Last Sunday I heard a sermon that reminded me of something I had almost entirely forgotten. It was in a small and picturesque church set in open country. It’s hard to believe this serene place is only a few miles from the conflagration of construction and growth known as Dripping Springs. Let alone that it is in one of the fastest-growing counties in all of Texas.
I could tell you more about its location, but that’s another story. Just know that I expect it will someday be identified as the hidden center of the Dallas/Austin/San Antonio megopolis. Today is about the document that set the principles of our country long before the Constitution was written.
What could that have been?
Titled “Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth” when it was written in 1620, it was renamed the Mayflower Compact in 1793, six years after our Constitution was written in 1787.
Bad weather caused the Mayflower to miss its intended destination up the Hudson River. The boat was forced to anchor off what is now Provincetown. And it was short of supplies. The Pilgrims recognized their predicament. Forty-one men signed a pledge to provide mutual support for the safety and sustenance of the group. Specifically, they promised:
“…by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together in a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.” (bold type added)
Scholars can, will and have devoted countless hours to the limits and nuances here. Such as only men having the right to sign, the status of some individuals, etc. But whatever those limits, it clearly ends the idea of “every man for himself” and unlimited personal freedom.
Instead, it creates a commitment to foster the good of all. Alexandre Dumas said it more clearly two centuries later with the publication of “The Three Musketeers” in 1844. Their pledge, “All for one and one for all, United we stand divided we fall.”
Dumas captured the spirit of the civil freedom and common good that was foundational to the colonies that became a country.
Today, 250 years after we became a nation, we live with the long swings of political power. We have excessive private power and unlimited personal freedom at one political pole. And excess government power as the “good of all” slips into the ever-increasing rules, regulations and central power that stifles personal freedom.
A proper balance wasn’t achieved over the last 250 years. I don’t expect a proper balance to be achieved in my lifetime. If ever. The pendulum swings of power is a theme well explored in multiple books by the late political writer Kevin Phillips. Worth reading.
Today the pendulum we’re witnessing has morphed into an odd combination of centralized power and unlimited personal freedom — for some. We have a president who has pushed executive power beyond any previous bounds as he augments unlimited personal freedom for the very rich for a fee/donation. It’s a corrupt and ugly combination, entirely outside the bounds of anything I’ve personally witnessed since coming of age in the early 1960s.
The chaos, corruption, self-dealing and colossal mismanagement we are witnessing goes far beyond party politics. It doesn’t matter whether we vote for Democrats or Republicans. Whatever our political beliefs, the 47th president of the United States needs to be removed by impeachment or by Article 25.
The reasons are repeated day after day after day. In 1954 the political tyranny of Sen. Joe McCarthy was ended by a few sentences from a Boston attorney named Joseph Welch.
Where is the Joseph Welch of 2026?
Related columns:
Scott Burns, “Wings and Prayers,” 7/5/2026: https://scottburns.com/wings-and-prayers/
Scott Burns, “Representation Without Taxation,” 8/7/2009: https://scottburns.com/representation-without-taxation/
Scott Burns, “Dare We Use the “B” Word?”, 6/4/1996: https://scottburns.com/dare-we-use-the-b-word-boom-for-texas-and-its-low-cost-of-living/
Sources and References:
The Mayflower Society website with text of the compact: https://themayflowersociety.org/history/the-mayflower-compact/
The Declaration of Independence: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
The Constitution of the United States : https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
The Bill of Rights: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript
Thecommongoodus.org website on Kevin Phillips: https://www.thecommongoodus.org/past-speakers/kevin-phillips
Senate.gov “Have you no decency?”: https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/mccarthy-hearings/have-you-no-sense-of-decency.htm#:~:text=As%20an%20amazed%20television%20audience,Let%20us%20not%20assassinate%20this
This information is distributed for education purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, or service.
Photo by Scott Burns, October 2021, Flying the flag on Wind Song while cruising the Maryland Eastern shore from Annapolis.
(c) Scott Burns, 2026
Scott,
I’ve been reading your columns for a great long time and have benefited from your sage and simple financial advice. Thanks for calling out Trump and his poison. Sad to say, I look forward to his passing.
Walt,
You’re welcome! Sadly, the same column also brought the expected negative response as well.
I used to think your articles were educational and have helped me weave through my financial life for decades. Now I think you have strayed from those past informative articles and moved to political rants. So, thank you, and I wish you the best.
Well, I’m sorry to lose you Buddy. And I don’t think a column citing one of our earliest founding documents constitutes a political rant. I’ve voted Republican. I’ve voted Democrat. I look for honesty and sanity. I’ve tried to go along with the rationalizations that my Trumper friends have for him, but the willful, endless chaos is just too much. I don’t like the direction of the democratic party and have a lot of company, but Trump is an unrelenting fraudster crook, attacking everyone who doesn’t immediately agree with him. That’s not political. That’s just crazy.
Scott, I’ve enjoyed your column for years and one of the reasons is that you are a moderate and centrist. The corruption, vengefulness and and ignorance displayed by Trump are endangering our country. Hurrah for speaking your mind!
One lesson I’ve learned in the last 60 years is that if I’m thinking something, I’m not alone. Today, it’s a good bet that we have a major crowd finding its voice.
I have been reading your work since I lived in Dallas in the early 90s and cannot thank you enough for all your insight over the years. You and Bogle are two of my all time heroes of personal finance. I only read a handful of bloggers now, ones whose opinions I have come to highly value over the years, and ones who generally eschew politics. You are the third of them to voice such an opinion. I thank you for having taken such a forthright position. I too have become scared as to the effects of the political path the country is now on.
Thank you for your very kind words. My goal, for decades, has been to provide useful, actionable information about personal finance. I avoided politics because it provokes emotion rather than considered action. But there are limits to everything and our president has gone beyond all of them.
I don’t think the issue is one of too much individual freedom, to put it mildly. I see it as one of dangerous abuse of power, verging on authoritarianism at times, along with sides of inexcusable crookedness and mental instability. Removal by either impeachment and conviction or through the 25th amendment is fully justified. I would lean toward the latter because it could be done quicker, but am not too hopeful for either.
Thank you Scott for speaking the truth. I really appreciate your common sense wisdom and look forward to your columns every week.
You’re welcome! Thank you.
Sadly, the remedies available will not be used, or, if attempted, will fail. Contrast today’s republican party with that during the final days of Nixon’s tenure , which reluctantly concluded that he must go.
The old saying applies:
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Sadly, your assessment is very likely correct. It’s difficult to imagine the current cabinet starting an Article 25 removal. And with so much already done without any substantial reaction, it’s hard to imagine a Congress with the courage to impeach him.
Thanks you Scott, it seems like stating the obvious to me, but it is not so for far too many of us. Especially those who could make it happen.
an appropriate song from decades ago…..
https://youtu.be/ln7Vn_WKkWU?si=NJJy7GvahRGFx5yD