Posted on 11/14/2011 6:02:12 AM PST by JDPendry
“An honest man’s the noblest work of God.” – Alexander Pope
Each one of us holds to a set of principles. They may not represent a mainstream set of values. In fact, they may be the direct opposite of what is considered mainstream. Attempting to define mainstream only adds to the confusion. Who defines it for us? Those who try to do so by telling us what most Americans want or what most Americans believe or what is best for most Americans. The problem is the leader or would be leader attempting to define mainstream for the rest of us runs it through his or her personally held belief system. It creates a dichotomous environment. An environment where what is expressed to us as mainstream, the values to which we should all adhere if we are normal, is in direct contradiction to those principles outlined in our founding documents. I believe I may have stumbled upon the definition of un-American.
A leader has obvious choices to make. He or she can both align their personal belief system with and preserve the Judeo-Christian principles on which our nation was founded or head off on a path based on a totally different belief system in order to “fundamentally transform” the United States of America. Leaders hoping to change our country into one that functions based on their personal belief systems, no matter how skewed from the founding their beliefs might be, must be dishonest with the people. It is a subtle dishonesty. It is a deceitfulness that draws in those who want to believe. The dishonorable leader speaks tempting words and makes utopian promises. He or she will always speak of preserving those great “American values” without ever defining them thus leading the weak minded to accept that he or she personifies the original values. The sheep follow the wolf just as the children did the Pied Piper – never to return to where they began.
Dishonorable men or women who want to lead our nation could never get a foot up if they did not have powerful supporting forces. The most destructive force in our country in that regard is the media which bills itself as factual providers of information and news. It is a media that is dishonest at its core. If there was any integrity in the industry amongst those who actually drive the stories of the day, a corrupt, incompetent, dishonest politician would have no chance of ever holding elected office. When what you are is equivalent to what the North Korean News Agency is to Kim Jong-Il, then you have abused your first amendment right to become nothing more than a pack of political liars. Sadly.
Dishonorable politicians supported by a dishonest news media are prime examples of a free people misusing the freedoms derived from the Judeo-Christian principles on which our country was founded in order to propel themselves into power. They will follow the Pied Piper until they realize too late that the only freedom left for them is to report to the masses what the Pied Piper tells them to. That is when they will also learn that the collective does not have much use for factual news reporting. The honest among them will be shot and the mediocre among them will be shoveling crap on the collective farm. Ah, utopia. Grand is it not?
Our leadership has expressed to the world that we are not a Christian nation. Does that not imply then that we are a Post-Christian nation? C.S. Lewis wrote about Post-Christian man:
For they neglect not only the law of Christ but even the Law of Nature as known by the Pagans. For now they do not blush at adultery, treachery, perjury, theft and other crimes which I will not say Christian Doctors, but the pagans and the barbarous have themselves denounced.
They err who say “the world is turning pagan again.” Would that it were! The truth is that we are falling into a much worse state.
A code of honor is an uncompromising commitment to a way of life. Even the dishonest are committed to a way of life. They are dishonorable when they try to portray “their way” as something it is not. Their way is not supported by a foundation of integrity without which it eventually collapses taking with it those who blindly followed.
If, as Americans, we do not know to what we are truly committed as freedom loving individuals we are doomed as a nation. There is no pre-Christian America. The only place that we have to return to is our beginning as a nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles. If we accept, as our leadership has implied, that we are a Post-Christian nation, then as C.S. Lewis warned, “we are falling into a much worse state.”
I would lay down my life for America, but I cannot trifle with my honor. - John Paul Jones
What is your Code of Honor? Are you willing to discard it?
Any Grange member will be familiar with that quote. Are there any other Grangers here?
Can you hear my applause? No? I’ll clap louder!
What a great article. Of course, it is great because it discusses basic truths, and does so clearly and honestly.
And how often is there any public mention or discussion of the ideal (much less the importance) of the concept of honor in our personal lives, and to our country?
Thank you for such an intelligent and important thread today. If only there were more (and more understanding)!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.