Freedom Requires Moral Citizens

I know of people who contend that the road to America’s re-adherence to constitutional principles of government isn’t through the ballot box, but through the collapse of the Federal Government. I contend that the make-up of the Federal Government and their current style of governance isn’t the problem; it’s only a symptom of the problem. America’s collective proclivity to shun traditional religious influence is the problem, plain and simple. Until this problem is fixed, the demise of our Federal Government will only result in the birth of another one equally or more corrupt.

James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States, offered the following which has the ring of truth to it:

“… the people are responsible for the character of their Congress [and Executive Branch].

“If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation... it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”

I would expand this to say that America’s greatness is suffering not only because Americans failed to aid in controlling the political forces, i.e. were excessively apathetic, but more so because selfishness, greed, and immorality have spread widely across the Fruited Plain. America is walking away from God.

Our experience in America today validates John Adams' assertion that,

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

And James Madison's,

“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.”

Our citizens have not always rejected religion. Cleon Skousen's book 5000 year leap discusses Alexis de Tocqueville's observations of our young nation in 1831.

"The philosophers of the eighteenth century explained in a very simple manner the gradual decay of religious faith. Religious zeal, said they, must necessarily fail the more generally liberty is established and knowledge diffused. Unfortunately, the facts by no means accord with their theory. There are certain populations in Europe whose unbelief is only equaled by their ignorance and debasement; while in America, one of the freest and most enlightened nations in the world, the people fulfill with fervor all the outward duties of religion." (Pg 80).

Skousen explained Tocqueville's observation that the American clergy, while wholly separated from the government "collectively had a great influence on the morals and customs of public life. This indirectly reflected itself in the formulation of laws and ultimately in fixing the moral and political climate of the American commonwealth."

"Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever cease to be good, America will cease to be great." (Pg 84).

Unfortunately, America has been spiraling into the ignorant, debased condition Tocqueville described in the populations of unbelievers in Europe. A major factor in America’s collective rejection of virtue has been a concerted secularist campaign to re-label good bad, and bad good. In a Heritage Foundation speech, “How Modern Liberals Think”, Evan Sayet described perfectly the growing cult of "indiscriminateness". The strategy has been to make morally inclined people believe that,

"...indiscriminateness is a moral imperative, because its opposite is the evil of having discriminated… In order to eliminate [discrimination] the modern liberal has opted to become utterly indiscriminate."

I.e. we cannot tolerate any morality or religion in our public life because it results in someone saying certain public behaviors are WRONG and those who uphold such behaviors will be discriminated against. The ironic aspect of the cult of indiscriminateness is that advocates of morality end up being highly discriminated against for their beliefs.

We can see the success of this campaign around us. Sin is denounced increasingly less often and year after year the accepted standards of behavior in America sink lower. The declining civility in our society and the corresponding decreases in liberty are the fruit that this seed of indiscriminateness has brought forth.

In an online forum, Gary Jeffryes insightfully posted,

“If we choose pleasure over morality, morals decline. When morals decline, and the number of people participating in immoral activities increases, the number of people willing to hold politicians and educators responsible for their actions declines, because people who are immoral are disinclined to hold other people to a moral behavior, though they may gossip about it. They may gripe about it, but when it comes down to the crunch, the will do nothing about it because that requires righteous judgment and the unrighteous are less willing to condemn their own kind, but eager to condemn the righteous who's behavior is a shining light.

“So the immoral masses keep reelecting the same immoral politicians and things continue to decline as one group feeds the corruption of the other.”

The solution to re-secure our lost liberties is in more preaching, more faith based testimony, more exhortation to virtue and righteous living. Our nation must collectively return to our Creator, begin to obey His laws, and love our neighbors as ourselves. On these laws “hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt 22:40).

