I just finished reading a book titled the 5000 Year Leap. The title stems from the fact that before America was founded, technology and society hadn't changed a whole lot over the course of 5,000 years, but since the birth of America we humans have enjoyed an explosion of technology and innovation that until now has been completely unheard of.
This was possible through the efforts of the founding fathers and the 28 principles that they adhered to when building the United States.
So, periodically I will be posting an article about each one of these principles to give readers a better idea of how our great country was originally intended to be ran on a day-to-day and year-to-year basis. Below is the first principle.
Principle #1: Natural Law
Natural Law is a philosophy made famous by the Roman thinker Cicero (106-43 B.C.). Essentially natural law is something Cicero believed to be the one "true law", based in large part on the belief in a one true god. Natural Law is the law of nature, and as such its validity is universal, and Cicero believed all other man-made laws should be measured against it.
The tenants of natural law include things such as justice, reason, love for neighbors and others in society, high morals and a virtuous personal nature. Particularly offensive to Natural Law is unjust subjugation and persecution of citizens by their government or other groups of citizens.
Natural Law may be easier to understand if examples from our own American society are given. Below are concepts that were derived from Natural Law by our founding fathers.
1. Unalienable rights
3. Limited government
4. Separation of powers
5. Checks and balances
6. Right to bear arms
7. No taxation without representation
For something that most Americans know nothing about, we sure did derive a lot of our most basic beliefs and laws from it.
