Puffs

Happy New Year, folks. I hope everyone survived both the New Year starting and the snow storm that never quite got going in spite of a week’s worth of warnings. The cold and wind came, but not as much snow as predicted.

We at the Ostdiek household had a great time as we combined Christmas with Nancy’s birthday. I went outside only twice over the weekend: to attend Mass and to grill steaks for the Holiday meal. Both events were ‘filling’ in their own way.

A O

While reading, whatever you read, do you sometimes come across words put together in such a way to make an impression. Well, I do, as you may have guessed from the many times I either quote them, or talk about them in this space.

I just finished a short little book called “Beyond A House Divided.” It was written by Carl Anderson and talked about the moral consensus in America ignored by Washington, Wall Street, and the Media. In general the author contends we Americans have a much more moral compass that we are led to believe by the media and the government.

Although Mr. Anderson covers a lot of ground in giving reasons why America is divided, there was one little paragraph on page 68 that caught my attention and sort of puts a lot of the United States question marks in perspective. Those 85 words went like this:

“Americans believe there is something higher than government. The American people have never wanted a nation in which the government tries to do everything. We are a nation whose Constitution is based on the principle of shared, representative government that is given its power by the people. In turn, that government reserves for the people and the states those powers it has not been given. In the words of Ronald Reagan, “We are a nation that has a government – not the other way around.”

Mr. Anderson gave a number of examples of how some of the ‘Liberal’ establishment use what is supposed to be accurate polls to push whatever policies they wish. One example is “divorce.”

The American public has been led to believe the dissolution of marriage is so probable why waste the time to get married in the first place. At least I’ve gotten that impression from much of the national media.

To quote from the book: “The story of ever-increasing divorce is a powerful narrative. It is also wrong. In fact, the divorce rate has been falling continuously over the past quarter-century, and is now at its lowest level since 1970. While marriage rates are also declining, those marriages that do occur are increasingly more stable.”

It seems the vast majority of Americans, most of whom get married, stay married, and say they are indeed living happily ever after – despite living in a country with the most liberal divorce laws in the Western world.

Mr. Anderson makes a point in the book to identify “Washington elites” and compares them to the rest of America.

(Washington elites are identified as those living in the Washington metro area, earn more than $75,000 a year (this was in 2010), have a college degree and are involved in the political process.)

In 2010 62 percent of the nation thought the nation was heading in the wrong direction. 27 percent thought everything was OK. Of the ‘elites’ 49 percent thought the nation’s direction was OK while 45 percent agreed with the rest of America.

One of the most interesting differences was in family values. 62 percent of Americans agreed that family values were “very important.” Only 23 percent of the Washington establishment agreed with the 62 percent.

As can be seen today in many ways (consider same-sex marriage proponents, drug use, public language, abortions, etc.) the world has changed greatly. However, religion, morals, and government have existed together since the beginning.

George Washington noted in his speech: “It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?”

Even much later than Washington’s quote a writer from France noted: “On my arrival in the United States, it was the religious aspect of the country that first struck my eye. Among us Europeans I had seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom almost always move in contrary direction. Here I found them united intimately with one another: they reigned together on the same soil.”

I guess one of the reasons I have enjoyed reading this book was because it supported my impression that even though the national media and the government would like us to believe “we are all going to hell in a hand basket” that may not be the truth. (The national media because they have something terrible to write about. Some in the government because they think they have a reason to correct something.)

I am certainly not suggesting we sit idly by and hope for the best. Our government requires people like you and I be involved to retain what we have. It is necessary because the liberals, the communist and socialist will always be at work trying to change our government to what they want.

Considering the year 2022 is an election year, I hope you will either continue your involvement, or begin your involvement in our election process.

That’s a beginning.

A O