If the majority again begins to live the Golden Rule, they will not accept legislators or presidents whose governance results in harm to others, when said governance is exposed for what it is (ballot box choices). They will pull their own weight and not attempt to live off the backs of their neighbors. They will eschew government entitlements and those who would deal them out. They won’t need excessive regulation to do the right things. They will eliminate the poor around them through voluntary acts of service and charity.

The solution in heaven is the same solution that we must pursue:

Revelations Chapter 12:

"7 And there was a war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. … 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony”.

Thanks For Your Service

I witnessed another instance of Americans honoring our troops the day before yesterday. I was on my way home from a business trip on a plane with many Army Privates, traveling home in uniform for their holiday break from Basic Training. The airlines had just closed the cabin doors and a flight attendant began making announcements, including the variety of lunch boxes and beverages that would be for sale shortly after take-off. She then announced that there were many uniformed personnel traveling home for the holidays and that an anonymous passenger had purchased a lunch box for any of them who wanted one and that the airline was providing complimentary beverages to them as a token of appreciation for their service. This event prompts me to re-post a previous blog.

Quite often, fellow citizens from all over the country who don’t know me thank me for my service after discovering I serve in the military. Candidly, this embarrasses me. I don’t serve for honor or recognition or expect any thanks for what I do, and I admit that I don’t handle compliments well either. Nonetheless, the tremendous outpouring of support and appreciation directed towards service members by grateful compatriots is deeply touching and I dedicate this post to highlight a few personal examples and reciprocate a most heartfelt thanks to all who go out of their way to extend these sentiments.

The first time a perfect stranger ever thanked me for my service was on September 14, 2001. I had been on active duty for just over six years. My family was on vacation in California and September 11 still dominated our thoughts. President Bush had declared a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance and at noontime, Disneyland ceased all activity to observe a moment of silence. I didn’t know exactly what the implications of the attack meant for the military, but I knew there would be some. Evidently, I was not the only one; later that day, a mother and daughter thanked me sincerely for my service.

This experience is now common. Most of my military brethren report a similar trend. However, the surge of support has not just been limited to expressions of gratitude.

Sometime during my first week or two in Iraq, a couple of my Soldiers came into the shop, each carrying a US Postal Service Flat Rate Box (O-FRB1). I marveled that their families were so quick to send them care packages. It turned out that the packages were from one of the many, many organizations sending care packages to troops. Over the course of my tour in Iraq I saw hundreds and hundreds of these care packages distributed. I never had to buy toiletries by virtue of the abundance available from care packages. I can’t think of anything we went without. These packages contained everything imaginable: candy, chocolate, Twinkies, Oreos, chips, dips, cookies, crackers, summer sausages, snacks, knives, scarves, gloves, personal hygiene items, games, books, Christmas cards, Christmas trees, thank you letters…you name it, they sent it!

I regret that I didn’t write down all of the organizations, churches, schools, businesses, and individuals from which I saw a package or letter flow through. The list would be very long if I had. I would like to be able to thank each one by name. There were various Any-Soldier and Adopt-a-Soldier type organizations. Many church groups, community organizations, and schools also contributed. I read several books sent over by knife maker A.G. Russell. His boxes also contained pocket-sized copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution along with an assortment of products (not cheap) from his own business. A box arrived once that was full of handmade scarves. I will always cherish the one made by Marilyn A. Borros of Lakewood, Ohio that I drew from the box.

Finally, let me highlight the U.S.O. Besides sending care packages and entertainers to Iraq, they organized one of the most touching experiences of my life at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport. After deplaning, we walked through a long gauntlet of cheering airport workers and passengers on our way to customs. Departing customs towards the buses that would take us to another terminal, we walked through an even longer, more densely packed gauntlet of boy scouts, cub scouts, girl scouts, brownies, athletic teams, veterans, and many other locals. Applause thundered, cheers and thank-yous rang out, cameras flashed, flags waved, hands clapped our backs and shoulders, hands reached out to shake ours, gifts were pushed at us, personal cell phones were offered to make calls home, welcome back and thank-you banners were everywhere. It was all I could do to maintain my composure, and I lost it as soon as I was on the bus. I still choke up whenever I think of it. A young Soldier exclaimed as he walked onto the bus behind me, “I feel like a rock-star! This makes it all worthwhile.”

