On Enforcing Morality

America, I want to have a little chat with you. You see I have been watching over these past many years and I have noticed a trend. This habit is well intentioned, but I believe I can shed some light on why it seems to never achieve the desired effect. I am of course talking about enforcing morality, or criminalizing immorality as it should be better put. You see as a Christian I have a deep and undeniable urge to be righteous and to see righteousness grow around me. It is my belief that all Christians have this in their hearts as that is in many ways the very meaning of the holy spirit coming into your life.

The idea that we can achieve moral victory in this world by making morality law is very much inline with this desire, or so it would seem. The problem then is that when you set a standard in the laws of men, you diminish the power of original righteousness. Someone who may be very righteous in their hearts are seen only as being compliant with man's law, and are ultimately made equal with those who have no internal moral obligation but have the overriding fear of the law. This only serves to obfuscate the true intentions and will of men, which is why I believe so many unscrupulous and corrupted men and women have found a place of power and influence in Washington. If the law were left to those things that are clearly within the bounds of punishment such as crimes of violence (physical, psychological, or economic) then the choices men make would be evident and we would be allowed to choose the people we want to represent us based on their actual merit and intention.

The truth is righteousness can only be encouraged by example. When people see you as kind, or tolerant, or compassionate then they are encouraged to accept those traits into their own interactions. Our founders understood this, and understood that the power to govern oneself is the greatest way to establish this precedent. There is a reluctance in truly righteous people to take power and yet they are generally more willing to accept responsibility over others. This distinction is critical to our foundations of government. The public office is not to be held as a position of power from which one can achieve personal, political, or business agendas; but instead as a position of responsibility to uphold and defend the constitution, to serve the people by representing them in government, but mostly to restrain the accumulation of power.