Reviving Our Republic: Asking God to Help

By James Boggs

Many political books list American societal and political problems but stop short of presenting solutions. Dr. Boggs explains the context and concepts that our Founders applied while structuring our federal system. He then applies those God-centered concepts with credible physical and online sources so the reader can conceptualize solving today’s critical problems in America.
The author shows you how to evaluate statements on the internet and determine facts on current issues. Then you will be informed as you work to: increase personal morals, strengthen your family, protect your rights, meet civic responsibilities, improve local schools, assimilate legal immigrants, find and grow with a religious group, and more. You may read specific chapters which apply to problems painful to you or read the full book to greatly increase your participation in, and rewards from, the American way of life.
Dr. Boggs describes step-by-step actions you can implement to improve American society while personally growing as a God-centered individual. America gives us significant values: freedom, a way of life, and opportunities for which people still risk their lives to immigrate. If these values disappear, they will be lost forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Apr 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781662935749

Book preview

The views and opinions expressed in this book are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of Gatekeeper Press. Gatekeeper Press is not to be held responsible for and expressly disclaims responsibility for the content herein.

Reviving Our Republic: Asking God to Help

Published by Gatekeeper Press

7853 Gunn Hwy., Suite 209

Tampa, FL 33626

www.GatekeeperPress.com

Copyright © 2023 by James Boggs

All rights reserved. Neither this book, nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022951478

ISBN (paperback): 9781662935732

eISBN: 9781662935749

To God, for giving us this good land.

To Linda, Jane, Catherine, Robert, Dylan, James, and Jocelyn,

who will enjoy this great gift.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank several people who gave me comments, encouragement, and professional services to bring this book to press. My wife Linda surrendered a lot of our time together and patiently encouraged me. My friends William Smith and Dave Welch provided early comments and guidance on presenting God’s continuing work in the twenty-first century. I also thank Shay Totten for his insights and comments and for emphasizing focus on the reader. The editorial and operations staff at Gatekeeper Press did a great job of editing, formatting, and preparing the book for printing and electronic distribution, as well as supporting distribution.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1. Basics of the US Republic

Chapter 2. Reestablishing Public Virtue

Chapter 3. Developing Private Virtue

Chapter 4. Sustaining Private Virtue

Chapter 5. Being Informed

Chapter 6. Fulfilling Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities

Chapter 7. Assimilating Legal Immigrants

Chapter 8. Building Up the Family

Chapter 9. Reclaiming Education in K-12

Chapter 10. Restoring Higher Education

Chapter 11. Keeping Power in State Governments

Chapter 12. Keeping Power and Access with the People

Chapter 13. Strengthening the Common Defense

Chapter 14. Balancing National Power

Chapter 15. Summation and Call to Action

References Cited

Appendix A. Glossary with Context and References

Appendix B. Messaging to Grow Churches

Appendix C. Hypothesis / Null Hypothesis Search and Analysis Example

Appendix D. The US Constitution

Preface

The title of this book highlights taking actions to revitalize the American republic, in contrast to books that only identify our failings and provide no solutions. The subtitle, Asking God to Help, mirrors the attitude of George Washington and other early American patriots, who knew that winning the war for independence and crafting a unique constitution could only be accomplished with God’s help. The papers and prayers of George Washington show him asking for the help of Divine Providence during and after the American Revolutionary War. Washington’s religious views included the duty of nations to God. Washington summarized national duty to God as acknowledging His providence, obeying His will, being grateful for His benefits, and imploring Him for protection and favor (Novak and Novak, 2006). In this book, I describe actions citizens can take to improve America while growing as God-centered individuals.

The United States of America has recently developed a disturbing trend, with several generations having weakened knowledge of, and less interest in, our country’s founding principles and the structure of our government. Ignorance of these critical areas of does not imply that these people are dissatisfied but that they simply do not know or understand the tasks critical to preserving a representative democracy (also called a republic). This ignorance affects people’s ability to

1) have informed opinions;

2) express themselves civilly and informedly to other citizens; and

3) effectively participate in our country’s way of life.

