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How Do We Reclaim Our Lost Liberty?

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Freedom in WashingtonBy Mark Pitrone – Democratic Write in Candidate for Ohio’s 18th District – Guest Commentary

In 2008, we heard a lot about hope and change. When I ran for this office then, even I spoke of it. I told everyone who would listen that if we kept electing the same kinds of people we’d always elected, we’d get the same kind of government we’d always had.

Well, I was wrong.

We elected the same kind of representative we’d always had (along with a lot of others like him) and what we got was even worse.

What did I mean by the same kinds of representatives? I meant career politicians and lawyers. At very least, 90% of the members of Congress are one, the other or both.

What is needed in Washington, D.C. is a near complete change of type of representative and Senator. We need a lot of just plain folks in office, not only in Washington, but in Columbus and right here at our county and local offices. You know, carpenters, shopkeepers, librarians, homemakers – the kinds of folks who have had to try to live with the nonsense that our career politicians, who are not even subject to the laws they pass, give us. But there is a reason we get stuck with these kinds of men in political power.

About 95% of the founders of this republic were devout men of God. The government that they gave us, according to John Adams, was designed for “a good and godly people. It is wholly inadequate to any other.” If the people are good and godly, they will govern themselves according to the Law of God. This presupposes knowledge of the Law of God. That is what is meant by ‘self-government’.

Liberty is freedom self constrained.

The Constitution the founders gave us is based in the ‘Law of Moses’ – almost every aspect of our system of law can be seen in the Torah of God; the separation of powers, the branches of government, the court system, all is based in the Word of God.

Constitutionalism is the “Rule of Law”, the idea that government can and should be legally limited in its powers, and that its authority depends on enforcing those limitations. Meanwhile, individuals are afforded maximum liberty with the only limit being when one person’s liberty rubs up against another’s.

I cannot infringe your liberty in the exercise of mine. This is where the ‘good and godly’ part of Adams’ quote comes into play. If a person will not govern himself according to the Law of God, he will need to be governed by coercion – hence the usurpations of power from the people by the federal and state governments. We, the people in general, have left off governing ourselves. So the central governments have passed ever more restrictive laws to keep us from infringing each other’s liberty. Unfortunately, this takes away our liberty and gives government an excuse to get bigger and more coercive. We have, therefore, brought it on ourselves.

So, how do we reclaim our lost liberty?

If we were to ask the average Joe in the street what religion he belongs to, the answer would probably be ‘Christianity’ or a derivative of it. Since most Americans self-identify with Christianity, they are effectively saying they are ‘called by Christ’s Name’.
 
In Deuteronomy 28, we are told that if we will obey God, we will ‘be the head, and not the tail’, we will ‘lend and not borrow’, and a lot of other things. We are also told there that if we will NOT obey we will be ’the tail and NOT the head’, we will ‘borrow and not lend’.
 
That last sounds like us, doesn’t it?
 
Here’s what God says we can do about it:
“If my people, who are called by my Name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways: THEN shall I hear from heaven, and I shall forgive their sins, and I shall heal their land.”
 
The people who claim to be Christ’s, who self-identify as his people, need to repent (humbly turn from their own ways to God’s) and pray for forgiveness. Only then will he commit himself to our land. If we who have taken his Name on ourselves will turn to his ways, the people around us will see his blessings on our lives and want the same for theirs. THEN we can give an answer for the hope that is in us. THAT is how we reclaim our liberty. Anything less will be a futile attempt.

Mark is running for US Congress as an Independent Democrat. He’s married with 4 children and 2 grandchildren, and is a carpenter by trade. Mark retired from the US Navy Reserve with 23 years of honorable service and is currently the congregational leader (associate pastor) of Beit Yacov Messianic synagogue in Navarre, Oh.


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