The Principle
1. The traditional American philosophy teaches that government is
merely the creature and a tool, or instrument, of the sovereign people.
Government’s Primary Function
2. The people create their governments primarily to serve one supreme
purpose: to “secure” the safety and enjoyment of their God-given,
unalienable rights. To make and keep them secure is government’s primary
function and chief reason for existence, according to the philosophy
proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.
Government a Tool
3. This makes clear the correct role of government in relation to the
people, as viewed by the American philosophy. It is merely their tool,
like any other tool such as saw, or a plow, or a steam engine, created
by them to serve its assigned and limited purpose. As the people’s tool,
or instrument, any government could never soundly be said to possess
sovereign power–that is, unlimited, or total, power over all things and
all persons. Under the American philosophy, no legal, meaning
governmental, sovereignty exists anywhere; while any political
sovereignty is possessed by the people alone and even they are limited
by the obligation to keep inviolate the God-given, unalienable rights of
every Individual. Government may possess and its officials may
exercise, as the people’s servants and trustees, only such limited part
of the people’s power as they see fit from time to time to delegate to
it through their fundamental law: the Constitution, as amended by them;
and this applies to all governments and Constitutions, Federal and
State.
Government Lacks “Just Power” to Violate Rights
4. Therein lies the significance of the limitation by the people of
government’s role and power, under the American philosophy. The fact
that government cannot have any “just” power or authority–as meant by
the term “just powers” in the Declaration of Independence–to violate any
unalienable right of The Individual follows from the fact that no
Individual can have any right, power or authority to violate any other
Individual’s unalienable rights. Because it is created by the people (a
group of Individuals) primarily for the purpose of making secure all
rights of all Individuals, this tool of the people, government, could
not conceivably derive from them any power or authority, morally or
constitutionally, to do the opposite by infringing any such right. Since
no Individual possesses, or could grant, any such power or authority,
the many Individuals composing the people of a country are similarly
lacking; many times zero equals zero. No vote of the people, by however
great a majority–even all of the people but one Individual, opposed to
that lone Individual–could give to any government any such authority or
power. (This is subject, of course, to the point previously discussed in
Paragraph 9 of Principle 3, regarding just punishment of offenders
against just laws, or against the rights of other Individuals.)
Government Cannot Delegate Any Power to Violate Man’s Rights 5. By the
same token, it is impossible for the people’s tool, government, to
possess any authority from the people–any “just power” (to use the term
of the Declaration of Independence)–to delegate to others any power
which it does not and could not possess under the traditional American
philosophy. As such a tool, government could not possibly possess, could
not be given, any power to authorize any person, group or organization
to do that which it is itself powerless to do. This precludes, for
example, government’s authorizing or empowering any person, group, or
organization to violate any Individual’s unalienable rights–including
the right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”–or any of the
supporting rights, such as the right to property and to freedom of
association.
No Coercion of Man as to His Labor
6. Under the American philosophy, these supporting rights include,
for example, The Individual’s right to use all of his faculties,
talents, abilities and energies–basically his own labor–as, when and
where he sees fit without any restraint by government or by others. This
is subject, of course, to his duly respecting the equal rights of other
Individuals (in part as discussed regarding Equality in Pars. 8-9 of
Principle 7) and just laws expressive of the above-mentioned “just
powers” of government designed to help safeguard the equal rights of all
Individuals. This means, for example, the enjoyment of this right
without any such restraint upon his right to freedom of association, to
freedom of choice with regard to joining, or not joining, any
organization–for instance, an organization of his fellow employers or an
organization of his fellow workers. Violation of this right involves
necessarily violation of his unalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness” as well as of the supporting rights–notably
the right to property (money or any other type), including acquiring,
possessing and using it. Such violation results in any case of coercion
of The Individual to join, or not to join, such an organization. This is
true whether perpetuated by government directly, or by it indirectly
through others acting with its sanction–for instance, by any group or
organization of other Individuals who exert pressures of any kind or
degree to induce, or impel, him so to join, or to refrain from joining.
As Man’s tool, government not only can have no just power so to
perpetuate any such violation but is affirmatively obligated, under just
laws, not only not to tolerate but actively to prevent such violation
by others–always strictly in keeping with its limited powers and related
responsibilities as prescribed in the applicable Constitution (as
amended), Federal or State, as the case may be. To repeat, any
Individual’s right to freedom of association (freedom of choice of
associates) is always subject to the equal rights of others – including
their right to similar freedom of choice of associates. This right’s
enjoyment always involves the essential factor of mutual consent, free
from any element of coercion.
Sovereign Citizen over Public Servant
7. All public officials are subordinate as public servants to all
citizens. Under the American philosophy of Man-over-Government, the
American heritage assumes that the most modestly circumstanced
Individuals among the sovereign people rank higher than any public
officials, even those serving as the highest ranking of public servants.
It is a case of The Sovereign over servant–each Individual in this
regard representing in a sense the sovereign people as the creator of
their tool, or instrument: government.
Betrayal of the American Heritage
8. It was the firm conviction of those who founded America–notably
the leaders of the period 1776-1787 and their fellow Americans in
general–that to forget, neglect , or defy this great American principle
is to betray the American heritage of Individual Liberty–Man’s Freedom
from Government-over-Man–and to contribute in practice to its erosion,
or subversion. Sins of omission in this connection are as heinous as
sons of commission. Any public servants who ignore this truth are guilty
of desecration of the spirit of traditional America and the higher the
offender’s rank, the worse the offense morally. Any Individual who
condones such an offense against this heritage is similarly blameworthy.
The Conclusion
9. Each Individual, among the sovereign and self-governing people,
embodies a part of the supreme sovereignty of the people in relation to
their creature and tool, or instrument, government, and to its officials
as public servants–wholly subservient to the people as their superiors,
their masters.
