From time to time over the past eight years, I have dipped into the inkwell of the past and recounted great stories of the men who put their hearts and minds into the founding of this great nation.
Drawn from all professions, they had one thing in common above all others and that was faith in the Almighty. King George and his national church had spewed forth enough venom and exerted enough control to push the colonists over the edge and push them to revolution.
In the midst of all the chaos was the genuine belief in the freedom of man. When debate ground to a crawl in the Constitutional Convention, what did they do? They took three days off to pray.
Our national monuments bear not only images from Scripture, but text. Murals, sculptures, friezes on buildings, great passages from the Bible — all these and more can be found in Washington, D.C.
What amazes me is that of the 535 members of the US Congress, so few publicly avow the sacred principles that wrought the very government that they serve. Don’t they see what is around them on a day-to-day basis? Can’t they take in the not-so-subtle messages underscoring the close relationship between God and Man?
Oh, there are the blowhards. They step to podia and expound colorful rhetoric, but their core message is anything but God-fearing. The few Congressmen and Senators who openly proclaim their faith in public find themselves labeled as belonging to “the Christian right” by detractors — as if faith in God is a weakness.
If any one event has shocked me over the past two years, it is the behavior of many of those in Congress. Despite spirited town hall meetings and inundations of mail and e-mail messages, countless members vote in direct opposition to their constituents’ wishes.
Tyranny is not the American way. You will hear many claim that America is a democracy. It’s not. We are a republic — a representative republic, but a republic nonetheless. In essence, representatives pledge to vote on behalf of their constituencies. Sadly, that seems to have fallen by the wayside.
The operative question here is “Why?” We may never get a single answer, but the response is looming. You see, the answer will come in the results of the November elections.
Your job as a voter is to keep track of how you are represented. This applies equally for all levels of government — municipal, county, state, and national. I know it is difficult to maintain equilibrium between personal life and being a responsible citizen, but it is a precious freedom.
It is interesting to note that among the current 25 top selling books on Amazon.com, 17 of them are on Founding Fathers, Founding Principles (faith among them), and The US Constitution.
Well, it’s about time. As an author, I’m happy to know that more and more people are reading books. Computers are fine, but the relationship between a reader and a book is more personal than a lit screen.
Go get a Copy of the Federalist Papers. Read about the Founding Fathers. I think they would be appalled at what we face today. Think about it.