Why has the United States been able to beat the odds? Because our country has not allowed extremism to destroy the constructs of universal governing principles protecting freedom.
Marriage is often described as a most difficult covenant to honor. It requires two people committed to bonding together for life in the fulfillment of joint unity. The moral agreement is not constituted for the advantage of one partner. Successful married couples realize that the institution of marriage into which they have entered is worth saving for the overall good of their relationship. They do so, even in the venue of shifting views. They further realize that nurturing the relationship is more beneficial to each partner than discarding the covenant in totality and starting anew. They are awakened to the importance of doing the right thing for the overall good rather than for the selfish motives of individual aspiration.
And, so it is with the people in constitutional government of self-rule.
Yes, there are times when governments must be challenged in their measured outcome of righteousness. This was the case in 1776 upon the colonists’ Declaration of Independence. They declared independence, “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another,…the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…” They stated, with God’s authority granted, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal…”
1776 was a time of changing destiny. Such times of fundamental enlightenment are millennial in presence. Such points in history have only occurred at critical nexuses of visionary revelation. Extremists would have us believe that throwing out the Constitution and starting over is representative of one of these times. It is not.
Extremists are always wrong, always self-serving, always self-consuming, and always shy of the moral mark they advance.
Recent research, published and thoroughly ventilated by the national press, indicates that the far right and the far left are incredibly similar in demographic profile and percentages of the electorate. They are college-educated, upper-middle-class, and white. Each represents about 8% of the population, are therefore at parity, and equal in intensity. There are a few more women on the left and a few more men on the right. What is interesting is that minorities politically fall in between the far left and far right.
Non-extremists are not willing to tear up the Constitution, believing that our current government is the best hope for diversity, prosperity, future generations, and peaceful coexistence. This is why Joe Biden is currently supported by a majority of African-Americans. Progressives have not yet cracked the code on attracting middle America to candidates who would re-write the Constitution for the benefit of their singular agenda.
Those who would literally ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’ are the same persons, by example, who are responsible for the short tenure of governments in history. They are paradoxical in their claim that the past is not prologue, and that it shouldn’t be recognized for contributions to justice. Abandoning basic proven principles of virtue embraced in the past has not resulted in more righteous government in the future. 1776 was a millennial moment of spiritual courage in defense of virtue. These are not those times, and this is not that moment. The constitutional rights afforded all Americans must be respected and defended.
Extremists spin a cocoon, isolating themselves from reality. They become cultish in their world view. Their attitude imposes their perspective of morality on others in opposition to the common sense of common humanity. They are intractable to any reasonable compromise. In their lack of relationships with other people, they retreat into a citadel of extremism.
Inside this fortress, ideals are committed to blindly as a creed. Left extremism results in socialism at its best, or communism at its worst. Right extremism results in inquisitions, unfair standards, and lack of compassion. Democracy is like marriage in that compromise is required, not on values, not on faith, but on care for each other. It is not economicsuccess that is the sole indicator of prosperity. It is equal pursuit of happiness in a foundational environment of moral principles that is the measure of freedom and liberty.
Shifting views are driven by the turbulent winds of the times. A moral kite tethered to the ground will shift in position depending on the direction of the wind. Yet, it will never shift beyond the reach of the grounding stake of principle. Untethered, it will blow here and there without purpose until it encounters a destructive obstacle.
Christians believe in an eternal code of character conduct gleaned from biblical instruction. Eve is the mother of mankind. All peoples of the world are one blood, common in ancestry, divided only in historical cultural identity. The moral mandate of the code is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Atheists believe that the mother of mankind is Lucy. Anthropologists use the term Lucy for the first known hominin species and precursor of Homo sapiens. Current popular scientific theory is that all mankind was born from a first and only Homo sapiens mother. Lucy evolved from non-humans in an accidental process without moral goals or objectives. There is no inherent moral code in evolutionary theory.
Commonality in these two world views is that mankind is of one blood. The difference is that Christianity proclaims the moral objective of treating each other with dignity and respect. Atheism struggles to define its moral authority of purpose. For no such ethereal perspective can be ascertained from the genesis of an inorganic universe.
President Trump is under vociferous attack again for what progressives believe was an impeachable offense of misuse of the power of the presidency. The claim is that military aid was withheld from Ukraine unless or until the President of Ukraine agreed to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son. The frenzied feeding by the national press and progressive leaders is indicative of the protocol to spin a cocoon, and in the commitment to creed rather than principle, a vicious, baleful, truculent process is engaged personally against the President.
President Trump may have acted inappropriately. If he did, he must be held accountable. No man or woman is above the law of the Constitution. He stated today that he will release an unredacted transcript of his conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It is important to remember that both President Trump and President Zelensky are first-time office holders at any level. In one context, they are still learning on the job. If, in fact, their conversation turns out to be benign, the reaction of the national press should be noted and remembered. Just like they remember the past mistakes of President Trump.
The ultimate mission of all leaders and all people of influence should be to not only protect the Constitution at all costs, but also the relationship it has established between the people and government. The winds of challenge, discontent, opinions, and acrimony will continue in gale force. Only we the people can keep the kite tethered to a foundational stake of principle.
Great spiritual leaders of America have transcended race. Black Elk, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Billy Graham all professed seeking a higher calling to attain peace in humanity. They collectively expressed that Christian character is not just trying to do good acts, but reflecting God’s likeness. Oswald Chambers stated it this way. It is not just human life trying to be godly. It is a new attitude, born again, reflecting God’s love.
Black Americans do not believe that all whites are racist. White Americans do not believe that all Blacks do not trust the Constitution. In dialogue, a common hope is immediately realized. All Americans, regardless of race, want a better, more secure, prosperous future for their children. In this cause, we are united as Americans in purpose. And it is a mistake to believe that God does not play a role in the hope of all races. It is the extremes that pull us into isolation, shouting that only in purity of creed is there a solution. The philosophy inside these fortresses denies the commitment to universal morality that has extended the life of the United States’ democracy.
The ongoing exercise of democracy in action, if it is to continue for another 232 years, requires that we the citizens avoid the allure to be drawn into the cocoon of dogmatic intractability. There is no promise for our future in the citadel of extremism.
In seeking solutions for good government, we must remember that the goal is not to pursue the advantage of one, but the united prosperity of all. We are not all just members of the human race. We are cousins of one blood.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?