Presidents, God and the American Foundation

We love the old church sign that reminds us: “If you’re feeling separated from God, who moved?”

Americans in every part of the country are feeling a mixture of confusion, frustration, and anger at what has happened to the economy; a growing angst about the future is taking a toll on the nation’s native can-do spirit and confidence.

There are a few people who feel this angst but may not see any connection to a feeling of separation from God. Some may believe, as Barack Obama does, that government is an answer and in fact the only answer. But we suspect the number of these believers are dwindling and will continue to dwindle as the administration’s sweeping governmental power grab, irresponsible spending, and inevitably rising taxes suffocate the American spirit—and in the process suck all the vitality and dynamism and optimism out of the people, with drastic, persistent economic decline as the result.

Many will try to describe what’s happening in secular terms—as matters of difference in political philosophy but without a religious dimension. But we hope the course of events will turn all Americans back to the question in the church sign, where they will also find the right and only prescription for real recovery: a renewed reverence and respect for, and a determination to resume allegiance to the Judeo-Christian foundation of the country—which we at Brushfires describe as ‘individual freedom and responsibility under God’.

The founding fathers had no doubt about this foundation. Examples abound (you can find more in the databases of the Patriot Post ), but one of our favorites is this quote from John Quincy Adams, who was speaking at a July 4th celebration in 1837:

Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day (July 4th)? Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity...?

Few today would speak of the Declaration of Independence as organizing the ‘social compact’ on the foundation of Jesus’ redemptive mission on earth. Yet take a moment to ponder these passages, which make up the heart and soul of the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,--that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …”

Again, think of the social compact of Christ Jesus' mission: there is one Creator; the men and women of His creation have inalienable rights of life and freedom; government is based on the consent of the governed, not the dictates of the ‘governors’.

Some Presidents have had an inherent grasp of the spirit of the Declaration. Recall a few stories and speeches of Ronald Reagan—which tell us what it really means to be “Reaganesque” on the Judeo-Christian foundation of the country.

On, Feb. 4, 1982, in a speech at the National Religious Broadcasters convention, Reagan said:

It's been written that the most sublime figure in American history was George Washington on his knees in the snow at Valley Forge. He personified a people who knew that it was not enough to depend on their own courage and goodness, that they must seek help from God – their Father and Preserver. Where did we begin to lose sight of that noble beginning, of our convictions that standards of right and wrong do exist and must be lived up to?

Do we really think that we can have it both ways, that God will protect us in a time of crisis even as we turn away from Him in our day-to-day life? ... The Book of St. John tells us, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." We have God's promise that what we give will be given back many times over.

And we also have His promise that we could take to heart with regard to our country – "That if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land." To preserve our blessed land, we must look to God.”

In another meeting with evangelicals in March 1983, Reagan said: "There is sin and evil in the world, and we're enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might." He saw his confrontation with communism as a spiritual one. He told a joint session of the Irish National Parliament in June 1984 that the "struggle between freedom and totalitarianism today" was ultimately not a test of arms or missiles "but a test of faith and spirit." It was, he said, a "spiritual struggle."

We think today’s struggle in America is a spiritual one, a ‘test of faith and spirit’. It has been made extremely difficult because the election of the first African-American President in important ways is a tribute to the rightness and goodness of the American foundation. It is so difficult in the hearts and minds of many to square the election of Obama—which seems like such a good and positive step—with the actions Obama is taking that are so wildly destructive and contrary to America’s foundational principles. Many know there’s something wrong with this picture, but they can’t or don’t want to know what it is.

We want to believe this is just the next step in America’s spiritual advance. Because the truth is, and has always been, and always will be, that the color of a person’s skin, or the gender of a person, really doesn’t matter in determining qualifications to lead. But the ideas of that person DO matter, and when they are at odds with the divinely inspired American foundation, we feel it. That’s what’s wrong with the picture. And that’s what the people are waking up to.

We’ll never hear speeches from Obama that come anywhere close to Adams’ and Reagan’s comments. That’s because he doesn’t believe as they did. He thinks he has near- messianic if not actual messianic significance because of the color of his skin and his ability to talk a good game. But he’s empty where it counts, and that portends disaster for his Presidency and for this country unless and until there is a U-turn in the direction he is taking, and a total transformation of his understanding of the importance of the American foundation—individual freedom and responsibility under God—to this nation’s progress and the progress of mankind.

Here’s a portion of a speech of another President who did understand the American foundation—and its importance to the world.

"We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom... We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our founders declared a new order of the ages, when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner of 'Freedom Now'--they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of liberty."

The speaker? President George W. Bush, in his Second Inaugural Address.

Paul Gable

Posted February 28, 2009