I believe in standing on or for your principles.   Sometimes, I wonder if we should be arguing for standing on principles or fighting to develop people who are guided by principles.  They can be and should be the same, but are they?  

Sometimes, when I hear the argument that one is standing on their principles in an election as a reason to vote or not vote a particular way, I feel I’m hearing the ‘Letter of the Law’ versus ‘Liberty of Grace’ argument. 

I often come away wondering if, rather than principles being argued for, it is a favored ideology, and if that is the case, then is it truly principles?   If we develop and become People of Principle, then there is no question that we will seek the ‘best good’- not the expedient or ideological agreement but the Best and the Right.

If we define principles as fundamental norms, rules, or values, then we may still be having the Law versus Grace argument about whose norms, rules, and values we are using to develop those principles. 

Principles, in a real sense, are like opinions and are very individualized and subjective.  We do not have a universal definition of what principles are that could be applied to everyone.  If one is a leftist socialist, one’s principles will be notably different from those of a conservative who fully supports the literal interpretation of the Constitution and fundamental moral values for society.   So, when someone tells me they are standing for their principles, are they describing a conviction borne out of the moral fabric of the Bible or their beliefs regarding a particular issue?

That being said, I want people to be principled and willing to stand for their beliefs and convictions.  I am passionate about my faith in God, my belief in traditional marriage, the right of the unborn to live, limited government, and the fundamental unalienable right of all people to pursue Life, Liberty, and Happiness.  Our founding fathers extensively considered all aspects of the Principles Debate when hammering out our guiding documents in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. 

Some of the Principles they advanced were:

• The Only True Basis for Sound Government and Just Human Relations is Natural Law.

(Natural Law is God’s Law.  Jefferson declared that the laws that govern men were “the laws of nature and of nature’s God.”

• A Free People Cannot Survive A Republican Form of Government UNLESS They Remain Virtuous and Morally Strong.

(Benjamin Franklin:  “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.  As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have need of more masters.”  What we need is the Master of the Universe guiding our hearts.  Our problem is not a government problem but a heart problem or a problem with depravity.)

• The Surest Way to Have Good Government is for Virtuous People to Elect Virtuous Leaders.

(Samuel Adams: “Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.  He, therefore, is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who … will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.”)

• Without Religion, The Government of a Free People Cannot Be Maintained.

(Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports…And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality cannot be maintained without religion.”  George Washington)

• The Proper Role of Government is to Protect Equal Rights, not Provide Equal Things.

• Mankind Are Endowed By God With Certain Unalienable Rights.

(“Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, and are therefore called natural rights, such as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal [or state] laws to be inviolable.  On the contrary, no human legislation has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner [of the right] shall himself commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture.” – William Blackstone 

• A Free People Will Not Survive Unless They Stay Strong.

(“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”  George Washington)

• The Core Unit Which Determines the Strength of Any Society is the Family; Therefore, the Government Should Foster and Protect Its Integrity.

(“There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America, or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated.”  Alexis de Tocqueville)

• The Burden of Debt is as Destructive to Human Freedom as Subjugation by Conquest.

(“We are bound to defray expenses [of the war] within our own time, and are unauthorized to burden posterity with them…  We shall all consider ourselves morally bound to pay them ourselves and consequently within the life [expectancy] of the majority.”  Thomas Jefferson)

I believe our Founding Fathers demonstrated they were People of Principle and stood for Principles rooted in who they were, their recognition of the unalienable rights of man, the equality of man, and the sovereignty of God.  You may disagree, and as with all things, it is my view that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  

My prayer is not so much for people to proclaim a stance for a personal particular principle as for us to become People of Principle who desire The Best Good in all things and at all times.  That is another reason politicians are so distasteful to me, but I understand that we have a system of Government in which politics is a part.  Therefore, my objective is to discern between principle and preference and fight for Faith, Family, and Freedom.

God bless you, and God bless America!