The reason for American Exceptionalism

By Tom Quiner

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNUc8nuo7HI]

Why has America been exceptional?

It is because we have embraced a set of exceptional values.  These values have defined and shaped our greatness.  The video clip above, taken at a forum at the University of Denver in May, talks about this very subject.  West Coast talk show host, Dennis Prager, is the speaker.

With a watershed election coming up in November, it is worth reflecting on what we believe as a nation.

America is the only nation explicitly founded in the name of Judeo-Christian values.  God handed the building blocks of the law to Moses in the form of the Ten Commandments.  Jesus refined the law by teaching us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to respect life, to forgive.

Our Founding Fathers built a nation based on these values.  They expressed them clearly.  Every human being enjoys a fundamental right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  These rights, proclaimed our Founders, flow from God, not man.

They are immutable, inalienable, sacred.

“In God We Trust” was established as America’s motto.  It is so fundamental to whom we are, that we engrave it on our coins and print it on our currency.

In their wisdom, our Founding Fathers refused to establish a state religion.  But they were adamant that there be no separation between state and God.  To that end, they carved the Commandments and sacred scripture onto the doors and walls of our most important government institutions.  Congressional sessions begin with prayer.

Our fourth President and author of the Constitution, James Madison, hammered this point home:

We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.

This is a great country because we have embraced superior values.  We believe human rights flow from God, not man.  The concept of good and evil, right and wrong flow from God.

I find comfort in knowing that the vast majority of Americans embrace the same Judeo-Christian values that made America great.  And yet I am saddened that liberal elites have successfully replaced these values with those of secular Europe.  They have not done it by the ballot box, but by judicial fiat.

America is embroiled in a terrible conflict.  I’m not talking about war or the economy.  I’m talking about who we are as a nation.

Our government says we no longer have a right to life.  Abortion is the law of the land.

The notion of what is liberty has changed.  In today’s headlines, elites tell us liberty is about taxpayer-funded abortions.

The pursuit of happiness is no longer about property and personal prosperity.  It’s about celebrating alternative lifestyles.

And God is systematically being removed from the public square by liberal pressure groups.  If you’re a college professor who states that you think marriage should be between a man and a woman, you may lose your job as a result of the power of these pressure groups.

Pressure is being waged from the top down in America to discard the Judeo-Christian value system upon which the country was built.

Is this the America you really want?

Three value systems dominate the world:  Judeo-Christian; European secularism; and Islam.

The most successful value system by any standard has been Judeo-Christian.  America’s greatness lies before us to the extent that we remain true to the Judeo-Christian values that have historically defined us.  That greatness has been defined by a proactive love for liberty.  America has spread freedom to millions at tremendous cost.  This nation is wiling to sacrifice in the name of goodness and decency, just as Christ showed us.

If we continue on the path liberal elites are taking us on, we will decline.  Simply look at Europe.  The continent is dying demographically and spiritually.

I love this country.  Like America, I’m an eternal optimist.  This November’s election is the first step to slowing our drift into European secularism.  Get out and vote.  If you don’t, you have lost your right to complain.

God bless.