A Thought on America, The Beautiful…

I used to think that everyone knew the words to this song, but I’ve learned that there are a lot of people anymore who have never heard it, or even know that it exists, and sadly it’s mostly young people and children that give me a blank stare when I mention it. Speaking for myself that’s a sad thing, almost as sad, as the fact that the God mentioned so lovingly and tenderly in this song is almost as forgotten and unknown as the song. Even the title sounds other-worldly, as if it came from another country (or planet) instead of from this country that I’ve always loved so much because it represented the very best of what people who love God, and believe in hard work and freedom could achieve.

I’m sure I’m not the only one, but it feels a lot more lonelier than it used to in believing that we were indeed, “America, The Beautiful.” What was it that made America so beautiful, that made it the shining beacon on the hill, that shone a light so bright that people all over the world wanted to come here?

Let’s think about this for a moment…. Hum…

Perhaps, it was freedom, but was it the same kind of freedom we have now?

Was it the freedom to be openly drunk, vulgar, and stupid that was the draw?
Perhaps it was because they could come over here and have no opportunity?
Maybe because there was no reward for hard work?
Of course there’s always the chance that they came over so they could be told how to worship?
Then again, maybe it was so that they could practice every perversion known to man…
Or promote every kind of filth imaginable?

I’m probably being too harsh and unfair, huh?

Hold on….there’s more…You don’t want to leave yet, do you?

Maybe they came over here because they wanted the chance to be poor, and be taken care of?
Or so that they could get a quality third-rate education where they could be told what to think instead of learning how to think for themselves?
I know…it was so that they could come to a place where human life is treated like it’s trash and thrown away…
No, that couldn’t be it, could it?

No, they wanted to come here so that they could have the freedom to be irresponsible, immoral, dishonest, and disrespectful, and the opportunity to shun any and every thing that might be restrictive to their right to be so.

Is that why this song was written, sung, and beloved by countless generations of Americans?

Somehow, I don’t think so, but when you live in a country where people are idolized for being vain, and vulgar; and where sports and athletes are worshiped, and power and money are the end goal; where the liberty to be and to live a life that honors God, that respects hard work, that believes honesty and sincerity and integrity are still vitally important, and who believe that the Bible and the U.S. Constitution are still two of the best documents ever written are despised, but being liberal, and all-embracing of anything that strips a human being of their dignity and self-respect is looked upon as the highest ideal of man; where people use “Christianity” as if it’s a room deodorizer and anti-perspirant, and where leadership and responsibility have been replaced by eloquence and Charisma then I guess you can call it just about anything….

For me, I’ll call it what I think it is… a country that has lost its way because it turned it’s back on the Great God Almighty who STILL rules over all the nations and leaders of the world, and who is STILL in control, and who is STILL working His plan toward its ultimate fulfillment…

For those of you who don’t particularly care for this post, it’s okay. I don’t hold it against you. Unlike some people I still respect your right to disagree with me. You’ll have to pardon me for being so outspoken I was raised in “America, The Beautiful!”

Just in case you missed the reference, here it is below for your viewing pleasure.

America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man’s avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

Here’s a bonus for reading this all the way through….

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A challenge… Will You Share This?

Worth pondering!

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat…

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking. In light of recent events… terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school… The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about.. And we said okay..

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with ‘WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.’

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it… no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

If You Love God, This Country, and Our Freedom….

Lyn Leahz published this on her blog, and I think it’s one of the most important and informative videos you’ll ever see. I can’t recommend it enough.  Please don’t ignore this!  It’s been ignored too long already.  We can’t afford to do so any longer… 

America In Bible Prophecy

America in Bible Prophecy  This is a very thought provoking post.

My Prayer to the Father – July 29th, 2012

Our Father In Heaven
I come to Thee in humble adoration and gratefulness
Praising You, Father, as the One worthy of my Worship.
You, Heavenly Father, who created the heavens and the earth,
You, Father, who have given us all that we have, and know.
Heavenly Father, I know that You are love,
And without You we would not know Love
Not in it’s purest form, not in the way
That Love heals and restores.
You, Heavenly Father, are the Author of Love
As written in Your beautiful expression
Of Your Beloved Son, Jesus.
You, Father, who wrote it forever on the hearts
Of those of us who believe in Him.
Of those of us who know that He died for our sins
And thus are forever in Your debt.

