“A city is what it is because it’s citizens are what they are.” ~Plato
In recognition of the Fourth of July, here are some thoughts about America and our heritage of liberty. It aligns with our study of Proverbs, as wisdom and prudence are the heart of the founding of our great country.
Let me begin by saying that we are experiencing a crisis of citizenship as well as a crisis of leadership in our country. In order for American society to operate effectively, we as citizens must embrace the personal habits and cultural conditions that have been at the heart of our country since its founding. Unfortunately, we are drifting away from those individual habits and community norms; as result, our society is at risk.
We need a renewal of citizenship and leadership in every sector of American culture. This is why we teach E+R=O and behavior skills. It is why we teach Lead Now.
America was founded on timeless principles that the founders understood to be given by God. The Declaration of Independence declares: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness …”
The intent of the great American Experiment was to forge a society built on the freedom and dignity of the individual. The founders believed that as human beings created by God, people have a right to live freely and pursue that which motivates them not because a king or a government says so, but because these are natural rights given by the Creator.
In order to build this society, the founders established rules of cooperation that had been developed through generations of human experience and collective reasoning. They focused on timeless principles and standards that promoted the betterment of both the individual and community. These rules of cooperation were described as “ordered liberty.” They were also described as “the social contract,” or “the civil society.”
In the civil society, the individual is recognized as more than an abstract statistic or faceless member of some group; rather, they are a unique, spiritual being with a soul and a conscience. They are free to discover their own potential and pursue their own legitimate interests. Those interests are tempered, however, by a moral order that has its foundation in the Creator and which guides all human life through the wise exercise of judgment.
For this reason, the individual in the civil society strives, although imperfectly, to be virtuous—that is, ethical, responsible, and hard-working. They reject the relativism that blurs the distinctions between good and bad, right and wrong, and seek to live and work in alignment with the principles and laws of the civic society.
The combination of ordered liberty and responsible citizenship are the heartbeat of American culture, and both are necessary for our society to work. Stop and think about that. American society was designed to operate on the basis of two pillars: ordered liberty and responsible citizens. If either of those two pillars breaks down, so does American society.
Thus Plato’s statement: “A city is what it is because it’s citizens are what they are.” We have much to be thankful for in our country, but we are drifting from the timeless principles established by the founders.
For American society to move forward successfully into the future, we must renew our commitment to the “rules of cooperation” laid out in the Constitution. We must remember the Creator. We must get much better at developing responsible citizens, and we must return to the ordered liberty of limited government guided by timeless truth.
We must once again embrace the personal habits and cultural conditions that gave birth to our nation.
“America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” (Rev. Andrew Reed, 1834)
