What made America great were those times when the American people were more eager to hear the truth than what they wanted to hear and when the elected leadership were sufficiently principled to speak the truth rather than bend it for selfish aims.
Collective selective hearing constrains to collective amnesia. If the American people go blithely along their merry way, consumed by self-interested pursuits and unaware of the need for civic responsibility and participation, then they shall eventually be herded back into bondage as every great civilization in recorded history has.
I fear greatly for the future of these United States of America. On the whole we care little about need to assume personal responsibility for our health. Our once trim and productive nation, for example, is growing fatter every minute. We have grown to prefer the salesman’s snake oil to the tough medicine so obviously needed with regards to our government, health care, education, business and environment.
We place personal preference and the concern for personal comfort ahead of doing the right thing over and over again, somehow justifying it with the argument: “This is America. I have the right to do what I want.” In so reasoning, we forget that freedom does not imply license but the liberty to choose the wisest course. And wisdom, being the “fitness of things,” is the path most closely aligned with the truth.
Give me truths;
For I am weary of the surfaces,
And die of inanition.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Gregory Hake 
Gregg, over the past several days I have had the great privilege to visit Boston and learn so much more about the men and women who were willing to sacrifice everything for the future and freedom of this country. Their vision was far reaching with the hopes that we as proud Americans today would too cherish liberty and peace for all mankind and in so doing come to truely know within our own hearts what civic duty means to us in this time amidst the gluttony, greed and illusion that has sedated our country. Abigail Adams said on the night she and her son, John Quincy watched as the battle at Bunker Hill insued, “A decisive day has come upon which the fate of America depends.” The battle against the Brittish was lost, but it inspired the people of this forming nation just what they were capable of when there is a desire above all else to be true to the truth. May we each meditate deeply upon the civic duty which has fallen upon us to carry out in this day. Thank you.
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Excellent comment, Melinda and I’m so glad you enjoyed your trip to Boston! I had a great time there when I was in grad school.
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Your words ,”liberty to make the wisest choice,” have clarified what true freedom is about. Thank you.
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There are those of us that do care for the state of our country, and look where we can mitigate the hurt done by those who make decisions which will damage our future. The only way we will be able to fix the problem entirely, however, is by education. The next generation needs to be educated in their civic duty, and that is just not being done in our current system that is rife with standardized testing and zero-tolerance policies. To truly change a system, leadership by example is required.
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Good points, Zach.
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Understanfing the difference between liberty and license should come with maturity. One allows for creativity and growth the other for manipulation and greed. The first is guided by sacred oaths the second by entitlement that opens the way to avarice. Your post is chilling to me as it echos my thoughts. As I watch this circus that our elections have become I feel heartsick at what has become and what was won and lost. Our beautiful country will become a Camelot story, “one brief shining moment”, if we don’t come to our senses quickly. Your post is so accurate, wish it were published in WSJ or the Post!
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History tells us that time and time again that the regimes and systems of government put in place to subdue the coarser elements of human nature eventually end up becoming infected by the very forces they sought to eliminate. It is a tragic cycle but one that is most certainly avoidable. The solutions are at hand.
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It does appear that we’ve taken the idea of liberty too far. Any time that the exercise of freedom reaches a point where it begins to injure, it loses it’s value. We don’t have to look far to see the evidence of this. The sense of entitlement and the demands that come with it are stark examples of the inverted control today, in contrast to the self-governance and self-reliance that creates true liberty. Our appetite for consumption has grossly superseded our drive to provide, and when that balance is upset, just like in the human body, what naturally follows is an inflated economy.
A return to simpler ways. A lifestyle where we all exercise a bit more provision than what we consume would be a good starting point. This would trim the excesses which are just weighing us down, and give our country back it’s leaner, less marbled origin. We all need to look where we can individually exercise our civic duties, for there is great need of them today and no shortage of opportunities.
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I think you hit the nail on the head as to the source of the issue, which is placing personal concern for ourselves over doing the right thing. Unless we can overcome this in ourselves, in our day to day actions, then we won’t be much help in turning around the situation on a national or even global scale. Why not think big? We are influencers every day or our life. Why not influence for the good of mankind, live big and leave our petty concerns on the side of the road.
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