Will America Be Able to Survive?

“Did Trump create the current climate, or did the current climate create Trump?”

Will America survive its current chaos? I’m not talking about the pandemic, or Donald Trump, or the absurdities of cancel culture, or the vitriol spewed on Facebook about masks. I’m not even talking about peaceful protests turned violent, eight children murdered in a single night, or policemen killing Blacks and mobs attacking police.

These are symptoms, horrible, destructive symptoms, of a society that has lost its civility because its people have lost their virtue.

Charle C. Haynes in an article, Without Virtue, Freedom Fails, asks an uncomfortable question: “Did Trump create the current climate-or did the current climate create Trump?” He continues, “Perhaps soul-searching about how we got to this unfortunate place should begin by asking the American people to take a good, hard look in the mirror.”

But Trump is not alone in exposing the fault lines splintering our country. A rabid crowd of far-left political opponents have been screaming for his blood since he was elected, at the expense of putting the good of the country below their political desires. Attacks from both sides of the aisle have been vindictive, angry, petty, and demeaning.

We are a country so divided and so intolerant that we are unwilling to attribute any redeeming qualities to the other side of whatever issue happens to be fueling our outrage of the moment. Twitter has become our national soundbite for airing grievances and tweeting political commentary. We can’t discuss politics, religion, race, or even wearing a mask without the conversation deteriorating into self-righteous rants.

The ability to debate differences reasonably, intelligently, and open-mindedly and to compromise when it’s for the common good are the hallmarks of a civil society. Henry Ward Beecher said, “There is no liberty for men who know not how to govern themselves.” The ability to govern ourselves relies on collective moral behavior that is the foundation of civility. This moral behavior, or virtue, is a safeguard against the sort of chaos and anarchy that make it impossible to live freely in our pursuit of happiness.

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.” Benjamin Franklin

But what is virtue? Do we, as Haynes suggested, need to take a good, hard look in the mirror before we rush to judgment and outrage?

Virtue encompasses characteristics such as integrity, compassion, honesty, goodwill, gratitude, humility and courage; traits that lead us to value life and view others with kindness, dignity and respect. Without gratitude and humility, we overlook the good in search of the perfect. Without courage, we back away from our convictions if it costs us anything at all. Without integrity and honesty, we become corrupt. And without compassion, we don’t value human life enough to be horrified and sickened when it is snuffed out as heartlessly and casually as a bullet snuffing out the life of a baby.

Virtue is essential if we are to survive and thrive and continue this great experiment in freedom. But virtue can be corrupted through self-indulgence, selfishness, and hatred. Aristotle said, “A person can improve his or her character by preaching self-discipline, while a good character can be corrupted by repeated self-indulgence.”

Have we become so self-indulgent, so determined to claim our rights and our privileges, that we’ve forgotten the path to greatness is never paved with hatred, resentment, and intolerance? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed the path to greatness was paved by love: “Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

You can look at country after country to see that abandonment of virtue is the abandonment of an ability to live freely and safely. In writing about the rise of Nazi Germany and how successful the Nazi propaganda machine was, Austrian-British economist F.A. Hayek says, “It will be those whose vague and imperfectly formed ideas are easily swayed and whose passions and emotions are readily aroused who will thus swell the ranks of the totalitarian party.”

When we lack virtue, we are easily swayed by the passions and emotions swirling around us, caught up in their vortex because our own character is not sufficiently grounded. We lack the humility to see others as valuable and we lack the courage to seek truth when it might conflict with the narrative we’ve chosen to embrace.

“Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue.” Samuel Adams

The salvation of America doesn’t hinge on the upcoming November elections. Regardless of who wins or what programs are implemented or which policies are embraced, it is ultimately the virtue of our people that will determine the course of our country.

Some of my friends say, We are doomed. Others say, We have terrible problems corrupted by an irreversible past and we need an overhaul. But it won’t be government granting us rights, or money buying us freedom, or people ripping away our past in hopes of obliterating it that will bring about our salvation. It will be our ability, as a people, to embrace, individually and collectively, the virtues that grant liberty and justice through transformations of the heart.

Alexis de Tocqueville said, “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

I hope we haven’t ceased to be good, because in being good, we recognize and celebrate the goodness in everybody else. Maybe I’m an optimist, but I still see goodness everywhere, despite the violence and mayhem assaulting us daily. I said earlier that as a country we have lost our virtue, but that’s only partially true. Expressions of kindness and generosity still abound. Maybe if we renew our efforts to nurture the best within us, America not only can survive but can be better for it.

“You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.” — Michelle Obama