National Greatness Agenda

A day or two ago I read in the New York Times a commentary by David Brooks with the above title. I was intrigued. The article was precipitated by current economic and political issues, but his larger concern was to avert our accelerating plunge as a nation into a ‘national disaster.’ A few of his phrases that stood out in bold relief for me were:

• While our political system is a mess, the economic and social values of the country remain sound.
• Over the past few years, we have seen millions of people mobilize…the country is restive and looking for alternatives.
• You can’t organize a movement like this around pain—around tax increases and spending cuts—but you can organize one around a broad revitalization agenda, and above all, love of country.
• It will take a revived patriotism to motivate Americans to do what needs to be done. This movement will ask Americans to live up to their best selves.
• It will have to restore the social norms that prevailed through much of American history: when narcissism and hyperpartisanship was mitigated by loyalties larger than tribe and self.
• Its goal will be un-apologetic: preserving American pre-eminence. It will preserve America’s standing in the world on the grounds that this supremacy is a gift to our children and a blessing for the earth.

So, if you buy into his solution, what can you and I do about this?

A few things that immediately came to my mind were these:

* As I counseled my children when they were growing up: ‘Don’t be part of the problem; be part of the solution.’ Clean up your own personal ‘act.’ Obey the laws of the land. Educate your conscience and live a moral life. Every American could do this.

* If you are unemployed by misfortune or even by choice (e.g., independently ‘well set’ financially) or by circumstance (e.g. retirement, etc.), or even if you have some ‘spare’ time then volunteer your time and talents to making a better America. Service can be a wonderful boost to the server as well as those served. In Googling-up the words ‘volunteer opportunities’ on my computer I learned of some wonderful-sounding organizations, with titles such as: ‘Create the Good’; ‘Participate’; ‘Service Nation’; ‘Mission Serve’; ‘Repair the World’. And there are many others.

* Get God back on our side (or get on God’s side). Join and participate in a Church that believes in a restoration of the values that made America great. An ancient scriptural citation regarding what is now known as America reads: “Whatsoever nation shall possess this land…which is choice above all other lands… shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fullness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fullness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.” If we are ‘into’ pornography or drugs or revel in violence or entertainment violence we are into iniquity.

* Remember: We can’t be great unless we are good.