More Wisdom

It gets more and more difficult to stay involved in this democracy of ours. Were elections always popularity contests? Were they always sold to the highest bidder? And how can we claim to be exporting democracy when we have abandoned it ourselves?

Twenty or more years ago, when I was a great deal younger but a lot less wise, the trajectory seemed to be firmly established. It seems to me that we didn't lose our "innocence" with the assassination of John Kennedy. What we lost was our courage to be a democratic nation. We became afraid to make choices, and wanted someone bigger, stronger and wiser to do it for us. We abdicated our responsibility to be "by the people" and "for the people.'

And we lost our moral compass. Or did that happen earlier, following World War II? "If it feels good, do it," has become the American motto. "That standard may be OK for you, but I interpret things differently." Of course the way each of us interprets things suits our personalized set of preferences. There are no absolutes in America any more. Not only are there no absolutes, but we don't seem to miss them.

Our founding fathers had moral values. Maybe they should have been clearer about that. Maybe they were too afraid it would smack of church and state collusion. Maybe they failed to understand that future generations of us would be unable to read between the lines of the Constitution where the moral values of our founders are most clear.

We have become good at the filters we place on our standards of truth and ethics. We like the protections of our democratic government, but give only sidelong glances at the responsibility side of it. We like being considered strong-willed, rugged individualists. --Don't ask us to be our brothers' keeper, we have things to do and places to go.-- We have individualized the meaning of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It doesn't apply to you or them. It means ME. My life, my liberty, my pursuit of happiness. If my personal pursuit of happiness rolls over your life and liberty, sorry, but I have a constitutional right to pursue happiness. And my pursuit of happiness cancels out moral and ethical standards, at least for me.

The Ten Commandments have been a good measuring stick for moral and ethical behavior for a people who believe in moral absolutes, and who believe in God, however fuzzy a notion that might be to some.

But we have to disregard those Ten Commandments, you say, because we have become a pluralistic society, and we don't wish to offend people of other religions who are trying to pursue their own happiness in America.

I offer the observation that the Ten Commandments, in some form or other, can be seen in all world religions, and even among those who are proud they have none. Their "reasons" for the absolutes may differ, but the absolutes remain. Killing, stealing, lying and so on are universally regarded as wrong. Why throw out our moral and ethical standards? Without them we have moral anarchy and absence of absolute values.

Here's what I think has happened: First, we gave over management of our nation to those who are powerful and wealthy. OK. We don't want to bother with those things anyway. They are too time-consuming. Second, we have lost the sense of community that was born with our nation. We find it poignant and noteworthy when we hear of some person helping others or doing something noble and selfless. Why are those things noteworthy? I guess because they are unusual. Doesn't it seem that such behavior should be normal and expected, and not unusual and poignant? Third, we profess to be a religious people, but let's be honest: we are NOT.

The religious conservatives, who we expect would be the most religious, have sold out to big government. They have replaced God with Government for their source of justice, mercy, and goodness. They have put everything in one pot and rendered it all to Caesar, just because Caesar seems to be "one of us." It seems to me that the best thing that could happen to the religious conservative movement is the replacement of the present government with one they don't regard as "Godly" (and let's be honest, no government is Godly). Then maybe they'd go back to doing what churches should do: worship God and serve Him in this world.

Francis Schaeffer, the late theologian, when he was asked what he thought was the biggest danger to churches today, responded immediately, "Statism!" Even 25 years ago, prior to his death, Schaeffer was concerned that people were turning their lives over to a monolithic federal government to which they look for the providence, provision and goodness they used to seek from God. Since Schaeffer made that observation, things have only worsened. The government has grown larger and more powerful, and people have placed even more faith and trust in it.

We no longer have a democracy worth exporting. What are we going to do about it? God have mercy on us all!!!

The Wisdom of Solomon

IT SEEMS TO ME

My life is more interesting than those who seem to glom on to every bit of foolishness dished out by Washington, the Media, or the Entertainment industry. But it's not possible to avoid all that's out there. You would need your own private vaccuum tube to screen out everything, good and bad. For the sake of what's good, what's interesting, what's beautiful, what's poignant, what's heart-tugging and warm -- no vaccuum tube for me.

What to do about the rest that bombards my home daily? I guess these things require more analytical thinking than any previous generation needed, simply for the quantity of material to be processed. And most important of all, these things require some sort of moral standard to compare them to.

Perhaps we can use the "3 piles" method of dealing with the onslaught of information. Pile one: Not Worth Any Thought. Pile two: Doesn't Pass the "So What" test. Pile three: Needs some further analysis and thought.

The stuff in pile one is best erased from the limited brain capacity we have. Pile two is worth a passing note, just in case someone else brings it up, so as not be appear stupid. Pile three requires desk space and can be gotten to on a priority basis.

This is my first and introductory blog. I've lived a long time, seen many things, accepted many things before rejecting them, and accepted many things previously rejected. My viewpoint is down the corridor of one lifetime, through children and grandchildren, with the continuing capacity for contemplation and reason.

More about me later. And more about my three piles.

Solomon