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Amazing Grace

UPDATE: May 28, 2012  Here are some more stories for your Memorial Day reading.

"21 Steps" by Dave Carter at Ricochet.com.

"In Loving Memory" by Robert Mitchell at Ricochet.com.

The Marines made a bed for her.  An article by Lily Burana in the NYT.

"Robert Higgin's War" by Sean Higgins at NRO.

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The grace that we Americans recieve from those who "gave the last full measure of devotion," is truly amazing.  Today is the day we pause to honor these Americans.  Or so it should be.

In the WSJ, Col. Tom Manion, USMCR (Ret.), writes about why they serve, even when they know that we are at war.  Col. Manion knows of which he speaks.

Over at The Corner, David French reminds us of the power of that "amazing grace."

And don't miss this video about Honor Flight Stories, an effort to bring WWII vets to Washington to visit their memorial and share their stories.  These folks are dying before our very eyes these days, and all will be gone soon.  Check it out.

"Locke Is The True Liberal"

Just like me.  Hee, hee.

"An apt description of modern liberalism.  But what you describe really isn't liberalism.  Why have we allowed the left to high jack this word?  I would argue  Locke is the true liberal.  A Lockean existence is full of  human folly.  But somebody that believes in liberty believes that man can correct his behavior thru trial and error and understanding the consequences of his own actions.  The modern Hobbsian doesn't want man to go thru that process.  We are to be protected from ourselves and our vices."

From the comments to this post on Ricochet.com.

I have often thought about this same question.  Locke's view, or Hobbes'?  If you spend any time in society in Frederick (I do, walking around and riding TransIT) you see plenty of behavior that would (at least from my perspective) call for the leviathan of the state to crack down on the idiotic behavior of the individuals.  At the same time, you see many activities where, in exercising it's existing power, the state acts as badly as the idiotic individuals.

Madison and the founders recognized this, as he wrote in Federalist 51-

"Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."

Among the founders there was also the understanding that for government to work, in the manner in which they were developing it, the society had to be a moral one.

John Adams-

 "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

George Washington-

“Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.”

Ben Franklin-

"[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

That last quote from Franklin is scary if you look around at behavior in America today.  Some time ago I had a conversation with a friend about this issue.  My take on human nature (despite my Catholic faith) is that we are essentially bad and corrupt.  Hers was that we are at least born neutral, and become bad through our weakness to temptation, but have just as much opportunity to be good, through our strength to resist temptation.  The strength comes from what we learn as we grow.  That strength comes from our parents, family, friends, teachers, mentors, coaches, pastors, etc.

I think all of us who fill those roles in our kids lives need to tune it up a notch for the Locke view to prevail.

It Just Doesn't Work

Human nature, you just can't beat it.  

There is a Gospel verse from chapter 2 of John's that I really like where John says "But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.  He himself understood it well."

As much as we struggle against the bad, human nature is human nature.  That's why Socialism, Marxism, Communism, etc. don't work.  Because they all fundamentally go against human nature.  History has proven it time and time again, often with deadly results.

But we still don't get it.

David French takes up the case at The Corner with this post.  Please read it all, but here's the key point-

"Yet human nature still prevails, doesn’t it? It turns out that the euro couldn’t turn Greeks and Italians into Germans, that cradle-to-grave welfare benefits have the same impact on the work ethic and productivity of millions of Europeans as they had on millions of Americans, and that “post-Christian Europe” was hardly a more-rational Europe."

This issue is what November's election is about.  Do we vote for, or against human nature?  If we vote against human nature, future pundits will be wondering "how could they not know." 

The "Lynch" Mob

"The role of a president is to rein in the mob, not to unleash it. The latter is what community organizers do; the former is what makes statesmen. Yet on issue after issue — anti-terrorism, global warming, government ethics, and racial relations — a frenzied mob, egged on by the media and demagogues like Barack Obama, have almost stormed the jail, only to dissipate when met by either evidence, or the knowledge that the incarcerated was one of their own — as if they had never screamed and threatened in the first place."

From Victor Davis Hanson's latest Works and Days.  Worth your time to read the whole thing.

Everytime I quote Professon Hanson, I could title the post with some variation of "It's All Been Done Before."  I guess we really don't learn from history, but then again, we really aren't teaching "Honest History" anymore.

