The Twin Burdens of American Society

“The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.”

Proverb 12:25

The weight of ruling or being ruled can break a man who is dissatisfied with either portion.

The responsibility of one, and the lack of personal determination of the other require much wisdom to endure. Without wisdom, a once-civil society will miserably regress into feudalism- a state where one does only what they are forced to, to survive.

The presence then, of the Bible and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ enable a man to be a submissive citizen or kind ruler. One should not be preferred more than another, forsaken for the other, or is more Godly than the other. Despite what we have termed the citizen (whether “free,” or “law-abiding”) or the ruler (“public servant” or “elected representative”) there are two burdens to be borne in every society in the kingdoms of this world: rulership and citizenship.

Alexis DeTocqueville saw the strength of the United States federal government. He predicted in 1830 what that strength would beget. He predicted that anarchy would not come because of a weak or ineffective government, but rather a strong one.

"Governments usually fall a sacrifice to impotence or to tyranny. In the former case their power escapes from them; it is wrested from their grasp in the latter. Many observers, who have witnessed the anarchy of democratic States, have imagined that the government of those States was naturally weak and impotent. The truth is, that when once hostilities are begun between parties, the government loses its control over society. But I do not think that a democratic power is naturally without force or without resources: say, rather, that it is almost always by the abuse of its force and the misemployment of its resources that a democratic government fails. Anarchy is almost always produced by its tyranny or its mistakes, but not by its want of strength."

Why is that? According to the wisest ruler to have lived up until 2026AD, it is because of a misbalance of burdens. The slothful– those who do not manage themselves wisely– oppose the efforts of the diligent to bear rule. So, they are consigned to tribute. The diligent work to free themselves and others from tyranny, yet for all their personal effort, they are tasked with the responsibility of more and more lives. For all their work, they are fought, stereotyped, maligned, and generally hated. This causes the weight to shift, and the cart of society tips.

"If ever the free institutions of America are destroyed, that event may be attributed to the unlimited authority of the majority, which may at some future time urge the minorities to desperation, and oblige them to have recourse to physical force. Anarchy will then be the result, but it will have been brought about by despotism."

DeTocqueville saw the American government as a very finely balanced load. While educators credit the popular political figures for its management, it is evident that no lost man could manage or be managed the way the United States was begun. For the last 250 years, the peace of the U.S. has been carried by Bible-believers who bear the blame for unbalance, and do this: “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;  Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.” (1 Peter 2:13-14)

“A just weight and balance are the LORD’s: all the weights of the bag are his work.”

Proverbs 16:11

The Christian ought to revere God as his head, and the government as God’s minister, for good or evil.

That is our way of balancing the burden in God’s estimation. The issue is not party-based. One can be just as evil as the other. The issue is: Am I content with the burden God has placed upon me? Several reasons: First, our nation is relatively young. This is plain to a reader of history. Second, with proper time it will conform to the pattern of all nations. This is plain to a reader of the Bible. Third, it does matter much who assumes the helm. No nation can ever become ‘too big to fail’. Again, hear De Tocqueville:

"It is important not to confound stability with force, or the greatness of a thing with its duration. In democratic republics, the power which directs society is not stable; for it often changes hands and assumes a new direction. But whichever way it turns, its force is almost irresistible. The Governments of the American republics appear to me to be as much centralized as those of the absolute monarchies of Europe, and more energetic than they are. I do not, therefore, imagine that they will perish from weakness."

The traveling Frenchman could see from the outside what we refuse to see from the inside. At barely fifty years-old, and our whole system was taking on the centralized form that had existed in Europe for centuries. And we were doing it with gusto!