You citizens who extend your support to the troops have done more to support the war effort than you probably realize. Some people wonder why Soldiers continue to re-enlist despite long and multiple deployments – I don’t.

So to all who reach out and support us service members in your various ways, please accept my deepest gratitude and know that you’re efforts are not unnoticed and make a huge difference.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas is My Favorite Time of Year

Cue one of my favorite Christmas songs sung by Kenny Rogers:

(Lyrics):
How wise the Wise Men must have been
To find the Child in Bethlehem.
He lives again and draws us near,
Christmas time is here.

A tail of love that never dies,
The laughter in the children's eyes,
The child in me is always there,
Christmas is my favorite time of year.

The mist of wonder lies under my tree,
The gift of memories is waiting for me.

The day will come and soon depart,
The spirit stays to hear my heart
With love for people everywhere,
Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

Despite the unfortunate commercialization of Christmas, this time of year more than any other brings a greater degree of “peace on earth, good will towards men.” Christmas celebration results in more smiles, more public greetings, more acts of charity, and more worship. Christmas music, including the song quoted above reverently sung by Kenny Rogers, helps to bring about this increased spirit of love and its attendant fruits. A challenge in preserving liberty is getting more people to carry this spirit of love in their hearts throughout the year. Love is the foundation of all virtue and the public morality upon which our system of government rests.

Cleon Skousen treats this concept masterfully in his book “The 5000 Year Leap”. He first establishes that our Founding Fathers believed that “the only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law.” (pg 37.)

Natural Law according to the Roman Emperor Cicero is nothing more than “the Creator’s order of things.” (pg 39.) Skousen demonstrates that Cicero’s philosophy is in harmony with the Christian teaching that “all the law and the prophets” hang on the first and great commandment to love God, and the second greatest commandments to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matt 22:34-40)

Cicero was conscious that love was a “mighty social bond.” He said that, “…virtues originate in our natural inclination to love our fellow-men, and this is the foundation of justice.” (pg. 43.)

“As one and the same nature holds together and supports the universe, all of whose parts are in harmony with one another, so men are united in Nature; but by reason of their depravity they quarrel, not realizing that they are of one blood and subject to one and the same protecting power. If this fact were understood, surely man would live the life of the gods!” (pg 46.)

After establishing what the philosophy of Natural Law is, Skousen gives evidence that the Founding Fathers “embraced the obvious necessity of building a highly moral and virtuous society.” (pg 46.) Public virtue in eighteenth century terms was a “willingness of the individual to sacrifice his private interest for the good of the community”, i.e. love and living the Golden Rule. He offers many quotes that show the Founders “universally acknowledged that a corrupt and selfish people could never make the principles of republicanism operate successfully.” (pg 50.) Two examples follow:

James Madison: “Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.” (pg 54.)

John Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (pg 56.)

During this Christmas season, consider the increase in kindness around you, which as a corollary means an increased suppression of selfishness. Consider the public merit of this increased “goodwill towards men” and whether it results from the secular/commercial or religious aspect of the holiday. Consider whether or not our Constitution and liberty will be better off if efforts to remove Christ from Christmas, and religion (morality) from public life are successful. Finally, consider how well you individually contribute to or detract from keeping the spirit of Christmas alive throughout the year.

America's Drift Towards Socialism

“America was built on the principle of faith in God, self reliance, the profit motive, individual action and voluntary charity. It was built by those who believed that the surest helping hand at was at the end of their own sleeves. These forefathers of ours shared one thing in common, an unshakeable faith in God and a faith in themselves. There are indications that America is moving away from the philosophy that made her the most prosperous nation in the world.” – Ezra Taft Benson