American liberty has never depended solely on parchment barriers or institutional design. From the Founding onward, the survival of the Constitution has rested on something more fragile and demanding: an informed, morally grounded, and engaged citizenry. When citizens lose interest in self-government—or outsource moral responsibility to distant systems—freedom erodes, often quietly.

This insight is not new. It echoes through Scripture, early American political thought, and the warnings of modern leaders across ideological lines.

Power, Secrecy, and the Warnings of Presidents

In his 1961 Farewell Address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower cautioned against what he famously called the military-industrial complex—a permanent fusion of defense, industry, and government whose incentives could push the nation toward endless conflict without deliberate public consent. His concern was not conspiracy, but structure: a system capable of growing beyond democratic oversight.

Only months later, President John F. Kennedy warned of a different but related danger. Speaking to newspaper publishers in 1961, he described a “monolithic and ruthless conspiracy” that relied on secrecy, psychological pressure, and subversion. Kennedy was referring primarily to global communism, yet his broader emphasis was unmistakable: free societies collapse when citizens are uninformed and when power operates beyond scrutiny.

Though Eisenhower and Kennedy identified different threats, they shared a common fear—that liberty can be lost not only by force, but by complacency, secrecy, and concentrated authority.

Modern Echoes: Globalism and Distance from the People

Decades later, similar concerns resurfaced in debates about globalization, sovereignty, and technocratic governance.

Congressman Ron Paul repeatedly warned that freedom is endangered when political and economic decisions are removed from voters and placed in international or bureaucratic systems beyond meaningful accountability. During the 2008 financial crisis, media personality Glenn Beck echoed this anxiety in a widely viewed interview, arguing that Americans should be wary of any “New World Order” framework that concentrates power in elite, unelected institutions while weakening national sovereignty and individual liberty. Beck’s point—stripped of rhetoric—was not about secret cabals, but about how easily emergencies can be used to justify permanent expansions of control.

More recently, President Donald Trump distilled this concern into a blunt formulation:

“The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots.”

Whatever one’s view of Trump, the underlying claim resonates with a long American tradition: self-government requires decisions to remain close to the people, not absorbed into distant, opaque systems insulated from public consent.

Biblical Warnings About Centralized Power

Long before modern constitutions or nation-states, Scripture identified the same recurring danger.

When Israel demanded a king, God warned them plainly in 1 Samuel 8 that centralized authority would tax, conscript, and dominate—eventually leaving the people crying out under the weight of the very power they had requested. The prophet Daniel later described empires as beasts—efficient, powerful, and ultimately dehumanizing when unchecked. Revelation portrays economic and political systems that pressure conscience and restrict participation for those unwilling to conform.

At the same time, Scripture affirms lawful governance, civic order, and peace. The biblical concern is not authority itself, but authority divorced from moral restraint and accountability.

Just as importantly, the New Testament makes clear that righteousness cannot be coerced:

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Faith persuades; it does not compel. Moral order flows from transformed individuals, families, and communities—not from surveillance and control.

Christian Nationalism—Properly Understood

Critics often portray Christian nationalism as theocratic, authoritarian, or hostile to pluralism. In its extremist forms, such criticisms may apply. But that caricature does not describe the mainstream view held by many faith-driven citizens.

Properly understood, Christian nationalism does not seek to merge church and state or impose belief by law. Rather, it rests on three modest but demanding claims:

1. Liberty requires virtue. A free people must govern themselves morally, or they will eventually be governed externally.
2. Authority must be limited. No government—national or global—possesses ultimate moral authority.
3. Conscience must remain free. Faith loses its meaning when coerced, and liberty collapses when conscience is punished.

This vision aligns closely with constitutional self-government. The Founders assumed a morally formed people capable of restraint. As John Adams famously observed, the Constitution was made for “a moral and religious people” and is inadequate for any other.

Vigilance, Righteousness, and the Preservation of Liberty

The warnings of history, Scripture, and modern prophets converge on a single principle: freedom survives only where citizens are morally grounded, vigilant, and informed. Ezra Taft Benson repeatedly emphasized this, cautioning that:

“The great challenge of our time is whether freedom and truth can survive the aggressive efforts of men to establish a new world order… We must be alert lest we yield to collectivism, socialism, or globalism that would undermine our Constitution and liberties.”

Benson reminded Americans that the Constitution alone cannot protect liberty; it requires a citizenry committed to moral principles and righteousness.

The Book of Mormon echoes this truth. In Ether 8:17, we read how secret combinations and pride threatened the liberty of an entire people. Helaman 5:12 teaches that only by building on the “rock of our Redeemer” can individuals and nations withstand the destructive forces of corruption and deceit. Conversely, when wickedness and secret combinations prevail, as described in Helaman 4:24–25, freedom erodes, and nations lose their liberties.

The Doctrine and Covenants underscores the same principle in the modern era. D&C 98:4–6 affirms that those who seek liberty and peace are supported by God, while D&C 101:77–80 explicitly commands citizens to uphold the laws and Constitution of the land to preserve the rights of all men. Faith and moral action, not passivity, are the safeguards of liberty.

Together, these sources form a coherent warning: liberty cannot survive without a righteous, informed, and engaged populace. Vigilance is not fear-mongering; it is stewardship. Whether the threat comes from secret combinations, overreaching power, or systems distant from public accountability, Scripture and prophetic counsel are clear: citizens must actively uphold moral principles and constitutional rights to ensure that freedom endures.

Conclusion: Preserving What Was Entrusted

The Constitution will not preserve itself. Neither will liberty. History, Scripture, and experience all testify to the same truth: freedom survives only where citizens are informed, morally grounded, and willing to govern themselves.

Christian nationalism, at its best, is not a demand for domination, but a reminder of limits—on rulers, on systems, and on power itself. It affirms that the future belongs neither to faceless bureaucracies nor to unchecked authority, but to free people who understand that liberty is inseparable from truth, virtue, and accountability.

In that sense, vigilance is not paranoia.

It is stewardship.