Former President Barack Obama recently admonished President Biden’s flailing reelection campaign crew to get it in gear before they suffer a devastating defeat.
With Biden’s approval ratings tanking to 39% – the lowest of recent presidents at the same point in their presidencies, I can understand why Biden is shaking in his boots.
The fact is, this presidential election year can serve as a referendum on the White House and Washington, knowing that half of U.S. adults rate current economic conditions in the country as poor (45%) and only 3 in 100 (3%) describing conditions as excellent. Who isn’t tired of skyrocketing inflation?
But rather than having me share the potential power of your 2024 vote, I want to let America’s founders remind us all. After all, they created our voting republic!
Below is what 10 founders want you to remember as you ponder and pray about whom to vote for this year. (A special thanks goes to historian David Barton from Wallbuilders for providing this information on his website: www.wallbuilders.com)
Consider what a few of America’s founders said about the moral conduct of elected officials. I believe we should feel and say the same. If we don’t, quite frankly, we contribute to the demise of the country they established.
Samuel Adams, organizer of the Boston Tea Party and signer the U.S. Declaration of Independence, wrote, “Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust be men of unexceptionable characters. The public cannot be too curious concerning the character of public men.”
John Adams, our second president, said, “We electors have an important constitutional power placed in our hands; we have a check upon two branches of the legislature … the power I mean of electing at stated periods [each] branch. … It becomes necessary to every [citizen] then, to be in some degree a statesman, and to examine and judge for himself of the tendency of political principles and measures. Let us examine, then, with a sober, a manly … and a Christian spirit; let us neglect all party [loyalty] and advert to facts; let us believe no man to be infallible or impeccable in government any more than in religion; take no man’s word against evidence, nor implicitly adopt the sentiments of others who may be deceived themselves, or may be interested in deceiving us.”
Thomas Jefferson, primary author of the Declaration of Independence and our third president, said, “[S]hould things go wrong at any time, the people will set them to rights by the peaceable exercise of their elective rights.”
Alexander Hamilton, chief of staff to Gen. George Washington, one of the greatest advocates of the U.S. Constitution, and founder of the first American political party and our nation’s financial system, wrote, “A share in the sovereignty of the state, which is exercised by the citizens at large, in voting at elections is one of the most important rights of the subject, and in a republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law.”
William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, noted, “Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them; and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments. Let men be good and the government cannot be bad. … But if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn.”
Noah Webster, strong advocate of the Constitutional Convention who was also known as the “Father of American Scholarship and Education,” advised, “In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate – look to his character. … When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor, he betrays the interest of his country.”
William Paterson, a signer of the U.S. Constitution, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court and second governor of New Jersey, paraphrasing Proverbs 29:2, wrote, “When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.”
John Witherspoon, a clergyman who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation as well as served at the convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution in New Jersey, advised: “Those who wish well to the State ought to choose to places of trust men of inward principle, justified by exemplary conversation. … The people in general ought to have regard to the moral character of those whom they invest with authority either in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches.”
John Jay, the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (appointed by George Washington) and second governor of New York, wrote, “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
Their words bring me back again to the words of the most famous American and leader of our republic, George Washington, who by no means was perfect but scholars say a man of great moral repute and more deeply devoted (Anglican) Christian than most know.
Washington worried about the future of his new nation as many of us do now. It was far too divided, with further potential of tearing at its constitutional seams. He was concerned that unbridled freedom, coupled with relative morality and expediency, would give way to an uncivilized society and the ultimate dissolution of our republic.
GovInfo.Gov rightly concluded: “In September 1796, worn out by burdens of the presidency and attacks of political foes, George Washington announced his decision not to seek a third term. With the assistance of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, Washington composed in a ‘Farewell Address’ his political testament to the nation … Designed to inspire and guide future generations. …”
Washington culminated his address with these words:
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
Follow the above founders’ advice and we’ll vote for the right candidates and issues as well as reboot our county, state and federal governments upon those who are worthy of our respect.
Lastly, there are few Americans more iconic than Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president. He is most remembered for leading the country through the Civil War, giving the Emancipation Proclamation and being assassinated by a single bullet in Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.
In 1856, four years before he was elected president, Lincoln spoke at the Republican State Convention of Illinois. In the speech, he gave these truthful (yet eerily prophetic) words we should never forget about our power to vote: “Do not mistake that the ballot is stronger than the bullet.”
This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
This post originally appeared on WND News Center.