Some Perspective for this Fourth of July

I find myself (like I am sure so many of you do) continually at a loss for words these days. I look for solace in old books, and new—including Beck’s new take on Common Sense,Mark Levin’s Liberty And Tyranny, and W. Cleon Skousen's The 5,000 Year Leap.Through it all, I’ve been constantly drawn to the words of Kipling’s If (“If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you…”). Now, more than ever, we need to keep our heads about us, and to focus on what is fundamental and necessary to fix this mess.

This calm approach is especially needed as we end another turbulent week of death (e.g., McMahon, Fawcett, and Jackson), irresponsible behavior (e.g., Mark Sanford), revolution at home (e.g., Obama’s legislative bullet train to utopia), and revolution abroad (e.g., Iran and Honduras). As we head toward the long, July 4th weekend, I would like to offer some perspective.

Every problem has a starting point. Understanding the starting point is the first step toward solving the problem.

I believe the starting point for our current dilemma will be found in the 1880s: the decade in which American scholars began debating the socialist ideas that were sweeping Europe; the decade when Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt first rose to prominence in academia and politics; and the decade in which FDR’s generation was born. Two of the leading debaters were William Graham Sumner, the Chair of Political and Social Science at Yale, and Edward Bellamy, the author of the third-largest selling work of fiction in America in the 19th Century—the utopian novel, Looking Backward: 2000-1887.While Bellamy wrote about a utopian future brought about through socialism, Sumner wrote about the devastation such a system would bring to the freedom and wealth of the middle-class because of the burdens and sacrifices they would be called to make in order to create and maintain such a system.

Those of us who thought this hundred-year debate ended with the Reagan Revolution listen in horror as these old arguments shout at us again from today’s 24/7 news cycle. Unfortunately, we are forced once more to fight against the utopian nonsense that government control of our material well-being can wipe all our cares away, and comes without consequences for our freedom.

Those of us who cherish our God-given freedoms, and who see ourselves as “forgotten” in this whole mess, need to focus on four simple words—What; When; Why; and How—and the questions they represent. The path toward finding the answers to these questions is reflected in the following four quotes:

1. What—“…no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but…by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.”—James Madison and George Mason, Virginia Declaration of Rights, June, 1776.

2. When—“If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man….”—C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

3. Why—“Conservatism means clear common sense, which equally rejects the fanaticism of precedent and the fanaticism of change. It would not have midnight last just because it exists; and yet it knows that dawn comes not in a flash, but gradually…. So the conservative is the real statesman. He brings things to pass in a way that lasts and does good.” Albert Beveridge, Historian and U.S. Senator, from a Senate floor speech, 1905.

4. How—“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at its testing point.”—C.S. Lewis.

What we need to do is revisit the fundamental principles that formed the foundation of our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and our civil society. We need to understand these principles, and again have the confidence that they are historically and logically correct. Then, we need to implement them to solve our problems and improve society.

When do we need to do it? We are barreling down the wrong road at break-neck speed. We need to stop right now (but no later than the election of 2010) and turn back to those principles!

Why do we need to do it? Our society can not survive the “fanaticism of change” now enveloping us without the sound common sense of our principles, calmly applied to today’s problems. Society needs the steadying hand of true Conservatism, wisely applied.

How do we do it? The mundane, yet important, work of freedom in our daily lives—at work, at home, and in our neighborhoods--has always been hard, but it has always been courageous and, ultimately, rewarding, too. We must, once again, summon the simple courage of our convictions in our fundamental principles, and act on those convictions. It is both that hard, and that simple.

Remember as we celebrate July 4th, that our founders didn’t end the Declaration with “…hey, this was fun! See you when the war’s over!” They ended that document with a solemn pledge heard around the world and through the ages—the pledge to each other of their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.

It is time we keep our heads about us, and calmly make this same pledge. Then, we need to engage together in the hard work of fixing our problems (and the mess Obama is creating) in a manner consistent with our principles.

Have a Happy 4th!

Ed Hubbard