(Originally printed in the Detroit Free Press)
If one had fictionalized the confluence of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday today with the inauguration of Barack Obama tomorrow, no one would believe it.
Yet America has a long history of remarkable auspicious days. Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4 -- 50 years to the day the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Battle of Gettysburg was won on July 3.
As we celebrate the King holiday today, we should focus on King's pivotal role in moving the country toward the dream of racial equality.
The Declaration of Independence declares as a self-evident truth the First Principle: "all men are created equal." Of course, at the time of the Declaration, that self-evident truth was honored in the breach more than in reality. Jefferson and other founders owned slaves; indentured servants were common; women were disenfranchised.
However, the principle of equality was so powerful that over the course of time it assaulted and eventually tore down the bulwarks of inequality. Even before the nation's birth, many founders railed against the hypocrisy of slavery. Abolitionists continued this tradition.
In 1863 Abraham Lincoln reaffirmed this principle in the Gettysburg Address when he said the nation was "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Armed with this First Principle, Lincoln and the Union Army eventually liberated the slaves. Yet the promise of equality was quashed with the Tilden-Hayes presidential election of 1876 and the abandonment of Reconstruction thereafter.
Not until King, along with many other courageous leaders and foot soldiers, was America forced to fully confront racism.
King's efforts were deeply rooted in the principle of equality. Writing from a jail cell in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963, he predicted African Americans "will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom."
He explained: "One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage."
Inspired by this understanding and the struggles of the civil rights movement, Congress passed a series of laws, and America has moved -- all too slowly -- to embrace the full ramifications of equality. Obama's inauguration will be its most vivid embodiment.
Our work, however, is not done. Our schools, museums, politicians and the media should reflect on King's achievements and pay homage to his role in making America accountable to the First Principle. To fulfill his legacy, all Americans need to be versed in the First Principle of equality and continue King's demand that it be unequivocally applied.
For more on American history and our First Principles, visit:
http://www.americassurvivalguide.com/
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Resurrecting the Language
For far too long, our culture has done its best to convert our conversations and literature into generic, bland, and 6th grade reading levels. Add to that the internet's penchant for abbreviations and half-words and phrases, and the English language is taking a horrible beating.
Widely believed to be the broadest and most diverse language, the modern speaker and writer have done English a grievous injustice. But help is on the way. The "Word Warriors" at Wayne State University have posted a number of words they suggest should be revived in the lexicon. The website also allows readers to make their own suggestions. Currently listed just under "a" are acrid (bitter, stingy); asinine (utterly stupid); antithetical (opposite); apodicitic (incontestable); and many more. On the website also features penultimate (one of my favorites, meaning second to last).
When we diminish our language, we diminish our culture and uniqueness. Great Job Wayne State! (By the way, did my mention my wife and I are alumni?)
Check out the website at: http://www.wordwarriors.wayne.edu/list.php
Widely believed to be the broadest and most diverse language, the modern speaker and writer have done English a grievous injustice. But help is on the way. The "Word Warriors" at Wayne State University have posted a number of words they suggest should be revived in the lexicon. The website also allows readers to make their own suggestions. Currently listed just under "a" are acrid (bitter, stingy); asinine (utterly stupid); antithetical (opposite); apodicitic (incontestable); and many more. On the website also features penultimate (one of my favorites, meaning second to last).
When we diminish our language, we diminish our culture and uniqueness. Great Job Wayne State! (By the way, did my mention my wife and I are alumni?)
Check out the website at: http://www.wordwarriors.wayne.edu/list.php
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Enduring Values Will Help Us Persevere
America can't seem to catch a break. Just when the Iraq War was settling down, Afghanistan started to deteriorate. Our economy is crumbling; the domestic automakers barely escaped totally collapse, and the financial sector is in shambles. Political corruption is running wild. Our stature in the world has been stained.
However, we have gone through much worse times. Civil War, World Wars, epidemics, and the Great Depression just to name a few. And America has always come through each crisis and eventually recovered strongly.
We have done so by adhering to the enduring values. Hard work. Honesty. Integrity. Love. A belief in God. Patriotism.
In our recoveries, we have held fast to our founding First Principles: the rule of law, unalienable rights, equality, the Social Compact, and limited government.
We can make it through the current turmoil, if (and only IF) we return to the enduring values. If we do so, we can preserve. Our fate, as always, rests with the American people and whether they recommit themselves to the principles and values that have made us great. Time will tell. Let’s hope we do the right thing. The alternative is too awful to imagine.
For more about the enduring values and the First Principles, visit http://americassurvivalguide.com.
However, we have gone through much worse times. Civil War, World Wars, epidemics, and the Great Depression just to name a few. And America has always come through each crisis and eventually recovered strongly.
We have done so by adhering to the enduring values. Hard work. Honesty. Integrity. Love. A belief in God. Patriotism.
In our recoveries, we have held fast to our founding First Principles: the rule of law, unalienable rights, equality, the Social Compact, and limited government.
