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Patriotism seems to have fallen out of favor in recent years, but is it really passe or are can we find ways to express a legitimate and responsible Christian patriotism? 

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #95 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

 

The original television Superman of my youth was introduced with the statement, “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  Superman!  Battling for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”

But a few years ago, in the 900th issue of Action Comics, after officials criticize him for joining a million protesters in a peaceful anti-Ahmadinejad vigil in Iran, Superman says, “I am renouncing my US citizenship…I’m tired of having my actions construed as instruments of US policy. ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’ — it’s not enough anymore. The world’s too small. Too connected.”

It seems that we aren’t sure any more about “Truth” or “Justice,” and we certainly aren’t sure about “the American Way.” More things change, more they remain the same and vice versa. One of the things that has changed is our attitude toward Patriotism. Arguing America had an unworthy beginning, stands for false ideals, and blaming America for all the world’s problems is a cottage industry on the Left.

But everyone is patriotic. The key is not whether we are patriotic, but what we are patriotic for, toward, or about.

Patriotism at its best is about what we believe, what we live for, and what we are willing to die for.

Patriotism is more than moral platitudes. It is a moral enterprise, an expression of a people’s ideals and aspirations relating to their homeland.

America has been described as the "great experiment" because its founding principles and system of governance were revolutionary for their time.

The United States was founded on the idea of individual liberty—most especially freedom of religion and freedom of speech—democratic governance, and a government derived from the consent of the governed. Add First Amendment freedom of religion and speech and you have something unique in history.

This experiment involved testing whether a diverse and vast nation could sustain a democratic republic, with power shared among its citizens and a system of checks and balances.Throughout its history, America has faced challenges and obstacles, including conflicts, social movements, and economic shifts. The experiment lies in its ongoing pursuit of fulfilling the ideals set forth in its founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, to create a more perfect union.The United States' journey as the "great experiment" involves grappling with questions of religious freedom, law and order for e pluribus unum, equality under the law and equality of opportunity, blind justice, and the balance between individual freedom and collective responsibility.

The United States was riven by a Civil War in which the Union was preserved, slavery was disallowed, and once again North and South through a long road became the land of the free and the home of the brave with freedom, abundance, and opportunity the envy of the world.

The terms "republic" and "democracy" are often used interchangeably, but they represent different forms of government, each with its own characteristics.A republic is a system of government in which power resides in elected representatives who are responsible for making and enforcing laws. In a republic, the country is considered a public matter, and decisions are made by representatives chosen by the citizens. The key feature of a republic is the delegation of authority to elected officials who act on behalf of the people. The United States is a federal republic where citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf.On the other hand, a democracy is a system of government in which power rests with the people as a whole. In a democracy, all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. This can be achieved directly, through direct democracy, where citizens vote on every issue, or indirectly, through elected representatives.

Direct democracy has rarely worked well or for long, yet there are many today—on the Left and the Right—who press for this form of government today because they want their political perspectives to become law.

Christians have been involved in this country’s history from its founding, through its ups and downs, failures and successes. The key for us on this July 4th is to think about what might be called a “responsible” Christian patriotism.

Responsible Christian patriotism refers to the idea of expressing love, loyalty, and pride for one's country in a manner consistent with Christian values and principles. It involves recognizing the intersection between one's faith and one's patriotism and striving to align them in a responsible and ethical way.Christianity teaches principles such as love, compassion, justice, humility, and the value of every human being as made in the image of God. Responsible Christian patriotism incorporates these principles into one's love for their country. It means recognizing the inherent dignity and worth of all people, irrespective of their national heritage or race, and advocating for freedom, law and order that reinforces both justice and opportunity, and the common good.At its core, a responsible Christian patriotism encourages a balanced perspective that acknowledges the strengths and achievements of one's country while also recognizing its flaws and areas for improvement. It values the principles of liberty, individual responsibility and accountability, freedom of opportunity, and merit-based advancement as foundational to the well-being and flourishing of both the nation and its citizens.Responsible Christian patriotism is not an unthinking, uncritical, blind loyalty:  “America, love it or leave it,” “My country right or wrong but right or wrong my country,” “Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do or die.” This can be national idolatry.