Heavenly Father,
I come before You, Father, knowing what
A privilege it is to come before Your eternal throne.
Overjoyed in knowing that You, the Creator,
Not only hear my prayers, but
Are anxious to hear them.
I know Father that You love my prayers,
And not mine, only, but all that come
From a secure position in Your Son,
My Beloved Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father,
It is with true sadness that I come before You.
So sad that I live in a country that
You gave as a gift to all who desire to be free.
To all who desire to Love and Worship You,
And to express the best things You gave to us
As a dim reflection of who You are
In Your glorious and eternal Image.
We, who used to be the best representation
Of Your love and Grace
To a world lost and blind,
And in denial.

Heavenly Father,
I’m so sorry for my part in the smearing
Of what was once so grand and glorious,
And Father, I ask Your forgiveness
Not only for my part,
But that You forgive all who have
Done so much to dim a light
That at once was a beacon that
Shined all across the world.
Not our light, Father, but Yours.
A light of love and grace and strength
That brought forth all the best
That my Beloved Lord Jesus exampled.

Heavenly Father,
In my heart, I know that what has been done
Cannot be undone.
We who have mocked You;
We who have brought untold shame upon
That which You gave us.
We who have taken that which was precious
And thrown it among the dogs and swine
Are deserving of Your wrath.
We who have taken the innocent and that which
Is incarnated in beauty
And we through our silence
Have allowed those who have no soul
To kill and destroy by the millions
what You deem so precious
Life!

Heavenly Father,
If that were our only Sin
It would be enough to bring forth the fires of hell,
But to my most unutterable shame
It is only the first in a long line of that which
We should bow down before You
In sackcloth and ashes
And bewail the terror which we have
Inflicted upon ourselves.
But, no, Father, we not only have taken Life,
But we have done worse if it can be so described
In that we have taken our position
As Saints, as the Royal Priesthood You
Proclaim us to be,
And we have disrobed before the world,
As well as our families and neighbors.
Heavenly Father,
We have built great and towering monuments to You,
And we call them churches
But they are no more and no better
Than the tower of Babel.
We have raised them to raise ourselves
And only we do they truly honor
For Your Word in all it’s truth
Has been sublimated to no more
Than a cheer and a rah, rah, rah,
And a self-help, and self-love philosophy
That were the very things
That put my precious Lord Jesus on the cross
And left him to bleed and die.

Heavenly Father,
I beg You to send a fire of revival throughout
Our land; not to save it;
Though I wish it so,
But that through it those of Your children
Who have yet to realize their state
Might meet Your son, my glorious Savior
And fall before Him in love and faith.
That we might at least once more
Cast our light so brightly around the world
That we leave a last shadow.

Heavenly Father,
I would have no strength to bear my shame
Of this country I have loved were it not
For Your love and grace,
And the certain knowledge
That I am only a stranger here waiting
Until my Beloved comes for me.
Until such time, Father, let me not be slack
In that which You have called me to do.
Let me be bold in my love,
And unswerving in my devotion to the
Mission You have called all Your children to.
Let me proclaim Your Son, My Lord Jesus
To all I meet; to stand upon a hill
And raise my voice so that all can hear,
And stand in the path of all who propose wickedness
In the name of my Lord,
And thus express the Love He paid so much
To bestow upon me.

Heavenly Father,
I come to You on behalf of all in this country
And the world who are suffering
In their bodies and their spirits.
Who are struggling mightily
To pursue that which they know to be true
And to proclaim Him who is.
Heavenly Father,
Please I beg, I plead with You Father
To put a hedge of protection around
All my brothers and sisters
In Christ
Who are enduring the worst pain,
Who are being persecuted without mercy
In lands I’ll never see.
Sear our hearts with love and compassion
And a desire that will not be quenched
To pray for them with our all,
And to give them aid
In all the ways we are so capable of.

Heavenly Father,
Please be with my brothers and sisters
In Christ, and all who are in so much pain in whatever
Form it manifests itself in
And who are struggling to find their way
Through the darkness that’s enveloped this land
And this world.
Help us as those who truly love Your Son
To light our candles and lead the way
To He who is the Bright and Morning Star.

In Jesus Name,
Amen.

