It is a strange time. What has traditionally been good and decent is now bad and what has traditionally been viewed as morally corrupt is now good. This is the woke world.
In the recent mid-term elections, the country was about 50-50. They were not, however voting on the same issues or for the same reasons. These two halves of the country live in two different worlds or at least two different perceptions of the same world. Perception is the reality for most.
Both sides said “democracy” was at stake. Webster says democracy is, “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections”. We had an election, so that part of the definition is still safe. Is the supreme power still vested in the people or is the supreme power now vested in the government? Here is where opinions will be different.
Congress has passed laws and most will say that the “rule of law” is important. If only some laws are enforced and others not and the ones not enforced reflect the view of those in power in the government, one could say the supreme power is vested in the government which could mean democracy has ceased to exist in this country. The side in power violates the law and there is little or no punishment. The other side violates the law and there is maximum punishment. The government forcing citizens to have experimental medical procedures done on them or face unemployment is not the behavior of society in a democracy in which the power is vested in the people.
At the end of World War II, the judgment by the war crimes tribunal at Nuremberg laid down 10 standards to which physicians must conform when carrying out experiments on human subjects in a new code that is now accepted worldwide. In part, the first of these standards states,
“The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision.”
One must then ask if the recent vaccine mandates for Covid-19 follow the above code. One must ask if the gender surgeries being performed on minors follows the above code. Those who believe that these procedures do not follow the code are publicly rebuked, censored, and even punished for their beliefs.
It is hard to find the truth these days. All media sources have a bias in one way or another. Freedom of speech is a hallmark of democracy. How can one decide on which candidate deserves their vote if they are not allowed to hear from both equally? Ultimately the truth is taught either by the people or by the government.
Former President Ronald Reagan noticed this change in view of government in his farewell speech to the nation before he left office. He said,
“An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn’t get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties. But now, we’re about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren’t sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven’t reinstitutionalized it. We’ve got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom — freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It’s fragile; it needs [protection].
So, we’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion but what’s important — why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, 4 years ago on the 40th anniversary of D – day, I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who’d fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, “we will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did.” Well, let’s help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are. I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let’s start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.
And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven’t been teaching you what it means to be an American, let ’em know and nail ’em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.”
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