The one-minute patriot.(The Right Perspective)

The American patriot understands and upholds These fundamentals of our nation:

1. The fountainhead of American government and society--the most fundamental idea of all--is this: God is the mighty author of our being and the moral authority for our laws. Our Founders declared it was "self-evident" truth. The Declaration of Independence contains four references to deity: "Nature's God," "Creator," "Supreme Judge of the world," and "Divine Providence." These make clear that in the political theory articulated by the Founders of America, God, not government, is the source of our freedom, our sovereignty, our rights, our justice, our human dignity, and all else which creates a good society. Therefore, patriots recognize that we are "one nation under God" and honor it in word and deed.

2. The corollary idea to that, which our Founders likewise held, is this: We are made in the image and likeness of God, and by virtue of our spiritual nature, every human being is sacred, sovereign, and inviolable. Therefore patriots recognize that "all men are created equal" and honor it in word and deed.

3. Freedom applies to all aspects of our existence, from the physical through the intellectual-emotional and the social-political to the spiritual. Liberty, a subset of freedom, refers to the social-political aspect of freedom. John Adams called God "the Spirit of Liberty."

4. Freedom is indivisible, so its various aspects are intimately related. Any diminishment of freedom in one aspect of our lives diminishes freedom in all other aspects.

5. God's purpose in granting us freedom is to use it to show forth His glory in our entire existence.

6. Because all freedom comes from God, it carries an inherent responsibility to use it properly--i.e., morally and lawfully--to fulfill our obligation to our Creator. Freedom and responsibility are therefore intimately related. Without responsibility, liberty becomes libertinism or immoral, destructive behavior. Freedom is never license to do as we please, but only as we ought.