Our Founding Fathers knew — in John Adams’ words — that our U.S. Constitution was only going to work for a moral and religious people. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison all used similar words in discussing the necessity of virtue.
The question is then begged — whose virtue? Whose morality? George Washington spoke the sentiment of his age in his farewell address when he gave the answer to those questions:
[R]eason and experience forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
One wise lady I know suggests that the links between the social issues and the soul are purposefully ignored by social policy liberals. That’s probably true. It’s not profound to note that our decisions and our behavior impact who we are – not just the other way around. And our decisions and behavior are impacted through laws and culture. To ignore that probably requires effort.
Societal acceptance of abortion has fallen during the past fifteen years to the point where public opinion polls show a majority now on the side of life. The pro-life movement has been unwavering in its engagement in the public square and converts have been won.
Traditional values ground has been lost, however, when it comes to the push — not for societal tolerance of, but the societal embracing of — homosexual behavior. The children of the sixties now dominate K-college institutions, mass media, and Hollywood. Their “if it feels good it must be good” is the dominant ethic.
The detrimental impact on society is multiplied many times over when the peer pressure-like phenomenon of educational and cultural bias is added in against traditional morality. It’s my guess the founding generation would not be at all surprised that the country struggles now with economic morality as well.
A large part of the failed establishment wing of the Republican Party, not surprisingly, is shying away from the simple and obvious morality as outlined in the Judeo-Christian heritage. Too many GOP leaders are weak, ungrounded, unprincipled, and not up for the fight. Instead, they pretend that for the first time in world history a society can survive and prosper when sexual morality is tossed aside.
Whenever you hear someone drone on about the horrors of the “religious right” it’s a safe bet that that person is ignorant of the fact that Christian conservatives organized politically in answer to the loosening of moral standards and the tearing of the social fabric. Instead of being seen as defenders of the good sense passed down from the Founders, religious conservatives have instead been made into a cartoon by people who are stuck in a sort of teenage rebellion. They rebel against “religion and morality” — what George Washington called in his farewell address — the “great pillars of human happiness.”
John Adam’s cousin Sam Adams also knew that the social issues impacted the soul:
[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.
Note the word “manners.” Yes, it still means what it did then. But I doubt the Founders could’ve imagined the ill-mannered nature of those who would seek to promote their fringe and unhealthy sexual practices in schools, on the city streets through “pride” parades, throughout culture, and through the destruction of marriage — the very building block of a civilized society. Every goal of the radical homosexual agenda is incompatible with our God given, and First Amendment protected, right of religious freedom.
Andrew Breitbart, like a lot of Americans, can be brought around to realizing that as with economic issues, wrong social policies impact the soul. The Founders knew it — and so do those who — to use Sam Adams’ words — seek to be “the truest friend to the liberty of his country.”
