Shafts of Justice

America is a country that used to be known for its virtuous, moral, and wise citizens. To the founders of this country, it was considered necessary for all citizens and patriots to possess these fine qualities. They believed that if any society or people of a country lost their morals, the country itself would quickly crumble. Dear reader, look at our country’s society and people today! They no longer care about preserving or practicing morality. The complaint of the immature American is that morality binds them and takes away their freedom. We can clearly see that no one is following the words of our country’s father, George Washington. For he said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim tribute to patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness — these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.” America is a unique country due to the fact that its citizens have access to knowledge and self-betterment through many different avenues. For example, one could apprentice and perfect whatever skill one desires. If a person has the desire to study math in depth hoping to pursue this through school, this option is open to the serious student. This characteristic of our country, as a land of equal opportunity for education and employment, has enabled us to become a nation of wise and worthy people. This access to knowledge and education is essential for a country to not only survive, but thrive. One must study and know the history and founding principles of their country, otherwise how will someone be able to stand up and defend their country if they do not understand what it represents? We must start by personally regaining virtue and wisdom through knowledge, and then spread these qualities to our fellow country-men. Edmund Burke once said, “What is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.”

We will now dive into the role that virtue, wisdom and knowledge should play in this Republic.

  Virtue can be understood in different ways, such as, a behavior showing high moral standards, or a lack of corruption. But what resonates profoundly for me as an aspect of virtue, is the nobility of one’s soul or spirit. It is the firm but gentle character that many great American citizens have possessed. It requires one to have a tender, but also, courageous heart. If you have these noble characteristics then you should also have high morals. In a deeper sense virtue is something we always seek to perfect. It is not easy to strive after virtue, but it is essential. We can see that we have lost virtue due mainly to the degradation of basic morality.  It was American citizens’ responsibility to cultivate moral acts whether it was a strong work ethic, a fight against sin or charity to the poor. Along with basic honesty, integrity, self-restraint, concern for others and respect for their dignity and rights, civic-mindedness, and the like. But in our modern times, where morality is up to the individual to create, we have lost common morals. Forms of immorality which are popular such as gay marriage, abortion, drugs, gambling, and prostitution were shunned by our founding fathers as detestable acts of immorality. We must be aware of the fact that the founding fathers required morality in order for this country to survive. For once morality is forgotten, all other virtue is lost. And if we lose virtue, then our country is doomed. For this country was built so that we could be free, and live truly happy lives.  

The Declaration of Independence states the following: “We are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights which among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Many claim, “I am free to do what makes me happy.” The fact is, however, that morality and our rights and happiness are not subjective; they are based on what we are by nature, which God created, so you don’t have a “right” to pursue things that are against that nature and don’t lead to true human happiness (i.e. thriving, well-being). For what is morally right will always be morally right. Why is this? Moral teaching presents itself as valid always and everywhere because all moral teaching assumes that human nature is unchanging and that what is morally right in one time will be morally right in another. The Founders saw that in order to remain free and happy we must fight to have virtue in its most basic form: morality.  We can see that when they established the individual constitutions for the states, they very clearly established virtue as a must in order for the states to prosper. Virginia’s 1776 Declaration of Rights said: “That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.” The Massachusetts constitution of 1780 stated: “The happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality.” The Pennsylvania 1776 Constitution  stated “laws for the encouragement of virtue, and prevention of vice and immorality, shall be made and constantly kept in force, and provision shall be made for their due execution.”

The founding fathers also individually stressed the importance of morality and virtue to the people.         

“[T]here is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists . . . an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness.” -George Washington

“To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.”-James Madison.

“Without virtue, happiness cannot be.” -Thomas Jefferson

“[M]en will be free no longer then while they remain virtuous.” -Samuel Adams

“Only virtuous people are capable of freedom.” -Benjamin Franklin

“Liberty can no more exist without virtue and independence than the body can live and move without a soul.” -John Adams

“[L]iberty without virtue would be no blessing to us.” -Benjamin Rush

In our own time, however, where we have lost morality, how do we regain it? Well,dear Reader, it starts with ourselves. We must be sure that we are living a moral life. We should become examples of moral, loving, wise, and just citizens. We must show others what a virtuous life looks like. We should also engrain the importance of morality into our own family, for that is where it will be the most effective and influential. Lincoln said “A child is a person who is going to carry on what you have started … He will assume control of your cities, states and nations. He is going to move in and take over your churches, schools, universities, and corporations … The fate of humanity is in his hands.” We can see that it all starts with teaching our children to live moral lives. As much as possible we should try not to support immorality. Even when the world around us has succumbed to immorality as normal, we must fight to the end, never giving up a pursuit of virtue. For, the moment we give in and compromise morality, we have compromised our liberty. Morality is precious for it is what secures happiness and stabilizes freedom. If we wish to be happy and free, we must fight for morality. If we wish to reap its benefits we must safeguard it. So let us all strive to in our own way promote morality, live morally and inspire others towards all virtue. 

