powerful and politically connected, i.e., multinational corporations and international financiers;
    ‒    a large standing army;
    ‒    foreign military alliances;
    ‒    foreign aid to buy and control foreign governments.

    Jeffersonians advocate:
    ‒    nonintervention (do not interfere in the affairs of other countries);
    ‒    no empire building;
    ‒    a foreign policy that defends America;
    ‒    no standing army;
    ‒    no foreign military alliances;
    ‒    no foreign aid.

Freedom.
    Hamiltonians believe in:
    ‒    the government granting, permitting, and limiting freedom;
    ‒    the welfare state, i.e., making as many people as possible dependent on the government.

    Jeffersonians believe in:
    ‒    the government guaranteeing and protecting freedom;
    ‒    the separation of charity and state; making as many people as possible independent of the government.

Copyright © 2011 by Thomas Coley Allen.

More articles on politics.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Biblical Principles of a Quality Leader

 Biblical Principles of a Quality Leader
 Thomas Allen

    America and the rest of the Western world have been cursed with incompetent, treacherous, unscrupulous, unprincipled, despotic and even traitorous scoundrels as leaders for much of the twentieth century. Such leaders have not only dominated government, but they have also dominated business, labor, entertainment, religion, and education. They have become the Establishment of the Western world. Why is it that good men seldom achieve important or powerful leadership positions? The answer is that the basic Biblical principles for a leader are being violated.

    The Bible provides basic principles that must be followed if acceptable quality leaders are to be obtained. A nation is to “provide out of all the people [of that nation] able men, such as fear Yahweh, men of truth, hating covetousness” (Exodus 18:21). The nation is told not to “set a Stranger over thee, which is not thy brother” (Deuteronomy 17:15). (Nation means a people having a common origin, i.e., of the same race, language, and tradition and capable of forming or constituting a nation-state.) A good leader must meet these basic qualifications. The people should not accept or allow leaders who fail to meet them to rule over them in government, business, labor, religion, education, or any other organization. In the United States, the people have elected a president who violates every one of these principles.

    “Able men” means the ability to govern the people according to the laws of God as revealed in the Bible. Anyone who does not oppose such sins as abortion, adultery, and sodomy does not govern according to God’s law and is not an able man. Anyone who deliberately deceives the people, as do most politicians, by promising what they know that they cannot deliver, such as ever-expanding entitlement programs, is a liar and not fit for office. Likewise, those who tell the voters what they want to hear to get their votes, but who governs or votes consistently contrary to his campaign promises, is a liar and not fit for office.

    Not only has the President (Clinton was president when this was written; it is also applicable to those who followed him) not opposed abortion or sodomy, he has used the power of his office to advance them. Not only has he failed to condemn adultery, he has a reputation for being a practicing adulterer. He has promised ever-expanding entitlement programs and has used such promises as a vote-buying scheme. He campaigns as a new moderate Democrat but advocates old-time liberal Democratic programs.

    “Such as fear Yahweh” means reverential trust in God, the Father of Jesus. Hence, only Christians are qualified to rule over Christians. John describes the type of person who fears God: “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” (1 John 2:22-23). “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 9-11). Thus, a Christian, one who possesses reverential trust in God, acknowledges Jesus as his Lord and Savior (2 Peter 1:11, 1 John 4:14) and as the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). He strives to live by the teachings of Jesus.

    If the President fears God, he has done a good job of concealing the fact. His actions of supporting abortion (even partial-birth abortion, which is virtually infanticide) and catering to homosexuals are contrary to the teaching of Jesus. Based on his actions, he is not fit to govern Christians.

    “Men of truth” means an honest, truthful person. When he speaks, he speaks frankly. He “tells it like it is.” He does not use evasive double talk. The positions he takes are on the side of truth, i.e., according to God’s law.

    As pointed out above, the President is not a man of truth. (Some people believe that he is incapable of knowing the difference between the truth and a lie.) Again he fails to meet God’s criteria for a good leader.

    “Hating covetousness” means despising covetousness, greed, and envy. It means, “Honest men who scorn unjust profits.” — Moffatt. It means, “Honest men, with an aversion to improper gain.” — Smith and Goodspeed. Anyone who preaches covetousness or envy to gain office does not hate covetousness. Anyone who promises to use or does use the public treasury to gain office does not hate covetousness. Such people are not fit for leadership positions.

    The President certainly does not hate covetousness. He adores covetousness and envy. They are the backbone of his campaign and policies. He does not shy from using the public treasury to buy votes.

    Most conservatives would agree that a high-quality leader must be an able man (although many would fear or abhor using God’s law to decide who is an able man), a man of truth, and a hater of covetousness. However, rare is the conservative who would include reverential trust in God. Even rarer still are conservatives who claim that this God in whom reverential trust is placed is the Father of Jesus, so great is their fear of being accused of anti-Semitism. As small as this number is, it towers over the minuscule number of conservatives who would openly support the fifth principle: Only Whites should rule Whites. They possess an immeasurable and uncontrollable fear of being called a racist. To be politically correct is better than to be scripturally correct.

    “Not a stranger” means “not of another race.” Stranger means a person of foreign extraction, i.e., a person of a different race. It does not mean a foreigner in the sense of a person who is a citizen or subject of a foreign country who is visiting or temporarily residing in this country. It refers to a person residing permanently in this country who is of a different race, i.e., for the United States, a non-White. For Whites to be ruled by non-Whites is a curse and results from violating God’s laws: “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of Yahweh thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. . . . he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.” (Deuteronomy 28:15,43,44). Any White person who sacrifices the interest and welfare of his race to that of an alien race violates this principle. He is a traitor and his rule is worse than that of an alien, who at least remains loyal to his own race.

    The current President follows the path blazed by every president since Hoover of scarifying the White race to the non-White races. Prime examples are the various “civil right” laws and affirmative action programs. No one who would sacrifice his own race for the benefit of another race should be allowed to rule.

    A White Christian should never vote for or support anyone who does not meet these five criteria. He should only vote for or support candidates for public office who show the ability to govern people according to God’s law. who are Christians (they have shown their Christianity by their deeds, but they do not boast about their deeds), who are honest and truthful and openly stand for the truth as taught by the Bible, who abhor covetousness, greed, envy, and vote buying, especially with the public treasury, and who is White and does not betray the White race. A White Christian should not vote for or support the lesser of evils. To do so is to support and promote evil. If his only choice is between “the lesser of two evils,” he should abstain. (Perhaps this explains the decline in voter turnout. When the voters are offered the choice between the lesser of evils, why bother to vote? The result will only be evil. Abstaining is better.)

    The violation of these five basic criteria by those in leadership explains the decline of America and the rest of the Western world. It explains the moral and spiritual decay. It explains why although parties and leaders change not much else changes. Civilization continues to decline. Only when enough of God’s people cease supporting leaders who do not abide by these five basic principles will things improve. Only then will people who do abide by them will rise to a position of leadership.

Copyright © 1999 by Thomas Coley Allen. 

 More articles on religion.