The American Dream

I'm sitting in Regan National Airport waiting on the arrival of a Ukrainian exchange student. What kinds of thoughts must be going through his head? What would it be like to come to America today from the Ukraine? What is America to a foreign military officer? Will he be overwhelmed by our freedom, or unimpressed with our society? What will he be expecting? What will surprise him?

The American Battleground

Among many other reading projects on my list. I have begun reading A Patriot's History of the United States by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen. I'd like to share with you a brief portion of it's introduction.

Throughout much of the twentieth century, there was a subtle and, at times, obvious campaign to separate virtue from talent, to divide character from success. The latest in this line of attack is the emphasis on diversity—that somehow merely having different skin shades or national origins makes America special. But it was not the color of the skin of people who came here that made them special, it was the content of their character. Americans remain a beacon of liberty, not merely because it’s institutions have generally remained strong, its citizens free, and its attitudes tolerant, but because it, among most of the developed world, still cries out as a nation, “Character counts.” Personal liberties in America are genuine because of the character of the honest judges and attorneys who, for the most part, still make up the judiciary, and because of the personal integrity of large numbers of local, state and national lawmakers.
No society is free from corruption. The difference is that in America, corruption is viewed as the exception, not the rule. And when light is shown on it, corruption is viciously attacked. Freedom still attracts people to the fountain of hope that is America, but freedom is not enough. Without responsibility and virtue, freedom becomes a soggy anarchy, an incomplete licentiousness. This is what has made Americans different: their fusion of freedom and integrity endows Americans with their sense of right, often when no other nation in the world shares their perception.

Character does indeed count, but I like what C.S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, “These, then, are the two points I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, they know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in. "

The Law of Nature reveals to us our sinful condition, that everyone of us lacks the character qualities so highly valued in America. Only through Christ is true character added to our lives, and once it is added in our individual lives, it can manifest in society.