We can make it through the current turmoil, if (and only IF) we return to the enduring values. If we do so, we can preserve. Our fate, as always, rests with the American people and whether they recommit themselves to the principles and values that have made us great. Time will tell. Let’s hope we do the right thing. The alternative is too awful to imagine.
For more about the enduring values and the First Principles, visit http://americassurvivalguide.com.
Monday, January 5, 2009
New Look and Content
Thanks to the great folks at google, I have refreshed the blog to add several new features and a new look. Note the added video clip on the right hand of the page, the beginnings of a Great Books list as well as favorite websites. Please post comments on what you think should be added to the lists.
Also, you can subscribe to the blog (also on the rightside of the blog) as well and recieve new posts (a most convenient feature). Please spread the word and enjoy!
Also, you can subscribe to the blog (also on the rightside of the blog) as well and recieve new posts (a most convenient feature). Please spread the word and enjoy!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
New Year, New Hope
Soon we will be celebrating New Years Day, 2009. 2008 was a thoroughly difficult and exhausting year for many people on many fronts. The seemingly never ending presidential campaign dragged on for months until Obama's historic victory. Historic gas prices, followed by a financial crisis of the first order. Detroit's Big 3 automakers came to the brink of collapse. For us Detroit Lions fans, the season was simply the greatest, NOT.
What is so wonderful about New Years Day is that it gives hope that the new year will be better than the last. This sense of optimism is perhaps bolstered for many by the President-elect and the new Congress. Only time will tell if that optimism is well placed.
Putting aside the larger picture, New Years Day is always a time to reflect about how we as individuals - and families - can turn a new leaf and improve upon our lives. Take a moment this holiday and see how you can improve on your life and those around you. Happy New Years!
What is so wonderful about New Years Day is that it gives hope that the new year will be better than the last. This sense of optimism is perhaps bolstered for many by the President-elect and the new Congress. Only time will tell if that optimism is well placed.
Putting aside the larger picture, New Years Day is always a time to reflect about how we as individuals - and families - can turn a new leaf and improve upon our lives. Take a moment this holiday and see how you can improve on your life and those around you. Happy New Years!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Celebrate the Bill of Rights
(originally published in The Detroit News)
In the cacophony of the recession, the plight of the American automobile industry, perpetual state budget woes and the upcoming presidential inauguration, one could easily be excused for forgetting about today's momentous anniversary. Two hundred and seventeen years ago, the United States ratified the Bill of Rights. It continues to play an indispensable role in our constitutional order, and we should take a moment to celebrate its vibrant role in American life.
Although a Bill of Rights had been a key feature of protecting the rights of Englishmen, the Founding Fathers omitted it when they drafted the Constitution in 1787. This oversight generated heated opposition throughout the colonies as the people debated whether to adopt the new Constitution.
Fearful that a newly formed federal government would oppress the people and trample on the states, the Anti-Federalists clamored for the addition of a Bill of Rights. Thomas Jefferson, writing to James Madison from Paris, wrote that he opposed the adoption of the Constitution without a Bill of Rights. He explained that "a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no government should refuse, or rest on inference."
Although the new Constitution was ratified over the objections of the Anti-Federalists, most ratifiers understood that the addition of a Bill of Rights would be of the highest priority to the newly established federal government. Madison fulfilled that promise by drafting a dozen amendments to the Constitution -- the first 10 of which were adopted quickly and dubbed the Bill of Rights.
The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to guarantee our unalienable rights from infringement by the federal (and with the adoption of the 14th Amendment) and state governments.
The First Amendment protects the freedoms of religion, speech, press, petition, and association; and bars the establishment of religion. The Second Amendment ensures that the right of the people to keep and bear arms, while the Third Amendment prohibits the quartering of troops in peacetime.
The Fourth Amendment bars unreasonable searches and seizures; the Fifth Amendment prohibits placing a criminal defendant in double jeopardy, self-incrimination and the deprivation of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." The same amendment requires that any taking of private property by the government be only for "public use" and with "just compensation."
The Sixth Amendment guarantees a speedy and public trial, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to counsel. The Seventh Amendment guarantees a jury trial, while the Eighth prohibits cruel and unusual punishments.
The Ninth Amendment guarantees those rights not otherwise expressly protected in the first eight amendments, while the Tenth reserves all "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it by the States ... to the States respectively, or to the People."
The Constitution expressly protects the unalienable rights of individuals from government oppression. These protections are integrated into the Constitution, the Supreme Court noted, because the Founders "foresaw that troublous times would arise, when rulers and people would become restive under restraint, and seek by sharp and decisive measures to accomplish ends deemed just and proper; and that principles of constitutional liberty would be in peril, unless established by irreparable law. The history of the world had taught them that what was done in the past might be attempted in the future."
The Founders' wisdom is as powerful today as it was in 1791. Billions of people continue to suffer the infringement of their God-given rights because they have no meaningful Bill of Rights to protect them.
