Is Our Hope Sustainable?
November 6th, 2008I really enjoyed the two speeches Tuesday evening. Senator John McCain’s concession was gracious, patriotic and truly generous. Senator Barak Obama’s acceptance speech was intentionally toned down from the rhetoric of the campaign and very unifying, generous and hopeful.
The tenor and content of both speeches were encouraging, peace making and hope building because the spirit of their messages were reflective of and inspired by the virtues embedded in our constitution and the Judeo-Christian values and virtues that empower it for life, prosperity and peace. The test of every leader, then, is to live up to the high bar of this foundational document and their subsequent speeches that find substance in its hopes and truths.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote that our leadership and citizenry are “an aristocracy of virtue and talent.” This aristocracy was to serve as the backbone of our society and make decent and free government possible. Our problem has proven to be a lack of such people in sufficient numbers to overturn a greedy and hedonistic culture. It is impossible to accomplish such a decent environment with only hopeful conversation.
The problem is this: when selfish people get what they want, there is a temporary peace in that their will has been satisfied. When the down-trodden gain a measure of justice, then a sense of peace and an expression of righteousness appears for a brief time. So our hope proves to be temporary.
History teaches us that all classic civilizations proved unable to produce self-sufficient people capable of serving as the foundation of good government for any sustainable period of time because the required character was not developed and the transformation of the individual was temporary.
When we, as earlier national developments, were placed in great duress, then people were sufficiently under the threat and strain of real needs to be able to exalt the virtues that could make them strong. We continually look to these heroes for inspiration.
But, after a nation becomes strong, it has no sustaining principle that would allow the further development of virtue to maintain its society. Once the pressure is released, it is human nature to let up, relax and slide. We lack the tension adequate to maintain character in our citizens. Our political mantra against incumbents remains, “They went to Washington to bring change to Washington but Washington changed them.” Such access to power and excess is dangerous to the human soul. Unfortunately, then, no stable society can be long maintained if it is prosperous. Why? The decreased tension lowers the motivation for an increased pursuit of virtue. Vice is the easy and available road to those in a life of ease. Alexander Pope has so aptly stated:
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated need but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
A transcendental principle and tension is lacking when everything appears to be going well. That overriding transcendental principle is the grace of God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Only the Kingdom of God and its disciplines learned in the following of Christ can provide this real and lasting change. As is ultimately seen in the fulfillment of His Kingdom, “the saints shall judge the earth.” (I Corinthians 6:2)
Until then, by His grace and as His disciple, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they will see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
This is the sustainable hope!
jc
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