.: The 5000 Year Leap
The Miracle That Changed the World
W. Cleon Skousen
- The Founder's Basic Principles
- 1st-The only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law.
- 2nd-A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution
- unless they remain virtuous and morally strong.
- 3rd-The most promising method for securing a virtuous and morally stable people is to elect virtuous leaders
- 4th-Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained.
- 5th-All things were created by God, therefore upon Him all mankind are equally dependent, and to Him they are equally responsible.
- 6th-All men are created equal.
- 7th-The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things.
- 8th-Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.
- 9th-To protect man’s rights, God has revealed certain principles of divine law.
- 10th-The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people.
- 11th-The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical.
- 12th-The United State of America shall be a republic
- 13th-A constitution should be structured to permanently protect the people from the human frailties of their rulers.
- 14th-Life and Liberty are secure only so long as the right to property is secure.
- 15th-The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free-market economy and a minimum of government regulations.
- 16th-The government should be separated into three branches – legislative, executive, and judicial.
- 17th- A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power.
- 18th-The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written constitution.
- 19th-Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, all others being retained in the people.
- 20th-Efficiency and dispatch require government to operate according to the will of the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority.
- 21st-Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom.
- 22nd-A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.
- 23r- A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.
- 24th-A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.
- 25th-“Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none.”
- 26th-The core unit which determines the strength for any society is the family; therefore, the government should foster and protect its integrity.
- 27th-The burden of debt is all destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest.
- 28th-The United States has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race.
