Wisdom From America’s Founders: Government Isn’t Evil, But…

 “The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society, and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.” – James Madison

Government isn’t evil. People are evil, not institutions or things. An army, a gun, isn’t evil, but they certainly can be, and have been, used by evil people, for evil purposes. And this describes governments down through history as well.

I have often said that government is a “necessary evil.” That isn’t quite accurate; it is, sadly, “necessary.” If all men were angels, Mr. Madison said, we wouldn’t need government. But, obviously, all men aren’t angels, thus some restraining force is required to curb what evil men do. Governments should be established for that purpose, and it is a legitimate one. The apostle Paul, in Romans 13, describes the reality of our world even today by talking about the rationale for government and what our response to it should be. Even Jesus’s “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” recognizes the truth that government is required in this present evil age.

But while government itself isn’t evil, it can, as noted, do evil things—if it is controlled by evil men. And that has, way too often in human history, been the case. One of the great temptations that plagues some humans is the desire for power, the ambition to control others and make them do what the megalomaniac wants them to do. And, of course, down through history, such power-mad individuals have gained control of governments and used their governmental power to do much evil. And it is obviously the case in our world today, too.:

Thus, James Madison’s statement at the beginning of this article is so important. Our Founding Fathers knew history, and Madison wrote his words based on the history of mankind—and governments—up to his day. Sadly, the past 250 years, and especially the last 100 years of leftist governments, have only—once again—proved the brilliance of our Founders and how accurate they usually were.

Because governments can, and have (nearly always) been used for at least some nefarious purposes, the first aim of a political constitution, Madison tells us, is to ensure that wise, virtuous people are selected to govern. “Since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” it is essential that virtuous people be put into positions of power over others. People who do not fear God are not wise, and they can be, and usually are, very destructive and harmful to others, especially if given government power. Again, one only needs to look at the last 100 years of communist governments—and Democratic Party-run American cities—to see the truth of this. True wisdom produces true virtue, and there is almost none of either in today’s Democratic Party. If Americans elect unwise, unvirtuous people into government, we are headed for serious trouble. Indeed, such people have caused too many of the problems the country now suffers.

But notice Madison’s statement that it’s not only necessary to ensure wise, virtuous people are selected to govern, but the second goal is to make sure such people are always in government. No man, Madison said in another place, should be entrusted with too much power. He knew history. He knew what humans tend to do when they have power, when they have control of government. And so, it was the desire of our Founding Fathers to make certain the power-hungry gangsters did not get into positions of power—that only virtuous, wise (i.e., God-fearing) individuals do—and then, to ensure only such people remain there.
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Otherwise, we get what we see in the Deep State and the rest of the world’s governments today.

It is impossible, of course, to quantify how much good or evil government does. When it supports and adheres to the laws of God, it will do good. Madison again: “The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.” Our Founders not only knew and understood history, they knew that God established eternal principles of truth that never change and must be respected by all humans and institutions, including government. The Left, the Democrats, hate this philosophy, of course, arguing for an ever-evolving, ever-changing world where they can decide what is “virtuous” and “wise,” and rule in conjunction with their vision of what man should be and ought to become. And if it costs hundreds of millions of lives in the process, so be it. “They are all going to die anyway,” Joseph Stalin said.

When government leaders refuse to respect the laws of God…well, again, look at leftism in America and the world over the past several decades.

Government isn’t evil; people are. And thus, as James Madison warned, we should be very careful about whom we give the power of government to. We need to learn from our Founders, but we never do. And it is quite obvious why the Left hates them so much. The Left loves power; thus, loves government. And all we have to do is look at the last 100 years to witness what the godless, unvirtuous Left does when it obtains the power it craves.