From Cradle to Grave: Trading Liberty for Free “Stuff”

Our Founding Fathers gave us a constitutional republic, with “government of the people, for the people and by the people.” It was estab- lished as a limited government with defined powers.

The Preamble of the Consti- tution states that the duties of the federal government are to: “es- tablish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the com- mon defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” All of these have to do with our rights, our safety and our freedom. All other rights and duties belonged to the individual states or to the people directly.

With America’s spiritual and moral foundation in shreds, an entitlement society has developed, where many look to government to take care of them from “cra- dle to grave.” Big Government has usurped the roles that God has given to our families and our churches. In the process, government now under- mines and undercuts these institu- tions which are vital to any produc- tive, well-ordered society.

Some have wrongly mischarac- terized the Preambles’ statement that the government is to “promote the general Welfare.” This was strictly speaking of maintaining law and security so citizens would be free to work hard and enjoy the fruit of their labors. Dr. Edward Panosian, of Bob Jones University, wrote in the March/April 1976 issue of Faith for the Family: “… there grows a greater dependency upon government as it moves from her role ‘to promote the general welfare’ to promoting larger welfare rolls.”

The ad reproduced above, de- signed for the U.S. government by the Campbell Ewald Agency, is clear evidence of what we are here describ- ing. Every aspect of one’s life is found in an interconnected web of govern- ment agencies and services (some of them legitimate; many of them not).

In a time of massive debt, the government is paying millions of dollars it does not have for ads to promote this “cradle to grave” so- ciety, which it cannot fund. (Take note of how many television and social media ads give a web address ending in “.gov”). This is just one more example of how the sins of the American people and its government are leading us closer to the calamity and destruction which always results from rebellion against God and the principles found in His Word.