More and more Americans appear to be comfortable with not knowing what we stand for as a country. The answer is right in their pocket. by R.J. Moeller
(conservative)
Monday, April 13, 2009
It seems to be out of fashion these days to cite old writings and classical thinkers. Consequently the people, documents and ideas that continue to directly impact and influence every aspect of our lives remain unknown or under-valued. Americans are simply too busy changing, hoping and progressing to be bothered with what people who lived before Charles was "in charge" had to say about the issues that matter most to all of us: life, politics, and religion.
Most of us who live on the North Face of Panera Nation wouldn't be caught reading a book that wasn't blessed by the POprah, so the likelihood that you might spill your Starbucks on someone's copy of F.A Hayek's Road to Serfdom, or a volume of Winston Churchill's History of the English-speaking People, or G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy remains far-fetched at best.
I know, I know. The Founders couldn't have imagined all the facets of the complicated, technologically-advanced world we live in when they wrote things like the United States Constitution and Federalist Papers. And our global economies are far too layered and complex for the antiquated ideas from men like Adam Smith in the 18th century, or Milton Friedman in the middle of the 20th, to be taken seriously. And what would religious thinkers like Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas or even Saint Paul himself know about the advanced and progressive cultural climate we find ourselves in today?
But guess what? When it comes to defining what this country is all about, what its core values are, you don't have to look any further for reading material than your own pocket. Pull out a coin, any coin, and prepare your attention span to keep it together for 3 more than seconds.
"In God We Trust." "Liberty." "E Pluribus Unum." These three statements, in the prolific words of conservative columnist, author, and radio talk show host Dennis Prager, are what constitute the, "American Trinity." It's all right there on our legal tender. The three most distinct and pivotal values of our nation can be found in the "take one, leave one" change tray on the counter of your local gas station. Surprised?
I have been trying to flesh out in my columns the idea that there are "better ways" of doing things than others. Along with that, and perhaps even preceding it, is the fact that there are indeed better ideas, values, and principles than others. Here are ours.
"In God We Trust" was added to our currency in the 1950's by Congress under the leadership of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The stated reason for its insertion was to distinguish God-fearing America from our mortal enemies at the time: the openly and proudly God-less communists of the USSR. Although the phrase was added only 50 years ago, the sentiments expressed are the very same Thomas Jefferson penned in the Declaration of Independence 180 years before Eisenhower.
If rights are to have meaning, they must come from somewhere. If they are simply the concoctions of naturally-selected minds, developed over eons of evolutionary progress from protozoa to tadpole to ape to iPhones, then rights can be granted or taken away as other mammals who happen to be in power see fit. This was how most of the world has lived from the dawn of time. Even religious societies basically ran things this way.
But along comes a rag-tag collection of farmers and doctors and lawyers and clergy and soldiers in Philadelphia 17 centuries after Christ and they decide that they'd rather risk their lives and the lives of their families on the idea that man's rights came from the Creator of all life Himself than live under the tyranny of kings, oligarchs, and intellectual elites who insisted rights were theirs to arbitrarily dole out and oversee. God was declared to be the procurer of mankind's rights, and His existence was self-evident.
That's how the idea of America began.
"Liberty." Subsequent to the uniquely America idea of the Creator bestowing rights was the belief that while equality is a desired outcome, liberty is the necessary catalyst for it to be realized. The French Revolution prized equality over liberty and the people of that once great nation quickly learned that equality is in the eye of the beholder and in the hand of the er. We collectively took a decidedly different path.
Liberty must come first, early, and often. One must be free if they are ever to be equal, and even the Creator Himself chose in His infinite wisdom to create a world where uniqueness was more important than strict equality. Hence, a poor blind black kid from the South can play the piano like Beethoven and sing like a raspy angel, while rich white kids with two working eyes from the North end up being able to play nothing but Ray Charles' records in their basement.
Prizing equality of "opportunity" instead of "outcome" is the only genuine option available to the inhabitants of this fallen world. This distinct mentality that fuels such things are our free market system is the one that provides the superior environment within which millions of people can work, live, and pursue their own interests without having to cede their basic liberties.
That's how the idea of America became great.
"E Pluribus Unum" means "From many, one." Millions of immigrants have come from all corners of the globe to America's shores because it is unlike any other nation on earth. And why is it so special? You guessed it: Creator-endowed rights and liberty for all.
For a nation to exist it must have declared values. For a nation to prosper its values must be worthy. For a nation to endure, its people must be prepared to maintain those values, even when new people (and ideas) move in. Newcomers to this country are not required to erase their ethnic heritage, but they must be prepared to embrace our legal, cultural and, yes, even linguistic institutions. Not because where they came from is necessarily inferior, but because where they came from is not here.
As Dennis Prager likes to point out when talking about this, someone of Egyptian descent born in Germany is still called an Egyptian. That same person, should they even be born in Egypt and come later in life to America, will be called an American. There's a subtle, yet powerful difference in this fact.
These three mission statements on our coinage matter today because it seems we're at a crossroads in our nation's history. More and more Americans are becoming comfortable with the idea that perhaps Europe and Canada have had it right the past 60 years: increased government control over the economy, a decrease in focus on national defense, and increased secularization of even religious institutions. Despite all the lee-way and wiggle room our way of life and system of government has afforded people from all religions, ethnicities, and nationalities, we're still not all so sure we're up for the challenge of self-government.
