Inhibiting Excess in Government
By Roy Hanson, Jr. – March 2010
Roy Hanson, FPM’s Founder, wrote this article in 2010, but the principles in this article have not changed. We hope you are equipped and encouraged by this timeless article!
We as citizens are the counterweight, the balancing force, which our founding fathers designed into our unique form of government in order to secure our freedoms. Without our proper involvement, our government will overwhelm and trample the very liberties and freedoms it is supposed to ensure. Our involvement is both a right and a responsibility of long standing. We neglect this right and this responsibility to our detriment.
A full century before our country was formally established; the question of the source of the power of government was being hotly debated in England. This was at the time when many families sailed to America in their desire to enjoy the liberty and freedom they understood was their right.
It was at that time, in the 1600s in England, when a non-conformist Scottish preacher by the name of Samuel Rutherford wrote his book, Lex Rex, to describe the relationship between the King, the people and the law. The purpose of his book was to hold the king properly accountable – first to God’s laws and then to man’s laws and to the people. In Lex Rex, Rutherford discussed the question of whether the king received his power and authority from the people. He concluded, “… the power of creating a man a king is from the people.”