Posted on 06/02/2017 3:15:36 AM PDT by Jacquerie
When governors take their nation down an obvious path to tyranny, the governed have the right and duty to apply the best remedies as they see fit. Among America’s founding generation, Algernon Sidney (1623-1683) was a favorite radical, when, almost a hundred years after publication, his Discourses Concerning Government were regarded as the textbook to the American Revolution. Standing athwart Stuart tyranny, he paid for his opinions with his life.
Sidney denied Divine Right, of sovereignty in one man. Authority to rule is derived from the people for the purposes of their own safety and happiness. He further observed that tyrannicide alone cannot establish or restore free government.
Ever the practical historian, Sidney began with Imperial Rome, whose corrupt institutions were inadequate to secure liberty. Despite the occasional tyrannicide of emperors for abuse of power, Rome’s institutions remained unchanged after the people vented their passions, and as such, brought little relief.
As corollary to popular sovereignty, Sidney reasoned that no man, not even a king, may be a legitimate judge of his own cause. In ancient times, Republican Roman consuls, and German chieftains alike submitted difficult matters for adjudication to their priests, as did Gauls and Britons likewise with their Druids, Muslims to Caliphs, and as Christianized Britons did with clergy. In the Europe of Sidney’s day, some kings still yielded to the judgement of the Pope. Princes that resisted papal orders were often excommunicated, deposed, and destroyed. Putting aside the belief that Priests, Druids, Caliphs, and Popes had the sanction of God, Sidney’s larger point is that there is authority superior to kings and governors; that power resides within the sovereign people, and our governors are not competent to judge the extent of their powers.
(Excerpt) Read more at articlevblog.com ...
Bfl
OUTSTANDING post, history, analysis. Thanks, Jacquerie.
BUMP!
Well said. From history, we know what works. We needn’t be creative at an Article V Convention of States. At the core of what ails our republic is the ever-increasing concentration of power in the exec and judiciary. So . . . the obvious solution is a return to federalism. Start with repeal of the foolish 17th Amendment and go from there.
Thanks PG!
Worth another BUMP
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