Speaking at the dedication ceremony for the National Archives Building in 1952, President Harry Truman, referring to the Constitution and the Bill or Rights, said, “We find it hard to believe that liberty could ever be lost in this country. It can be lost, and it will be, if the time ever comes when these documents are regarded not as the supreme expression of our profound belief, but merely as curiosities in glass cases.”
It has been almost 70 years since Truman spoke these words. I wonder, if he were alive today, would he conclude that our liberties have eroded to the point that our founding documents are now nothing more than “curiosities in glass cases”? What would his level of incredulity be if he knew the National Archives now include “trigger warnings” against the potentially harmful language of our founding documents?
There is no doubt in my mind that for a majority of Americans, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights still represent the “supreme expression of our profound belief.” The power of a Constitutional Republic means the freedom of individuals to choose to work together for a common goal that springs from our understanding of what is right and true. The definition of what is right and true must be rooted and grounded in an absolute source — that source is the Word of God.
Religious liberty is the cornerstone of our individual liberties that combine to make us free from oppression. John Adams, our most travelled and one of our most well-read founding fathers, said, “Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” We the people are tasked with the responsibility of holding our government accountable through free and fair elections. If we are to, as Benjamin Franklin said, “keep our republic,” it will be kept by a moral people who restrain themselves rather than depending solely on the restraining power of government. A moral people require fewer laws to restrain us from violating the rights of others. God’s Word tells us, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law” (Proverbs 28:18).
South Carolina is a politically conservative state. Our values include – but are not limited to – life, liberty, personal autonomy, the right to express our deeply held religious beliefs according to the tenets of those beliefs, and the ability to raise our children, inculcating our values into the next generation without government or any other outside interference. We believe in honesty, integrity, and justice tempered by mercy and grace.
Protecting those values requires the vigilance and personal engagement in the process by each one of us. Your state senator and your state representative need to hear from you when the 2022 legislative session begins in January. Our leaders need to be reminded we are a conservative state, and we expect our values to be advanced, protected, and reflected by the laws they pass.