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by Tom Rose

Editor's Note: In this article Tom Rose gives both an overview and his own perspective on the American Heritage Party, a Christian political party. The article is presented in the interests of our readers and does not signify the endorsement of the American Heritage Party by the National Reform Association.

This is a continuation of the series "Rebuilding the Foundations" that will deal with various issues and trends which Christian patriots throughout the world might well consider when they contemplate rebuilding the weakened basis of Christianity in their culture. While most of the issues and trends addressed will focus on what is taking place in these United States of America (please note my use of the plural), the conclusions and suggestions for correction should be generally applicable to many other countries. Today the people of every culture suffer from a common malady, that is, the declension of Christian influence in the midst of a growing secularization of thought and practice. My analysis will deal with spiritual, economic, political, historical, constitutional, and social issues --all viewed from what I hope is a truly biblical perspective.

Introduction

What can be done to restore the healthful vitality of politics in a nation where the two major political parties have become so much alike in their corruption that it doesn't make much difference which party wins an election? The last three or four presidential elections have shown the sad futility of running third-party candidates. Third-party candidates for lower national offices and state offices have not fared much better.

The last time I voted for a major-party presidential candidate was during the first election of Ronald Reagan. I did not vote for him during his second election because, early in his first term, it became clearly evident that the policies his administration was following would lead toward the continued loss of freedom rather than to the restoration of freedom in our constitutional republic. We had put a relatively good man in the office of president, but he was encumbered with a party that did not adhere to the constitution. As a result, I continued my policy of voting my conscience, which meant effectively "wasting" my vote on hopefully "better" third-party candidates who had very little chance of winning.

Many people with whom I have spoken over the years indicate a similar disillusionment with America's two-party political system. Many no longer even bother to vote. In frustration many have dropped out of politics and have thereby come to ignore a crucially important responsibility that is required of a people if they are to live in freedom.

A Biblical View of Civil Government

God used Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, to instruct us regarding the kind of persons we should choose as civil rulers:

Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes to God:

And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.

Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:

And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee (Ex.18:19-22).

Note that Moses, as the people's spiritual leader, was to teach them God's laws and ordinances and how to apply them in their daily lives. Note also that the men chosen as civil rulers were to be God-fearing individuals, men of truth, and persons who hated covetousness. Finally, note that God's plan for civil government is to create a republican form of government in which civil power is divided into what we recognize as local, state, and national levels. The purpose of such division is, of course, to forestall sinful man's inherent tendency to impose civil tyranny on the people of a nation. Such tyranny is more likely to occur in a country with a consolidated unitary form of civil government than in a country where civil power is carefully dispersed among the people according to the republican principles of limited government and divided power.

Americans Have Forgotten

As the delegates left Independence Hall on September 17, 1787, after signing the Constitution of the United States, it is related that a woman asked Benjamin Franklin, "What kind of government have you given us?" His reply was, "A republic, if you can keep it!"

Clearly, we Americans have not followed God's Word to carefully choose men who fear God and who hate covetousness, and we have not paid proper attention to preserve the system of republican government that was bequeathed to us by our forefathers. Rather, through our failure to maintain vigilance, we have allowed forms of centralized tyranny to develop at both the national and state levels in our republic. The inevitable result is that corrupt influences have been able to capture both major political parties. These influences seduce many elected officials and their political appointees, thereby effectively negating any good that lonely moral rulers might otherwise accomplish at the national or state levels of government.

Question: How is it that so many politicians soon become dulled to the voice of the people and, in the process, accumulate great wealth? Where does their new-found wealth come from? This kind of behavior certainly is not the mark of individuals who fear God and hate covetousness! Why do we continue to re-elect such individuals?

It has become abundantly clear that, as well intentioned as some third-party political organizations may have been, the net result has been a waste of the zeal, energy, and finances of those who have become disillusioned with the two-party system. Third party leaders have not done the necessary preliminary groundwork to successfully capture the offices they have striven to win. Nor have they supported their candidates with biblically oriented leadership. Rather, they have prematurely aimed at the office of president at the national level, or at the office of governor at the state level, long before their political parties were successful in building a constituency that is knowledgeable and viable enough to lend them the necessary continuing support. In short, they have not adequately worked from the ground up. They have tried to build the superstructure of an edifice before erecting a solid foundation starting at the local level.

