A Free People Cannot Survive Under a Republican Constitution Unless They Remain Virtuous and Morally Strong.
I don’t have much time to elaborate on my studies of this principle considering the inordinate amount of time I spent on the last post. But I will share one thing. Benjamin Franklin is quoted in ‘The 5000 Year Leap’ as saying, “…that general virtue is more probably to be expected and obtained from the education of youth, than from the exhortations of adult persons; bad habits and vices of the mind being, like diseases of the body, more easily prevented [in youth] than cured [in adults]. (pg. 55) If we are going to affect change, we will need to start with the youth, just like the opposition (this is my term for socialists, communists, progressives, liberals) did early in the 20th century which has brought about our current state of affairs. If we focus our efforts in trying to change and “win-over” adults (like our legislators), we will change very little.
Benjamin Franklin is further quoted as saying, “…that talents for the education of youth are the gift of God; and that he on whom they are bestowed, whenever a way is opened for the use of them, is as strongly called as if he heard a voice from heaven…” (pg. 55) We are the experts in our own home, and I believe God has given us the specific talents we need to raise and educate our children. He is calling us as if with a voice from heaven to do good with this raising and educating. We must teach Virtue and Morality, we must teach good vs. bad, true vs. false, right vs. wrong. We cannot depend on others to do so.
2 comments:
While reading this chapter, I was struck by how effective and easy it was to lose our "public virtue" and "morals" by taking them out of our public schools.
I liked Jefferson's quote, "Virtue is not hereditary."
Skousen goes on to say that it has to be earned and learned. I have focused on teaching it to my children but earning it?
I also was struck with Thomas Paines statement about there being a spirit of equality and public virtue unheard of in other nations because "the people of America are a people of property; almost every man is a freeholder."
Do you think this affects us today?
I whole heartedly agree that taking public virtue and morals from our public schools has been a big corrupter. But then what does that say about us as parents? We should never relax and allow others to teach our children what we want them to know right? Even in teaching our children about religion I think too many parents rely on allowing their church to teach their children Godly principles and don’t teach their children themselves. As Michael said, “We cannot depend on others to do so.” I suppose you could say teaching our children virtue ourselves is one way to “earn” it. Another way to earn it is when we are all alone and no one is watching are we living in accordance with our principles? Do our children witness this?
In reviewing this chapter the part that stood out to me was in the section “The Tide of Reform “(p.52) where it says, “Many Americans became extremely self-conscious about their lack of “Public virtue” because of non-involvement in the affairs of government. They began to acknowledge their obsession with self-interest, the neglect of public affairs, and their disdain for the needs of the community as a whole.”
Wow! Is that not how we are now?! Very few people I know want to even think about our government – they want to turn a blind eye toward it rather then see what’s going really going on. Self-interest is rampant… do both parents really have to work to make ends meet or are they too self-interested in material things? (I will expand on this thought more in my blog) Also, what featured big on the news last night? It was what famous stars died with tributes to them and their greatness – never mind what new legislation our legislators are going to try to pass today and how it will affect each and every one of us! Too many have neglected public affairs for so long now it seems like we are past the point of no return. I could go on and on but this is all for now! :)
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