A parallel trend is the increased occurrence of people being frustrated by their failing to obtain all the material goods they think is deserved. This frustration leads to individuals and organizations ignoring, or challenging, our legal structure and the rights of others, making their own definitions of terms to justify their wants and attacking the principles of the American republic. Today, self-love appears to have replaced supporting the common good of society that was called public virtue at our founding.

Our constitutional government can only work if its citizens are moral and religious people (Adams, 1798). That is, our country needs the following:

• citizens who understand how our national, state, and local governments work

• citizens who provide for the common public good

• citizens who have sound personal morals

• churches and other religious organizations that sustain the virtues of citizens

• citizens who are informed on current issues

• citizens who know and fulfil their civic responsibilities

• government, social, and business institutions that provide equal access to services and opportunities for all citizens

• complementary activities for assimilating legal immigrants into our population

• healthy and supportive families that instill love of God and country

• primary education that teaches reading, writing, math, and other basic skills, as well as how our government is supposed to work

• higher education that fosters critical thinking and intellectual discourse

• local governments that are responsive to the people

• state governments that meet their responsibilities and jealously protect their powers in our federal system

• citizens willing, prepared, and adequately supported to win the republic’s wars

• balance of power among branches of our national government, focusing on powers enumerated in the US Constitution

I have organized this book so that you can read one or a few chapters to learn how to do specific activities to reduce the impact of, or solve, specific problems. For instance, chapter 3 can help you improve your personal morals, while chapter 4 and its associated appendix B can help a struggling church be stronger and grow. But by reading the whole book, you will access information and tools that will hopefully increase your participation in the American way of life.

This book is organized in the order listed in the bulleted list above. Chapter 1 summarizes the founding of the American government in language which may be understood by twenty-first-century Americans. Chapters 2 through 14 form a set of actions for correcting serious conditions for our republic. These action chapters identify specific emergency tasks and include written steps for the actions that need to be performed. Action chapters also have online references for information to support the reader in performing those activities. Chapter 15 is a guide on how to use the action chapters. You may find the glossary in appendix A helpful. The complete text of the US Constitution is given in appendix D to support discussions and answer questions about how our government should work.

What we have in America is something of significant value: freedoms, a way of life, and opportunities that still inspire people to risk their lives to come here. When this something of significant value is gone, it will be gone forever. By working through the action chapters of this book, the reader can begin, with others, to revive our republic and way of life.

Chapter 1.

Basics of the US Republic

Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon the will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within [each citizen], the more there must be without [in society]. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters [shackles and chains].

—Edmund Burke, 1791

In this chapter. Here we examine definitions of terms that are critical to the concepts in the US Constitution. We also use this knowledge of language from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to review the structure, and legal constraints, of the national government and its states.

Importance of language. Societal, religious, moral, and political views, as well as the common usage and definition of words, have changed dramatically in the United States of America since the Stamp Act of 1765. Citizen relocation to different regions of our country has increased, while a general loss of classical education, critical thought, scholarly expression, and civil discourse marks other changes during the twenty-first century. To understand the US Constitution, we need working definitions of key words to help us span 235 years of language modification and differing cultural viewpoints. A glossary in appendix A complements in more detail the working definitions outlined below. Appendix D provides the original text of the US Constitution with all twenty-seven amendments in force as of this writing.

Here are fourteen working definitions to start an examination of our republic and how it functions under the US Constitution, the supreme law of our land.

1. Democracy. A form of government for a society that empowers the people of the society to exercise political control of the government by majority rule; this is usually direct political control by the people in small democracies (Merriam-Webster, n.d. 2).

2. Despotism. A form of government for a society in which either an individual (i.e., a despot) or a small group of people (i.e., an oligarchy) has absolute power and exercises it over the society and its members.

3. Equality. All individuals have equal protection under the law, even though they possess different levels of intellect, physical characteristics, ethnicities, and skills (Merriam-Webster, n.d. 3).

