“Charity is no part of the legislative duty of government,” said James Madison in 1794.

When Congress voted to provide relief for French refugees, Madison dissented: “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”

That is the vision of the Founding Fathers. That is drastically different from the kind of government we have today.

We are certainly a welfare state at this point. We are a mixed economy, partly socialized, as you see, for example, with our healthcare system, our education, our transportation, and so on.

Just about every industry is either overseen by the government or controlled by the government. This is totally different from the system the Founding Fathers envisioned.

They never would have imagined that a society in the United States should have developed in such a way that we would have so many handouts and controls. They would not have wanted there to be any entitlements, welfare payments, or subsidies.

The Founding Fathers believed in individual rights. They believed that the collective does not have a claim against individual men. The collective cannot take away what a man has earned by his own work.

In this session of the Americanism Book Study, we explore this better vision for our country:

Listen to the podcast in the player below, or view the video here.

ABOUT THE BOOK STUDY:

The Americanism Book Study met from October 23rd to December 19th, 2021 to discuss A New Textbook of Americanism.

The goals of the group were to help our viewers:

-Meet Christians who care about individual rights and capitalism.
-Sharpen skills in defending America’s unique principles.
-Explore connections between Christianity and Ayn Rand’s political work.

This series of meetings laid the foundation for a larger discussion series, called the Objectivism Book Study. This latter project aims to provide a robust Christian response to Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Why Christians Should Reconsider Ayn Rand

About Us (For the New Christian Intellectual)

Ayn Rand and Christianity?

Christianity + Western Civilization

The Plunder of the Egyptians

Americanism Book Study (Sign Up Page and Replays)

Objectivism Book Study (Sign Up Page and Replays)

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