Editor, As I read the article about the adult entertainment owners I was saddened by some of the quotes by our county leaders and by attorney Kimberly Copeland. One of the comments made by Copeland was that, “Morality has no place in government.” I totally disagree with Miss Copeland and she must have slept through American government class in college.
President Woodrow Wilson wrote, “A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about.”
This country we live in was created on the moral and ethical beliefs of our founding fathers. As we look back at history we can see plain evidence of this fact. The Bible tells us “Thou shalt meditate in this book of the law… that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shaft have good success” Joshua 1:8.
This verse describes what is called a “biblical world view,” a philosophy that says behavior, ethics and learning must be judged against the standards set forth in God’s word and that nothing can ultimately be successful apart from the application of those standards. Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws, the legal benchmark used in America from 1766-1920, explained that system of standards:
“These laws laid down by God are the eternal immutable laws of good and evil… This law… dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this… The doctrines thus delivered… are to be found only in the holy scriptures… No human laws should be suffered to contradict these.”
Under this legal standard, God’s standards were the plumb line for law, government, education, etc. That philosophy of life, sometimes called “Scottish common sense realism,” first introduced on this continent by early colonists and later codified by Blackstone, permeated American culture for more than two-and-a-half centuries.
So Miss Copeland, I think morality has every place in government and we need more leaders who are morally and ethically minded. Commissioner Gilliard, I do not understand how you, as a public official, can say that morality is a private luxury. Morality is something we as parents teach our kids through our example of how we live our lives in front of them. So for you to make that statement would be false. Morality is something that is bred into each and everyone of us. It’s not a luxury.
Commissioner Thrift, I commend your stance in this article. You have a very good understanding of what it means to be a public servant and an elected official. As an elected official, you do have an obligation to serve as the voice of the people you represent and for that, I commend you. Maybe some of your fellow commissioners can learn by your example.
Lest we forget this country was founded on four words, In God We Trust, and if we would get back to that simple concept, we would see a great change in this nation. If the moral issues remain unaddressed, the economic costs will remain unbridled. John Adams concluded that to change governments without addressing moral issues is an exercise in futility:
“It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand … if this cannot be inspired into our people in a greater measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty” (June 21, 1776). President John Adams
There were other countries that lost their morals and they were Sodom and Gomorrah. Look what God did to them and now let us look at the state our world is in today. Do you see a similarity?
President Woodrow Wilson wrote, “A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about.”
This country we live in was created on the moral and ethical beliefs of our founding fathers. As we look back at history we can see plain evidence of this fact. The Bible tells us “Thou shalt meditate in this book of the law… that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shaft have good success” Joshua 1:8.
This verse describes what is called a “biblical world view,” a philosophy that says behavior, ethics and learning must be judged against the standards set forth in God’s word and that nothing can ultimately be successful apart from the application of those standards. Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws, the legal benchmark used in America from 1766-1920, explained that system of standards:
“These laws laid down by God are the eternal immutable laws of good and evil… This law… dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this… The doctrines thus delivered… are to be found only in the holy scriptures… No human laws should be suffered to contradict these.”
Under this legal standard, God’s standards were the plumb line for law, government, education, etc. That philosophy of life, sometimes called “Scottish common sense realism,” first introduced on this continent by early colonists and later codified by Blackstone, permeated American culture for more than two-and-a-half centuries.
So Miss Copeland, I think morality has every place in government and we need more leaders who are morally and ethically minded. Commissioner Gilliard, I do not understand how you, as a public official, can say that morality is a private luxury. Morality is something we as parents teach our kids through our example of how we live our lives in front of them. So for you to make that statement would be false. Morality is something that is bred into each and everyone of us. It’s not a luxury.
Commissioner Thrift, I commend your stance in this article. You have a very good understanding of what it means to be a public servant and an elected official. As an elected official, you do have an obligation to serve as the voice of the people you represent and for that, I commend you. Maybe some of your fellow commissioners can learn by your example.
Lest we forget this country was founded on four words, In God We Trust, and if we would get back to that simple concept, we would see a great change in this nation. If the moral issues remain unaddressed, the economic costs will remain unbridled. John Adams concluded that to change governments without addressing moral issues is an exercise in futility:
“It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand … if this cannot be inspired into our people in a greater measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty” (June 21, 1776). President John Adams
There were other countries that lost their morals and they were Sodom and Gomorrah. Look what God did to them and now let us look at the state our world is in today. Do you see a similarity?
Terry Satterfield
Hinesville
Hinesville