The John Adams Society
William G.
Carpenter
John
Pope
Larry
Colson
Roger Belfay
Chairman
Secretary
Chief Whip
Chancellor
December 2006
For where your treasure is, there will your heart
be also – Matthew
6:21
WHIPPINGS AND A BURNT TONGUE were among the purported
punishments for breaching the prohibitions of 17th century Puritan
America. These blue laws, as they
were called, banned idleness, public displays of affection, wearing silk or
silver buckles whilst being of lower class, drinking alcohol on Sundays, and
loose behavior in general. While
the enforcement of most blue laws waned by the time of the American Revolution,
Sundays were kept as a day of rest until World War II, when demands on women for
war manufacturing left them little time to shop. Since then, a once peaceful Sabbath has
evolved into a time of anxiety and indebtedness in a seductive contest of
conspicuous consumption begetting conspicuous consumption. And such vulnerable dullards we’ve
become, allowing the healthful proclivities of youth, like wonderment and
inquisitiveness, to expire somewhat dormant under the overuse of entertainment
as a staple. Family time follows
job, daycare and the commute, and is now in the getting and using of
merchandise.
Handles on religion are now easily supplanted by idols
of consumerism, and because the soul is no longer highly valued, schedules often
ignore the human requirement for periodicity and down-time. But, there are diminishing returns to
pursuits outside the prudent demarcations of the Sabbath. The Bible embodies wisdom as such. Contrary to the views of commercial
secularists, observance of the Sabbath is also practical for reinforcing one’s
ethic for work and for recharging that spending and productive battery, the
family. Arguments that government
should not interfere with free markets are not relevant, as government is
already entrenched in the marketplace, be it in state gambling operations,
partnering with corporations, or subsidizing consumption, not to mention taxing
and regulating. Had this not been
the case, tradition and etiquette may just as well have seen the Sabbath
prevail. Now, if economic freedom
endures, it will be because most people accept it on moral grounds. But, who is most able to sow such moral
seed and on what popularly sensible terms will it germinate? The Sabbath wasn’t only religious, its
sanction by the state reinforced American resolve.
ON THE OTHER HAND, where your heart is, there you seek
treasure, and it is human nature to be in motion, say shopping or working. This motion can be taxed by the
state. Puritan laws prohibiting
work on the Sabbath offer the state no revenue solutions; if stores heed the
Sabbath, Gross Domestic Product shrinks.
And if only some states should have blue laws while others do not, then
Sunday shoppers will go to the convenient states. This is state discrimination and
violates state rights!
Understanding as much,
The Chairman, presently scheduling Guinness and God for
the Baal Holidays, calls for a debate:
Resolved: Bring back Blue
Laws!
The Debate will be held on