Responsible Christian patriotism is not simply love of space or place: the land.  “America the Beautiful” – a great chunk of geography. While it is true, America is a beautiful country, other countries of the world, all enjoy their own kind of beauty. Claiming ours is betters can lead us down into provincial, parochial, or isolationist thinking.

Responsible Christian patriotism is not simply love for a people: “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy, Yankee Doodle Do or Die.” Keying on this thought can lead us into ethnocentric, prejudiced or bigoted, racist, or even xenophobic attitudes and behaviors.

No, responsible Christian patriotism recognizes American patriotism is about freedom of worship, individual worth, dignity, and liberty. “The land of the free and the home of the brave.”

It’s about no king, no president, no dictator or regime, no political entity is of greater value than the single person – free to worship, free to think, free to work and own the fruits of his or her labor, free to pursue opportunity, free to pursue happiness.

Patriotism is an emotion much maligned today by the cynical, (many captured by the intellectual cul-de-sacs of ideology or identity politics). Some now reject all expressions of appreciation or heroes past. But no time, country, or culture, much less people are without failures, or worse. The USA is no different. Yet while acknowledging flaws we can remember those who gave the last full measure of devotion. And we can be patriotic about ideals, the values to which we aspire:  freedom of religion, speech, assembly and association, life, liberty, and justice for all.

For all its struggles, the land of the free and the home of the brave is a blessed place to live. 

Responsible Christian patriotism expresses gratitude.

If you want to be a good American patriot, start by being a good American Christian.

 

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023  

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.  

What does Memorial Day mean to you? What does it mean to your children?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #89 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Memorial Day became an official holiday in 1950, just two years before I came into the world. It was intended, and still should be, as a patriotic time for remembering those who sacrificed for freedom. Remembering, even caring, it sometimes seems, is a greater challenge in a time when only a small percentage of Americans ever serve in the military, and when it seems that history, especially anything touting America’s goodness, is passe, something to be apathetically ignored.

But the value of remembrance is great, as is patriotism rightly understood.

In the USA, patriotism has suffered ebbs and flows in recent years, but it still exists. Indeed, patriotism is a global phenomenon, one of the world’s most powerful emotions. It comes from the Greek word patrios, “of one’s father,” meaning love of one’s home or fatherland. 

Patriotism is love of one’s homeland—about geography, Yes, “home” for sure, but more importantly, patriotism is about ideals, culture. 

Patriotism is not the same as nationalism, the former involving values and aspirations, the latter involving a political order and power. Patriotism and religion are not the same, though one may be engaged, even co-opted by the other. But patriotic people may not be religious and religious people may not be patriotic. 

I was blessed to be born an American, I am red, white, and blue patriotic, and I deeply appreciate the founding ideals that defined America, i.e., life, liberty, freedom of religion, speech, mobility, and enterprise, and the rule of law.

My love for my country does not mean I believe Americans are better people than people from other countries, that we’ve always done everything right, or that our leaders past and present were always right. Clearly, Americans have not always done the right thing and leaders have not always been upstanding and correct in their moral outlook. But saying so does not diminish genuine patriotic feeling, for critique is part of freedom of conscience and thought, one blessing of liberty.

Patriotism is an emotion much maligned today by the cynical, (many captured by the intellectual cul-de-sacs of ideology or identity politics). Some now reject all expressions of appreciation or heroes past. But no time, country, or culture, much less people are without failures, or worse. And as we admitted, the USA is no different.

Despite our flaws and in recent years American political leaders have made a list of poor, unwise, immoral, and politically dangerous decisions that make our perfect Union less perfect. Yet while acknowledging flaws we can, and we should, always respectfully remember those who gave the last full measure of devotion.

