Observations along the road to ruin

[Geee]

Washington Times:

People think early European immigrants to America were seeking religious freedom. In fact, they sought escape from religious persecution. Not quite the same thing.

 

The policy not to molest or hinder those practicing even what were seen as false religions took time to crystallize. Gradually, however, tolerance came to seem sensible — or at least preferable to other options. Eventually, the children of the Enlightenment who designed the American system of government proclaimed freedom of religion a right — a right endowed not by those wielding political power but by the Creator. This was a revolutionary idea. In most of the world, it’s still a revolutionary idea.

 

People think the Founders were idealists. In fact, they were realists. They recognized that the citizens of the new nation they were establishing would have as much dividing as uniting them. They didn’t expect that to change. So they built a structure within which Americans might live and work most successfully. Conflicts would be managed. A utopia in which conflicts would be abolished was not envisioned.

 

They understood that successful conflict-management would require the rule of law, including a written constitution. The U.S. Constitution, essentially a contract between those governing and those granting permission to govern, could be amended — but it was not meant to be substantively altered under the guise of “interpretation.”