Happy Fourth!

Having moved back recently to my homeland of Singapore (with my beautiful American wife and son!), I look back with fond memories to my years in the U.S.  I am grateful to America for giving me the opportunity to study within her borders, to enjoy for ten years a little of the American dream, and of course, to be blessed by the friendships I’ve made.  America never ceases to amaze me.  Such an open, generous, gracious, and justice-hungry land.  I continue to stand with her.  I continue to believe that she is a force for good in this world.  To whom will the other justice-hungry people of the world look for aid?  To whom will nations flock to taste freedom and learn how to live as free people?  America is not the Kingdom of God.  There is much in her that is dark, twisted, misshapened, and evil.  But at the same time, something of our Lord’s kingdom shines in that land, a flicker of the realm of sunlight and justice to come.  I hope that America never loses its sense of purpose.  She was made to set people free.  She was made for justice and liberty for all.

Individual Rights + Limited Government Not Enough

“Unless a political order is clear about the identities and rights of the diverse institutions of society, most of which are not political,  then the mere combination of individual-rights protections and a procedurally limited government will not be sufficient to assure justice to a differentiated society.” — James Skillen, Recharging the American Experiment, p.29.

Twelve Reasons to Love the U.S.A., VIII

“8.  America is a world leader in scholarship and invention.  The United States is home to the world’s finest collection of universities and research institutions.  Name just about any subject–from ancient philosophy to quantum physics–and chances are good that leading authorities work here.  The record of American inventions and discoveries goes on and on, from the mechanical reaper to the microchip.  American medical research facilities are among the best in the world.  The United States leads the world in space exploration.  The computer revolution started here.” — William J. Bennett, The American Patriot’s Almanac, p.35.

Not Fundamentally a Secular Country

“Some people cite the absence of religious language in the Constitution and the provisions of the First Amendment as evidence that America is fundamentally a secular country.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  At the end of the eighteenth century, religious establishments existed throughout European countries and in several American states.  State control of the church was a key element of state power, and the established church, in turn, provided legitimacy to the state.  The framers of the American Constitution prohibited an established national church in order to limit the power of government and to protect and strengthen religion.  The ’separation of church and state’ is the corollary to the identity of religion and society.  Its purpose, as William McLoughlin has said, was not to establish freedom from religion but to establish freedom for religion.”  – Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We?, p.85.

On America’s Core Culture

“America’s core culture has been and, at the moment, is still primarily the culture of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century settlers who founded American society.  The central elements of that culture can be defined in a variety of ways but include the Christian religion, Protestant values and moralism, a work ethic, the English lanugage, British traditions of law, justice, and the limits of government power, and a legacy of European art, literature, philosophy, and music.  Out of this culture the settlers developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the American Creed with its principles of liberty, equality, individualism, representative government, and private property.” — Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We?, p.41

Twelve Reasons to Love the U.S.A., VII.

“7.  The U.S. military is the greatest defender of freedom in the world.  Twice in the twentieth century, the United States led the way in saving the world from tyranny–first from the Axis Powers, then from Soviet totalitarianism.  Throughout history, other superpowers have used armies to conquer territory and build empires by force.  America, with its unrivaled military, has chosen a different course.  The United States has liberated more people from tyranny than any other nation in history.” — William J. Bennett, The American Patriot’s Almanac, p.35.

What to Do about Iraq, III

“Third: Recognize that the main ‘benefits of success’ are not specific or tangible.  The United States went to war in Iraq not to seize territory, oil, or military bases, but to end the threat the Iraq regime posed to the region, the United States, and the world.  If this fundamental goal is achieved–if that regime is replaced with a reasonably stable government that poses no such threats–it would make the United States safer and improve international security.  Above and beyond this, if Iraq should one day build stable democratic institutions, it might spur political reform in the Muslim world–an even more valuable accomplishment that could help curtail the appeal of Islamist extremism.  Success in Iraq would also demonstrate that the United States is capable of persevering in a costly effort to defend its interests.  This would increase American credibility, making it easier in the future to win cooperation from other countries.

But the largest benefit of success is avoiding the horrific costs of failure.  Preventing calamaties is one of the most important and least appreciated functions of government.  When an evil is averted–perhaps as a result of insight, intensive effort, and administrative skill–the result is that nothing happens.  It is easy, after the fact, for critics to ignore or deprecate the accomplishment.” – Douglas Feith, War and Decision, p.523.

Twelve Reasons to Love the U.S.A.,VI

“6.  No other country has welcomed and united so many people from so many different shores.  From its beginnings, the U.S. has been the world’s great melting pot.  Never before have so many people from different backgrounds, races, nationalities, and religions lived and worked together so peacefully.  In no other nation has the spirit of cooperation and brotherhood accomplished more than it has in the United States.” — William J. Bennett, The American Patriot’s Almanac, p.34.

Twelve Reasons to Love the U.S.A., V.

“5.  We enjoy one of the world’s highest standards of living.  Americans live longer, have better health, and enjoy safer and more comfortable lives than the vast majority of the world’s people.  Ours is one of the most prosperous nations in history.  U.S. companies provide some of the best jobs in the world.  They have also built countless hospitals, libraries, and parks; created great universities; filled museums with works of art; found cures for diseases; and improved human life in countless ways.” — William J. Bennett, The American Patriot’s Almanac, p.34.

A New Phenomenon

“The 9/11 attack was a new phenomenon, and not just because it hit Americans on American soil.  It was not an act of political theater; rather, it was the first successful case of terrorism of mass destruction.  Though the al Qaida hijackers killed only–only!–around three thousand people, one had to assume that the terrorists would have been glad to kill all thirty thousand people who worked at the World Trade Center, and even multiples of that number. 

This was why keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists became, suddenly and inevitably, a far more pressing and higher-order concern than it had before.  It concentrated the minds of U.S. officials on the threat from states that both coveted WMD and supported terrorists.

Iraq was such a state.  Its singular history of aggression, and its defiance of the world’s many efforts to constrain it, made Iraq stand out even among such other WMD-coveting, terrorist-supporting states as Iran and North Korea.” – Douglas Feith, War and Decision, p.214.