And we can be patriotic about ideals, the values to which we aspire:  freedom of religion, speech, assembly and association, life, liberty, and justice for all. For all its struggles, the land of the free and the home of the brave is a blessed place to live. 

“God loves people from every nation, race, language, and tribe. Having said that, however, I believe the United States is a unique representation of the grace and mercy of God…(Yes, I believe in what’s called American exceptionalism – not triumphalism but beneficiaries of a blessed endowment.)

The liberty and freedom we know today has emerged from a Christian worldview. Ideas like equality before the law, women’s rights, children’s rights, fair labor practices, tolerance, and civil rights—all of those have emerged from a Judeo-Christian worldview. We act as if all of the world knows the liberties and freedoms that we do, and this simply isn’t true. We are unique. The liberties, freedoms, and opportunities we have, have come to us as an inheritance, and are not to be rested upon and gobbled up as we stamp our feet like petulant children, demanding the government provide something else for us. They are a heritage to be protected, guarded, and extended to one another, and handed down to the generation who follows us.”

America’s democratic experiment, though bruised and struggling, continues and deserves to be celebrated – especially amidst the grave political divisions and growing despair of the present.”

I sometimes think about the fact that I did nothing to secure the blessings of liberty and abundance that are my birthright as an American citizen. In the providence of God, I was born here to American parents. So, my access to life, liberty, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, law and order, all are simply a gift to me from those who served and sacrificed to protect and preserve these freedoms – Remembering them is what Memorial Day is all about.

That I did nothing to earn or deserve my blessings can be said regarding my status as a Christian believer, as a person who has accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, and who God promises an eternity with him. God gives me immeasurable benefits, and promises more, for which—there it is again—I did nothing. I did not work for my salvation and was not awarded it because of some special character or achievement on my part. No, it is a free gift, by grace through faith in Christ. Sola gratia, sola fide, sola Christus, soli Deo gloria.

So, think about this with me. I enjoy a political birthright as a result of being born into an American family, and I enjoy a spiritual birthright as a result of choosing to trust in Christ’s sacrificial shedding of blood and death on the cross, so that I can be reborn or born again into the Body of Christ. My birth and my rebirth have bestowed upon me blessedness beyond words. Should I not remember and be grateful?

I feel this way about my American citizenship.

Memorial Day is a time to reflect on what is good and precious about this country.

The ideals the Founding Fathers embraced and upon which this country was established still, praise God, exist:

  • While an increasing number of Americans reject God and absolute moral truth, there yet remain many who acknowledge the God who is there and who affirm Judeo-Christian values that made this country strong in its first 200 years.
  • Immigrants from around the world still want to come to America. Why? Because they know this is yet the freest, most generous, most abundantly materially blessed country in the world, as Lincoln called it, “last best hope of earth.”
  • America is a place wherein each individual is free to choose how to worship God, or for that matter whether to worship at all. 
  • America respects not only the rule of law but the right to create value from one’s work, to own property, and to develop personal wealth. 
  • Americans are free to move about the country without showing their internal passports to armed guards demanding to “see your papers.” 
  • America’s history is characterized by peaceful transfers of power based upon free elections and a secret ballot box. 
  • Repeated war-time experience convincingly demonstrates that America really is the “home of the brave.” The Civil Rights Movement illustrates that America is capable of growing even through pain. 

For me, celebrating Memorial Day is a form of gratitude. Freedom is a most precious gift, one easily lost.

“There is no more fitting way to end this than with the treasured final words of Lincoln on the fields of Gettysburg in November of 1863. ‘The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.’”

 

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023  

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.  

Patriotism is one of the strongest emotions human beings express, but it seems to come and go. What does patriotism mean in a more skeptical, jaded age? Should we express patriotism at all? And what does it mean when we do?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #31 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

 

I grew up in the 1950s and 60s. In the wake of WWII and the Korean War, the 50s was a decade of peace, prosperity, and patriotism. It was like a national take-a-break breather in which families freely celebrated their lives and loved ones. It was “Leave It To Beaver.”

