The WallBuilders Show

Building on the American Heritage Series: Civil Stewardship: Duty vs. Right

Tim Barton, David Barton & Rick Green

In this episode, we delve into the vital relationship between rights and responsibilities within the framework of civil stewardship. As we navigate the complexities of freedom, we discuss how a balanced understanding of duty is crucial for preserving our liberties. David Barton and Rick Green illuminate historical perspectives from the founding fathers, emphasizing their belief that freedom without responsibility can lead to chaos and anarchy. 

Listeners will be challenged to reflect on their roles as active citizens, engaging beyond simply voting. We’ll explore ways to fulfill our responsibilities through civic duties that promote integrity, moral law, and community engagement. The insights gained will serve as a call to action, inviting everyone to commit to their civic roles and thereby strengthen our collective society. 

Join us as we highlight the historical teachings that underpin our current legal and societal framework, reminding us that our rights are not just freedoms to enjoy but also duties to uphold. Let’s spark a conversation on how we can each contribute to a moral society that honors our foundational principles.

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Rick Green [00:00:11] Welcome to the intersection of faith and politics, while others live with David Barton and Rick Green. Today's program is civil stewardship duties versus rights. We're going to learn a lot today as we go to the set with David Barton and the building on the American Heritage Series. Well, David, we all love our freedom. We love enjoying the blessings of liberty. But with those blessings, there also comes a burden or a responsibility to do something about it. Kind of a oh, playing your role to make sure that that freedom is not only something I enjoy, but you get to enjoy it. And our our next generation gets to enjoy it. 

 

David Barton [00:00:40] Our founding fathers, who gave us these rights or at least secured them to us. There were rights given by God. The Founding Father secured them. They said to every right there is a commensurate duty. So if we have a right to free speech, which we do, we also have the duty to be honest in what we say and be true and be accurate. We got a right to free speech, but there's a duty that goes with it. We enjoy liberty. We got a duty to be involved from government, to choose the right kind of leaders, to find out the right things about leadership when we go to vote so we can cast informed vote. 

 

Rick Green [00:01:07] So if you have the freedom to vote, if you have the freedom to choose your leaders, that means you got a duty to go before us. 

 

David Barton [00:01:12] That's exactly right. So with every single right that's out there, there's a duty. And if you don't take the duty side of it, you cannot preserve the rights. It will deteriorate into really anarchy. And what happens is it becomes a licentious kind of a thing. I have the right to do whatever I want. No you don't. There's a great passage in the Bible where twice we're told that we have the law of liberty. Those two things seem like an oxymoron. Liberty? That's freedom from law. No, it is law that provides you liberty. When you have the standards and the rule of law, you have freedom in so many ways. And it's the same way with duty and rights. We have rights. Those rights are given us by God. And that's really what made America different from other places. And that's why we had so much more self-government, because we govern ourselves if we have a right to be a self-governing nation. We have a duty to be self-governing citizens. 

 

Rick Green [00:02:04] So surely, in other words, is not. Then just then like you said, licentiousness. It's not just a freedom to do whatever feels good. Sort of this libertarian view that says, just get government out of my life. I can make all my own decisions and do whatever feels good to me. There are parameters. There's there's boundaries there. 

 