As the Declaration of Independence explained, America was founded on the self-evident first principle that all men and women are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; and the Bill of Rights is intended to protect them. In the course of human history, very few people have had the benefit of a Bill of Rights.
Unfortunately, recent studies reveal that our students, public and policy-makers are woefully ignorant of our Constitution, including the Bill of Rights. We are fools to think we can keep our rights when we are ignorant of them. Let us use today's anniversary to renew our commitment to the Bill of Rights in education and policymaking. Then we will be worthy of the legacy of freedom the Founders bequeathed to us.
For more on our First Principles and how we can better fulfill them, visit:
http://www.americassurvivalguide.com
In the cacophony of the recession, the plight of the American automobile industry, perpetual state budget woes and the upcoming presidential inauguration, one could easily be excused for forgetting about today's momentous anniversary. Two hundred and seventeen years ago, the United States ratified the Bill of Rights. It continues to play an indispensable role in our constitutional order, and we should take a moment to celebrate its vibrant role in American life.
Although a Bill of Rights had been a key feature of protecting the rights of Englishmen, the Founding Fathers omitted it when they drafted the Constitution in 1787. This oversight generated heated opposition throughout the colonies as the people debated whether to adopt the new Constitution.
Fearful that a newly formed federal government would oppress the people and trample on the states, the Anti-Federalists clamored for the addition of a Bill of Rights. Thomas Jefferson, writing to James Madison from Paris, wrote that he opposed the adoption of the Constitution without a Bill of Rights. He explained that "a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no government should refuse, or rest on inference."
Although the new Constitution was ratified over the objections of the Anti-Federalists, most ratifiers understood that the addition of a Bill of Rights would be of the highest priority to the newly established federal government. Madison fulfilled that promise by drafting a dozen amendments to the Constitution -- the first 10 of which were adopted quickly and dubbed the Bill of Rights.
The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to guarantee our unalienable rights from infringement by the federal (and with the adoption of the 14th Amendment) and state governments.
The First Amendment protects the freedoms of religion, speech, press, petition, and association; and bars the establishment of religion. The Second Amendment ensures that the right of the people to keep and bear arms, while the Third Amendment prohibits the quartering of troops in peacetime.
The Fourth Amendment bars unreasonable searches and seizures; the Fifth Amendment prohibits placing a criminal defendant in double jeopardy, self-incrimination and the deprivation of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." The same amendment requires that any taking of private property by the government be only for "public use" and with "just compensation."
The Sixth Amendment guarantees a speedy and public trial, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to counsel. The Seventh Amendment guarantees a jury trial, while the Eighth prohibits cruel and unusual punishments.
The Ninth Amendment guarantees those rights not otherwise expressly protected in the first eight amendments, while the Tenth reserves all "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it by the States ... to the States respectively, or to the People."
The Constitution expressly protects the unalienable rights of individuals from government oppression. These protections are integrated into the Constitution, the Supreme Court noted, because the Founders "foresaw that troublous times would arise, when rulers and people would become restive under restraint, and seek by sharp and decisive measures to accomplish ends deemed just and proper; and that principles of constitutional liberty would be in peril, unless established by irreparable law. The history of the world had taught them that what was done in the past might be attempted in the future."
The Founders' wisdom is as powerful today as it was in 1791. Billions of people continue to suffer the infringement of their God-given rights because they have no meaningful Bill of Rights to protect them.
As the Declaration of Independence explained, America was founded on the self-evident first principle that all men and women are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; and the Bill of Rights is intended to protect them. In the course of human history, very few people have had the benefit of a Bill of Rights.
Unfortunately, recent studies reveal that our students, public and policy-makers are woefully ignorant of our Constitution, including the Bill of Rights. We are fools to think we can keep our rights when we are ignorant of them. Let us use today's anniversary to renew our commitment to the Bill of Rights in education and policymaking. Then we will be worthy of the legacy of freedom the Founders bequeathed to us.
For more on our First Principles and how we can better fulfill them, visit:
http://www.americassurvivalguide.com
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Day of Infamy
Today marks the 67th anniversary of the Japanese sneak attack on the American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. Over 2,000 American servicemen perished, 5 battleships were sunk, and several other ships were damaged or destroyed.Little did the Japanese (or their allies, the Nazis) realize what they had wrought. The attack in 1941 was begun by Japan, but by 1945 America finished it - by the total unconditional surrender of Japan. The Allies had already defeated Germany when Japan surrendered.What makes this anniversary - and America's victory - special is not the military triump of the United States. Wars have part and parcel of history for as long as man has been man. No, what is important is the victory of America's First Principles: the rule of law, unalienable rights, equality, the Social Compact, and limited government. These First Principles separated America from Japanese imperialism and fascist Germany, and have been the sparked that have revolutionized societies all over the world.
For more, http://americassurvivalguide.com.
For more, http://americassurvivalguide.com.
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