Dysfunctional Authority

American society is currently in a dysfunctional state, and like all things dysfunctional, it will implode if not addressed very soon. We live in a world that contains a vast amount of knowledge, but little understanding. The United States has not experienced extreme tyranny, but it is headed in that direction. The shift of authority from private sector to public sector has created a serious imbalance. As a country, there is great arrogance. We take for granted that we will always be the land of the free. Like all civilizations prior, we’re moving from liberty to totalitarianism and it’s happening in plain sight.

The transformation is not covert, as it does not have to be. We’re unable to recognize the change because we are no longer taught the fundamental principles of liberty and freedom. Unlike prior generations, we no longer understand nor respect the power of authority and its influence on liberty and tyranny. America is dysfunctional and therefore broken because its overall authority is out of order.

The word functional, contrary to dysfunctional, means that all of the underlying components of something work or operate in a proper or particular way. The various components of an analog clock must all work together in the proper way in order to produce the correct time. When one of those parts fails, slightly or completely, the clock no longer functions as intended. It either stops or drifts. American government is no different from that analog clock. It’s made up of various levels of government, constitutions, declarations, taxes, political processes, representation and authority. In order to create the best conditions that could produce the most liberty, freedom, peace, prosperity and overall abundance throughout society, its various components must also function as intended. The Founders of America pieced together a well-oiled system of governance—the best the world had ever seen. The whole system of governance was rooted in the concept of authority.

Authority is often mentioned, but rarely understood. Authority is basically the power to determine. The one with the authority, whether it’s a person, organization or government institution, is the one who gets to determine. Those without authority live their lives by happenstance, always at the whims of....

This is an excellent article by a writer of our magazine who nails the problem of why our government fails to work properly anymore, and it comes down to the way authority is looked at. In America and around the world citizens have allowed for therelevantchristianmagazine.com to reverse the proper lineage of authority that now begins with the government instead of god. Whether it be government or businesses, authority should always begin with the creator, not the created.

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The following essay is reprinted, with permission, from "Our Ageless Constitution," a 1987 Bicentennial of the Constitution 292-page volume outlining the principles underlying the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States, see:

Our Constitution embodied a UNIQUE IDEA. Nothing like it had ever been done before. The power of the idea was in the recognition that people's rights are granted directly by the Creator - not by the state - and that the people, then, and only then, grant rights to government. The concept is so simple, yet so very fundamental and far-reaching.
America's founders embraced a previously unheard-of political philosophy which held that people are "...endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights.." This was the statement of guiding principle for the new nation, and, as such, had to be translated into a concrete charter for government. The Constitution of The United States of America became that charter.
Other forms of government, past and present, rely on the state as the grantor of human rights. America's founders, however, believed that a government made up of imperfect people exercising power over other people should possess limited powers. Through their Constitution, they wished to "secure the blessings of liberty" for themselves and for posterity by limiting the powers of government. Through it, they delegated to government only those rights they wanted it to have, holding to themselves all powers not delegated by the Constitution. They even provided the means for controlling those powers they had granted to government.
This was the unique American idea. Many problems we face today result from a departure from this basic concept. Gradually, other "ideas" have influenced legislation which has reversed the roles and given government greater and greater power over individuals. Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of individual freedom and limited government and warned, over and over again, that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve that freedom for posterity.

Footnote: Our Ageless Constitution, W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III: ISBN 0-937047-01-5

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