There is an opinion among some in the religious right that the current troubles in this country can be directly attributed to a departure from some earlier time when we were more moral, responsible, and uniformly Christian. I’ve tried to find when that time was.
The earliest Christian settlement in Jamestown imposed a death penalty for those who “speak impiously of the Trinity… or against the known articles of the Christian faith.”
Jefferson decried the persecution of the Quakers in Virginia and New England in the 1700’s.
The founding fathers created a nation where only land-holding white men could vote, slaves were property, and native Americans were savages.
John Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli with Muslim nations in 1797 which stated in part, “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”
We fought a civil war to end slavery. It took another fifty years for women to get the vote. It took another fifty years for America to formally recognize that all people were created equal. We are still struggling with how to compensate Native Americans for taking their land and destroying their way of life.
The reality is that there was no God-blessed golden age. The genius of the American experiment is that it is a work in progress. Our struggle isn’t to regain some previous perfect union, but to continue to redefine what a perfect union means.
The wisdom of the founding fathers was their trust in the power of individual conscience. An unlikely coalition of the evangelical Christians (Baptists and Methodists) and Enlightenment-influenced deists (Jefferson and Madison) ratified a Constitution that prohibits any religious test for public office. The right to believe differently made possible every advance in human and civil rights that has come since.
Jeff,
We are still in Iraq. We are ramping up even more in Afganistan and now we are acting on our own, without consultation of the UN, how dare us, and shooting pirates in international waters!!!!!!!!! What is going on? Nancy and Harry have been in office for 2 1/2 years, they promised we’d be OUT of Iraq asap!!! It’s not happening. The only thing I don’t see is protesters in every town square and busy intersection calling for Obama’s impeachment and calling him a baby killer. WHY…nothing has changed…..I’m concerned, STILL, the left is becoming a a hypocitical lot…..and that Obama is a war monger, go it along, chicago cowboy……I for one welcome the posture but Im not sure this is the CHANGE that was asked for.
Keith,
If you look at politifact.com, there is an unbiased record of promises kept and promises broken.
Promise 125 was to direct military leaders to end the war in Iraq. That is rated as a promise kept. Promise 126 is Begin removing combat brigades from Iraq. Their evaluation is that this is a promise that is “in the works”. In the campaign he promised to complete that removal in 16 months. His current plan calls for completion in 18 months. Another promise in progress (128) is to work with Iraq’s neighbors to help foster a peaceful transition to the rule of law.
Promise 134 was to add two brigades to the forces in Afghanistan. That was also rated as a promise kept.
As far as acting on our own to protect our citizens, we don’t need the UN. Generally the FBI gets involved and in most cases negotiates the release of our citizens. There are complicating factors if our citizens are captured on the wrong side of the DMZ in North Korea or are involved in some criminal activity. Operating in International Waters, the Navy Seals were no different than a SWAT team in Chicago and only needed the ship captain’s permission to shoot.
Most of the public protests that I see are by the right who disagree with Obama’s policies. The folks who voted for him are generally pretty happy with the rate at which he is going about delivering on the things that he promised.
Even the economy is starting to show signs of recovery. It appears that Obama has checked the free fall and now comes the hard climb back out of the hole what we have dug for ourselves. The fact that we’ve stablized the markets and the majority of the stimulus money hasn’t hit yet can only be good news.
From my point of view, it isn’t perfect, but this IS the change that I voted for.
Obama postion on Iraq in a pratical since will be no different then GW’s.
G.W. said “will stay there until we win.” Well, with the surge, it APPEARS we have won and the time to begin the draw down is visible. As to longer term Obama will leave roops there just as Bush would have. (We’re still in germany, Japan etc..)
My comment were tongue in cheek. The left wanted EVERYONE out of Iraq…at least the portester I talked with. Nancy and Harry both said “vote for us and we’ll get them out NOW!!!! My larger point is why aren’t these same people treating Obama the same way as they treated Bush….
As to the economy I think it is more the note worthy that we are reaching some level of stability without any of the stimulus money being spent….the fed acted to protect the banks and they are getting healthy. This is probably as far as I would go and I would start recalling some of the stimulas money by NOT spending it……Most isn’t due to be spent until next year before the elections…….
I applaud Obama’s action with the pirates…..My concern and I don’t know it inside out, is that many on the left called those pirates “criminals.” With that atatus they are afforded “rights.” they are not criminals they are “enemies of humanity” and are treated as such with NO RIGHTS….the left needs to get a handle on this as this sort of action will grow…
Also there are rumors the gov’t doesn’t want to let the bankls pay back the tarp….I pray that isn’t true…..
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97JU0881&show_article=1
Jeff,
Will the out cry over this be the same as the few questioned words in Bushes state of the union?
Also the Govoner of Texas is an idiot for saying they “could suceed.”
75% of the people of they state say they wouldn’t want that.
Republican leaders today are really quite stupid!!!!!!!
Hey Jeff,
Can you please give me your take on this?
http://www.climatedepot.com/a/429/Report-Democrats-Refuse-to-Allow-Skeptic-to-Testify-Alongside-Gore-At-Congressional-Hearing
There will be no debate in Al Gore’s presents….EVER!!!!!!!!!
He is just correct……..This is not American, it may be change, but it is NOT America.
Keith,
We are getting our troups out of Iraq just about as quickly as we are able. The logistics are significant. As far as whether this is what Bush would have done or not is moot. Before he left office he had negotiated a date for withdrawl, which he said he would never do. We are doing about all that we can do to try to meet that date.
The issue with the stimulus money is that there are still A LOT of people out of work. That’s what the stimulus money is going to do, put people back to work – and not a day too soon.
As far as the banks are concerned, the recent stress test should clear the way for the banks that have sufficient capital reserves to pay back their loans. The process couldn’t start until the regulators were certain that the banks could survive an extended recession. The good news is that those who do need more money will likely be able to raise it in the private markets.
As far as who gets to testify before Congress, that is a function of those who call the hearing, not those who testify. Generally congress isn’t looking to sponsor a public debate. They have enough of them on their own.
Jeff