Help Is On The Way!

But don't be discouraged! Help is on the way! It comes in the form of a "new kid on the block." And this "kid" has a workable blueprint that squares with Jethro's advice to Moses!

I use the term "new kid on the block," not in derision but in godly joy, because the people to whom I'm about to introduce you are long-term brothers and sisters in Christ. They are mature and godly Christian patriots who are deeply concerned about the long-time ungodly drift of our country; and they have devised a long-term program that is eminently workable to restore biblical, freedom-oriented civil government to our nation. I have had the special blessing of being able to carefully review their biblical orientation, the principles and goals they have established, and the program they are in the process of implementing. They have no intention of trying to elect a president in the immediate future; rather, they (or I should say, "we," because I have enthusiastically joined their ranks) are starting to build on society's foundational building block, the family unit.

The goal is to build a generation of Christian scholars and statesmen over the next 20 to 30 years who will be thoroughly equipped to lead America under the guidance of biblical and constitutional principles. The idea is first to instruct America's families about biblical government of the home, then to move to biblical and constitutional civil government at the local, state, and national levels, in that order. For how can a people expect to have good civil government if they are not knowledgeable about God's plan, first for government in the home and then for society as a whole?

Our civil rulers in this generation are but a sad reflection of the debilitated spiritual status of America's families. Our present need is for godly family leaders, and their children after them, to become the future godly leaders of our great Republic. This is eminently possible with good planning and godly leadership, and this is the vision that I urge you to prayerfully and enthusiastically consider joining. Iain Murray, in his book The Puritan Hope, points out that in history God, prior to times of spiritual revival like the Protestant Reformation, first raised up a generation of spiritual leaders to pave the way for national reformation, as He also did in Old Testament Israel. Could America's time of spiritual and political renewal be at hand? Would you like to be part of it? What a joyful opportunity!

The American Heritage Party

What follows are some excerpts from the American Heritage Party booklet, Comprehensive Vision of the American Heritage Party:

...No political work founded on pragmatism and inclusiveness, bought and paid for by special interests, whose platform comes up for renegotiation at every election, and whose primary goal is political power for today, can hope to effect long term national reform. In their haste to capture political power in the short run, they sow the seeds of their own failure and ultimately reap a harvest of irreconcilable conflicts internally, and political ineffectiveness externally. "He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him." (Pr. 28:22)

What America needs is not new legislation, lower taxes, or even constitutional amendments, but responsible statesmen and a different spirit among its electorate....

Instead of attacking the symptoms of the centralist bureaucratic socialistic state, a true alternative must address its root causes....

Ideas have consequences, and our national decline has come, not by accident, but because America has accepted and institutionalized the humanistic precepts of socialism. Our hope, therefore, lies not in the veto power, not in electing more conservatives, and not in merely attacking the symptoms of socialism, but in liberating Americans from the very ideas that support and nurture its growth....

The Rule of Law

Here are some excerpts from the section entitled The Rule of Law:

America was founded as a government of laws, not of men. Law was intended to exist above, and to prevail over, the personal, special and political interests of men in authority and of those who put them in authority....

The rule of law, therefore, is rooted in an authority higher than man; ultimately in God himself. The rule of law in a Christian order requires that all government policy must be consistent with God's law and the Christian-based common law....

The rule of law requires the restoration of the state to its role as promoter of "the general welfare" and of "equality before the law," without respect of persons or of special interest groups whether of economic, racial, age, or religious origin. The government is prohibited from being used as an agent of "legal plunder." No social, economic or age group may use the power of government to fund, advance, or promote its own interests at the expense of others or to the detriment of the individual liberty. This prohibits transfers of wealth in the form of federal welfare, price supports, unemployment benefits, social security and deficit spending, and any laws which purport to grant rights or advance the agenda of one group at the expense of another's rights.¹

The AHP Vision for America

The American Heritage Party, while biblically based, doesn't seek to impose a messianic form of government from the top down. Rather, it seeks to influence public life on a person-to-person basis through the consciences of America's citizens and elected officials. It seeks the renewal of a national Christian conscience and the restoration of God's law as the guiding principle for all areas of life. God's law is the source of all personal and national blessing. Here is a selection from AHP's Vision for America:

