The Positive Agenda
December 10th, 2007 | by admin |Andy You raise a good point about setting forth a “standard”, statement of role of government, the purpose of government. One of my challenges is to state core principles in concise and succinct way. See attached invitation for a beginning. Please let me know if you can open this invitation.
If there was one word, I would say “liberty”, individual self determination and self actualization, and that self determination and principles of life are found, at core, in Judaeo Christian values, and in a word “Bible” with all its interpretations, perspectives, contradictions, errors, is “inerrant” and our challenge to understand it and harmonize the contracdictions, the polarities.
There cannot be self government without self restraint and the values transmitted from Sinai are the source of understanding along with all commentaries and challenges from science and scholarship. It is not for the simple minded.
Government, like clocks, go from the motion men give them; and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad. . .But if men be bad, the government (will) never (be) good. —William Penn
I add that men and women learn right and wrong from Scriptures and from secular study and have the challenge to harmonize.
Why government” is good question. We all assume there is a purpose and legitimate role for government; we are not anachists but articulating it is complicated and philosophical. This is not an academy of polictical science. Many magazines, Critical Review, for example, addresses this in detail as do other books and venues. Wynnewood Institute, http://www.wynnewood.org/ presents courses on Kant and Morality as well and coming up John Locke to discuss foundations of Constitutional Limited Government, Liberty and Freedom.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the network to communicate ideas and policies. There had been a meeting Tuesday previously, invitation attached, with some of the goals, a statement of what we think government should do.
I hope to develop a Conservative Reform Network web site to set forth these principles.
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With an 11% approval rating what did you expect???????? Must something change, the politicians or the picture?????? I would be curious as to who/what you think will change and “WHY”???????
Randy Toman (13-2)
Bethlehem, Pa.
Lehigh County
PS. Check out the latest of http://www.lehighvalleyconservative.com/ disappointments.