Creating a Vision for Good and a Good Government

The powers of mind, spirit, and body with which we have been created, and which we use in religion and politics, belong to us simply because of who we are. Simply by coming into being as a human we have them. We have the right to keep these powers permanently – that’s what the words “endowed by the Creator” mean in the Declaration of Independence.

Any effort to take these powers away from someone

is an effort to rob him of his fundamental human property.

This leads us to the two of most challenging questions Americans have ever faced.

1. How is it that we come into being as humans in the first place?

2. And how is it that we come not merely to have these powers of mind, spirit, and body but also to have a right to them?

In the Declaration of Independence these questions, in turn, lead us straight back to the Creator.

“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 to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men . . . .”

The answers to the questions above are the same in the Declaration of Independence – “The Creator.” Science provides two answers – DNA and governments. Having “a right to them” and actually “having them” are two very different things. According to the Declaration of Independence – “governments are instituted among men to secure rights.” Science agrees with that answer.

In order for a government to be established by men, they must share a common vision about two things -- the kind of government they want and the definition of “good.” Below is the kind of government the writers of the Declaration of Independence had in mind:

1. A government that pursues the common good.

2. A government that cultivates and protects the rule of law.

3. A government that protects the sovereignty of the people.

4. A government that encourages material prosperity and growth.

5. A government that provides access to justice, security, and peace for the citizens.

If you read my email, The Creator’s Vision and Values for Humanity, you probably noticed similarities between the words of Genesis 1 and those of the Declaration of Independence. Both visions rest upon the meaning of one word – good. That is one of the most important words in English, as are its equivalents in other languages.

The Hebrew word TOV is the word translated “good” in Genesis.

Actions that protect and preserve lives, make lives more functional

and increase the quality of life are TOV – “good for life!”

We created the TOV Center to promote TOV as a universal standard for defining good and measuring human actions. I encourage you to adopt and incorporate the TOV Standard in your life and your decisions.

Thank you for reading this. Please share and discuss it with others.

May your life be blessed with an abundance of TOV,
Jim Myers

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SOURCE:

● Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality by Danielle Allen © 2014l Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York, NY; pp. 174, 247.