David Barton [00:02:17] Absolutely. And we're told in the Bible about government governments instituted and created by God. We're told First Timothy that God has given laws and is to regulate the bad guys. And by the way, a lot of the laws that help us society or moral laws. That's why in the common law, which we've had for hundreds of years, the common law list all these moral behaviors. I mean, if you take the logic that if it's done in private, just between me and whoever, if it's consenting kind of stuff, then it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. Really? Well, I think embezzlement can be done in private. There's no crime that is limited just to you individually. It affects everyone else. Yeah. So the libertarian viewpoint now there's some some basis for saying a libertarian view of government is that government should be limited. But you can't exist without government. So you have government have a right to have government, but you have a duty to have a restrained, limited government, not a tyrannical government, not an overbearing government. So every right still has a duty that goes with it. And those two things cannot be separated. And when you separate them, you turn from freedom to anarchy, whether it's individual anarchy or anything else. And that's really what we've seen the rise of in America. We now have all these anarchist groups that show up to protest whenever there's economic conferences. We've seen the rise of things that we haven't seen in America in a long time. And part of that is we've abandoned a moral standard. We have a duty to uphold what God has told us to do, whether it's the Ten Commandments or anything else. But when we abandon that standard, we really force ourselves to have more government. I love the way that Robert Winthrop described this back in the 1840s, and Robert Winthrop was a speaker of the House. He's actually a great historian, as the founder of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He's the guy that gave the speech when they laid the cornerstone of the Washington Monument. And he talked about how that every society must be governed in some way or the other. And he talked about, you can be governed either by the Bible or by the bayonet. You can force people to do this right, and you can choose to do it right. If you cannot regulate yourself, the government will regulate you. So if you want liberty, you have to be restrained. 

 

Rick Green [00:04:11] Is that why the difference really, between how the French went with the French Revolution and the Americans with the American Revolution, because they really did do the kind of total libertarian idea of everybody just do whatever feels good. That's really where they went, where with us there was a biblical foundation that said, yes, you have freedom, but it's not to do anything you want. You got to govern yourself, as you said. 

 

David Barton [00:04:28] But you take the French example, where the French did have a very licentious view and theirs was a secular view of liberty as well. You look at their motto. It doesn't involve God, doesn't involve individual rights. It's they've got fraternity and all, all these other things. But there's no God anywhere in that. We had God and ours from the center, and that was our paradigm. And it was significant that we've got a Constitution in America. But the French Revolution is going on. French Revolution, they had three revolutions. They had one 1789. They had won in 1793, 1796. They end up having 15 total since we've had our first. But Washington is pressing the United States and he's watched France go through three revolutions. And we're stable over here. I mean, we've come out of instability. We've now been stable. He gives his his third and fourth annual addresses, talking about the unprecedented stability and prosperity in America. And here's France turmoil after turmoil, turnover after turnover. And he and his farewell address, which we used to study in school for generations, gave the warning and distinction of do not let that French mentality come here. The French say you can be moral through education, that we can just teach you what's right and wrong, and you'll be great over here. We know that morality comes only through religion and said what Washington said. He said, lead us with caution. Be really careful. Let us with caution, indulge the supposition that morality could be maintained without religion. In other words, French are saying, hey, you can be moral to our religion, he said. You'd be really, really careful. That's a dangerous philosophy. He said whatever may be conceded to the influence on refined educational minds and peculiar structure. Whatever you think the power of education is to change the minds of kids. He said reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality will prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 

 

Rick Green [00:06:06] So he's saying if you go that direction, if you leave the religious principle out, you're not going to get the morality just from you will not. 

 

David Barton [00:06:12] You will not get it. And if you don't get the morality, you will never have national stability. You only have a stable nation when you have a moral nation. And morality only comes from not education. It comes from religion. And that's why Washington was very explicit. John Adams two years later, same thing. John Adams is now in what's called the quasi war with France 1798. We're in the middle of this quasi war with France, and he is speaking to the military of the state of Massachusetts. And in talking to them, he basically sums it up and says, listen, guys, you're great. You beat the British. You're really good, but you're not strong enough for what it would take to make people do what's right. He said we have no government capable of restraining human passions are not controlled by religion, morality. If you can't control yourself by religion, morality, you guys and military aren't tough enough to make everybody do what's right. You can never beat people in doing what's right if they won't choose to do it themselves. And so that was the way we understood it. And that was our duty. If we want to live in a free nation, we have a duty to be moral. We have a duty to be God fearing. That's why we acknowledge God in the declaration four times. We acknowledge our rights, individual rights, but they come from God. And if you lose that progression from God to us to my responsibility to be moral, both for my society and for God, then you lose all your freedoms. 