I am of the opinion that a primary cause for this "crisis of faith" in the American system is a lack of real understanding and familiarity with what the core, essential components of our national make-up really are and how they have, for better or worse, shaped the world for 233 years.
Maybe we will decide to abandon the traditional, wildly successful underpinnings of our society, economy and government in favor of the Nanny-State, secular-progressive liberalism President Obama and the entire leadership of the Democrat Party desire. Maybe we won't.
If God saw fit to give mankind enough free will to choose and reject Him, we shouldn't expect a system of government and economy, even one we agree with and is quantifiably better than all others, to be able to retain the allegiance of the people living under it forever.
Regardless of what happens, I for one intend to make sure as many people as possible know the truth of where we've come from and where we're headed.
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Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2009-04-14 05:57:12
It's sad when someone relies on "legal tender" to define the United States, especially considering the fact that Federal Reserve Notes were intentionally created by a private organization (The Federal Reserve) via Congressional action to get around the Constitutional prohibition against issuing "Bills of Credit," i.e. paper money.
It's an easy way to remind people of what we values we have traditionally stood for. Nothing more. Do you disagree with the values I stated or are you just trying to sound smart? Would it be "sad" to use baseball or some other type of business as an analogy for how an economy or family or relationship works? Not everyone reading this is as literal as you are.
"the openly and proudly God-less communists of the USSR."
Most religious orders of all persuasions practice daily living in a "communist" fashion.
"As Dennis Prager likes to point out when talking about this, someone of Egyptian descent born in Germany is still called an Egyptian. That same person, should they even be born in Egypt and come later in life to America, will be called an American. There's a subtle, yet powerful difference in this fact."
There is also a subtle yet powerful difference in the fact that we refer to all "white" Americans such as English and german descent as just "American", yet we refer to people of color as "mexican-american, italian american, african american, asian american, etc.".
"This distinct mentality that fuels such things are our free market system is the one that provides the superior environment within which millions of people can work, live, and pursue their own interests without having to cede their basic liberties."
I have heard of the "free market" but have failed to actually witness it. I am in favor of it actually happening sometime but the recent collusive actions of our government and corporate monopolies seem to speak otherwise. We are able to live in a "superior environment" because we, along with the Euros, are the benefactors of the castoffs of excess profit from a "controlled market".
Gene- Thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate them and your willingness to thoughtfully engage what I have to say.
First off, I guess I'd like some examples of what you mean when you say that religious orders, like say Protestant and Catholics in America specifically, like in a "communist" fashion? I am in this group, am devout in my faith, have studied the Scriptures for years, and while I claim no superior wisdom from them, I do know that neither I nor any Christian I know live in a communist fashion. Communism implies atheism. It is at the core of its ideological roots. Please help clear your point up for me.
Second, I take from what you are saying that it is dumb that we call black people African-Americans or hispanics Mexian-Americans if they were born here in America or have become naturalized citizens. Is this a correct reading of what you had to say? Because if it is, I am TOTALLY on board with you. It is not the Right's fault that those labels are given. Politically Correct liberals want us to draw those lines in even the names we call each other because they prize multiculturalism more than E Pluribus Unum.
Third, I want a real free market too. Perhaps I should have clarified this point more. I do hear what you are saying and agree. We have had a freer market on the whole than almost any other country in the past 233 years. It can get even freer and THAT is what could turn things around quicker than all the stimulus spending in the world.
Again, thanks for your time and dialogue. God Bless,
Hi EJ, I was referring to religious orders such as monks and nuns who practice communism within their orders. As you know, they are devoted to a higher calling and this "communal" order frees them to work at their calling without having to concern themselves with daily matters.
I think the name referral thing is definately a racial attitude, I was in no way putting it on you, just pointing it out, and I don't believe it is a "left or right" issue.
As you know, I actually have to disagree on the free market. I don't believe we have had one that is even close. I comment on your articles because they are good articles and "very close!" [my biased subjective opinion of course].
I think to imagine a true free market, we have to start over. Think of people trading at a very basic level without harm or injury or fraud and then start to view what elements come into that market from the outside that begin to control and limit its freedom and the freedom of individuals. Also remember it is both the right and the left that want to control and limit freedom, just in different ways. Keep up the good work!
Fair enough. Are you familiar with the writings/speeches of Walter E. Williams from George Mason? If not, check him out. You can podcast an incredible speech he gave to the Young Americans Foundation last year called "Freedom: Going, Going, Gone". I only bring him up, and that speech of his in particular, because I think you'd appreciate his view on things.
Take care. Thanks for reading. I have my own blog at blogspot where I post a lot more. A Voice in the Wilderness.
Where does that leave the atheists and deists among us who subscribe to the same basic set of moral values as all of the rest of you God-fearing Americans. Your narrative works very well for those who believe in God through organized religion. But anyone who dares to have their own take on these existential matters is immediately suspect in such an environment.
I don't believe that God should come into it. And your alternative explanation of "rights" as the way the most powerful species would have things is smack on. Non-human animals only have those rights we cede to them as the "superior" species. If another, more advanced, species comes upon us from outer space, will God continue to support our "rights", or will the intruder's "rights" be superior?
Rights are defined by men and agreed upon by men, driven by the individual's often conflicting drives of self-sufficiency and cooperation with others as a means of social lubrication.
I share many of the same ideals as you and all Americans, but I do not think belief in God should be made a prerequisite for membership in the club.
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