{"id":1720,"date":"2011-11-11T00:41:18","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T05:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/returntorome\/?p=1720"},"modified":"2015-03-13T13:28:28","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T17:28:28","slug":"the-question-behind-our-political-divisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/returntorome\/2011\/11\/the-question-behind-our-political-divisions\/","title":{"rendered":"The Question Behind Our Political Divisions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

That is the title of my most recent entry over at The Catholic Thing<\/a>. Here\u2019s how it begins<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The political regime of the United States of America is one founded on three core philosophical ideas:\u00a0 natural rights, consent of the governed, and the rule of law. The\u00a0American Founders put in place a structure \u2013 a federal constitutional government of divided powers consisting of states with their own republican governments \u2013 in order to ensure that these core philosophical ideas stood the best chance of surviving the tumult of human depravity. Thus, the Founders\u2019 government was a limited government, but it was not a libertine one. It offered what some call a regime of ordered liberty. That is, one in which the preservation and development of certain institutions and ways of life \u2013 already present in civil society \u2013 could be allowed to flourish for the sake of the common good.<\/p>\n

The Declaration of Independence provides a philosophical snapshot of the grounds by which the infrastructure of this government was fashioned:\u00a0 \u201cWe 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.\u201d That is, human beings are rights bearers by nature, and these rights are given to them by God. And because the human being, in the words of Justice McLean, \u201cbears the impress of his Maker<\/a>,\u201d we are in fact creatures of equal dignity and immeasurable worth (even when our government does not live up to this truth).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

>>>continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n

(picture of U. S. Supreme Court Justice John McLean, who served on the Court from 1830 until 1861)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That is the title of my most recent entry over at The Catholic Thing. Here\u2019s how it begins: The political regime of the United States of America is one founded on three core philosophical ideas:\u00a0 natural rights, consent of the governed, and the rule of law. The\u00a0American Founders put in place a structure \u2013 a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,109,146],"tags":[22244,22270],"class_list":["post-1720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-culture","category-politics","category-the-catholic-thing","tag-politics","tag-the-catholic-thing"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Question Behind Our Political Divisions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That is the title of my most recent entry over at The Catholic Thing. 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