82Marine89
01-27-2008, 11:48 AM
The west’s current battle with radical Islam has revealed the worst in both the west and the world of Islam. Obviously from Islam we have seen the intolerance, hatred, oppression and evil in its nature. But, from the west we have seen revealed the hollowness of its soul and a complete lack of self-regard as so many western nations allow the evil of Islam to attack them from within as well as from without. The west has lost its spine to stand up for its own principles, in fact has thrown away all pretext that it even has principles worth preserving.
Ben Franklin is reported to have said that for the American people the Founders had created a Republic but he added the caution “if you can keep it.” By that he meant, of course, that it was up to future Americans to maintain the system grounded upon the first principles the Founders bequeathed to us. The same can be said of any society for if a society throws away or strays too far from its beginnings it becomes a materially different entity. Now sometimes it’s a good thing when a society strays from its genesis, to be sure. Leaving behind certain prejudices, rectifying the suppression of ideas or ending the oppression of minorities is the mark of a maturing, benevolent society. But, too much change can also be a bad thing. And change merely for changes sake is not a legitimate goal.
This dual reliance on conserving tradition while moving forward to liberalize society is familiar ground for the west in general and the United States in particular. The Founders clearly believed that both liberalization and conservatism could be enshrined in a modern state. After all, the whole thrust of the Founders’ ideology was that they were combining a preservation of the best of English tradition with the liberalization of government by the consent of the people and the ideals of religious liberty.
To the American Founders, these were principles well worth fighting for. And it should be remembered that if the Revolution had failed, each and every member of that Founding era would have suffered severe consequences for their support for the war. It also should be remembered than many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence did, indeed, suffer the consequences of their war even as they won it. Some lost their fortunes, some the lives of their families, some their health. So, sacrifices were made in support of these first principles.
But what do we have today? We have the same west that invented freedom of religion, freedom of the press, democracy, freedom of speech and liberty allowing an enemy to use those principles against it. We have western nations that are prepared to allow their own first principles to die a slow death as ideas antithetical to such principles are allowed to take a foothold among them.
Click for full text... (http://www.therealitycheck.org/2008/01/25/has-the-west-lost-its-manhood/)
Ben Franklin is reported to have said that for the American people the Founders had created a Republic but he added the caution “if you can keep it.” By that he meant, of course, that it was up to future Americans to maintain the system grounded upon the first principles the Founders bequeathed to us. The same can be said of any society for if a society throws away or strays too far from its beginnings it becomes a materially different entity. Now sometimes it’s a good thing when a society strays from its genesis, to be sure. Leaving behind certain prejudices, rectifying the suppression of ideas or ending the oppression of minorities is the mark of a maturing, benevolent society. But, too much change can also be a bad thing. And change merely for changes sake is not a legitimate goal.
This dual reliance on conserving tradition while moving forward to liberalize society is familiar ground for the west in general and the United States in particular. The Founders clearly believed that both liberalization and conservatism could be enshrined in a modern state. After all, the whole thrust of the Founders’ ideology was that they were combining a preservation of the best of English tradition with the liberalization of government by the consent of the people and the ideals of religious liberty.
To the American Founders, these were principles well worth fighting for. And it should be remembered that if the Revolution had failed, each and every member of that Founding era would have suffered severe consequences for their support for the war. It also should be remembered than many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence did, indeed, suffer the consequences of their war even as they won it. Some lost their fortunes, some the lives of their families, some their health. So, sacrifices were made in support of these first principles.
But what do we have today? We have the same west that invented freedom of religion, freedom of the press, democracy, freedom of speech and liberty allowing an enemy to use those principles against it. We have western nations that are prepared to allow their own first principles to die a slow death as ideas antithetical to such principles are allowed to take a foothold among them.
Click for full text... (http://www.therealitycheck.org/2008/01/25/has-the-west-lost-its-manhood/)