A Message for Independence Day

My Son Bill When He Commanded A Company of the Old Guard

Let’s take a break from medical science, evidence, and facts and let’s briefly look at the Declaration of Independence. The core principles that make the United States different have always interested me. I love those principles and the key idea expressed in our Declaration of Independence is that political power does not come from God and the church—it comes from the consent of the governed.

Independence Day and the Divine Right of Kings

The 4^th of July holiday commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I hope you will read it today. It is short—just a couple of pages, but it is crystal clear in its intent. It declares war on the divine right of kings and the validation of that right by the church. The Declaration of Independence summarized the thinking that led to American Revolution, but many Americans did not buy it. They were counterrevolutionaries. They still supported the English king, the divine right of kings, and the validation of that right by the church.

Up until the American Declaration of Independence, all Europeans had been governed by kings for hundreds of years. These kings claimed they got their power from God. This political doctrine known as the divine right of kings maintained that the monarch had absolute power. Since the king got his authority from God, he could not therefore be accountable for his action to any earthly authority such as congress or the justice system.

This quote from our declaration creates a hard stop to the divine right of kings or divine right for any other executive. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” God does not grant a divine right to the chief executive the exercise absolute power over other people in America. All men are equal, and God grants them rights rather than the king.  His power is derived from the consent of the citizens and of course he must be answerable to them through the courts and the congress. That is the key change laid out in the American Declaration of Independence.

One of the Founders, Alexander Hamilton, made it even more explicit in the Federalist Papers. In Federalist №69, he emphasized the accountability mechanisms embedded in the Constitution: “The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and, upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law.” We did away with the divine right of kings and made it clear that political power in the US is secular. It comes from the people and the law applies to everyone. The US Supreme court made a fundamental error last week in making it almost impossible to try a president for a crime. A man who is accountable to no one is no longer a president, he is a king. No human right or freedom is secure in a kingdom.