RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://amgreatness.com/2020/07/04/a-magnificent-speech/

Donald Trump did not mention Lincoln’s First Inaugural address in his speech commemorating the spirit of American Independence at Mount Rushmore on Friday night. But the president’s speech—perhaps his most forceful and eloquent to date—vibrated with the same energy and existential commitment that fired Lincoln in March 1861. 

Lincoln came to office at a time of crisis. His election had precipitated the secession of seven Southern states. His inaugural address was both a plea for conciliation and unity as well as a warning that violence would be stopped with force. “We are not enemies, but friends,” Lincoln said. 

Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Donald Trump issued a kindred invitation to unity in the midst of conflict. The signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in July 1776 was a world-historical event. It represented, the president rightly said, “the culmination of thousands of years of Western Civilization—and the triumph not only of spirit, but of wisdom, philosophy, and reason.” At the center of the triumph was the animating possession of liberty, made possible by the unanimous affirmation of the principles Thomas Jefferson articulated in the Declaration: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights . . .” 

The president’s speech was a passionate celebration of American freedom and American greatness—a greatness, he noted, that was embodied by the sublime majesty of the heads of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt sculpted into the granite pinnacle of Mt. Rushmore. 

But just as Lincoln spoke on the eve of civil war, so Donald Trump spoke in the midst of widespread and organized violence against the emblems and the spirit of the American promise. “[T]here is,” he warned, “a growing danger that threatens every blessing our ancestors fought, struggled, and bled to secure.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/07/flawed_greatness_the_american_story_is_the_human_story.html

The American story is a beautiful one. Our revolutionary foundation built upon natural rights and the nature of man was the starkest break from societal norms the world has ever known.

The focus of the Declaration of Independence was to provide the litany of grievances American colonials had against the king to justify our break from Britain’s despotic grip. That said, something much more powerful was born from this document: the American Soul.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

What seemed like an obscure addition or eloquent wordsmanship set the foundation of the American Creed. We are all created equal in the eyes of God. Natural rights are not bestowed upon us by governments, but instead governments are “instituted among men” to secure the inalienable rights we are born with.

Joseph Ellis writes, “With these words, Jefferson had smuggled the revolutionary agenda into the founding document, casually and almost inadvertently planting the seeds that would grow into the expanding mandate for individual rights that eventually ended slavery, made women’s suffrage inevitable, and sanctioned the civil rights of all minorities.”

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/07/03/lets-move-statues-honoring-heroes-to-places-that-will-protect-and-preserve-our-history/

Growing up, these commentators were taught and unashamedly believed that America was the greatest nation on earth. Today, understatement aside, that conviction is no longer entirely fashionable.

Now, people across the country watch in horror as memorials to men and women widely regarded as heroes in establishing that greatness are threatened, toppled or taken away:

Christopher Columbus, once hailed as “the discoverer of America,” but now no longer welcome even in the state capital named after him.
George Washington, long revered as the “Father of His Country,” and Thomas Jefferson, honored this weekend in particular as the primary author of the Declaration of Independence – today reduced to mere “slaveholders” in the minds of much of the public.
Andrew Jackson, stalwart defender of the Union whose majestic mounted sculpture in Lafayette Park was vandalized in full view of the White House.
Teddy Roosevelt, the progressive who risked his reputation to invite Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House and courageously advocated better conditions for African-Americans.
Ulysses Grant, who as commander of the Union forces won the war that freed slaves and as president was recognized as an early proponent of civil rights.
Stunningly, abolitionists such as Matthias Baldwin, John Greenleaf Whittier, or William Seward.