A Small Thought on Consequences and Liberal Thought

Have you ever noticed the tendency of people to make choices and plow ahead without giving much thought to the consequences of their actions.  Just imagine a child being allowed to pursue his natural inclinations without having to deal with the consequences of his actions.  What mother or father could stand their child for long?

For those people who are fortunate enough not to have to live with the consequences of their actions what freedom there must be, and they are free  right up to the point where there freedom from consequence creates an overwhelming flood of consequences for others that begins to affect them.

This is the problem with liberal thought in that it takes freedom as far as people want it to go without thinking of the ultimate destination that having such freedom will lead them to.  Freedom without responsibility and accountability is not freedom, but the first step to enslavement.

In my opinion, our country, our government, and a great many of our people tend to follow the liberal view of thought which reminds me of this little quote I came across a while back:

“A pig ate his fill of acorns under an oak tree and then started to root around the tree. A crow remarked, “You should not do this. If you lay bare the roots, the tree will wither and die.” “Let it die,” said the pig. “Who cares as long as there are acorns?”

Bits & Pieces  , February, 1990, p. 24.

 

When we start to tear down, root out, and cast aside the institutions and values that make us what we are we’re very close to losing what gives and provides those things that make us what we are.  Then what will we be?

 

A Thought on Our Country

     So what do you think?  Is our country in trouble?  Do you feel as if the America you grew up in is disappearing?  As if everything that you grew up believing and thinking and living your life by is now under attack?  Are you afraid, fearful, worried about what’s going to happen, and how your chldren are going to fare in the future?  Do you look at the future with a sense of hope, with a belief that the opportunities, dreams and desires you’ve been looking forward to will still be there.

     There’s a lot of people these days who are deeply troubled, and who are really in trouble; trouble that comes in the shape and form of survival, of surviving from day to day.  More than at any time in recent history people are having a hard time getting by; they’re out of work, behind in house payments, worried daily about how they’re going to feed their kids, and have a hard time looking at the future with any sense of hope or well being. 

     People, by and large, are looking for a hand up; not a hand out.  People want opportunity, a chance, an atmosphere in which they can grow, develop, and thrive.  When I look at the heartland of America, the middle-class family, the small-business owner, I see a group of people  who are just yearning for a chance to prove themselves.  They don’t want someone trying to take care of them, or make people share their wealth with them; they just want to live in a country that gives them opportunity, a country where they can feel a sense of security in their lives; where people can feel confident in their government and elected officials that govern them, and most of all a county that treats everyone with dignity and respect without catering and pandering to one  particular group or philosopy.

     When I look at a lot of the young people in our society, I see a group of people, who are scared, who feel a deep sense of hopelessness, who, sadly, have no faith in anyone or anything; who feel like they’re living in an alternate America that has all the trappings of a prosperous country, with all it’s freedom’s and seeming opportunities, and yet when they look around, see themselves as the kid on Christmas morning opening the prettily wrapped package only to find that there’s nothing within. 

     What our young people need is to live in a country that inspires them to be great, who offers them a chance for a great education all the way K-12, and then gives them the chance to go to college without racking up a lifetime of debt to repay and no way to pay it back.  Who need oportunity, and who have the tools, talents, and abilities needed to seize it when it comes.  Who need to see what real success looks like, and not the gilded, glitter-ridden, emptiness that our so-called entertainment industry with it’s fame-starved, greed loving, money gathering junkies and proponents like to throw before them as if any of those things have ever led any of them to real contentment and happiness.

     There’s a whole sub-culture in this country that are almost non-existent, except by those who exploit them at election time, that live in a different America.  Children that go to bed hunry, many of them used and abused in –  terrible, cruel, unspeakable, intolerable – ways, who grow up (knowing in a way that we never can) that they live in a country that shows over and over again that nobody truly cares for them.  People that are trapped in a life that many of them didn’t want, but have no way out, and – who in many ways –  are kept where they are by a government and a people who are willing to give them a food-stamp voucher or a free bowl of soup, but aren’t willing give them a real opportunity by showing them how to help themselves.