Revisionist

I have a post category on this blog called "Honest History."  It arose out of the efforts of the past 50 years or more to "revise" our history by those who are uncomfortable with the success of the United States and her people .  Here is an example of what I am speaking about.

Thursday at PJ Media, Ed Driscoll wrote "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Memory Hole."  Ed comments on

"the shell game that “progressives” (more on the scare quotes in a few moments) use to transfer bad decisions of progressives and liberals of the past to American history as a whole."

It's a great read, and another example of "Honest History."

The Greatest President?

I have no doubt that the subject of the title of this post is debatable, but I would speak loud and long for President Lincoln.  I was reading Ricochet last night and came across this quote from our 16th President-

"He who moulds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions.  He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed."

What a different world we would have if our politicians followed Mr. Lincoln's advice.

Evil Empire

Peter Robinson at Ricochet reminds us that it was 29 years ago yesterday that President Reagan called the USSR an "evil empire."  Talk about a real "speaking truth to power."  How many nukes did they have pointed at us in 1983? 

Peter links to this very interesting post from Frank Warner which describes in detail how the speech came about and how the words "evil empire" were almost left out.  Frank also follows with a time line of the collapse of the USSR, which many Reagan supporters credit to the US finally "speaking truth to power."

I like this quote in Frank's post from President Reagan at the August 1992 Republican National Convention.  The President refers to some claims that were made at the Democrat National Convention the prior month.

“We stood tall and proclaimed that communism was destined for the ash heap of history," Reagan told his fellow Republicans. "We never heard so much ridicule from our liberal friends. The only thing that got them more upset was two simple words: 'Evil Empire.'

“But we knew that what the liberal Democrat leaders just couldn't figure out: the sky would not fall if America restored her strength and resolve. The sky would not fall if an American president spoke the truth. The only thing that would fall was the Berlin Wall.

“I heard those speakers at that other convention saying, 'We won the Cold War' -- and I couldn't help wondering, just who exactly do they mean by 'we'?”

History Began This Morning

"Imagine a city where all the major economic planks of the statist or "progressive" platform have been enacted:

A "living wage" ordinance, far above the federal minimum wage, for all public employees and private contractors.

A school system that spends significantly more per pupil than the national average.

A powerful school employee union that militantly defends the exceptional pay, benefits and job security it has won for its members.

Other government employee unions that do the same for their members.A tax system that aggressively redistributes income from businesses and the wealthy to the poor and to government bureaucracies.

Would this be a shining city on a hill, exciting the admiration of all?

We don't have to guess, because there is such a city right here in our state: Detroit

Detroit has been dubbed "the most liberal city in America" and each of these "progressive" policies is alive and well there. How have they worked out?

In 1950, Detroit was the wealthiest city in America on a per capita income basis. Today, the Census Bureau reports that it is the nation's 2nd poorest major city, just "edging out" Cleveland."

That's Jarrett Skorup, writing in Capcon.

The only way a sane person could deny the cause and effect of this is to believe that history began this morning.  I refer you to this post of mine from a while back, and, once again Mr. Reagan's quote from 1964:

"Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so."

Honest History

I have also written a lot about the need for teaching history, and especially the history of the United States when it comes to human freedom and why we are different.

Here's former Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaking at William and Mary the other day:

"Our civilization is not a civilization because of our technology. It is because of languages and the arts, knowledge of our history -- and, frankly, I think there are way too many in Washington, in the media, and elsewhere, who don't know anything about  history, and it's a danger."

He elaborates: "Part of the reason I knew it was time to leave was that I ended up having to give a history lesson, it seemed like, every time we were in the Situation Room. You know, 'This happened this way, and if you did it this way, and so on and so forth.' I just think that you have to have both the hard sciences and the soft sciences, and frankly the cutbacks on the soft sciences, I think, will have an impact on the quality of life for people."

Read the whole post and watch the video.

Common Sense

At least it used to be.  Here's Thomas Sowell, on RCP today-

"The economic reason is not complicated. When you set minimum wage levels higher than many inexperienced young people are worth, they don't get hired. It is not rocket science."

Read the whole thing, which is primarily about Mitt Romney's lack of common sense.

Professor Sowell is correct about "Capitalism and Freedom."  It's a great read.  Thanks, Chris.