5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen Read Free Book Online Page A

Twenty-Fourth Principle: A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.

Twenty-Fifth Principle: "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations -- entangling alliances with none."

Twenty-Sixth Principle: The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore, the government should foster and protect its integrity.

Twenty-Seventh Principle: The burden of debt is as destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest.

Twenty-Eighth Principle: The United States has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race.

    First Principle: The only reliable basis for sound government
   and just human relations is Natural Law.
       
       Most modern Americans have never studied Natural Law. They are therefore mystified by the constant reference to Natural Law by the Founding Fathers. Blackstone confirmed the wisdom of the Founders by stating that it is the only reliable basis for a stable society and a system of justice. Then what is Natural Law? A good place to seek out the answer is in the writings of one of the American Founders' favorite authors, Marcus Tullius Cicero.
The Life and Writings of Cicero

Cicero's Fundamental Principles

Natural Law Is Eternal and Universal

The Divine Gift of Reason

The First Great Commandment

The Second Great Commandment

All Mankind Can Be Taught God's Law or Virtue

Legislation in Violation of God's Natural Law Is a Scourge To Humanity

All Law Should Be Measured Against God's Law

Cicero's Conclusion

Examples of Natural Law

    The Life and Writings of Cicero
       It was Cicero who cut sharply through the political astigmatism and philosophical errors of both Plato and Aristotle to discover the touchstone for good laws, sound government, and the long-range formula for happy human relations. In the Founders' roster of great political thinkers, Cicero was high on the list.
       Dr. William Ebenstein of Princeton says:
       "The only Roman political writer who has exercised enduring influence throughout the ages is Cicero (106-43 B.C.).... Cicero studied law in Rome, and philosophy in Athens.... He became the leading lawyer of his time and also rose to the highest office of state [Roman Consul].
       "... Yet his life was not free of sadness; only five years after he had held the highest office in Rome, the consulate, he found himself in exile for a year.... Cicero nevertheless showed considerable personal courage in opposing the drift toward dictatorship based on popular support. Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C., and a year later, in 43 B.C., Cicero was murdered by the henchmen of Antony, a member of the triumvirate set up after Caesar's death." 21
       So out of Cicero's maelstrom of turbulent experience with power politics, plus his intense study of all forms of political systems, he wrote his landmark books on the Republic and the Laws . In these writings Cicero projected the grandeur and promise of some future society based on Natural Law.
       The American Founding Fathers obviously shared a profound appreciation of Cicero's dream because they envisioned just such a commonwealth of prosperity and justice for themselves and their posterity. They saw in Cicero's writings the necessary ingredients for their model society which they eventually hoped to build.

    Cicero's Fundamental Principles
       To Cicero, the building of a society on principles of Natural Law was nothing more nor less than recognizing and identifying the rules of "right conduct" with the laws of the Supreme Creator of the universe. History demonstrates that even in those nations sometimes described as "pagan" there were sharp, penetrating minds like Cicero's who reasoned their way through the labyrinths of natural phenomena to see behind the cosmic universe, as well as the unfolding of their own lives, the brilliant intelligence of a supreme Designer with an ongoing interest in both human and cosmic