Feb 01, 2010 16:17
...what American history is truly about - ideas. Ideas such as "All men are created equal"; the United States is the "last, best hope" of earth; and America "is great, because it is good."
Honor counted to founding patriots like Adams, Jefferson, Washington, and then later, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Character counter. Property was also important; no denying that, because with property came liberty. But virtue came first. Even J.P.Morgan, the epitome of the so-called robber baron, insisted that "the first thing is character...before money or anything else. Money cannot buy it."
It is not surprising, then, that so many left-wing historians miss the boat (and miss it, and miss it, and miss it to the point where they need a ferry schedule). They fail to understand what every colonial settler and every western pioneer needed for success, but character was the prerequisite because it put the law behind property agreement, and it set responsibility tight next to liberty. And the surest way to ensure the presence of good character was to keep God at the center of one's life, community, and ultimately, nation. "Separation of church and state" meant freedom to worship, not freedom from worship. It went back to that link between liberty and responsibility, and no one could be taken seriously who was not responsible to God. 'Where the Spirit of the Lord it, there is liberty." They believe those words...............