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Friday, November 5, 2010

Self-Evident Truths

Leaves falling. Thanksgiving soon. Football and pumpkins. The political season is over and a lot of folks are glad to turn the page. Even the President went on vacation. Soon it will be time to shop for Christmas. Yet it will be a slim holiday for some. Unemployment is high. Here in town the American Legion Children's Home is close to closing and both kids and staff are in limbo. Retail sales are not flush for businesses. Yet I am reminded of a friend's comment years ago after he lost much of his life savings. "Well, the dog still licks your hand and the grandkids still climb up in your lap." There is more to life than money and politics.

That is why I am conservative. There is more to life than government and security. The progressive left sees man as just a higher animal to be ruled by an elite, who in turn answer only to God(Nature/Science). That is the Old Order. Judeo-Christian thought upended this. The Almighty comes down to save His people and form a close relationship with them. Luther and then Locke thus argued that it was God over people over the government they would construct, not God over government over people. That became the American Experiment. And so it is that "We the People, in order to form a more perfect Union..." made a constitution that limits the government's powers and the government's help. Conservatives want public servants, not public dictators.

Is that risky? You bet it is. We risk failure, both individually and together. Yet we relish the opportunity that comes only with risk. Such willingness to risk comes only from knowing Providence looks after us. We still keep government safety nets, but don't wish them to become a trap for serfdom. Then, having achieved some success, we aid our neighbor as we surely will this holiday season. Tough times are not our shame or distress. They become our finest hour. Mark my words and mark your Thanksgiving. We shall see this during the holiday season. We are still the people of the Self-evident Truths.