The United States of America was founded on Judeo-Christian ideals and principles. This is not a political position statement or even my opinion; it is obvious, well-known, proven, verifiable historical fact. There are those who argue that it isn't so, but there are also those who argue that the Earth is flat – and sometimes the two arguments share the same source.
The political Left denies this basis of the founding, and goes to the maximum lengths to disprove, or at least discredit, every aspect of it. The founding was illegitimate because the founders were exclusively white and male, they say. Many of the founders were slaveholders, and thus their every word on every subject is to be discounted, they say. Christianity is but one of hundreds of religions, and basing an entire nation and its constitution on just one religion is obvious discrimination, they say.
These arguments are almost always completely false, and sometimes laughable. They're based on a literally desperate need for things to be... not the way they are. The Left bases almost every position it takes on a fantastic concept, a bit of unreality. Common sense has no home on the Left; it cannot survive there. Science has no home on the Left; it can only survive when it becomes capitalized Science, a holy mixture of data collection and politics. (Which, of course, is 100% politics.) Logic has no home on the Left; it withers in the absence of straightforward thinking.
But at the root of what the Left says and does is one fundamental difference between the political Left and the rest of the world. The political Left believes in the perfectibility of mankind, without the intervention of a higher power, other than government.
The founders held no such superstition. Steeped in Christian principles, they well knew the fallibility and foibles of the people they sought to organize and govern. In Federalist #51, Madison had something to say on this subject.
But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.
Just so. Men (meaning human beings) are not angels; they are not, and cannot ever hope to be, perfect. The acknowledgment by the founders of this obvious fact was not meant to degrade humanity, but rather to recognize what has always been clear to any unbiased observer – men (meaning humans) are, in the parlance of the Christian church, sinners. The apostle Paul told the Romans, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” This is the basis of Judeo-Christian thinking, the very substance on which our society rests, and at the same time it is the antithesis of the political Left.
Men are not, and will never be, perfect. Men require laws, limits, rules, sanctions, penalties, rewards, a sense of good and evil, a belief in damnation and redemption. There must be right and wrong, and not 50 shades of grey.
The political Left vehemently denies all this. Instead, the Left conjures a vision of perfection at birth for every human, one that is despoiled by exposure to the concepts of sin and forgiveness. The Left believes that mankind can be restored to perfection – if only the right people are in charge of things.
It would seem that, to date, the right people haven't yet been in charge of things.