     So many of our children and young adults live as lambs among wolves; they  live, play, work and walk among well-dressed, well-mannered, affluent monsters only too ready and too willing to devour the innocent, the unfortunate, and the unprotected.  What’s worse is that they live among a group of people who cry tears, who bewail, and rage against the injustice done to them, but who won’t step up and act on their behalf.  Who prefer reputation, prestige, and wealth over doing the right thing, and thus leave them always vulnerable to the monsters who would hurt them.

   Our country lives under what, I believe, to be the best system of government this world knows.  It’s not perfect, we all know, but no other system allows as much freedom, as much opportunity, as our does.  What other system can be named where people are allowed to prosper from their own hard work, their own creativity, their own willingness and determination to succeed as this one?  Where even people who rail and protest it can be heard without fear of recrimination?  Where even the lazy, the irresponsible, the unmotivated, and the uncaring can live in a prosperity that much of the rest of the world would envy?

     America as a country and as a people,  has always thrived because its ideals were the greatest that man can aspire to, the chief of which – to serve and worship God freely – were unlike any else in the world.  The things we valued: Our Freedom, Our Families, Our Country, and most of all Our God were on full display and we lived by their tenets.  We were exceptional – thus the term American Exceptionalism was born – for those very ideals, and it’s why every American citizen has an ancestry that originated somewhere else. 

     Our country is in trouble, as our people are, but we are not beyond hope, are not so far distant that we can’t hear the voice of Our Great God calling to us to step foot upon His path once more.

A Thought on Heroism

     Years ago, you could look at this country, and could say that one of the things that really made this country great was it’s people, but what made us, our people, so great.  A number of things, but perhaps the one thing that really set us apart, was our willingness to try.  We were a people who made an attempt to live extraordinary lives, and to do extraordinary things.  We were not afraid to make an attempt, and we were not afraid to fail.  When I look around me now, I see a lot of people who have the appearance of trying, of making an attempt, to do something, but upon closer examination I see that in many the attempt is half-hearted at best, and at its worst, nothing more than a staged ploy to appear to be what they truly have no intention of being.
     At one time, our people were heroic, not only our soldiers and first responders, but everyday people.  You don’t agree with this statement?  Ralph Waldo Emerson said that a hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.  As a people we used to symbolize that mentality in that we were willing to go a little further, work a little harder, do a little more than what was required.  The farmer, the steel-worker, the truck driver, the housewife, the factory-worker, people everywhere showed what true heroism is all about in that they were willing to do what all hero’s do.  They faced life with all its hardships and heartaches resolute and stalwart.  It wasn’t that they hadn’t known defeat, but in the face of it were undaunted.  They dug in, bent their back, and pushed back even harder against the waves of adversity and misfortune that threatened to overwhelm them.  These people, these everyday hero’s, were unafraid to try, and who never failed to make an attempt to do and to overcome any duty or obstacle that came their way.
     I’ve often wondered what’s the difference between those great people of yesteryear, and the people of today.  Was it the times they lived in that called them to be heroic, to be courageous?  Were the times they lived in so much worse than the times in which we live now?  I don’t believe that environment, circumstances, events, are the only things that give rise to heroism, but rather that heroism is a product of belief, faith, and trust.  To be a hero is to be someone who does what needs to be done no matter the cost; to be someone who is willing to sacrifice oneself for something far bigger than themselves..
     Throughout history, heroic people, have always been the standard-bearers of courage, honesty, and truth.  As a culture, as a people, we have always believed right or wrongly that our hero’s hold all the best traits of character, and in truth they do.  For most of our history, our country has consisted of a quietly heroic majority who have gone about the business of upholding the finest and best that our country has to offer.
     What has happened to our people?  How did we devolve from being a people of quiet heroism, and inner strength, willing to try, to attempt the impossible, to becoming a people who think that the federal government should take care of them, and that the rich should share with them?  When did heroism become a display of depravity, debauchery, and disgrace rather than a courageous, valiant, and united stand against evil?  
     I said earlier that heroism is a product of belief, faith, and trust.  Heroism has its roots in the ground of truth, and no person, and no people, can be heroic who don’t have an understanding, an awareness, and a commitment to truth, and their in, I believe, lies the difference between the heroic and the destitute within our nation, and even within our world.  
     I close with this last thought.  I believe that Jesus Christ was and is, and will forever be the embodiment of truth and therefore heroism, and christians, in my opinion, should be some of the most heroic people on earth.  I know that not everyone will agree with me, and that’s okay, but just consider for a moment that I might be right.  
     Here’s some food for further thought:   

     It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually try to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt, speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago (April 10, 1899), in Swindoll, Hand Me Another Brick, p. 79.

