Shining Cities On Hills Take Centuries to Build but Can be Destroyed Quickly

Flopping Aces ^ | 09-18-24 | Vince

[Starman417]

America’s Founding Fathers were nothing short of extraordinary.  Never before had a group of men come together to do things that would so change the arc of human history.  To a man, they likely agreed with Sir Isaac Newton’s adage from 1676:  "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." This particularly applies to the two men most responsible for the nation’s founding documents, Thomas Jefferson & James Madison.

Jefferson, whose extensive library was the basis upon which the Library of Congress is built, was extraordinarily well read.  From Plato and Plutarch to Chaucer and Shakespeare to Blackstone and Burke, he was a voracious reader. Perhaps none more so than the giant of the Enlightenment, John Locke. In addition to the intellectual arsenal, all of this gave him, there were specific documents he drew upon in writing the Declaration of Independence.  Among these were his own draft of the Constitution of Virginia, George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights as well as the English Bill of Rights and its antecedent, the Magna Carta.

Madison shared Jefferson’s familiarity with Montesquieu, Locke, Blackstone and crafted the Constitution with many of the same sources in mind. Given the different functions of the documents, Madison focused the Constitution on the fundamental nature of man and the need to constrain men’s most based instincts while Jefferson’s Declaration was focused on the passions that impel men to act.

The nation they bequeathed to us is of course, imperfect, but it is extraordinary nonetheless.  Based on these documents and the 2000 years of western civilization that preceded them, it has evolved with principles that have been, in aggregate, the most providential in all in human history. Fundamental elements such as freedom of speech, press, religion, the rights to a fair trial and to be free from government molestation in your home created an almost crystal clear limitation on the powers of government and the tyrannical nature of men. At the same time, outside of the explicitly government sphere you have things like private property, Capitalism and the Judeo-Christian tradition that reinforced the framework of the nation.

As everyone knows, America had extraordinary challenges from the beginning, starting with her Original Sin. But throughout she has had at her disposal in the form of the Constitution the tools to evolve and overcome her imperfections and advance.

The culture Americans have today, or at least did until recently, focused on things like community, church, freedom of speech, limited government, private property, merit & individual achievement.

All of that took generations to build.  It took patriots standing on the shoulders of giants to build… And the result has been nothing short of spectacular.  For most of the last century the United States has been the most powerful nation in the world from both a military and economic perspective, and perhaps most of all, from an opportunity perspective.  From universities to Silicon Valley to Wall Street to main street, America has led the world in scientific advances, economic advances and, again, opportunity.  This is nowhere more clear in the fact that of the 954 Nobel Prizes awarded since its inception in 1900, over 404 of them (42%) are Americans, and of those 404, approximately 35% are immigrants.  And it’s not just intellectuals. There’s athletics. Of the 21,000 Olympic medals awarded since the revival of the Games in 1896, Americans have won over 3,000 or 15%. In this year’s games, approximately 10% of the American team was made up of immigrants or children of immigrants. And money. Of the world’s 2,781 billionaires in 2024, 29% of them, or 813 are Americans. Of those 813, approximately 11% are immigrants.

All of this suggests that immigrants are good for America.  That’s true.  But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a problem.  We do. Because culture matters…

Unfortunately what we have seen over the last 30 years has been a flood of illegal immigrants from nations with no concept of the basics of American culture. The breakdown of the countries of origin tells the tale. The top ten nations from which illegals hail are as follows:  Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Columbia, Ecuador & El Salvador. Together they make up 80% of the illegals crossing our border. Those nations have no sustained history of free speech, limited government, private property, free elections or Capitalism. Contrast that with the previous waves of migration (1840-1889 & 1890-1911) when 89% of immigrants came from fellow European nations with overlapping western values.

[PGR88]

The Founding Fathers saw the chaos of the French Revolution, but they never imagined or grasped the concept of purposeful, top-down, marxist social demoralization, subversion and controlled demolition of a society, for the purpose of ideological takeover.

[LouAvul]

.........they never imagined.....

I think Benjamin Franklin did: "A Republic, madam, if you can keep it."

[redangus]

Very true

[null and void]

Pride of Man Quicksilver Messenger Service

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. Also, men and women had to work to survive and they built things that aided themselves, their families and generations of citizens to enjoy in the future. Today there are too many destroyers of things that were built and takers of things they didn’t earn, as current governments encourage their destructive behaviors.

[Restless]

Ronald Reagan talked often about America being a shining city on a hill, but he also warned: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
We are retired, and we travel a lot around the U.S. It is truly depressing to see how many parts of our country have been “fundamentally transformed” by open borders.

[Freee-dame]

Bump

[aquila48]

Sounds like Franklin had some doubts. Not surprising since he was quite familiar with human nature.

[dfwgator]

Hard Times Make Good Men
Good Men Make Good Times
Good Times Make Weak Men
Weak Men Make Hard Times

[LouAvul]

Benjamin Franklin, An American Life, by Walter Isaacson is evidence of that.

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[jmacusa]

I work with people from every one of the Latin American countries mentioned here.

I hate them. Loud mouthed, racist, ignorant, illiterate and demanding.

And contrary to what is posted here and elsewhere, they vote Democrat.