1. Christian worldview is not about being made perfect by a confession of faith. It is about putting faith in an ability to continually strive toward the better by God's grace. Never arriving but always evaluating and adjusting one's life
2. Stephen Covey, in his 7 Habits book, pointed out an Abundance Principal. That we do not work in a zero sum world. Our Creator continues to give us ability to work and create.
We don't have to have a win-lose, give-take, profit-loss worldview.
Excellent article. Yes America and its ideals are good. Loved the factual statement about not being linear. And you got the FFs issue with slavery correct. Issue is we’re sinful people. Thus this is correct “Laws can compel behavior, but they cannot transform character.” We see lack of character everyday now on social media. MLK addressed this too. He being of sinful nature himself. But astute as well. Great article.
“They did not resolve every moral contradiction — most notably slavery — not because they were unaware of it, but because resolving it at that moment would likely have prevented the union from forming at all.”
Most contemporary students of nation-state politics assume several levels of politics. The Constitutional is often presented as the most fundamental level with ordinary politics of elections, legislation, administration and adjudication being the level of ordinary politics which presupposes the stable constitutional level of politics. But the quotation above indicates a level of politics more fundamental than the constitutional level, namely, nation state politics into which are embedded the history, culture, mores and shared identity and vision of the particular people. No nation state then no constitution. So the most serious challenge to America are those forces seeking to fragment our sense of identity or that reject important components of that identity. The French developed a doctrine addressing the issue of fundamental nation state identity that they called The Organic Law of the State. Or as Cicero said “the ultimate law is the preservation of the Republic.” If pull comes to shove seeking to preserve America as a viable nation state takes precedence over all other legal norms including not only ordinary laws but even the Constitution itself. For this reason our courts did not intervene when President Lincoln applied martial law to civilian citizens. Whatever sins were committed could always be addressed when the state of national emergency has passed.
Coolidge is vastly under-appreciated, and not coincidentally either. He was the answer to the pretensions of progressives and he has been buried for that.
Two points today.
1. Christian worldview is not about being made perfect by a confession of faith. It is about putting faith in an ability to continually strive toward the better by God's grace. Never arriving but always evaluating and adjusting one's life
2. Stephen Covey, in his 7 Habits book, pointed out an Abundance Principal. That we do not work in a zero sum world. Our Creator continues to give us ability to work and create.
We don't have to have a win-lose, give-take, profit-loss worldview.
I can't say whether we are good or not. But judging by the amount of people that want to come here, we must be better.
Excellent article. Yes America and its ideals are good. Loved the factual statement about not being linear. And you got the FFs issue with slavery correct. Issue is we’re sinful people. Thus this is correct “Laws can compel behavior, but they cannot transform character.” We see lack of character everyday now on social media. MLK addressed this too. He being of sinful nature himself. But astute as well. Great article.
“They did not resolve every moral contradiction — most notably slavery — not because they were unaware of it, but because resolving it at that moment would likely have prevented the union from forming at all.”
Most contemporary students of nation-state politics assume several levels of politics. The Constitutional is often presented as the most fundamental level with ordinary politics of elections, legislation, administration and adjudication being the level of ordinary politics which presupposes the stable constitutional level of politics. But the quotation above indicates a level of politics more fundamental than the constitutional level, namely, nation state politics into which are embedded the history, culture, mores and shared identity and vision of the particular people. No nation state then no constitution. So the most serious challenge to America are those forces seeking to fragment our sense of identity or that reject important components of that identity. The French developed a doctrine addressing the issue of fundamental nation state identity that they called The Organic Law of the State. Or as Cicero said “the ultimate law is the preservation of the Republic.” If pull comes to shove seeking to preserve America as a viable nation state takes precedence over all other legal norms including not only ordinary laws but even the Constitution itself. For this reason our courts did not intervene when President Lincoln applied martial law to civilian citizens. Whatever sins were committed could always be addressed when the state of national emergency has passed.
Coolidge is vastly under-appreciated, and not coincidentally either. He was the answer to the pretensions of progressives and he has been buried for that.
Well-stated. I'll pass this on to the organizer of our local "Classical Conversations" school.