4. Freedom. The ability to act without controls or interference by another person or by an organization such as a government entity (Merriam-Webster, n.d. 5).

5. Justice. Impartial application of law in the adjustment of conflicting claims and the issuance of punishment or rewards based on evidence to a court within an authorized judicial structure (Merriam-Webster, n.d. 6).

6. Liberty. A right inherent in all reasoning beings to engage in actions that benefit themselves if the actions do not harm others or the society in which they live (Locke, 1686/trans. 1689).

7. Monarchy. A form of government for a society that has a single head of state, typically filled by inheritance. There is a range of monarchy forms that exist, from a nominal one that works with limited powers under a constitution to one that grants absolute power to the monarch. The people who live in a monarchy are called subjects, not citizens, and are considered to be ruled by the monarch, not governed as in a democracy.

8. Natural Law (the original state of mankind). A set of principles considered inherent in nature and applicable to all reasoning beings in defining absolute elements of right and wrong. Natural law does not require either legislative acts or court precedent (Locke, 1690).

9. Property. Those items that are the proceeds or benefits of our labor. These may be real (land, estates, etc.); personal chattels (touchable and generally moveable items such as furniture, tools, and clothing); intellectual (thoughts, inventions, or works of art); or bodily (the life, health, and physical form of a person).

10. Republic. A form of government for a society that has the people democratically elect representatives as agents of the people; a republic is often called a representative democracy (Munro, n.d.).

11. Salvation. A broad concept with many aspects and viewpoints that defy simple definitions. This term is most used in the Judeo-Christian tradition related to physical or spiritual deliverance from a terrible situation, where the worst situation is separation from a relationship with God (gotquestions, n.d. 3).

12. Tyranny. A form of government for a society that has an absolute ruler who governs with absolute power (Merriam-Webster, n.d. 10).

13. Virtue, Private (moral or personal). A set of personal moral principles that guide a person’s actions and are based on the Ten Commandments and the respect for other persons found in natural law. Personal virtues include, but are not limited to, integrity, bravery, loyalty, thriftiness, helpfulness, self-restraint, kindness, courtesy, and generosity (Law Insider, n.d.).

14. Virtue, Public (political). The concept that individuals in a society have responsibilities to perform actions to keep the society running and protected. The ancient Greek and Roman concept was modified in the American colonies to emphasize retention of individual rights until the individual yielded selected rights, for a time, to support the public good. Public virtues include, but are not limited to, voting, paying taxes, serving in the military, serving on a jury regardless of inconvenience, and other forms of self-sacrifice for the good of society (Vetterli and Bryner, 1996).

Those who fought the American War of Independence and the founders who shaped the US Constitution in a governmental revolution were interested in six major ends as expressed in the preface to this constitution (see appendix D for a full version):

• A better union of states, with safeguards against central government

• Justice in a hierarchy of courts

• Tranquility with protection of property (e.g., material goods, our own body)

• Common defense from external powers

• General welfare with equal opportunity,

• Individual liberty that will last through the lives of our posterity

1. A better union. The US Constitution (signed September 17, 1787, and ratified on June 21, 1788) establishes a mechanism by which the American people are to be governed, not ruled. Those who live in despotism (tyranny) or in a monarchy are ruled respectively by a despot/tyrant/dictator or a king/prince/queen. Precisely, the Constitution establishes the United States of America as a sovereign federal republic with several sovereign states. From the original thirteen to the current fifty states, all state constitutions also establish each state as a republic, as required by the US Constitution. American democracy actually functions at the town, city, and some county levels. State legislators act on behalf of, and for the well-being of, citizens of legislative districts at the state level and, hence, function as republics. American citizens also participate in democratically electing delegates to the national Congress, where these representatives and senators act on behalf of the country as a whole and their constituents (the citizens the congressional member represent). Hence we have a national republic.

As Chief Justice John Marshall stated, "The government of the union … is emphatically a government of the people…. Its powers are