Even though the Civil Rights Movement that benefited Black citizens did not occur until the mid-1960s, yet African Americans en masse were able to in-migrate from the Deep South to the industrial opportunities of northern cities like Detroit.

I remember watching “Adventures of Superman” starring George Reeves on black and white TV – “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Superman! Battling for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”

It seems that we aren’t sure any more about “the American Way.” In 2011, a Superman comic featured the “Man of Steel” renouncing his American citizenship to become a citizen of the world, ostensibly so his actions wouldn’t be viewed as a tool of American policy. More recently in 2021, DC Comics announced that the “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” motto would be changed to the rather lame “Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow.” So much for patriotism.

The 1960s weathered the Counter-culture movement, the beginning so the sexual revolution, assassinations, and of course, Viet Nam, producing rioting in the streets. Sex, drugs, and rock n roll. Make love, not war. One huge ripple from all this was a culture that no longer trusted political authority, questioned its country’s values, and laughed at what was once called the American Dream.

Fast forward to 2022, and after a relatively brief resurgence of patriotism in the awful aftermath of 9/11, we now find an American culture less apt to express patriotism than ever before.

Yes, the national anthem is still played at sports events and yes, politicians, still acknowledge American ideals, and yes, many Americans are still deeply patriotic – as are internationals with respect to their own countries – but a profound social tension exists in the 21st Century between those historically expressed American ideals and what people consider their incomplete fulfillment.

Some Americans hear talk about “justice for all,” or “all are created equal” and roll their eyes. They consider America a fraud, a source of systemic injustice. Their anti-American vitriol seems to believe that the U.S. has done nothing right, nor can it, that it is prima facie guilty, and worst of all, cannot be salvaged, indeed should be “reset,” which means overthrown.

Certainly, we must recognize that America now faces certain cultural acids, genuine threats to its historic defining ideals, that is, ideologies that promote moral relativism, bias against Judeo-Christian values, and an unfettered extension of the sexual revolution.

And while some have reacted to these developments with uncritical hyper-patriotism, including ill-advised and unbiblical Christian nationalists, it’s nevertheless the case that we live once again during a less patriotic age. 

One clear reason for this is that America was founded by people who not only believed in religious liberty and the existence of religious faith, 

but believed this religious understanding was essential to the foundation of a free society. In other words, we need religious faith to survive as a free culture and country. Without it, or with it in decline as we’re witnessing now, we see the logical outcomes, reduced shared values, lower sense of community, lack of vision or a sense of moral destiny, alienation, envy, and terminal unhappiness in the endless pursuit of happiness.

But I still believe not only in my Christian faith but in the timeless ideals upon which the American Experiment was founded. I believe because I’ve seen the evidence of the truth and power of these ideas, the consequences of which has been the freest and most productive society in history.

I believe America is still capable of moral ambition as an example of how to provide freedom and justice for all, of being in Lincoln’s immortal words, the “last best hope on earth.”

America’s progress toward fulfillment of its ideals has come in fits and starts, valleys and mountaintops, because we are humanThis is the human experience. We are not perfect and never will be, but we strive for the glory of God and the wellbeing of our families. We remain committed to God-given liberty, to truth and justice for all, to firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right.

So, I am still patriotic. I am proud to be an American. I am still grateful for what God has done in this nation called America. I believe in our defining creed, and I want to reinforce the nation’s character for the future and my own grandchildren. 

The best way I can do this is to live a morally responsible and upstanding life as a Christian and as an American citizen. Same for you. Be patriotic.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. 

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm. 

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2022   

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.  

The red, white, and blue American flag is striking. But more important than its aesthetic appeal is what it symbolizes.

The “Stars and Stripes,” “Old Glory,” the flag of these United States of America, is a powerful expression of the country’s ideals.

