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.

An Educated and Moral Citizenry Needed to Preserve Liberty

I first saw this picture on the Drudge Report. It shows what the Washington Mall looked like after the crowds attending President Obama’s inauguration departed. (What happened to the Woodsy the Owl campaign to “help keep America looking good” anyway?) Dumbfounded, I was saddened to see this evidence that increasingly more of our citizens do not live by the Golden Rule, expecting others to serve them and clean up their messes. Am I making too much out of this? Does this not really indicate anything about the basic values held by those capital litterbugs? I'll let you be the judge.

I use this introduction to tee up some of my favorite quotes from wise men who expounded on the links between public morality, education, and the preservation of liberty:

“No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.” – Samuel Adams in a letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775

Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. – Patrick Henry

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

“It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

“Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” – George Washington in his farewell address.

“Too many Americans have lost sight of the truth that God is our source of freedom—the Lawgiver—and that personal righteousness is the most important essential to preserving our freedom. So, I say with all the energy of my soul that unless we as citizens of this nation forsake our sins, political and otherwise, and return to the fundamental principles of Christianity and of constitutional government, we will lose our political liberties, our free institutions, and will stand in jeopardy before God.” – Ezra Taft Benson, October 1979

"We are involved in an intense battle. It is a battle between right and wrong, between truth and error, between the design of the Almighty on the one hand and that of Lucifer on the other. For that reason, we desperately need moral men and women who stand on principle, to be involved in the political process. Otherwise, we abdicate power to those whose designs are almost entirely selfish." – Gordon B. Hinckley in "Stand a little Taller", pg. 15, July 2001