Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
A Lofty Extremism
I wish Democrats were extremists like us.
The US Constitution is an extreme document. No country ever encoded such extreme positions on free expression, self-defense, private property, etc. No government was ever founded with such faith in self-rule and good neighbors.
American exceptionalism was never merely political. What peoples stubbornly resolved to conquer so many untamed lands and insurmountable challenges, then offered the fruits of their labors to so many outsiders? Rugged individualism and charity preceded the United States of America on this continent and preserved it for many years. What people was ever so careless of origins in preference for beliefs and actions?
Through most of our history, it was unremarkable to note that Americans are generally Christians of some sort. Christians are extremists. We believe in a duty to love and pray for our enemies. Christ’s beloved companion Peter regretted lying even to save his life — a regret Jesus did not invalidate. Christians are deemed martyrs not for killing but for dying in defense of truth and in attempts to share that truth.
Such extremism is why my pessimistic outlook on America’s near future does not guide me to apathy or to tribal insularity. The wreckage and the storm encourage me to more boldly proclaim truth because the need for it is great.
America is a vehicle for truth, justice, prosperity, and freedom. Refugees and migrants risk everything to be here because even while injured our community is unique and glorious. But truth and freedom must be our cause independent of any system or circumstance.
I must speak truth not because it is advantageous or practical, but simply because it is true. Human beings risk everything in defensive wars because even the pursuit of justice is worth dying for. In that pursuit is one’s identity. The soul lives on. It is souls for which we exist — souls in truth, justice, beauty, and reverence for the Lord.
“For better or for worse” the old wedding vows claim. We are married to America because our identity as Americans exceeds the powers and circumstances of government. Whether American government treats you well or poorly, be American. Speak your mind. Live plainly. Defend your rights (peacefully whenever possible).
It’s not what we hope to gain or accomplish. It’s not just an inheritance we hope to defend. It’s who we are — a bunch of stubborn and cheerful extremists.
Published in Religion & Philosophy
Can I have an Amen?
Over half the country no longer has faith.
When we turn from God, he will remove His blessings
If there was hope for Nineveh, there is hope for America.
But if tribulations are necessary to awaken souls, so be it. The Lord brings good from all things.
And of all those souls, I am only responsible for one.
It helps me concentrate.
I feel responsible for my wife and my daughter also. Not in control of either, but with a responsibility to lead. I also feel responsible to share my faith with my friends — not responsible for how they react or what they do with it , but responsible to give them an opportunity.
I’m single with no kids. Were the circumstances different, there would be more responsibilities.
None of our leaders will turn to Him.
Just what Jonah thought. Wouldn’t it be nice.
Very fine post, Aaron. I think that the founders knew the importance of character and understood the virtues necessary for self rule, but they built the country on what they hoped would be the rock of checks and balances, precisely because, as they pointed out, men are not angels. “Ambition,” as Hamilton wrote in Federalist 51, “must be made to counteract ambition.” We are now in trouble for a multitude of reasons, perhaps above all from our increasing abandonment of our Judeo-Christian inheritance, but also because we are out of political balance. The swamp creatures and their many allies, openly, arrogantly boastful, are yet to be tamed.
Nonsense. We have turned from our philosophy of freedom, and that is not the same as christianity.
Our rights are from Him.
IT doesn’t exist. Wanting it to exist doesn’t make it so. It’s more important to understand our rights as being natural and not subject to the whims of mystical myths.
LOL