What do you think?
Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic expression of Americanism. Without God, there could be no American form of government, nor American way of life.
-President Dwight Eisenhower
By Dr. Jim Ferguson
Twenty-two years ago, after September 11, 2001, Americans came together after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and in the skies over Pennsylvania. Briefly, politics were put aside and we behaved as Americans. It did not last, and one wonders why.
Every year on this solemn day, Becky and I fly our 9/11 Flag of Honor from the porch, wear red, white and blue colors, and remember those who were killed by Muslim terrorists. It now seems like there are fewer organized events of 9/11 remembrance, and this year Biden didn’t show up at Ground Zero or the Pentagon, let alone Pennsylvania. But that’s just as well because he might’ve fallen asleep like he did in Hawaii after the Maui fires and at the recent G20 conference.
We once thought we were safe in our homeland, protected by oceans. But modern weaponry, the war on terror, and now the rampant crime in our streets have dispelled that notion. The primary function of government is to protect its citizens. Open borders, drugs and mental illness associated homelessness, and the dismantling of President Trump’s America First policies have put the nation and John Q. Public at grave risk.
Biden is the poster child of what’s wrong with our country. He represents dysfunctional big government, dishonesty and so-called leaders who are past their prime and are dangerous. Lest I be accused of ageism, I will again state that age is not the problem because people like President Trump remain vigorous and competent despite their age, whereas Biden, Feinstein and others have not.
Americans have lost trust in the government, its institutions and the leadership of our country. But not to worry, octogenarian Nancy Pelosi is again running for Congress to represent her district, the cesspool of San Fran-sicko. And Federman, Schumer and McConnell have the Senate under control.
A recent op-ed by Gerard Baker in The New York Post resonated with my own observations. Mr. Baker was a former editor at The Wall Street Journal, and has just published “American Breakdown,” a book about America’s loss of confidence in our leaders and institutions.
Baker cites many sources, including Gallop, which has been measuring public confidence in institutions for 50 years. In the 1970s about 50% of Americans had confidence in institutions like the presidency, Congress, the justice system, the media, public schools, etc. Confidence in these institutions has fallen to 26%, and steep declines in public trust have occurred over the last two years. Not surprisingly, the media had the greatest decline at 16%, with TV media polling at 11%. Similar declines in trust have been measured by the Pew Research Center, the General Social Survey and the American National Election Studies.
And perhaps even more troubling, these national surveys reveal that Americans have stopped trusting each other. Only a third now say they trust others. However, national surveys don’t always reflect my observations. Perhaps this is in part because I don’t depend on national sources like CNN or the NYT for the “unvarnished truth,” as Cas Walker once said. Instead, I read a dozen news sources and opinion pieces daily, before making up my own mind. And I have little or no interaction with the dysfunctional government or the corrupt justice system. Consequently, I trust my own conscience, my neighbors, the police, local businesses, my friends, my church and the neighborhood school where my grandkids go. I think part of our national trust problem is the depersonalization of institutions as they become ever larger and lose accountability to, We the People.
If there are positives in these surveys, it is that America hasn’t failed; our institutionalized leaders and agencies have failed us. But we are not without sin. We have voted these so-called leaders into office and keep them there when they have lost touch with us, and only represent themselves and their party. We buy the products of woke corporations, we allow a largely corrupt media to think for us, and we allow social media to monetize us by using their platforms. Remember, you are the “product” when using “free” social media platforms.
The coin of our realm is inscribed with the motto, “In God We Trust.” But do we any longer? Do we have a code of conduct, a morality or code of ethics which all our citizens accept or embrace?
In the 1200s Thomas Aquinas and fellow Scholastics formulated a hierarchy of laws. They envisioned a series of concentric spheres, the largest being the Universal Law of God (the Creation). Within that sphere Aquinas described Divine laws, for example, The Ten Commandments. Nature’s Law (Natural Law) existed in a smaller sphere. And the smallest sphere represented man’s laws, like the Constitution and speed limits. Actually, the Scholastics merely redefined Acts 17:28 where the Apostle Paul said, “In Him we live and move and have our being.”
In 1798 President John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” In other words, without the appreciation and acceptance of Universal, Divine and natural laws, man’s laws will fail, as will his institutions and his civilization. The immediate proof of our impending downfall is our loss of trust in our leaders, our contrived institutions and even each other.
In our Fellowship Group, we are reading Andy Stanley’s wonderful book, “Irresistible.” The premise is that Christianity is irresistible in many parts of the world, but no longer in America. Stanley answers the question why western civilization, founded by Christianity, has largely become a secular culture in decline. As someone who studies the lessons of history, I observe that the ancient Hebrews made the same mistakes over and over as chronicled in the Old Testament.
The solution to our distrust and decline is not to be found in government. The ancients thought they could create a utopian society with the cardinal virtues of common sense, courage, justice, and moderation. Yet these societies repeatedly failed because they ignored the more foundational virtues of 1 Corinthians 13:13. We must not elevate man’s laws above God’s. We must NOT replace God with government.
