Category: American Character

Individuals who have exhibited Biblical character qualities and have had a positive impact on American history.

George Washington, the Presidency, & Character

  

On this day in 1789, George Washington took the very first presidential oath of office. His inauguration on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City was the beginning of a grand experiment. Although the fledgling nation had been in existence since 1776, it had only an ad hoc government throughout most of the American Revolution, then switched to a very weak Articles of Confederation in the 1780s. At Washington’s inauguration, the new Constitution also was inaugurated. The question… Read more »

A Word of Wisdom from the Past

  

A voice from the American past has a message for us today. His name was James Garfield, who was elected president in 1880. Four years earlier, on the centennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Congressman Garfield—who also was an ordained Disciples of Christ minister—offered this sage insight in a speech commemorating American independence: Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because… Read more »

The Real 99%

  

Cartoonist Michael Ramirez has been highlighting some really stark comparisons in his political cartoons lately. The other day I shared his view on modern society’s upside down perception of heroes and villains. He’s back today with another poignant contrast: I’m kind of fed up with this “we’re the 99%” baloney, which casts millionaires and billionaires as the other 1% who are ruining the world. In actuality, anyone making just above $300,000 per year is part of that 1%, which means… Read more »

Reflections on American Morality

  

The whole Anthony Weiner incident has left me deeply disturbed about the tenor of our society. That’s nothing new, of course, since I believe man in sinful and plays out that sinfulness continually. Yet this particular episode I find particularly perturbing. Let me see if I can explain why. Weiner himself is what I always expected him to be; I’m less concerned about him personally than I am about other aspects of this. The media, both liberal and conservative, seem… Read more »

Chambers: Death of a Nation?

  

Those who have read this blog long enough know my affinity for Whittaker Chambers, a man I consider one of the true heroes in American history. He had joined the Communist Party in the 1920s, thinking it was the answer to all the world’s crises. Only later did he come to grips with his error, but when he did, a whole new understanding opened to him. As he notes in his masterful autobiography Witness, his mind had to be renewed… Read more »

Tocqueville & American Christianity

  

Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman who toured America from 1831-1833, was a keen observer of what he experienced. He put those observations into a famous book, still used in political sciences courses, called Democracy in America, first published in 1835. Tocqueville quotes can be found throughout the Internet; unfortunately, some of them dealing with religion in America are more legend than fact. I know, since I’ve read the entirety of his book without finding them. However, he did make clear… Read more »

Principles & Character

  

Last night, I spoke to a group of Christian educators from all over the state of Florida, meeting in Orlando. The subject was the role of principles and character in American political history. My goal was to show when Christian character and Biblical principles came to the forefront of public policy and when they were ignored. Blessings flowed from the first; consequences from the latter. It was a survey from the time of Woodrow Wilson, who championed the false idea… Read more »