“The Revolution was in the minds of the people…”
John Adams
REPUBLICS ARE RARE, their challenges endless. Even success brings danger. Over time, the very qualities that make them possible—virtue, courage, character—tend to be forgotten. Genuine leadership is dismissed in exchange for entertainment. Sacrifice—the high tax of greatness—cannot compete with the old soft shoe or tap. They get and hold one’s attention or at least provide a distraction. Yet assertion and repetition do not equal truth. But performance is the key.
TO BE ENLIGHTENED is to be in touch with reality. As Excalibur would yield only to Arthur’s hand and be drawn from the stone, so too a liar will never wield another indestructible weapon. Alexander Hamilton compares and contrasts a republic and a despotism on the first page of The Federalist Papers. In the one, decisions are based upon “reflection and choice”; in the other, “accident and force.” Such was hanging in the balance then, and the scales tremble now. For in a well-ordered republic, reason prevails, not the whims of the ruler. Knowledge is the foundation of the American Republic and, when acted upon, its salvation.
THOUGHT, WORD, AND DEED are indivisible. Yet principles—no matter how lofty—do not live on parchment, they flow in the veins of the people. Thus, citizenship consists of rights and duties. The one cannot exist without the other, or, without the latter, the former could never be.
PRESIDENT WASHINGTON understood sacrifice was necessary for survival. Thus, he had Secretary of War Henry Knox send a report to Congress in support of Universal National Service. What they had in mind cannot be ignored. It was a call to duty—with shared burdens and benefits—beyond national security. Under the Knox Report, to “provide for the common defense” did not mean only the common people do the defending. (Preamble) “All being bound, none can complain of injustice, on being obliged to perform his equal proportion.” Privilege had no place in the plan. “It is the wisdom of political establishments to make the wealth of individuals subservient to the general good, and not to suffer it to corrupt or attain undue indulgence.” As a result, “A glorious national spirit will be introduced, with its extensive train of political consequences.”
AMERICA is a metaphysical metaphor. The Great Seal reminds us “that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:3, KJV) We are spiritual beings in material bodies,
as the eagle and the All-Seeing Eye attest.
This child of the Enlightenment is an idea disguised as a country; and,
in the event of disaster, there will be an exodus. The founding documents were made to travel. For a designer nation is committed to principles,
not real estate nor an individual. And
even then and there, America is where time and space give us a chance to make
our dreams commonplace.
(c)2024 Marvin D. Jones. All rights reserved.
The title of this article comes from the close of JFK’s first State of the Union Address.
https://marvindjones.blogspot.com/2013/08/much-is-required.html
[The Knox Report]
https://youtu.be/cAu3a7CMA84?si=MxUAYUfbVqJNRexX
[Somewhere]
