The short answer is yes, but there are many pernicious factors eroding our desire and will to maintain and uphold the greatest republic in history. Foundationally great, America is the only nation on earth that enshrines the God given rights of every citizen. Our founders acknowledged God created each of us to be free and therefore crafted our Constitution to preserve and protect our “unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
With the best framework to be the greatest freest nation on the planet, America is only as great as its people. It takes a free people, a people that cherish and embrace freedom to be great. As John Adams wrote: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Americans enjoy the longest running experiment in democratic self-governance. Adams was emphasizing that a people could only govern themselves if they each share a common intrinsic sense of morality. In other words, the people know what is right and do it generally voluntarily without government coercion. A free people must also be virtuous meaning they will provide for themselves so as not to be dependent on a government that would lord over them. Freedom is fleeting if the people depend on anyone other than God for their rights and provision.
Americans still love liberty. We still think free speech (expect perhaps not for conservatives), freedom of assembly, and the right to bear arms are important; and many increasingly demand the right to smoke whatever or have sex with whomever. All of that fits into freedom, but with freedom also comes responsibility. Free to make whatever mess we indulge, we must also be willing to clean up after ourselves. Making a mess under the banner of liberty but insisting someone else clean it up imposes on others freedom.
Too many Americans particularly our youth want the liberty, but not the responsibility. If the people cannot or will not be responsible for themselves, the government has no choice but to step in to maintain order. An irresponsible unruly people need a master. If the people generally eschew morality and virtue, the liberals are right. We will need an all-powerful nanny state to run herd on the masses.
Sadly, too many Americans particularly millennials are convinced they cannot make it on their own. They erroneously believe education and healthcare are out of reach unless the government gives it to them. Daunted by the prospects for prosperity, too many believe the American dream is a bygone fantasy. They come to this pessimism honestly. Wages have been stagnant for decades and American wealth has been eroded by anemic economic growth.
Thankfully the economy is showing real growth again and opportunities are again blossoming. Good jobs are plentiful and millennials are actually moving out of their parents’ homes. Prosperity is again available to those who will work for it, so there is real reason for hope. But will our youth seize the opportunity?
The rising tide will lift all boats, but you have to get into a boat. Unfortunately, our youth have been inculcated with socialism and generally poorly educated for decades. Most leave High School with no skill or direction; they wander into the minimum wage work place with no particular goals. When they realize they need more education or a skill, they are already caught trying to make a living, so they have to balance adult obligations with trying to learn a trade. They have been taught they cannot make it without the government, so they are attracted to any Bernie Sanders snake oil salesman promising security.
Americans must regain control and wholly reform education. We must teach our children freedom is fragile but certainly worth the trouble. Our Constitutional republic provides the vehicle to maintain freedom, but we must train each successive generation of drivers. It’s not just teaching responsibility. We must pass on the vital imperative of believing God created us to be free and we will only remain free if we fight to keep any government from interceding in our direct relationship with God.
A people who do not believe or care to answer to God will eventually answer to man. And freedom will be lost.
“I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.” Psalm 119:45
