It seems that I'm not the only one either. Check out the killer... Read>> Posted January 10, 2007
WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT AMERICA? A simple question with a seriously difficult answer
I just back from having lunch with a good friend of mine. This guy (we'll just call him Matt) pressed me to come up with some kind of reason why we should worry about the "imminent fall of America" - that I keep wondering about.
Some people like to bring up this question –but are motivated by a completely different issue– when immigration comes up. I generally feel pretty agnostic about 'good immigration policy' - mostly because I haven't studied up on it. But, lots of other people seem to have done a similar amount of studying as I have and somehow come up with the conclusions that:
(A) Anyone in the world should be able to move to America if they want - regardless of whether they hate or love the "American project" and...
(B) The American project is so hard to identify that it's almost not worth talking about - let alone defend. Therefore, if people want to come here and change America - even completely destroy the "American project" - and start something new, that's ok. After all we have nothing to fear but fear itself right?
While these arguments aren't really arguments at all... And, while I concede they are a bit of a strawman version of a larger, more serious movement, they have, nevertheless, prompted me to do some serious thinking about why we should try to keep America around for (at least) our children's sake.
Here are my top 5 reasons why America is a great project:
1. America represents the principle that all people are equal almost unlike any other country around. (prepare yourself friends... this is going to start sounding patriotic, but hang with the philosophy at least – it's solid)
2. America is a community of people that have given many people more of a head start than any other organization in their life. Therefore, according to the doctrine of the golden rule, we should do unto other as we would have them do unto us - i.e. If the America we were given was good, we should give it to others.
3. America is the world's best hope for saving it from Militant Jihadist Islam. If America goes down, who will stand against them? And, even one finds another "good" entity to fight Militant Islam, wouldn't they have a much better chance to win with America's help?
4. The Constitution of America is, as far as I can tell, unique in the degree to which it is founded on sound philosophical principles and not merely a zeal to gain power. Federalism, the bill of rights, and our decision to not install a monarch (to name three) have all had a profound positive affect on the world.
5. America (as an idea) is not done yet, and the beauties of democracy, self-governance, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and personal liberty are desperately in need across the globe.
If the American project falls - who will take these things to the world? History tells us that there will not always be a light in the west/east/wherever to call for. A great, good, power is not a given. And, to at least some limited degree, America is playing that role right now in the world.
That's all kind of a quick, off the cuff reaction. If I think of anything intelligent to write I'll post that later and retract these semi-illiterate ramblings. Still thinking...
Posted May 23, 2007 This post is waaay too long Posted by: Christof Meyer I just thought I'd throw out there that this post probably didn't get read much.... man it's long Posted 2007-08-16 11:47:59 COMMENT ON THIS POST
