Posted on 01/28/2016 6:14:58 PM PST by pboyington
The term “City upon a hill†was first used by John Winthorp, one of the key founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who said, “We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.â€
Yet, it was Ronald Reagan who made the term famous, in his frequent referral to the United States as the “Shining City upon a Hill.†During his farewell address to the nation on January 11, 1989, Reagan described his vision of the shining city upon a hill.
“I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.â€
As Reagan prepared to leave office, he gave his assessment on the state of the nation.
“And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she’s still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.â€
And, how stands the city on this winter night in 2016?
The Shining City upon a Hill has lost its luster. The nation is nearly in a free fall and in mortal danger. We are being destroyed by internal and external forces: political correctness, big government, cultural Marxism, out-sourcing of jobs and factories and reckless trade deals that do everything for everyone else and nothing for the United States of America. Our enemies are waiting for their moment to pounce on us, like lions hiding in tall grass on the Serengeti Plain.
The US military is on life support, a victim of budget cuts, readiness maladies and endless social engineering which is eating the armed forces alive like an aggressive form of cancer. To our enemies, the US military is a wounded animal, ripe for an easy kill. What could be more evidence to the state of the military than the US Navy’s disgraceful conduct in the Persian Gulf two weeks ago?
The last eight years have shown more than ever that the Democrats are incapable of successfully running our national security and foreign policy. Groveling and kowtowing to the enemies of freedom has become the modus operandi of the Obama Administration. We are now a nation that is laughed at by ISIS, by the Iranians, by the Russians, by the Chinese.
The federal government is out of control. Citizens are harassed at airports and railway stations by the TSA. Our phone and social media conversations are monitored by government intelligence agencies around the clock. Obama Care premiums are sky-rocketing and the IRS seems to have only one purpose, to harass innocent Americans.
The US economy is on the verge of total collapse. The stock market has been a chimera for nearly a decade. Its vacillations mean nothing to the average American who works two or three jobs just to stay above water. Most Americans have less than 1,000 in savings which yield zero interest and are only one paycheck away from being homeless. Jobs have been outsourced to Third World nations and China. Factories have been shipped out and an expanding population competes for a minimal amount of jobs.
The nation is one bad day away from the whole fragile economic house of cards coming down in a mammoth avalanche of disaster. A stock market crash much larger than 2008 looms on the horizon.
Our schools are run by corrupt, bureaucratic, socialist, do-gooder fools with zero common sense. School officials call the police because a five year old makes a gun symbol with his finger, yet allow the nation’s classrooms to be scenes of total anarchy. Millions of Americans are flocking to an angry Bolshevik candidate and his socialist policies. Little do the ignorant young masses know that redistributing wealth never has worked for any nation. High taxes, government meddling and Big Brother social programs will double our debt.
The government is never the solution to the problem. The government is the problem. As Reagan stated, the worst words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.â€
America is on the precipice. The election of a delusional crook like Hillary Clinton or God forbid, a borderline communist like Bernie Sanders would be the death knell for a nation suffering from eight years of the Obama Administration’s chronic mismanagement of everything from national security to national infrastructure.
On the other hand, the election of a President Trump or Cruz would give the nation a chance to rise from the ashes and become what Winthorp saw and Reagan envisioned, the Shining City upon a Hill.
Actually the barbarians breached the walls around 7 years ago.
I am not sure they will ever be rebuilt. For now the city is mired in garbage and pollution.
Try Matthew 5:14 for the earlier “City on a hill” reference....
“14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”
The Republic ceased to exist when we failed to uphold the Constitutional requirements for the Presidency.
We allowed an usurper to be sworn into office and he has proven why the founders were wise to restrict the office to natural born citizens. Born here of citizen parents, no other possible citzenship. Naturally an American.
Move the capitol to the midwest for security reasons. That will bring the D.C. property values to their proper level. Trump is a builder. Build just enough to move essential government agencies. Eliminate those left behind.
The city upon a hill is the Church. That’s surely the sense Winthrop had in mind (even though his ecclesiology was messed up). Reagan was wrong to apply that term to the United States.
I know the Bible reference but think it came from
Athens which really is a shining city on a hill (the Acropolis).
Unfortunately Pericles the great leader of Athens died in the plague. Fortunately Alcibiades was also a strong leader He rose to to form a plan to capture Sicily, particularly Syracuse. The plan went well to start with but Alcibiades was accused of mutilating the Herms which were sort of sign posts made in image of Hermes. The young men ran around knocking Hermes genitals off and Alcibiades was said to be one of them.
When he was sent back to Athens to face trial the leader left behind lacked Alcibiades ability and began to lose.
Athens then put together another fleet, just as big as the first with just as many men but it took all they had.
Unfortunately the battle was lost and all those soldiers ended their lives working in the quarries.
That was when Sparta basically won the Peloponnesian war. Athens did keep going for a few more years until the Spartans destroyed the Athenian fleet at Aegostopotami.
Great idea to move the Capital westward... How about in some Federally owned desert that the Feds insist on controlling in the western states of the Great Basin...
A nice wilderness designation area would be sweet...
My $0.02: this means the CHURCH (all believers in Christ collectively, regardless of issues of denomination and such). People have tried to arrogate church promises to America and it never QUITE works. Nor should we expect it to work.
The Oregon wildlife sanctuary building would be perfect. Get all those politicians out into the wilderness. Back to nature. It might give some of them common sense.
Delenda Est.
Actually, the Republic ceased to exist under the administration of George W Bush as his DOJ brought down the barriers to federal intervention on every level with Gonzales v Raich. Obama might not have been able to do some of the things he did if not for Bush.
I am very confident that those walls WILL BE REBULT.
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.