Concerned Citizen (Part One)

That description of myself is quite an understatement. I am more than concerned for the country in which I find citizenship. I am closer to terrified. Why? Because the things that made America so special are almost completely lost. Overstated? Oh I don’t think so. Not in light of historical timeframes. Give it a decade or two. Where do you honestly think we’ll be?

The majority of us are drugged (literally and figuratively). The nation, as a whole, is staggering about, having forgotten from whence it came and we are completely clueless about where we are going. We are leaderless. We are visionless. And most people under the age of forty are completely ignorant of the most important aspects of our history. 

It is this last concern that is perhaps, most concerning. History is what builds a nation. America was built upon the decisions and sacrifices of our forefathers, but we deny who they were and what they did. What we cannot deny, we simply do not teach. Most everything that matters about our history is revised or ignored, until teenagers today do not even know what many of our forefathers died to give us. Freedom is underrated and misunderstood. No one cares about those who died to earn and keep it for the rest of us. Most teenagers can’t imagine what would be worth fighting a war over. Too much time has passed. We have forgotten who we are.

Christianity? Censored. Limited Government? Expanded. Free Enterprise? Poisoned. Capitalism? Demonized. Free Speech? Categorized. Freedom of Religion? Squelched. American Exceptionalism? Denied. The Constitution? Demeaned.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. I do not agree in principle, but to some degree, like it or not, the village does raise the child. We cannot entirely shield our children from the village. What kind of child is the typical American village raising these days? In what direction are the adults of tomorrow being indoctrinated?

Indoctrinated? Yes, every society is indoctrinated. Even our grandparents were indoctrinated. The village indoctrinates. Schools, in particular, indoctrinate. Today, people are in some kind of school from age three, maybe even to age thirty. Schools have always indoctrinated and they always will. The only question is the source and the aim of that indoctrination.

What kind of indoctrination are the children of America receiving? Excluding those children whose parents actively work against the system or those children who, for one reason or another, reject the mainstream, what is the next generation of Americans being manipulated to believe? The following is a reasonable summary:

1. God did not create people or the world.

2. The Bible is mythology.

3. People are animals, evolved from apes.

4. The most important issues of our time are environmental.

5. Spanking is child abuse.

6. America has not been and is not exceptional in any way.

7. Truth is relative.

8. Immoral behavior should be celebrated.

The really not funny thing is that most young adults reading those eight principles will wonder what my problem is with most or all of them. The majority, and oh yes I mean majority of the younger generation would be willing to sign their names to these eight maxims as a manifesto. They do not even realize that they have been indoctrinated to believe the opposite of their grandparents and the opposite of the vast majority of Americans during the first 150 plus years of our history.

They have been indoctrinated. So have I. The difference between me and them is that I realize my ideas came from others, and I greatly respect those from whom my ideas came. My ideas came from the people who built this once great nation, or rather, in many cases from the same place where they got most of those ideas (The Bible). Oh yes, I was indoctrinated as well… to believe the following:

1. God created everything that exists out of nothing.

2. The Bible is true.

3. People were created in the image of God, distinct from animals.

4. The most important issues have to do with eternity.

5. When you spare the rod, you spoil the child.

6. America is quite possibly the most amazing nation to ever exist.

7. Truth is absolute.

8. Immoral behavior should be condemned.

Even as I write down those principles, I am aware of the venom and the vitriol they will inspire in a large swath of our now-persuaded-otherwise society. What cannot be debated is the fact that these beliefs were once held by nearly every American, certainly including our founders, who risked so much to create the first free nation of its kind.

Ideas have consequences. What happens when the old folks who understand all of this are gone? What happens when that half, or so, of my own generation who still hold to these truths, are gone? Some readers may think, “Well, then we’ll finally be rid of you nut jobs.” But you must admit that you will also be rid of every principle this nation was built upon. “So what?” you say. Well, I guess you will find out.

I have a hard time believing anything like the America I have known will continue to exist, and that makes me very sad. Considering the way history is being revised, I fear the next generation won’t even know what they’ve missed.

To be continued….