 

Rick Green [00:07:27] Well, what do you do about that? A lot of people today would say, hey, I love freedom. I'm all for freedom and liberty in those things, but I don't want God in the equation. I can be a patriot without having God in the equation. 

 

David Barton [00:07:36] You can't be. George Washington specifically dealt with that in a 1796 address. Now, you may think you can, but it doesn't prove out that way historically. 1796, in his address, he looked at the prosperity America had, and Washington was present in what was called the age of Revolution. So you not only had the French Revolution, had the Russian Revolution, the Greek Revolution, the Italian Revolution. 

 

Rick Green [00:07:55] He's witnessing this firsthand. I mean, he's seeing this. 

 

David Barton [00:07:57] The whole world is in turmoil, and he's over here and saying if all the habits and dispositions that lead to political prosperity. Of everything that makes our politics prosper. He said, religion and morality are indispensable, supports that religion, morality is what makes us different, he said. And vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism? Who should labor to subvert these great pillars? 

 

Rick Green [00:08:16] So he's saying you cannot be a patriot. 

 

David Barton [00:08:18] He said, I won't even let you call yourself a patriot if you try to separate religion from morality. That's what he's saying. John Witherspoon, president of Princeton Founding Father, signed the declaration trying so many other founding fathers, James Madison said that he is the best friend to America who is most sincere in promoting pure and undefiled religion. He said, whoever is an enemy of God, I hesitate not to call him an enemy to his country. The Founding Fathers said, there's no way you can be called patriotic if you're going to be anti-God or secular. You have to at least be God fearing. That doesn't mean you have to be a Christian, doesn't mean you have to go to church. But you got to accept God's moral law and God's standards. You have to be God fearing. Which is why we acknowledge God on our current state. So we've understood that all along. And if we want those freedoms, we just cannot be a secular nation. If we enjoy our freedoms, we have duties we have to perform, and part of those duties are being moral and religious. 

 

Rick Green [00:09:10] All right, David, et's go to the audience for question on this issue of duty. 

 

Audience Question [00:09:13] Why does it seem that so many more Americans were willing to sacrifice in earlier generations? 

 

Rick Green [00:09:18] Well that's true. You think about the founders lives, fortunes, sacred honor. You think about the World War Two generation, those the serve in Korea, Vietnam, right on down the line. It does seem like prior generations gave more. 

 

David Barton [00:09:28] At the risk of sounding simplistic. It's because we were a lot more biblical in those times. We we really have some strong Bible teachings on the concept of duty and sacrifice. Above all, cost, keeping your word no matter what it cost. And we've moved into, in some ways, a really shallow, really lazy form of Christianity where, oh, duty. I'm not under the law anymore. I'm free. I'm going to grace and we've separated duty out. Now, I want to read a little passage from Luke 17 and verse five, the apostle said, the Lord increase our faith. We say this, we want to do what you doing, increase our faith. And Jesus's answer is really pretty remarkable. Says, what if you got faith as a mustard seed? You can do this stuff. But here's the rest of the story. And so it starts in verse seven. He says, and which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep? A what was the question? I thought the question was increase our faith. And now he's taking them to an agricultural setting of plowing and tending sheep. Now, I got to stop right there for a minute, because having grown up farming and ranching and being a cowboy myself, plowing and tending sheep is pretty significant stuff. We're still raise sheep right now. To this day, we raise sheep. And anyone who thinks it's a compliment that we're called sheep in the Bible don't know. They don't know a thing about sheep. That is the most ignorant animal that's ever existed.

 

Rick Green [00:10:45] Not an easy day at the office to raise sheep

 

David Barton [00:10:46]  If I want them to go into this pen, they're going to go into this. I actually have few sheep psychology, and I try to get the wrong pen so they go on the right. But they're rebellious. They're. Everything is wrong about sheep. So what? It says a whole lot about the shepherd, but not a lot about the sheep. When it says that he is the great Shepherd. That's significant. If you can put up with sheep 12, 14 hours a day and in a farming or ranching life, we as we said, you can you work from can see to can't see. You know from time that comes up time it goes down. And if you have to trail those sheep around all day and they're wanting to go off on their own, you got to get them back. That is exhausting work. It is psychologically exhausting. It's physically exhausting. And if you've got to fight off the bears of the Lions or whatever's coming after them. It's dangerous work, so it's not easy. Suppose one of you was tending sheep all day. Or, by the way, I suppose one of you is plowing. I've done my share of plowing, but always on a tractor. I've never had to plow with a wooden plow, following behind oxen or behind mules or anything else. You do that all day long. You're worn out because you physically have to hold that plow. It's not the animal doing all of it. You're having to do a lot of keeping a balance. 

