The term “Good Government” is actually a “Christian” term.

Jesus Christ defined Good this way:

“Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.”

Jesus also summarized the law as the combination of loving God (the only truly Good one) with all your heart, mind and strength and loving others as yourself.

This is the law of love.

In our Declaration of Independence, this idea is applied to the proper purpose of government:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

 

This was the first time in history that man declared the proper role of government and defined what “Good” government is.

If men are to be free (at liberty) to pursue happiness (do that which does not cause harm to others) then any government that prevents this lawful pursuit is not “Good”.

This implies limits on what government, and thus what law, can and cannot do.

The concept of a crime, done by either an individual or a group, including government, is something that does “harm” to another individual or group.  It does not include “harm” done to one self or one’s own property.  It must reach to harm another human being to be a crime against man.  Harming one’s self would be a crime against God.

The really unique thing here is that the constitution instituted a law over government – a first!  When you hear a politician say “let’s restore law and order” you must realize that the first law that must be restored is the law over government because if that law is not being followed, the government itself no longer has a right to enforce any other law on its citizens.  It has become illegitamate, enforced both by the constitution and by the oaths of office taken by government’s agents.

This is also a Christian concept because God said:

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

No other living or non-living thing has this attribute – made in the image of God.  This puts mankind squarely above all the rest of creation and constitutes what must not be harmed – people.

These simple precepts constitute the philosophical limits of good government.  Criminals are those that do harm to people, not someone that fails to comply with public policy, a regulation or an arbitrary license. 

The harm IS the crime and nothing else.

Liberty constitutes all things that do no harm to others and this is the limit of our freedom in Christ.

It doesn’t take long to see that we have strayed far from this ideal.  In fact, every existing form of government and nation has strayed far from this ideal including America.

How does one reclaim “Good” government?

By simply limiting its actions to that which is in line with the philosophical limitations we just described above.

“Oh that all our elected representatives in government would be aware of and obey these precepts!  For then, happiness would fill the land and the people, with liberty and justice for all.”

 

This is the goal of Citizens for Good Government.