The Cook Shack alerted me to a Peggy Noohan article. In writing for the WSJ, Ms. Noohan speaks to an issue that will ultimately, and irrevocably, change the very nature of our country. I believe her words are prophetic:
"We are not assimilating our immigrants patriotic now. We are assimilating them culturally. "
"So far we are assimilating our immigrants economically, too. "
"But we are not communicating love of country. We are not giving them the great legend of our country. We are losing that great legend. "
"Because we do not communicate to our immigrants, legal and illegal, that they have joined something special, some of them, understandably, get the impression they've joined not a great enterprise but a big box store. "
But it's not just the immigrants, it's all our children. We no longer communicate the greatness of this country, the absolute wonder of a powerful free land and the impact it has made on an entire world. A population that sacrifices itself for others and yet demands nothing in return.
"We fought a war to free slaves. We sent millions of white men to battle and destroyed a portion of our nation to free millions of black men. What kind of nation does this? We went to Europe, fought, died and won, and then taxed ourselves to save our enemies with the Marshall Plan. What kind of nation does this?
Don't ever doubt for a second what would have happened sixty-five years ago if the Arsenal of Democracy had stood on the sidelines.
"Soviet communism stalked the world and we were the ones who steeled ourselves and taxed ourselves to stop it. Again: What kind of nation does this? "
Answer: a nation that has faith in what is right. And because of that faith, a united people who recognize a common good and respond in kind to overcome any and all obstacles.
"They're not noticing that the old text--the legend, the myth--isn't being taught anymore. Only the commentary is. But if all the commentary is doubting and critical, how will our kids know what to love and revere?"
The United States is the oldest continuous functioning government in the world. Our Constitution has withstood every challenge from without, but it will succumb to the cancer of indifference.
"Those who teach, and who think for a living about American history, need to be told: Keep the text, teach the text, and only then, if you must, deconstruct the text."
The issue isn't our survival as a nation, rather what kind of nation will survive the rampant narcissism of our culture? How can we maintain a national identity when the principles for the very founding of the republic are scorned and portrayed as lies?
"When you don't love something you lose it. If we do not teach new Americans to love their country, and not for braying or nationalistic reasons but for reasons of honest and thoughtful appreciation, and gratitude, for a history that is something new in the long story of man, then we will begin to lose it. "
We already are traveling down that long road. The immigration controversy is only a symptom of this disease. The precepts and responsibilities of a free nation under God are no longer being taught. Our moral underpinnings have been abandoned and nothing but relativistic rot is being taught to replace it. America as we know it will disappear unless a tremendous effort is undertaken to restore it.
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