 

Rick Green [00:11:49] Like you said, it's all day. This is not not. This is sunup sundown. 

 

David Barton [00:11:52] So the question is, Lord, increase our faith. So it says, which one of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he's coming from the field, come in. Watch. Sit down to eat. In other words. Servant. You've been. You've been working hard all day long. It's been grueling work. I know you worn out. I know you're frustrated. I know you're tired in this matter. Why don't you sit down and get something to eat? Is that what happened when you just said no? He says, will he not rather say to him, hey, prepare my supper. Gird yourself for me and serve me. And after I've eaten and drunk, then maybe you can eat and drink. So you've been doing a day long work. You know, after dark you come in and you're out and your master says, hey, you're not done yet. You got a second job going on here. You need to come take care of me. You wait on me. You feed me. You take care of what I want. And then maybe if there's any time left over, you can take care of yourself. So that's the next step. Then he says, does he think that servant. Because he did the things that were commanded him. So he's been on the field all day. He's now waiting on his master all night. And did the guy even tell him thank you for being in the field all day, or thank you for for taking care of me? He said no, he didn't thank him. He says he says, do you think that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think not. He says So. Likewise, when you've done all the things, what you're commanded, you should say, we're unprofitable servants. We've done that, which is our duty to do. The answer is, if you want to increase your faith, if you want to be spiritually mature, you've got to learn to work really hard, sometimes twice. Have nobody thank you or appreciate what you do. And you still keep doing it. And you say, hey, it was my duty. 

 

Rick Green [00:13:24] That's that's tough teaching there, David. I mean, I gotta admit, you know, I'll go out there and I'll work hard. Maybe I'm helping my dad or somebody in the field, but I'm kind of thinking about where they're really going to be happy. I'm doing this. I want that praise. It's just our natural inclination. Do your duty. Not looking for that praise, but just because it's your duty. 

 

David Barton [00:13:39] And you do all these things and don't get thanked. And I mean, it's really hard to keep your marriage off the rocks and do all the thing and get the kids and and raise the kids and keep the income and take care of the family. And nobody says, thank you. Well, I'm quitting. No. You still do your duty. Even if nobody appreciates it. Nobody tells you, you still go out there and work your tail and you work really, really hard. Now, that's the kind of biblical teaching that we instilled in previous generations. That's why the word duty was a big thing in previous years. If you read the Founding Fathers writings, you will find the word duty all over the place. Now, military still teaches the concept of duty, but they're probably about the only institution left in America that does. We don't teach in the family. We don't. You can't get involved in adultery. You have a duty to be faithful. Well, we don't teach that. 

 

Rick Green [00:14:23] Well, they must have also been really teaching that within the church, in the family, because we didn't have a military yet. That's right. When they were called upon when the Declaration of Independence was signed. Hey, people came out of the woodwork to say, I'll. 

 

David Barton [00:14:33] Be part of that. I had. 

 

Rick Green [00:14:34] A sense of. 

 

David Barton [00:14:35] Duty. They had a sense of duty. And see, this is the other thing significant in the political realm. We used to call them public servants. We now call them public officials. And that's a terrible thing. We don't want officials. We want servants, public servants. 

 

David Barton [00:15:59] This is probably shocking for a lot of folks, but the way we used to choose political officials was we went into the ballot at the time of the Founding Fathers, and we went into a ballot box with a blank piece of paper and we would say for Senator, I want red green for Senator. I'll write that down. 