All citizens are called to be noble in heart, to have personal integrity and to uphold all that is good. This is another important form of virtue that our modern society is lacking. The ability to defend something just and virtuous is essential in order to be a worthy citizen of America. One should have a strong, well developed character in order to be a useful patriot or citizen of this country. We want the leaders of our nation to be honorable, upright people. And for us, we need to possess that noble character, be an upright patriot, in order to be an honorable citizen. Thomas Jefferson said, “The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.” “The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous.”-Frederick Douglas. How do we cultivate these tremendous qualities? We must start with nurturing our own personal qualities of love, peace, gentleness, humility, courage, and other desired virtues. We can never fully perfect these qualities, but pursuing them is what builds and nurtures the nobility of soul and character. Lincoln called it “the eternal struggle between two principles right and wrong.” In order to have integrity and a strong character, one must have principles and ideals which one is fighting to promote, or at least preserve. Through this struggle, one can obtain a fine character and nobility of soul. 

When people think about the current condition of this country, and classify the reasons for its decline, a major factor is often overlooked. That factor is: the lack of knowledgeable, wise citizens. This country is short on  educated citizens who are seeking eternal truths. In the past, this republic  emphasized the importance of self education and betterment, through media, such as news articles or movies, access to public education, exposure to literature, and political discussion.  That is, anyone could pursue and reason their way to their own conclusions on countless subjects. Interesting to note, is that most ivy league colleges used to have debate teams, encouraging multiple viewpoints on different subjects. Now, however, one can no longer debate an idea, for that might bring into question the ruling narrative, or it might not be politically correct. One can no longer think rationally, or even worse, disagree. Rational dialogue has even been accused of being a sign of racism. 

When we lose the ability to think rationally or debate a difficult topic, we no longer have the tools to be wise thinkers. For we all gather information from different sources and tend to form our opinions based on a wide variety of information.  “Public opinion sets bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign in every free one.” –James Madison. We should look at all sides of an argument, and gather something from differing opinions. “The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing not one individual but the human race; those who dissent from the opinion even more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, the dissenter is deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth. If the opinion is wrong, the dissenter loses the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.” The problem with fascist governments in the past, was that there was not any debate or disagreement allowed! The people were forced to believe everything they were  told. They no longer had the freedom to form their own beliefs and views. “Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.”-Joseph Story

 In other words, they had no access to knowledge. Knowledge is obtained when one has the freedom to hold different opinions, debate, have rational dialogue, and learn from people who have strong beliefs. For knowledge is the end result of intense study or personal experience. There is some knowledge that is undebatable such as science, math, and history. But when it comes to philosophy, ethics, politics, religion, theology etc, it is up to the individual to earnestly study so that he may become a person of wisdom. 

The liberty to explore thoughts and gain knowledge was one of the greatest gifts bestowed upon us by the founders. They saw that through education one would learn the country’s history and principles. For they wanted all citizens to know the facts of the histories and the content of their principles so that they could teach others and defend our republic. It was commonly accepted that all schools and parents would teach and pass down this knowledge of our country’s past heritage. “The class of the literati is not less necessary than any other.They are the cultivators of the human mind-the manufacturers of useful knowledge-The agents of the commerce of ideas-the censors of public manners-the teachers of the arts of life and the means of happiness.” -James Madison. We can see how important it was to the founders to be educated and wise, and have access to education. The reason why children grew up to become patriotic citizens was that they were taught this knowledge in school. As James Madison said “A diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” This schooling was diffused into all young people, so they were able to guard liberty. “Illuminate, as far as practical, the minds of the people at Large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts, which history exhibit, that, possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purposes.” -Thomas Jefferson. We now see why people rewrite history, or give only one narrative. In short, they do not allow people to recognise ambition and tyranny of the past, thus enabling them to repeat its evils and accomplish their own purposes. Education guards a person from this oppressive trap. “If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security.” -Samuel Adams. Is it not all our wishes that we will never be enslaved? In order to remain free we must diffuse this knowledge to all the people of this republic. The citizens of America must be people who are seeking after knowledge. For through comprehension of the past and its complexities, one knows how to then ward off the attack of future tyrants and other dangers which would harm our county.  “Freedom can exist only in the Society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights, and we’re learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor universal.” -Benjamin Rush. This doesn’t necessarily mean everyone must go to college and obtain a degree. It means that we must know the history and principles of our country. “A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.”- Benjamin Franklin. One should stay well informed on what is happening in his country. In small ways we should all seek after knowledge every day of our lives. “Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of the day.” -Thomas Jefferson. 

