Volume 19 Issue 4.
Byron York writes, “In the Federalist Papers, written 221 years ago, Madison addressed the need for a Senate to accompany the more populist House of Representatives. An upper body, he wrote, ‘may be sometimes necessary as a defense to the people against their own temporary errors and delusions.’”
York’s fabulous article entitled, Why The Founding Fathers Would Want Obama’s Plans to Fail (Washington Examiner, March 10, 2009), reminds us of Madison’s argument for having an upper body such as the Senate to be ever present just in case the House of Representatives should be overcome in some error or delusion. York goes on to explain that this upper body serves to slow things down in case the peoples’ popular Representatives ignore the constitution or get out of control in some way that might result in damage to the nation, even if it was unintended or if the President would do the same. This constitutes the founding strategy of the three branches of government.
Madison foresaw that the people might need a defense against, as he stated, “their own temporary errors and delusions.” Wise and thoughtful people clearly understand that an entire nation can be lured into grave errors of judgment, or into a state of mass consciousness that may be driven by deception, fear, misinformation, or a spirit of delusion.
Certainly, America is suffering from a seriously failing economy. Yet many still deny the problem exists. A poll conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education indicates college students think the economy is not a big problem for them. Even more troubling are the full bandwagons that admit there is a problem and offer delusional solutions fueled by permissive governance conducted without having to address the potential collateral damage. It appears that President Obama’s recent Executive Orders are taking advantage of the world’s economic crisis and enacting very liberal, Socialistic “solutions” without debate, argument or thorough discussion. Shouldn’t we be thinking through some of these things? Shouldn’t the Senate take on their role as the upper body and at least ask some questions? For example: What are the long-term implications of all these actions and how can trillion-dollar expenditures be recouped? And if they are recouped, who will pay the bill? I fear those poor college students are in for a wake-up call.
Our nation is confronting a strong amoral agenda that has boldly reared its ugly head. The press, Hollywood, universities, scientists and atheists are celebratory. Young people have embraced the rules of political correctness and normalized sexual perversion. Gramsci’s “long march through the institutions” is nearing its goals to defeat democracy through cultural hegemony. The great history of America has been erased and replaced in public education to the point that students feel more comfortable belittling their own traditions than discussing their American heritage.
The elitists gleefully see Christianity in decline. A recent front-page poll highlighted a slight drop in Christian believers over the past 25 years, while ignoring the fact that more than 70 percent of believers are still going to church. The poll also ignored the immigration factor. There is an anti-Christian bias so rancid that it chooses to disregard the role of Christian thought in the formation of western freedoms while embracing religions that oppress women and slaughter unbelievers.
Unfortunately, the Church has not escaped the incapacity of its own “checks and balances” so to speak. Much of Evangelicalism, and sadly some Pentecostals, has turned from doctrine to confessions of uncertainty. Postmodern madness has taught culture and churches to fear conflict on the grounds that all “truths” are socially constructed and therefore relative. This renders individuals, and even institutions, incapable of assertions and propositional statements. It creates constant uncertainty and ultimately blinding confusion.
God’s Church rejects relativism and deconstruction and embraces Truth that is salvation from delusion and error. The Bible serves as the upper body that says, “slow down,” “get a grip,” “wake up!” Truth is revealed. It is universal. It is absolute. It is knowable and through the use language, or preaching, it is possible to deliver this Truth to the hearts of all men. Therefore, “preach the word, be instant in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2), however “foolish” it may appear to the world. Truth must not be lost.
The love for Truth must not be suppressed. If this happens then we can expect that “judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter” (Isaiah 59:14). In his commentary of this scripture, A.R. Fausset explains that when equity cannot enter it means that fairness, righteousness, value and justice are prevented because all of this and more, is born of Truth. Without Truth one will suffer the loss of all things. Christ is Truth. The acknowledgement of the existence of Truth is the highest of all doctrines. The denial of Truth is the lowest of all delusions.
America’s founding fathers had a certain deep wisdom about how to save democracy from temporary delusions by creating an upper body to impose “Constitutional truth” on all of its actions. They knew that preserving the integrity of the Constitution also preserves justice, hope and equity. How much more should the Church regard the Truth of God’s word as its only hope and its preservation our great commission? “The gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). The gospel: A hope so priceless that it must not fall in the street to be trampled underfoot.