 

Rick Green [00:16:15] So there were names on the list. You went in and said, these are the people on. 

 

David Barton [00:16:18] Our paper one. And then they would get all the ballots, count them all up, and said, oh, look, Rick Green got more request than anybody else. They want you to be our mayor and they go Rick, the people said, they want you to be mayor. Will you be mayor? They would not allow you to say no because of what we taught. And Benjamin Rush is a great example. This signer of the declaration, he pointed out from Romans 14:7 that no man lives and dies unto himself. If you've said no, it's because you're being selfish. You're saying, my life is mine. My life belongs to what I want to do. If they have called you to serve them, you can't say no, I'm not going serve you. And that was characteristic of so many founding fathers. They didn't want to be in public life, but the people called them to it. 

 

Rick Green [00:16:56] They weren't putting themselves out there. They weren't saying, hey, hey, hey, I'll be your leader. 

 

David Barton [00:17:00] As a matter of fact, Sam Adams and Noah Webster and so many others said if a person puts himself forward for office, they're instantly disqualified. Now, if you try to push yourself in office, we don't want you. 

 

Rick Green [00:17:09] That that may be why. You know, sometimes we hear where's Washington, where's Adams? Where are the great leaders that we had of yesterday? 

 

David Barton [00:17:15] And you got to go find them and shove them forth. 

 

Rick Green [00:17:17] And you think of his humility. Washington how many times he stepped down when he could have been king if he wanted to  

 

David Barton [00:17:21] That's right and how many times did he resign? You know, he kept resigning and people kept sending him back and saying we need you

 

Rick Green [00:17:24] He said it's my duty

 

David Barton [00:17:26] Well, Patrick Henry is a great example. Patrick Henry, great founding father, governor of Virginia, was elected governor four times and every time, blank ballot kind of thing. And the people said, we want Patrick Henry. And after the fourth time, Henry said, everybody listen really, really good. I don't want to be governor again. Got 19 kids, got 81 grandkids. I want to be home in Orange, Virginia. I want to be with the kid because he loved to play the fiddle with the kids. And I want to be home. Don't do this again. And they elected for a fifth time office. And he went back. I mean, it was the kind of thing where if they call you, you can't be selfish. And so that if your country calls you, I'm going to World War Two, and it's a tough thing. If I'm calling the Civil War, I'm going. I'm going to Tibet. I have to sacrifice that and be a servant. And that's why previous generations were so different from this generation, because we had a concept of duty, and we taught a concept that if you're not doing, you do this because you're selfish. 

 

Rick Green [00:18:15] Alright David, let's get another question from the audience. 

 

Audience Question [00:18:17] A lot of schools today still encourage certain character traits, but are they the same character traits we have always taught in America? 

 

Rick Green [00:18:23] Well, duty would be one of those character traits, right? 

 

David Barton [00:18:26] Duty is one of the character traits. And in a lot of ways, the character traits of remain fairly constant. If you look at character curriculums that are out there today, they may have only 7 or 8 character traits in them, and they may have as many as 70. So there's a lot of different character traits that are really necessary for developing a character as well as society. But what I find intriguing is in the founding era, they actually prioritized some of those traits. Good example is founding Father Benjamin Rush signer of the declaration. Considered one of the three most notable founding fathers was what John Adams called him. And so Benjamin Rush is a great educator called the Father of Public Schools. Under the Constitution, he started five universities. Three still go today, etc. and and curriculum that he would write. He talked. 

 

Rick Green [00:19:03] You say that like that's easy five you know but. 

 

David Barton [00:19:05] He's tried in five universities. 

