Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John Adams
And so it is. As with many things. I’ve said it before. The ability to live under the constitution of the United States assumed at the time of its writing that those who did would do so with some sense of responsibility. Of course we will have many who ignore the tenets of human liberty declared in our call for independence — who abuse their power to the detriment of others by enslaving them — but even then, our constitution grew in its clarity to address their injustices.
Still, in order for the constitution to actually work, there has to be a form of accountability among those it governs. Not a “we’ll throw you in jail if you don’t do this” accountability (although that too is necessary), but an accountability that has its constituents living by the document whether they’re threatened or not. Whether anyone’s watching or not. And that means actually believing within one’s own character that there are indeed consequences. These are things like “guilt.” Or “shame.” Or “humility.”
But we’ve wandered from that, and it seems we are no longer a people who deserve to be governed by our founding document. It seems we don’t even understand what it means anymore. We simply want to either control people beyond the boundaries of the constitution, or we don’t want to control them at all. Pick your side. We cannot point to any one thing anymore and say, “This is it. Live this way for the flourishing of both yourselves and those around you.” When we all get to determine the “way” that works best for us, unbridled by a robust sense of morality or self-control, then we have to expect what we’re getting.
And so to some, that means picking up a gun and shooting people randomly in supermarkets, schools, churches, on the streets. But, as Adams was saying, though the second amendment was made for those who value liberty and will fight to keep it, it is more so for those who understand that as bad as the world can be, it is in the hands of an arbiter of truth and justice and rightness to make whole again. In the hands of one to whom the world is held in account and who will ultimately make things right without our having to do the deed ourselves based on our own twisted notions of justice.
I fear the farther we drift from God and toward ourselves, the worse it will get. And I believe the headlines are proving me right. But of course, there is a hope that puts us beyond this. The same as there’s always been. All we need do is believe in Him.