     A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
Christopher Reeve

 

A hero is somebody who is selfless, who is generous in spirit, who just tries to give back as much as possible and help people. A hero to me is someone who saves people and who really deeply cares.
Debi Mazar

 

Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.
Bob Riley

Excerpt from “What Really Ails America” By William J. Bennett

     There are things we need to realize as citizens of what has always been called the greatest country on earth.  The freedoms we enjoy have been fought for, and others have paid a price for them.  With freedom comes responsibility.  We have a responsibility to use our freedom to build, to make better, to improve, and to help and love people around us.  Our country is great because our people are great, but if our great people do not stand up for what they believe in; if they’re not willing to fight for what’s right, then our great people have ceased to be great, and our country will cease to be great.  You have a question to answer.  Will you be great?  Will you stand for what you believe in?  Will you fight for what’s right? 
     We can no longer afford to be a people who leave it to others to do what we should do ourselves.  You can make a difference.  You have the ability to touch someone with your life.  You can teach, You can inform, You can help, You can love.  You have no excuse.  Will you make the choice to be great?
     We must give voice, hands, and feet to our faith, to our beliefs, to our values every day that we live.  God does not call His people to stand aside, to lay down, to give way to evil without so much as a by your leave, and if you think He does then you had better ask yourself whether you truly know Him or not. 
     The following is an excerpt from a speech that really shows where our country is at.  A line in the sand is being drawn, and our country (Our Great Country) hangs in the balance.  Which side of that line are you going to be on?

Last year I compiled the Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, a statistical portrait of American behavioral trends of the past three decades. Among the findings: Since 1960, while the gross domestic product has nearly tripled, violent crime has increased at least 560%. Divorces have more than doubled. The percentage of children in single-parent homes had tripled. And by the end of the decade 40% of all American births and 80% of minority births will occur out of wedlock. These are not good things to get used to.

In 1940 teachers identified the top problems in America’s schools as: Talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise and running in the hall. In 1990, teachers listed drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, suicide, rape and assault. These are not good things to get used to, either.

There is a coarseness, a callousness and a cynicism to our era. The worst of it has to do with our children. Our culture seems almost dedicated to the corruption of the young. We have become inured to the cultural rot that is setting in. People are losing their capacity for shock, disgust and outrage…

The ancients called our problem acedia, an aversion to spiritual things and an undue concern for the external and the worldly. Acedia also is the seventh capital sin–sloth–but it does not mean mere laziness. The slothful heart is stepped in the worldly and carnal, hates the spiritual and wants to be free of its demands.

When the novelist Walker Percy was asked what concerned him most about America’s future, he answered, “Probably the fear of seeing America, with all its great strength and beauty and freedom…gradually subside into decay through default and be defeated, not by the communist movement, but from within, from weariness, boredom, cynicism, greed and in the end helplessness before its great problems.”

I realize this is a tough indictment. If my diagnosis is wrong, then why, amid our economic prosperity and military security, do almost 70% of the public say we are off track? I submit that only when we turn to the right things–enduring, noble, spiritual things–will life get better.

Most important, we must return religion to its proper place. Religion provides us with moral bearings, and the solution to our chief problem of spiritual impoverishment depends on spiritual renewal. The surrendering of strong beliefs, in our private and public lives, has demoralized society.

Today, much of society ridicules and mocks those who are serious about their faith. America’s only respectable form of bigotry is bigotry against religious people. And the only reason for hatred of religion is that it forces us to confront matters many would prefer to ignore.

Today we must carry on a new struggle for the country we love. We must push hard against an age that is pushing hard against us. If we have full employment and greater economic growth–if we have cities of gold and alabaster–but our children have not learned how to walk in goodness, justice and mercy, then the American experiment, no matter how gilded, will have failed.

Do not surrender. Get mad. Get in the fight.

Excerpts from What Really Ails America, condensed from a speech by William J. Bennett, delivered December 7, 1993 at the Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C., reprinted in Reader’s Digest, April, 1994.

Is America in Decline?

     Please vote.  I’d like to know what you think.