Quote:
Originally Posted by chachacha
Is there a British dream? think about it....why is there an American Dream??? my dear people, there is an American Dream because our founding fathers were radicals!! yes, RADICALS!! prior to our magnificent Constitutional Rebuplic, all men on earth were under the subjugation of a monarch or despot...there was no concept of all men being equal...rights were given at the whim of one's king through "divine right". our entire greatness comes from the belief that all men have unalienable rights given by their CREATOR!!! without this foundation, without a moral people, our great republic cannot stand...
and yet we move further and further away from dependence on our Creator and on our friends and neighbors, as it should be, to dependence on our new god, the government....will we be so foolish as to let our American Dream die an ignoble death at the hands of corrupt politicians? the world is waiting...if our dream dies, so will the dream of freedom for all mankind.
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This is a really good thought-provoking post, chachacha. I am still pondering it. I think you have hit on something really important here: the birth of this nation as a dream extensible through succeeding generations. I really don't know if the British or the French have such a "dream" and I don't know that the Germans or the Italians had such a dream of unification prior to Bismarck or Garibaldi (respectively). I'm going to think about this.
I disagree, however, with only one facet of your thesis: "dependence on our new god, the government...our dream dies." I think the new god is money, wealth, and the acquisition thereof. Government is only a tool that many use to gain the leverage to facilitate the acquisition and maintenance of wealth. As such a tool, it needs to be trimmed, and rendered practically impotent, except in matters pertaining to "form a more perfect union, establish justice, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty...."
In his first letter to Timothy at the church in Ephesus, St. Paul wrote "for the love of money is the root of all evil." Many have pointed out, and I believe correctly, that it is not evil to have money and wealth. It is God's blessing; but to love money more than God is not a good thing. I think an interesting statistic would be: how many Americans check their account balances each week, and how many Americans go to church each week.
Thank you again, chachacha, for a very thought-provoking post. (I hope this wasn't too long; I do go on sometimes.)
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