I am one who appreciates what this flag, in various forms since the Second Continental Congress’s Flag Resolution adopted June 14, 1777, represents, even beyond the colors. It embodies principles of liberty, history, pitfalls and progress, and most of all, sacrifice. Admiring the flag, caring for it, believing in what it symbolizes is a form of patriotism.

This said, I do not believe the American flag is sacred, that it is or should be raised to the level of religious icon. Nor do I think that the “Star Spangled Banner,” adopted by the Navy in 1899 and considered a de facto National Anthem by the military branches during the 19th Century, then officially adopted by Congress March 3, 1931 for the United States, is some sort of holy expression.

The fact that I don’t consider the flag sacred makes it possible for me to understand why the United States Supreme Court in Texas v. Johnson491 U.S. 397 (1989), and reaffirmed in U.S. v. Eichman496 U.S. 310 (1990), ruled that due to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, it is unconstitutional for a government (whether federal, state, or municipal) to prohibit the desecration of a flag, due to its status as "symbolic speech." Despite a number of attempts to ban the practice, desecration of the flag remains protected as free speech

I don’t like desecration of the flag, indeed despise pictures of people burning the flag. I have never damaged the flag and would not recommend this to anyone for any reason. But if someone chooses to profane the flag to express some point of view, I consider this what it is, their freedom of speech. 

Freedom of speech is what matters most, not the flag that symbolizes that freedom. This is the paradox. Someone desecrating the flag is participating in a civil liberty the flag represents. 

Something similar is occurring with “taking a knee,” the shorthand for not standing in respect during playing of the National Anthem. This has been an issue in American professional sports since 2016. 

Back in 2016-2017, I did not take a position arguing football player Colin Kaepernick crossed a line when he took a knee during the playing of the National Anthem. I said I thought the way he and others chose to protest was ill-advised and I still think this, but I did not think then and don’t think now that an athlete’s freedom of speech should be denied because the way they choose to express it offends people.

This goes both ways. I don’t like Kaepernick and now entire professional sports teams taking a knee during the National Anthem, but I think it’s their liberty to do so. I also think it is fans’ liberty to choose not to watch this protest or not to agree with this act of protesting and/or the reason for the protest or to choose not to continue watching or supporting this professional sport. Fans, at least some of them, are likely to “vote with their feet” and walk away. So, while there are guaranteed freedoms of speech there may also be consequences.

By the same token though, I don’t think football quarterback Drew Brees should have been excoriated by players and celebrities alike for simply expressing his respect for the flag, something most of the country believed just a short time ago. He’s apologized multiple times since, as has his wife, and after a while it sounds like groveling. He was verbally attacked and his character impugned for daring to express his point of view, one that at first didn’t fit the prevailing acceptable narrative so was deemed “insensitive.”

The essence of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech guarantee is that all speech that is not coupled with acts of violence may be expressed – whether or not we like the speech or find if offensive or obnoxious or even vile.

So again, I appreciate and respect the American flag and what it represents.

I do not like it when the flag is intentionally disrespected, much less desecrated.

I don’t like it when athletes and teams “take a knee” during the National Anthem, but I believe it is their right as American citizens to express themselves.

For me, the ultimate is what that flag means.

  • It means freedom of religion, speech, assembly, people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances, to keep and bear arms.
  • It means constitutional civil liberties and later civil rights. It means “land of the free and home of the brave.” 
  • It means ““Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
  • It means in terms of freedom the United States of America is “the last best hope of earth.”

 

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2020    

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

 

     Patriotism has been taking it on the nose in the USA of late. 

     Social media and Big Media alike feature wall-to-wall coverage of rioters “dissing” the country, what it stands for (or rather, what they say it stands for), and “the system.” Tearing down statues of the nation’s founders, suggesting Mt. Rushmore should be destroyed because it’s on “stolen Native American land,” refusing to stand for the National Anthem, posting anti-American diatribes on social media, and burning flags are now par for the course.

