America is truly facing its end as a constitutional, representative republic. It is dying for two reasons:

1) Even though a majority of its citizens haven’t, its government (made up of citizens) has rejected God and religion. This is important because the American idea of good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, comes directly from Judeo-Christian tradition and was incorporated in our founding by men of religion – even Thomas Jefferson, arguably our least “religious” founding father, understood the laws of “Nature and Nature’s God” to be philosophical bedrock organizing principle of America. It doesn’t mean that everyone in America is required to be a Jew or a Christian, it means that the basic tenets (i.e. the 10 Commandments for example) are the minimum we all agree to obey in interactions with each other.

It is hard to argue that John Locke’s philosophy describing the importance of private property and the rights of an individual to that property and themselves isn’t reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and that Locke’s pronouncements are not based on the Biblical commandments of “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, house or property.” Time and time again it has been proven there is an unbreakable tie between economic freedom and individual freedom, and the very basis for economic freedom is private property.

2) Since government has rejected God and the Judeo-Christian precepts of America’s founding, right and wrong no longer have a rigid meaning or solid foundation, they are now defined by the whims of politicians. Right and wrong no longer are anchored to principles handed to mortals by their Creator, they are subject to definition by humans. This makes it possible for people to believe that they have a right to the property of others and can take that property by a majority vote in some body with arbitrary authority. This violates the very idea of America, the first nation on earth where the individual was constitutionally guaranteed this basic fundamental right is inviolate.

America has crossed a very bright line by violating 1 and 2 above. It is like driving over the posted speed limit – once you exceed the posted limit, what is the limit? At that point, you are only limited by how fast your vehicle will go. Only the most daft among us could believe that God can make laws that man can break but a man can make unbreakable laws. If a man cannot govern himself, surely he cannot govern others.

I don’t care if you believe in God, are a Jew or a Christian. America’s founding was influenced by those theologies but the principles it was founded on are universal and transcendent. What I care about is that you agree with me that there is a basic, universal definition of right and wrong and that those limits are described in our Constitution. Absent this understanding to anchor us and when we can wake up to new definitions of what government can and can’t do each morning, a constitution is meaningless and a nation cannot stand without a constitution as a solid foundation.

The Seattle city council has proven that they believe they have a right to take from others for their own purposes (even if it is alleged to be for someone else). They have proven that no citizen of Seattle can be comfortable in the security of their own property. If an individual can never be secure in his person or his property, the American experiment in freedom is at an end.