The challenge with writing a blog every day is that sometimes you’re not available to write because you’re doing other things. Like vacationing. In Hilton Head Island.
Hey, did anything happen while I was gone?
For the last several years, I’ve been warning that the trajectory we’re on is leading us to American Civil War 2.0. The damage done by identity politics and progressive neo-Marxism has so fractured our society that we no longer share a common identity as Americans.
Oh, we all inhabit a country called “America” and can therefore claim to be “Americans,” but that’s about all we have in common any more. Surveys and elections show that we’re sharply divided ideologically, culturally and politically.
The recent riots ignited by the death of George Floyd are only the latest spasm in our identity crisis. The “protests” are no longer about Floyd, but are an expression of anarchy.
Make no mistake: these are organized assaults on the very foundations of our society. Antifa and their thugs hate America and everything it stands for. They are no better than the terrorists who attacked our country on 9-11 by flying airplanes into the symbols of our financial strength, our military power and, if they hadn’t been stopped by the heroes on Flight 93, our political system.
The vandalism in Washington, D.C. over the last couple of days is a direct attack on our structural institutions. The Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the burning of St. John’s Episcopal Church—these are all cultural touchstones, monuments to our history and sources of patriotic pride.
Confederate monuments were also defaced in Richmond, VA, including statues of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America, and Robert E. Lee, the Confederate General. Ironic, given that we’re closer than ever to repeating that history.
Trump made a surprise visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church today and stood in front of it with a Bible in hand. Every president since James Madison has attended a service at St. John’s, which is known as “the Church of the Presidents.”
It was an effective leadership moment. Trump could have gone to the Lincoln Memorial or the World War II Memorial. But he chose to visit the historic church, which symbolizes the Christian faith. And he held up a Bible, implying that the Word of God endures, and so we endure by faith. These go to the core of the original idea of America, which drew it’s moral courage and original operating principles from Judeo-Christian values.
I don’t know where the current chaos will ultimately lead. As a believer, I don’t put my trust in man-made institutions, because they will all fail. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t care or have an opinion about this country. And what I’ve seen in the last few days gives me great concern.