I’m getting nostalgic for those well-worn phrases such as Liberty and justice for all or all men are created equal. Suddenly these phrases are absent from public discourse in our new regime. Even the oath of the Boy Scouts of America might be deemed radical when it lists helping others as character building.
Four score and seven years ago it was 1938 and we were on
the eve of a great war to test whether the precepts of our founders would long
endure. We might ask the same question today. And remind me, Mr. President, why
did we fight WWII?
I am feeling gratitude for our platitudes. Their omission
resounds, loudly. Here is an excerpt from George Bush’s inaugural speech in 2001.
Every immigrant, by embracing our ideals, makes our
country more, not less, American. Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out
our nation’s promise through civility, courage, compassion and character.
A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect,
fair dealing and forgiveness.
How outdated these words now seem. We have lost our bearings along with our spine.
Not only has our language been debased and defiled but the thrust toward male domination has now been extended to support domination as a geopolitical blueprint.
We used to hold these truths to be self-evident. Now
we have even discarded the notion of truth. Somebody in high places must have
been inspired by these instructional words.
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it,
people will eventually come to believe it. So said Joseph Goebbels.
Is he to be our new Founding Father?
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