The Moral Foundations of Society. By Margaret Thatcher. Imprimis, Vol. 24, No. 3 (March 1995). PDF.
Thatcher:
The Moral Foundations of the American
Founding
History
has taught us that freedom cannot long survive unless it is based on moral
foundations. The American founding bears ample witness to this fact. America
has become the most powerful nation in history, yet she uses her power not for
territorial expansion but to perpetuate freedom and justice throughout the
world.
For
over two centuries, Americans have held fast to their belief in freedom for all
men—a belief that springs from their spiritual heritage. John Adams, second
president of the United States, wrote in 1789, “Our Constitution was designed
only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the
government of any other.” That was an astonishing thing to say, but it was true.
What
kind of people built America and thus prompted Adams to make such a statement?
Sadly, too many people, especially young people, have a hard time answering
that question. They know little of their own history (This is also true in
Great Britain.) But America’s is a very distinguished history, nonetheless, and
it has important lessons to teach us regarding the necessity of moral
foundations.
John
Winthrop, who led the Great Migration to America in the early 17th century and
who helped found the Massachusetts Bay Colony, declared, “We shall be as a City
upon a Hill.” On the voyage to the New World, he told the members of his
company that they must rise to their responsibilities and learn to live as God
intended men should live: in charity, love, and cooperation with one another.
Most of the early founders affirmed the colonists were infused with the same
spirit, and they tried to live in accord with a Biblical ethic. They felt they
weren’t able to do so in Great Britain or elsewhere in Europe. Some of them
were Protestant, and some were Catholic; it didn’t matter. What mattered was
that they did not feel they had the liberty to worship freely and, therefore,
to live freely, at home. With enormous courage, the first American colonists
set out on a perilous journey to an unknown land—without government subsidies
and not in order to amass fortunes but to fulfill their faith.
Christianity
is based on the belief in a single God as evolved from Judaism. Most important
of all, the faith of America’s founders affirmed the sanctity of each
individual. Every human life—man or woman, child or adult, commoner or
aristocrat, rich or poor—was equal in the eyes of the Lord. It also affirmed
the responsibility of each individual.
This
was not a faith that allowed people to do whatever they wished, regardless of
the consequences. The Ten Commandments, the injunction of Moses (“Look after
your neighbor as yourself”), the Sermon on the Mount, and the Golden Rule made
Americans feel precious—and also accountable—for the way in which they used
their God-given talents. Thus they shared a deep sense of obligation to one
another. And, as the years passed, they not only formed strong communities but
devised laws that would protect individual freedom—laws that would eventually be
enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
. . . . . . . . . .
The Moral Foundations of Democracy
Democracy
is never mentioned in the Bible. When people are gathered together, whether as
families, communities or nations, their purpose is not to ascertain the will of
the majority, but the will of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, I am an enthusiast
of democracy because it is about more than the will of the majority. If it were
only about the will of the majority, it would be the right of the majority to
oppress the minority. The American Declaration of Independence and Constitution
make it clear that this is not the case. There are certain rights which are
human rights and which no government can displace. And when it comes to how you
Americans exercise your rights under democracy, your hearts seem to be touched
by something greater than yourselves. Your role in democracy does not end when
you cast your vote in an election. It applies daily; the standards and values
that are the moral foundations of society are also the foundations of your
lives.
Democracy
is essential to preserving freedom. As Lord Acton reminded us, “Power tends to
corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” If no individual can be
trusted with power indefinitely, it is even more true that no government can
be. It has to be checked, and the best way of doing so is through the will of
the majority, bearing in mind that this will can never be a substitute for
individual human rights.
I am
often asked whether I think there will be a single international democracy,
known as a “new world order.” Though many of us may yearn for one, I do not
believe it will ever arrive. We are misleading ourselves about human nature
when we say, “Surely we’re too civilized, too reasonable, ever to go to war
again,” or, “We can rely on our governments to get together and reconcile our
differences.” Tyrants are not moved by idealism. They are moved by naked
ambition. Idealism did not stop Hitler; it did not stop Stalin. Our best hope
as sovereign nations is to maintain strong defenses. Indeed, that has been one
of the most important moral as well as geopolitical lessons of the 20th
century. Dictators are encouraged by weakness; they are stopped by strength. By
strength, of course, I do not merely mean military might but the resolve to use
that might against evil.
The
West did show sufficient resolve against Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. But
we failed bitterly in Bosnia. In this case, instead of showing resolve, we
preferred “diplomacy” and “consensus.” As a result, a quarter of a million
people were massacred. This was a horror that I, for one, never expected to see
again in my lifetime. But it happened. Who knows what tragedies the future
holds if we do not learn from the repeated lessons of history? The price of
freedom is still, and always will be, eternal vigilance.
Free
societies demand more care and devotion than any others. They are, moreover,
the only societies with moral foundations, and those foundations are evident in
their political, economic, legal, cultural, and, most importantly, spiritual
life.
We who
are living in the West today are fortunate. Freedom has been bequeathed to us.
We have not had to carve it out of nothing; we have not had to pay for it with
our lives. Others before us have done so. But it would be a grave mistake to
think that freedom requires nothing of us. Each of us has to earn freedom anew
in order to possess it. We do so not just for our own sake, but for the sake of
our children, so that they may build a better future that will sustain over the
wider world the responsibilities and blessings of freedom.
