The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson


Containing His Articles, Observations, Thoughts, Meanderings,
and some would say Wisdom (and some would say not).

Change and/or New

The call of change rings throughout the land. New ideas, new laws, and new regulations to solve the issues and problems confronting us. However, you must remember that change and new are not synonymous with good. Much of this call for change in America is based on the good intentions of the people calling for change. However, you should always remember that “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”. It is much better to have good results rather than good intentions. Good intentions often lead to bad results when you do not carefully and fully examine the means and the methods to achieve the results intended. To do so otherwise is to court disaster.

The American Revolution was a change for the good of the world, as it instituted a government based on the Declaration of Independence principles of:

“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, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

John Adams, in his reflections on the American Revolution in 1818, concluded that the American Revolution was not the war, but the change in attitudes of the Colonists regarding government:

“The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people .... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.”
 - John Adams

In this, they instituted a government that was based upon the knowledge and wisdom of many (mostly dead white men) of the past and their own current age. This knowledge and wisdom, along with their understanding and wisdom, was incorporated into the principles of our Constitution. Principles that are eternal, as they are based upon the Natural Rights of all persons. Principles that need to be remembered and followed in all our governmental actions. Therefore, change and/or new must be based upon these principles for them to be good for America; otherwise, the change and/or new will probably end up being bad for America.

The French Revolution brought about major change, as well as the Reign of Terror.  Likewise, the Russian Revolution brought major change as well as human rights violations and the suffering and death of millions for many decades, and the various Chinese Revolutions and other Asian revolutions of the 20th century brought about the same results as the Russian Revolution. South America in the 20th century is another good example of changes having done little good and often having a negative or no impact on its people. Despite all the changes of governments in South America in the last hundred years, the plight of its people remains, and little good has been achieved for the people of South America.

Much of the failure of these above revolutions can be attributed to the minds and hearts of its populace not being changed as to the purposes of government, as espoused by the aforementioned quote of John Adams. Without this change to the minds and hearts of the people, revolutions often replace one form of bad government with another form of bad government, and authoritarianism, despotism, dictatorialness, totalitarianism, or tyranny is often the end result of the revolution. Therefore, this is why the American Revolution was successful, and the other revolutions were not, as the minds and hearts of the American Colonists were changed to institute a new and better form of government dedicated to Liberty and Freedom and the Natural Rights of its people.

Many of the objections to what I have Chipped and written about in my articles on governmental actions is that these actions are what most Americans support. However, our Constitution was not only for the purposes of a majoritarian rule but even more so for the purpose of the protection of minority rights, and especially for the preservation of our "American Ideals and Ideas" and the "Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All". Consequently, majoritarian nor minoritarian rule is never acceptable if it contravenes the "Natural, Human, and Civil Rights" of majorities or minorities under our Constitution.

This is an essential principle that many of us have forgotten or never knew that is a foundation for "A Just Government and a Just Society" and "A Civil Society". The violation of this principle is especially harmful when politicians and activists have forgotten or never knew this essential principle. Many times, they know this principle, but in their quest to achieve a social policy or to accrue more power unto themselves, they ignore or discard this principle of minority rights. Sometimes, these politicians and activists are in the minority but utilize their political clout to impose their minority views upon the majority. These two concepts of the tyranny of the Majority or the Minority are known as the Tyranny of the Minority or the Tyranny of the Majority. Neither tyranny is acceptable under our Constitution, as it is tyranny, no matter if it comes from the majority or the minority.

It should always be remembered that change can be good, bad, or indifferent, and much change in the United States has had good, bad, and indifferent impacts. The Civil War and the Civil Rights movement are examples of a change for the good. Arguably, the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Great Society have had many good, bad, and indifferent changes to American society.

The lessons of history are that change can be good, bad, or indifferent. Much of the change and/or new often has a negative social and economic impact on the people and their society. New governments, new ideas, new laws, and new regulations may help, but they may make things worse, and they most often make life more difficult for those that are directly affected (both citizens and governments). Whenever you are dealing with change and/or new, you should always remember my article on "The Law of Unintended Consequences" and be mindful of the potentially serious and often unintended negative repercussions of the change and/or new.

Therefore, you must always carefully review the change and/or new to determine what impact it may have, and listen to the opinions of knowledgeable and experienced people as to what the intended consequences are and what they believe the unintended consequences may be. But always remember that there are things that we know that we know, there are things that we know we don't know, and there are things that we don't know that we don't know. It is the things that we don't know that we don't know that are often the killer when a change and/or new becomes involved. You should also keep in mind that "the devil is in the details", as I have examined in my Article “The Devil is in the Details. Also, do not be misled by misnomers or generalizations about a policy, law, or regulation. You must carefully evaluate the details of what is being proposed to determine the full impact of the change or new that is being proposed.

Consequently, calls for change and/or new should always be met with caution and skepticism and carefully evaluated to determine if the change is for the good and without negative impacts on our Liberties and Freedoms and Natural Rights, as well as to any serious negative social and economic impacts to the people and our society. Otherwise, we run the risk of gliding down the slippery slope to the diminution of our Natural Rights and/or the subsequent loss of our Liberties and Freedoms.