Three American Values, inscribed on every one of our American Coins: E Pluribus Unum, Liberty and In God We Trust.
Three American Values, which lead to vastly different results than the French values: Libertė, Egalitė, Fraternitė my friend Robert Scott, who also periodically writes for the Edgefield Advertiser, wrote about in the May 8th, 2019 print edition.
Robert’s editorial made it to the online version, and I encourage you to read it by clicking here!
We live in a time period of history where there is a lot of confusion. Generally, I disagree with Mr. Scott’s conclusions on a wide range of fronts. However, I am glad he is encouraging American’s to review the philosophical underpinnings which drive culture and ultimately politics and nation-states. One thing Mr. Scott and I likely agree on, is that politics is downstream of culture.
Last month I shared in “Notrė Dame Revisited,” two tidbits of history about this historic French building. First, it is owned, not by any church, but by the French Government. Second, on October 10, 1793 the statue of Mother Mary was removed from Notrė Dame and replaced with a statue of the secular goddess “Reason.”
This “modern” change was a change from a theological worldview to a secular worldview, over 200 years ago. Many argue this change contributed to very different results between the American and the French Revolutions, both wars taking place during that era of change, and how our nations developed as a result. I would encourage you to read that editorial, as well as listen to the commentary about Notrė Dame by Dr. Albert Mohler, which is linked within, by clicking here!
As it relates to the three American Values in the title of this editorial, as you contemplate these values, compared to the French Values Mr. Scott wrote about last week, I would encourage you to watch a short 5-minute video prepared by Mr. Dennis Prager.
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Mr. Prager, founder of Prager University https://www.prageru.com/, is an online collaboration of dozens of world known thinkers from business, non-profit, government and academia whose vision is to prepare “Short Videos with Big Ideas!” Their homepage states “with 2.1 billion views and counting, our videos are changing the conversation about American Ideas.”
Mr. Prager coined these three American Values: E Pluribus Unum, Liberty and In God We Trust as “The American Trinity.” No pun intended! In the video he compares the difference between the French value of “liberty” and the American value of “Liberty.”
He also discusses the inequality which true liberty allows. Mr. Prager takes head on the reality that some American’s desire to replace American values with European values. Prager then discusses where such trends will take us. Finally, Prager ends by stating “Which set of values Americans adopt will determine whether America remains free, prosperous and the force for good in the world that it has been. With the exception of the Civil War, this is the greatest internal battle in American History.”
More next week. Here’s wishing you a productive week!
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