It is said that those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. I believe this, and I think it a travesty that most schools make history a very dull and dry subject so that most students are bored to tears and learn nothing. I'm also saddened that great historical speeches are not included in course curriculum, and that I, at 41 years of age, have only just now read some of the most amazing speeches by our founding fathers. Would that I and many others had been required to read them during our formative years. Perhaps the world would now be a better place if we had.
These speeches from the past are full of insightful instruction and advice that America has blatantly disregarded, most probably from ignorance. It is amazing that these voices from hundreds of years ago are so very relevant to many of the different and difficult issues facing present-day America. If only we had been aware of these glimpses into our future and the evils that could befall us! Below I will cite a few passages from 3 I find relevant. I encourage you to read each in its entirety and hope you will see the monumental truths in each.
For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken...we shall be made a story and a by-word throughout the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God...We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us til we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going. -- John Winthrop 1630
John Winthrop was Puritan settler fleeing religious prosecution in England. He foresaw this country as a shining example of what liberty could be, and assumed the church would lead the way. Maybe if we had listened. Most of the religious institutions of of today are highly segregated social clubs full of judgement and hypocrisy. Its members sit in multi-million dollar ampitheaters on padded pews in their designer finery and listen to someone tell them what the Word of God says and how they should think and act. Few have actually read the Word with any understanding, but have instead followed only those passages which were quoted and used to make the speaker's point.
The spirit of religion kills everything it touches; it creates conflict and fosters forced conformity, breeding hatred and intolerance. The uniqueness of individual expression cannot survive this rigid and hostile environment. The mandates to walk in love and peace, to esteem one's fellow man as highly as oneself, and to give and help the needy have been supplanted in a debacle of pompous self-righteousness, feigned piety, and outright ignorance. It has gotten so bad that when a Christian speaker is announced I often cringe, loathing the blasphemies and stupidity I will hear!
Let me now take a more comprehensive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally....The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty....It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party
passions. --George Washington 1792 Farewell Address
Hmmm...This looks a lot like what we have today...2 parties bickering and fighting, a president that does whatever he pleases whether the American people or congress agree..widespread corruption in the goverment and corporate arenas and increased interference in personal liberties and what are supposed to be free market systems. We have only to look at the looming economic crisis to see the impact this is having upon our government and our society. I feel like the huge beauracracy of goverment is in a feeding frenzy, preying upon the citizens it is supposed to protect and serve, selling us out to other countries through uncontrolled spending and debt, along with a complete disreguard for the common good, all for the sake of ego and profit.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together...The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present -- and is gravely to be regarded....Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow. -- Dwight Eisenhower 1961 Farewell Address
Does this hit home for anyone else? The military industrial complex is here, and it is strangling us with its waste and mismanagement to the tune of 1+ trillion per year. Money, which I might add, we do not have so we borrow from other countries with no possible means of repayment other than extremely high and oppressive taxation. Homeland Security now has the right to spy on the citizens of this country, violating their privacy and human rights with the ability to detain them indefinitely as it sees fit on nothing more than suspicion. I dont remember voting for this...do you?
An alert and knowledgeable citizenry got lost somewhere in federal mandates and regulations, taxation, and deception. Our antiquated and bloated public education system ranks as one of the lowest in any developed nation. Jobs go by the thousands to foreigners who work for far less pay. Phd's are working at WalMart for minimum wage because they cant find a job in their field. Instead of brain drain we have brain waste. How stupid!
Politicians are paid for by corporate leaders in Armani suits, who pillage our natural resources and demand runaway spending on nothing that benefits "WE THE PEOPLE". Will Mother Earth continue to support us as we rape, plunder, poison, and abuse her? In her quest for survival, she is rising up with increasingly deadly displays of the magnitude of her suffering at our hands. What will it take to pay off the mortgaging of our future generations? Will they be forced to face our creditors calling loans due by taking over institutions and destroying their liberties? Is anyone else in the least bit frightened of becoming the insolvent phantom of tomorrow? I'd really like to know that I'm not the only one.
In ignoring the voices that speak from the past we have likely created a future darker than any forewarned. And if we continue to do nothing about it...be afraid...be very afraid.
