Welcome back to Common Sense Civics and Citizenship. I’m not sure how your week went, but mine was full of questions-my own and other people’s as well. In our first article, we look at accepting America’s founding rather than trying to re-make her. This dovetails on the article below about the affect of the media on our constitutional lives. America is talking. We have a lot to consider. Thanks for joining us today. Let’s begin:
Many Americans wonder, “how did we get where we are today?” They acknowledge that things have gone “off the rails.” Maybe We the People need to embrace America’s founding principles instead of trying to change her into something she is not. Let’s challenge ourselves for a moment. Consider the following:
Accept the fact that no generation is perfect, including yours. Instead of fighting, blaming, shaming, and canceling your fellow Americans, raise the bar on yourself to be as excellent as you expect others to be.
There is a significant tendency to dismiss, deny, or denigrate our Founders because of slavery in their day. Slavery is a horrific scourge in our nation’s history, but so is the killing of innocents in our day. Many people at one time accepted the current cultural drift but have now matured and changed their views. Such is the life of every generation. We grow and learn. And we should extend the same grace to the Founding era that we hope history will give us.
Accept the fact that our country was built on Christian principles. For instance, we like to think that every country deals the way the USA does. When we sign a treaty, we live up to the deal and expect other countries to do the same. We take Christian principles like “Love your neighbor,” “Do not steal,” and “Do not lie” for granted. We think everybody deals this way. Countries that do not have a Christian foundation do not hold the same values. For them, things like life and truth are not a priority. Power and control are. Talk to a person who does business overseas. That person didn’t need a church membership to understand when they’ve been hoodwinked by false promises. The USA was built with moral foundations as a significant consideration. Don’t get hung up on the word “Christian.” Instead, understand the Christian principles of freedom and justice that are a part of our founding.
In the founding era, rational, logical positions were held but undergirded by a strong set of spiritual principles that have stood the test of time. Now, we have allowed our spiritual principles to become background information rather than leading the forum of rational governance. So, loving one’s neighbor now depends upon how you feel about your neighbor, not as a principle to build a strong society. Americans used to agree on civility. To force civility rather than build it into our young and practice it throughout life will not yield the peaceful result we all want. If we want what our forefathers had in terms of the strength of the nation, we have to do the hard things they did. That is, educate children from the ground up to love God and country, build strong families, and treasure freedom.
This is Common Sense Civics and Citizenship. 🇺🇸