 

Rick Green [00:19:06] These guys were busy. Sorry. That's just that's a lot

 

David Barton [00:19:08] Is pretty amazing. And the fact the three of them survived 200 and some odd years later is amazing. But he was really skilled in so many areas. I mean, he he was in medicine, he was in chemistry, he was in so many things. But in talking about character traits, he said that he believed that there was one character trait that came to the top. Matter of fact, he said that he believed that that one character trait was the best way of defining people, whether they were alive or dead. And he said it was integrity. He says, I think I've observed that integrity takes a stronger hold of the human heart than any other virtue. Now, he said, by integrity, I mean a strict coincidence between thoughts and words and actions. In other words, integrity is one. What I think, what I say, and what I do are all the same. And you can have political people who will say and do the right thing, but they don't think it. That's not integrity. Integrity at all levels is when I think. When I say and I do the same thing, that integrity is very, very significant. I love the way that you tie it back to Psalms 15, verses one and four. In that particular passage, Psalm 15 one and four, there's a question asked by David. It says, Lord will abide in thy holy hill. He'll dwell in thy tabernacle. God, whose going to be with you? Answer in verse four. He this keeps so even to his own hurt. In other words, when you give your word, you'll keep your word, no matter how much it hurts you. Now, that trait of integrity is what we see throughout the Founding Fathers. These 56 guys signed the declaration. Sign on the dotted line, if you will. 

 

Rick Green [00:20:37] That was an oath. 

 

David Barton [00:20:37] It was an oath that we give our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor to say America be an infinite nation. Well, that's okay if you have the world's greatest military. But they don't. They don't have an army. They don't have a navy. They do not have economic resources. They are taking on the world's most powerful military. What's significant about the founders? 56 founding fathers? You cannot find one example of any of them breaking their word. Never once. And so seven of these guys never lived to see what they wanted us to enjoy. 17 of them lost all of their fortunes and estates, keeping their word. Three lost their wives. Three lost their kids. Abraham Clark, New Jersey. Great example. Here he is in Congress. Member of Congress, founding father, the British carpenter. His two sons. The two sons were put in the British British prison ship in Jersey. And that's a death camp. Nobody came out of that place alive, and everybody knew that there were three prisons the British had that were death camps. And so here's Abraham Clark sitting in Congress. The British get word to him, says, hey, we got your two sons. Here's the deal. If you'll renounce your signature on the declaration, we'll let you two boys back because you know what's going to happen to them. So not your signature. Well, Abraham Clark thought about it, but that long said no. I gave him my word. I can't go back on my word. Not even say the life of his son. 

 

Rick Green [00:21:49] David, I don't know if I could do that. You know, these guys understood that. That they. When they made that sacrifice, when they made that promise, it wasn't just showing up at a rally and signing a petition, then going home, I forget, forget about it. I mean, they knew they were going to have to follow through. 

 

David Barton [00:22:00] And that's their sacrifice. And by the way, that's a character trait of God. I mean, God keeps his word no matter what. He keeps his word if it cost the life of his own sons. Aren't we glad that God keeps his word? I mean, even if it cost the life of a son? So keeping your word at all cost, whether it's marital fidelity, whether it's in business, whether it's an agreement or a contract, whatever it is, you give your word. You keep your word. That is the number one character trait. That's a trait that made America strong. That's a trait we're going to have to have to keep America strong. 

 

Rick Green [00:22:30] Okay, Dave. Time for one more question on duty. 

 

Audience Question [00:22:32] Aside from voting, how else can I be involved in the civil arena? 

 

Rick Green [00:22:36] Sometimes it's a challenge just to get people to vote. Now we're getting people asking, okay, I can vote. What else can I do? 

 

David Barton [00:22:41] Well, probably the answer to that is a two fold approach. And sometimes it's both. But you have to understand this difference between politics and policy. Politics is the means whereby you elect someone to office policy is the process whereby you make the laws and make the policies after that person is elected. And a lot of times the two things do not touch. Like Lacking congressional guide will have two separate staffs. I mean, if you're elected to the House and the Senate, you will have a policy staff and you'll have a politics staff. So on the one hand, you can get involved. On the politics side, you can work in a campaign, you can vote, you can find a good God fearing person and say, hey, they need help to get elected, so we're going to work. There were campaigns that we ran where we would actually find Christian kids, homeschool kids from Christian universities or Christian schools, whatever. And in the last 14 days, ten days of a campaign, we specifically looked at national races where someone would be one point up, at one point down really close, and we'd take 100 Christian kids and would bus them into that campaign. And they spent two weeks there, maybe a week there. And they would work that pass out literature that make calls, have stand on the corners with signs, whatever. 

