Tomorrow we observe a day of festivity in acknowledging the freedom(s) that we share as Americans. We are indeed a blessed people and it is fitting that we do so. Never before has a nation been so favored.
At the same time, questions become unavoidable. Are the freedoms and blessings that we enjoy the result of intense political maneuvering - or do they tend rather to reflect the benefits of a culture committed to moral, spiritual, and personal integrity (in other words, the outworking of divine blessing)?
If the latter, do we not risk forfeiting divine beneficience in our abandonment of causal dynamic? Or, again, do we miss the underlying principle of cause and effect in seeking to unilaterally impose Western standards of democracy on the rest of the world? The results have sometimes been disastrous (ask the residents of various nations in Sub-Saharan Africa or southeastern Asia). Indeed, do we, in our frequently considerable naivete, presume a consuming desire by everyone else to adopt an American middle class social structure and lifestyle?
Given the foregoing, might we not do well to again acquaint ourselves with the principles by which mankind finds meaningful governance and societal construct if we are to see the blessings of our own favored state continue?
Finally - do we desire freedom, justice and blessing for the world at large? Of course. Are we yet to a point of realism, however, in understanding the requisites of such state in terms of values systems, relational agenda, functional mindset, ad infinitum? Our present Mideast dilemma should tell us something here.
Just thinking.
In the meantime, we do wish you an enjoyable holiday!
Burl Ratzsch