 We have talked about how we have had access to education, and the importance of this right. But how do we generally enlighten and teach the people? The founders of our republic believed that it started with education, public or private. It is the fundamental principle that all people should be educated, rich or poor. They thought that there should be no person who must go illiterate just because he was poor or lived a long distance from a school. Thomas Jefferson went so far as to create his own school system. Every child would receive a free Elementary education in the three R’s, geography, and history. After an elementary education, most persons would advance to the general school, learning foreign languages, higher mathematics and philosophy would be taught, at public expense. A third and final layer of schools for professional education would be provided so that students whose families were not wealthy would be able to acquire means of supporting themselves in independence and dignity. In this way, civic and liberal education were blended in Jefferson’s plan. It was the teacher’s responsibility to ensure that while they taught the students they were supporting and promoting knowledge so that they might gain wisdom. It was a given that all students, while learning various subjects, would also be taught the importance of being patriotic and would be expected to personally cultivate a deep love and respect towards this country, its founders, and its principles. It is critical that we make sure this happens in our modern system of education. In our times, however, much but not all of education is indoctrination. Thus, how do we gain knowledge through schooling? It starts with all teachers being bold and promoting the founders and their principles. They must try to enlighten  their students with the virtues of our republic. Educators must reveal to students the truth of our nation’s principles. All teachers must do their utmost to protect education and knowledge for they are the path to wisdom. In the following, Noah Webster offers a beautiful quote on education, “The great art of correcting mankind, therefore, consists in prepossessing the mind with good principles. For this reason society requires that the education of youth should be watched with the most scrupulous attention. Education, in a great measure, forms the moral characters of men, and morals are the basis of government. Education should therefore be the first care of a legislature.”       

One way that we truly gain wisdom is through experience. One can not hope to study for a few months on a specific topic and then expect to be wise when it comes to that subject, and when we do seek and obtain knowledge in a certain area it does not mean that one is suddenly a wise citizen. The founders saw that in many ways a simple farmer had less knowledge but more wisdom than a man who had studied intensively and had an abundant amount of knowledge. Those who are wise tend to have much knowledge in many subjects. But just because one has information on a variety of topics does not ensure that he is wise. What then truly makes a person wise? One must first define what they mean by wisdom. Is it the quality of having experience, and knowledge? Or does one mean the wisdom of possessing good judgment? We can see that one thing is required to obtain any form of wisdom and that is patience. No truly wise person has ever thought that they had obtained wisdom. Far from it, we know that when an individual cultivates wisdom and earns a reputation of being wise they often see how little wisdom they truly possess. But in our modern age, when we do not know where to seek a well rounded education, we must have leaders that are wise. Our statesmen should be experienced, patient people who have much knowledge in many different fields of education. If you combined this great intellectual knowledge with the simple wisdom of prudence and leadership we would have wise politicians. We ardently depend on our leaders to have good judgment so that they may ensure the safety of our country. They are the ones who must politically guide us and at the same time inspire us. Our politicians must inspire us to follow them. But in our times we are no longer inspired by our country’s politicians, and when our republic’s leaders are currently failing to guide us, who then can we look to in order to find leadership, guidance, and inspiration? We must look to people of wisdom in order to find true leadership, guidance and inspiration. We know that the founders were wise statesmen, so we turn to them for guidance. If their rich abundance of political wisdom can not offer you guidance, ]and inspiration nothing will! We may turn to other wise politicians such as Lincoln, Coolidge, Reagan and so many other past great statesmen. But can also find admirable  modern leaders such as Clarence Thomas or Ron DeSantis. If the day should come when we no longer have any living wise statesmen, we must rely on our own personal wisdom, because our own wisdom is what guided us to find the statesmen that we could follow in the first place. Personal wisdom is what we should cultivate, through education, experience and patience. Our founding fathers wanted the common citizen to have the quality of wisdom and they gave us the tools we need to all become wise, virtuous, knowledgeable, experienced, but we must all have patience so that we can allow our wisdom to grow.                          

In order to gain knowledge and wisdom you must have principles that form your life. We seek after knowledge our whole life, but we must have principles which guide us in our quest. Often times people mistake the idea of ones values for the unchanging concept of a principle.  Values are a personal standard of behavior; or one’s own judgment of what is important in life. It is what shapes the way you look at politics, and everyday life. But values are subjective and differ according to the individual. This country was not founded on the founders values, or anyone else’s for that matter. It was founded on fundamental truths. These truths are morality, knowledge, liberty, justice, religion, and more. When we stand up to tyranny, we might be fighting for our personal values, but we should always be fighting for these unchangeable truths. For our values will die with us but these undying truths will live on forever. So let us always defend and promote these undestroyable truths. “We should always seek for truth and knowledge but we should remember that knowledge and wisdom are of worth only if we let our lives be governed by them.” 

I will now end with the following quotes. 

  “. . . Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed . . . so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger.”-Patrick Henry.

“Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.” -Patrick Henry.

 “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.” – James Madison.