 

Rick Green [00:23:42] Because that's one that's close enough where a big push like, that's. 

 

David Barton [00:23:44] Right. Get your candidate 100 Christian kids, and we won five out of every six races doing that. So it was enough to push it. That's a really big deal. If you've got a godly person who goes to the US Senate or to the House of Representatives, I mean, get involved in their campaign. 

 

Rick Green [00:23:56] And that's and that's sometimes young people that aren't even old enough to vote yet. That's right. 

 

David Barton [00:24:00] They can still. You betcha. Yeah. They can be 12 years old and mystic and stamps and envelopes. Everybody can get trained for that really early. 

 

Rick Green [00:24:05] But sometimes we think that's the end of it for us as citizens. If I vote or influence the election once the election's over, now there's nothing I can do because they're in session. Is that true. 

 

David Barton [00:24:13] Not true. That's where you go down to your local state rep or state senator. You go down to your congressional office, say, hey, I've got an hour a week I'd love to give you guys. It's unbelievable how they respond to that. How impressed they are. Oh, man. Yeah. If you take this mail or look at this or look at these phone calls, or maybe call this guy back and tell him this, it makes it. And then what it does is it creates a relationship with you in that member. And when you have a relationship, you have a louder voice than when you don't have a relationship. Right? And so that's an easy thing to do on the policy side. So you can get involved in politics side or the policy side, or you can do something like recruit someone to run for office. Yeah. You know, that school board's got to change and I know a guy go to church with it, be really cool on the school board and he'd be the deciding vote or whatever. Recruit someone for school board or for state rep or for mayor or city council or public utility district. But you recognize the potential to be a great leader. And you got to do this. We need you. I mean, you're exactly what we want on city council or whatever, or you. 

 

Rick Green [00:25:05] May be the one that they're coming to, right? I mean, you said earlier talking about how the Founding fathers were willing to go. They were willing to sacrifice. 

 

David Barton [00:25:11] That's right. 

 

Rick Green [00:25:11] So if somebody's watching right now is the one that others are coming to you saying, hey, you'd be really good at school board or whatever. Be willing to show. 

 

David Barton [00:25:17] It off and say, oh no, don't be selfish. Your life doesn't belong on yourself. If you can serve your community, if you can serve constituents and be a servant, be God minded servant. That's exactly what you want to do. There's a lot of ways to be involved. Sometimes it's a matter of looking at legislation and letting people in your church know, hey, you need to call about this bill or about this issue. Sometimes it's creating, but for God's people, I know people that live in a community, and they will look at everybody on the ballot and they'll go down and say, well, I'm going to vote for these guys. And then the copy that and I'll pass it out to every neighbor, say, you may not know who's in this election, but I've really studied all these guys and let me show you who I'm going to vote for. And people neighbors love, right? 

 

Rick Green [00:25:52] They do and David, we should share with our viewers. Christian Voter guide.com is a great resource for people. If they want to fulfill whatever state. 

 

David Barton [00:25:58] You're going to. 

 

Rick Green [00:25:58] Be the one sharing it? Go to that particular web site and click on your state. 

 

David Barton [00:26:02] You get a voter's guide for your state and you can pass that out to all your neighbors, which is good information. It's like rebuilding the wall with Nehemiah. There's a lot of places on that wall. Not everyone's the same, and you don't have to look like everybody else. You're not rebuilding the same part, but find a place on the wall, get involved and do something to rebuild the country. 

 

Rick Green [00:26:19] Well, thanks for joining us today, folks. That was a special episode from building on the American Heritage Series called Civil Stewardship Duty Versus rights. You can get the entire building on the American Heritage Series program in a box set with all 13 programs, by going to our website at wallbuilders.com. Thanks for joining us today on Wallbuilders live. 

 

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