     Ironically, those expressing their displeasure are doing so in “a system” that gives them the blessing of freedom of speech, expression even, and assembly. No one tracks them down and puts them in jail for saying what they do – this even though many of these new, “woke” individuals try to “call out” and “cancel” anyone who disagrees with their point of view. 

     People sacrificed and died for our civil liberties, yet the agitators hold forth in mind-boggling lack of self-awareness, attacking the very ideals that protect their right to express themselves, however obnoxiously.

     You’d be forgiven for thinking American patriotism is dead, or at least in its last throes.

     Meanwhile, patriotism remains one of the most powerful emotions known to humanity, one of the world's most potent forces. It's something we feel more often than think about. All people around the globe feel it to one degree or another.

     But no nation possesses the wealth of patriotic symbols found in the United States. No country boasts the number of patriotic songs—enough for entire concerts and then some—as the American nation state. “USA,” “USA,” “USA” is a powerful chant. 

     Yes, it is true, the United States is far from perfect, and sometimes we struggle to realize "liberty and justice for all."  But no nation's history even remotely approaches America's attempt to believe in, fight to protect, and celebrate human freedom. No nation continues to attract immigrants from all over the world, not for the weather but for the freedom and opportunity America provides.

     Truly felt and expressed American patriotism is about more than a love for the land and a love for the people. America is about ideals. Patriotism at its best is about what we believe, what we live for and what we are willing to die for.

     American patriotism is about individual liberty, the land of the free and the home of the brave. It's about individual worth and dignity. It’s decidedly not about white supremacya recent revisionist idea masquerading as history

     American patriotism is about lex rex, “the law is king,” not rex lex, “the king is law.” No king, no president, no dictator or regime, no political entity is of greater eternal value than the single person—free to think, free to worship, free to work and own the fruits of one's labor, free to pursue opportunity. This is the national vision that gave meaning and dynamism to the first two hundred years of this nation's history.

     America’s ideals are currently being trampled by a set of agitators variously motivated by legitimate concerns about racial justice, along with considerable illegitimate concerns for greed, control, power, class or race warfare, Marxism, Leftist ideology, hate. 

     Yet these ideals are precious concepts. They are what God intended human life to be. They are worthy of patriotism.

     I sincerely hope that a new interest and support for American ideals will develop. I think they are as close to timeless as humanly constructed political philosophy can get. They work, and they have worked, with fits and spurts and improvements, for more than two centuries. We the people are imperfect. We have a checkered history, but we the people have moved toward ever greater applications of our founding, exceptional ideals, for all people of all races, ethnicities, and more.

     I hope American patriotism is not dead. Indeed, to paraphrase Mark Twain, I hope the death of American patriotism is “greatly exaggerated.”

 

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2020    

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.    

Washington, DC:  U.S. National Archives--

While in the Capital awhile back, I had an hour at day’s end before meeting my son, so I visited the National Archives.

It’s been probably 50 years since I last saw the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, and Bill of Rights. These documents aren’t holy writ, but issued in 1776, adopted in 1789, and ratified in 1791 respectively, they remain unique in history and remarkable.

The society these founding documents made possible became, with missteps and serious grievance along the way, the freest, most abundant, grandest-in-opportunity of any nation state on earth.

For all our American faults (and we have several to which we must own up and which we need to change) still, the United States of America remains an incredible land of hope, a melting pot of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, and religion. The ideals codified in these historic documents—freedom of religion, speech, rule of law, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness—make this society possible and viable.  The principles and values listed in these three amazing expressions of political philosopy that our forbears created (with the sacrifices of soldiers) what we call a Great Experiment, a pluralistic democratic republic. This we still enjoy today.

The challenge after nearly 250 years is whether we can preserve and pass it on to our grandchildren.

 

Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2019   

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attributionstatement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events atwww.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.