Priority: "A preferential rating; one that allocates rights to goods and services usually in limited supply: something given or meriting attention before competing alternatives."
We all have priorities whether we acknowledge them or not. They help us order our lives in important ways. Governments also have priorities and how they are arranged tells us a lot about them. In England during the 1600's the idea of Divine Right of Kings was still in vogue, especially by kings, and the church held supreme power below the monarch. (I realize there is some dispute as to whether the king was over the church or vice versa. It's not all that important in this context.) In that time where did the citizen fall? Last of course. In fact they were not called citizens at all. They were subjects. The list of priorities would be as follows: God- King- Church- Subject.
The framers of our Declaration of Independence didn't think very highly of those directives. They came up with something that was unique in all of history. "We 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." The next sentence reveals their belief about government, "...deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Our Founding Fathers turned the older priority list (mostly) on its head. Their order is: God- Citizens (us)- Government. First and foremost we are responsible to God. Then we pursue our own intersts. Lastly we are answerable to government. Government's first priority is to preserve our right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The Bill of Rights is the legal framework for preventing government from usurping power over the citizenry.
What is the order of priorities in our nation today? The President- Government- Us. Notice that God is not there. He has been deleted from the list. In His place is - well - you know. You and I are now subjects. We must first and foremost answer to government. After they steal their 'share' we must make do with what, if anything, is left. I use the word 'steal' correctly because the majority of what they take from us is not authorized by our Constitution.
Generally when an individual's priorities get out of whack everything else in their life goes too and they are in for a fall, or at least some hard times. With our present government and legislators this is also true. We are in deep trouble without a safety net. We have a President who attended a church for 20 years and never seemed to realize the pastor was a racist, whose early heroes were communists and enjoys like minded super-majorities in both houses. The solutions offered so far have been to enlarge government dramatically and spend lots of money (If a trillion is a lot to you.) on questionable projects that have produced little if any results. They have put us on a road to bankruptcy as a nation in more ways than one. They also believe their actions will not be called into account by the very people who voted them into office in the first place.
There is hope if enough Americans will stand. The Declaration of Independence also says this: "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government..." The time has come for us to take this to heart. Elections are coming this November. A strong statement must be sent to the powers-that-be of our disapproval. The people we elect to replace them must understand their mission: To return our federal government to its constitutionally designated priorities. It will not be easy. It wasn't easy for our nations Founders either. They fought a war to gain something more important than personal prosperity. Liberty. Today we are fighting a war to keep from losing the same thing.
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