The Christian owes his liberty to his personal relationship with and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are thousands of voices who will argue against this statement. ‘Christian’ voices. Some will invoke the Constitution and demand we ‘bear arms’ against the government. Some will invoke the misapplied Abrahamic Covenant and ignore the government. But I hope those reading this will settle their heart to live for God by preaching the Gospel, leading others to follow Jesus Christ. That is the real and only way to save the republic: to turn people from their sins to personal “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21b)

Because the people in government have an immense job: to punish evildoers, and to protect the innocent. The job description implies that justice in the strictest sense would be both the best protector and punisher. Once again, a reader of American history can be forewarned against the inevitable outcome.

"Mr. Hamilton expresses the same opinion in the “Federalist,” No. 51. “It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.
Justice is the end of government. 
It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be, pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society, under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger: and as in the latter state even the stronger individuals are prompted by the uncertainty of their condition to submit to a government which may protect the weak as well as themselves, so in the former state will the more powerful factions be gradually induced by a like motive to wish for a government which will protect all parties, the weaker as well as the more powerful. ”

You may easily discern the supernatural ‘binding’ nature of government. Governments are less invented than they are appointed. Appointed by God, and then delegated to the devil, who is “the prince and the power of the air” having “principalities, and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world”⁵ under his control.

If you accept that truth, my brother or sister, you can easily and simply embrace and “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.”⁶ But many– and I do mean MANY– have credited the democratic process, or the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights, or even the party of the currently elected President to give them courage for living. How sad and transient! See how Paul prospered as a waif and a prisoner:

“Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.

Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.”

1 Corinthians 7:20-23

The Biblical difference of opinion is what sets the Christian apart. The man who puts his shoulder to the plow despite the unfairness, illegitimacy, and hostility of his lost American brethren is who is holding this nation together.

The politically active man is a politician himself. He talks a big talk when you agree with him, but the personal conviction to exercise the ‘why’ for his agitations is not manifest. He is a great complainer, but not a doer. A wisher, but only when others will gather ’round and join him. He cannot pray himself, he must go to a prayer meeting to cover up his infidelity. He cannot defend his faith, he must ‘copy and paste’ screenshots or memes that cheapen Bible doctrine.

"In that immense crowd which throngs the avenues to power in the United States I found very few men who displayed any of that manly candor and that masculine independence of opinion which frequently distinguished the Americans in former times, and which constitutes the leading feature in distinguished characters, wheresoever they may be found. It seems, at first sight, as if all the minds of the Americans were formed upon one model, so accurately do they correspond in their manner of judging. A stranger does, indeed, sometimes meet with Americans who dissent from these rigorous formularies; with men who deplore the defects of the laws, the mutability and the ignorance of democracy; who even go so far as to observe the evil tendencies which impair the national character, and to point out such remedies as it might be possible to apply; but no one is there to hear these things besides yourself, and you, to whom these secret reflections are confided, are a stranger and a bird of passage. They are very ready to communicate truths which are useless to you, but they continue to hold a different language in public."

Such is not the man of God. God’s man will work without applause. He will fight a losing battle, if it is right. He will preach on the street, exercising First Amendment right, to his politically active brethren’s embarrassment. He will contend and err on the side of Truth, no matter who violates it, regardless of their party or platform.

He will not complain when his government fails him, for he was never relying on the government. He will not debate the whims of one lost man versus another lost man. He will condemn them both by the witness of Scripture. He will not play for the sympathy of the world’s system; rather he will proclaim in every modulation of his life the need of submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Having stated his case, DeTocqueville left an epitaph on his beliefs. He knew full well what he was saying, and how ignored and rejected it would be. I procure that closing remark now, and add it to my thoughts:

"If ever these lines are read in America, I am well assured of two things: in the first place, that all who peruse them will raise their voices to condemn me; and in the second place, that very many of them will acquit me at the bottom of their conscience."

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1. De Tocqueville, Alexis, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA Volume I, “Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States—Part III” Translated by Henry Reeve, London, 1835 ↩︎ ↩︎
2. Ibid. ↩︎
3. Ibid. ↩︎
4. Ibid. ↩︎
5. Ephesians 6:12 ↩︎
6. Galatians 5:1 ↩︎