Recognition of the God-ordained jurisdictional boundaries of the family, the church and the state; the honoring of the jurisdictions of the family and of the church through the return and proper exercise of their Biblical roles and responsibilities;

Restoration of the civil government to its proper role as minister of law, justice and national defense; as defender of life --including that of the unborn child, of liberty and of property; and as moral leader and example to the people and to the nations;

Repeal of every law, tax and government program which denies, supplants or obstructs the design and intended operation of God's civil, religious and social order;

Replacement of the coercive secular public school system with an educational system that respects individual freedom of conscience and reinforces the Biblical role and responsibility of the family as the educator of youth;

Recognition of God's providential plan for nationhood, and a reversal of national involvement in unconstitutional international treaties, banking and financial systems, political government and military alliances.

Seven Biblical Principles that Guide the AHP²

1. The God of the Bible is sovereign.

2. The Word of God is our unchangeable standard.

3. God gave man the task of dominion and stewardship.

4. All power is ordained of God.

5. Christ is the only solution to man's sin.

6. God governs the affairs of men.

7. Nations are accountable to God in history.³

These seven principles--which represent the American Heritage Party's view of God, man, and law --form the foundation of its party mission and platform. From the principles and platform, the AHP has developed a long-term program which will equip God-fearing Americans in the principles and practice of Christian statesmanship. Our need is to train citizens to discern and attack the cutting-edge issues and problems of the day and to develop an appropriate biblical solution.

In a telephone conversation, Daniel Eby, the present National Chairman of the AHP, said:

I believe that the recovery of a total Christian world-and-life view is a necessary first step in repairing the breach in our nation. America doesn't just have a political problem--it has a spiritual problem! America needs Christ!

This is the reason why the American Heritage Party adopted an expressly Christian vision and has embarked on a long-term mission to train thousands of Christian families to lead this nation, by the grace of God, out of its bankrupt condition.

To begin this great task, we have adopted several strategies: First, we are forming local Voter Clubs all across the nation to instruct and mobilize individuals and families in the principles of God's Word as applied to life, culture and politics. Voter Club members will learn about local self-government and how to begin the rebuilding efforts at the town and county level.

Second, we are preparing a Christian Curriculum for American families. This four-level course is designed to help people develop the necessary understanding to support a Christian reformation.... The centerpiece of our curriculum is Studies in Principle consisting of seven courses: Worldview, Law, Citizenship, Apologetics, Government, History and Nations.... This curriculum will be unveiled at our National Family Camp this June in the Pacific Northwest. The camp theme will be "Equipping a Generation of Christian Statesmen."

Conclusion

I hope that this glimpse into the newly-formed American Heritage Party will warm your heart, as I'm sure it would have warmed the hearts of America's founding fathers, and as it does mine.

The AHP is holding its 2001 National Family Camp on June 13-16 at Camp Berachah, Washington, near Seattle. For registration forms or more information about the American Heritage Party and how you can be part of reforming the spiritual and political foundations of America, contact Dan Eby, National Chairman at:

Mail: AHP, P.O. Box 241, Leavenworth, WA 98826-0241

Phone: +1 888 396 6247.

E-mail: ahp@americanheritageparty.org or visit their website at: www.americanheritageparty.org.

(© Tom Rose, 2001)

Tom Rose is retired professor of economics, Grove City College, Pennsylvania. He is author of seven books and hundreds of articles dealing with economic and political issues. He and his wife, Ruth, raise registered Barzona cattle on a farm near Mercer, PA, where they also write and publish economic textbooks for use by Christian colleges, high schools and home educators. Rose's latest book is Reclaiming the American Dream by Reconstructing the American Republic, published by American Enterprise Publications, 177 N. Spring Road, Mercer, PA 16137. Phone: +1 724 748 3726.

Endnotes

1. American Heritage Party Comprehensive Vision of the American Heritage Party, 1-6.

2. American Heritage Party Digest of Principles, 5-7.

3. The point of this seventh principle is that, while God's retribution on individuals is often deferred until judgment day, God's retribution on ungodly nations is wrought in the course of history.

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