Dakota Beacon

 "Recessional" was one of Rudyard Kipling's better known poems  written late in life. The title indicates a hymn sung at the close of a  service. As such, it serves as both warning and prophecy. This could well
 serve as America's hymn for the 21st Century.
 
 
 
 "God of our fathers, known of old,
 
 Lord of our far-flung battle-line,
 
 Beneath whose awful hand we hold
 
 Dominion over palm and pine--
 
 Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
 
 Lest we forget--lest we forget!"
 
 
 
 Like it or not, believing or unbelieving, America's heritage  took root as a product of Christianity growing out from Reformation Europe.   Our traditions and values; our law and our social mores; our education
 system and economic structure all derive from the vision our Founding  Fathers brought away from European oppression into an unfettered freedom  undergirded by a substantial Christian world view.
 
 
 
 "The tumult and the shouting dies;
 
 The captains and the kings depart:
 
 Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
 
 An humble and a contrite heart.
 
 Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
 
 Lest we forget--lest we forget!"
 
 
 
 Politicians and their administrations are ephemeral. They come  and go. However, America's institutions rooted in our eternal Constitution  ensure stability and continuity for future generations. Other countries have  tried to replicate our culture and institutions but were never able to
 duplicate them.
 
 
 
 "If drunk with sight of power, we loose
 
 Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
 
 Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
 
 Or lesser breeds without the Law--
 
 Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
 
 Lest we forget--lest we forget!"
 
 
 
 Politics for power's sake should be thwarted by citizens through  our Constitutional form of government. But it takes an educated citizenry to  implement such staunch resolve. If citizens don't know, or don't care,  enough to rule themselves rather than be ruled, so be it. Our Founding
 Fathers had at least made provision for future generations predicated on  their own experience with tyranny.
 
 
 
 "For heathen heart that puts her trust
 
 In reeking tube and iron shard,
 
 All valiant dust that builds on dust,
 
 And, guarding, calls not Thee to guard,
 
 For frantic boast and foolish word--
 
 Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!"
 
 
 
 If we forsake our traditional values of home, school and church,  or if they are undermined and eradicated from our culture, who would guard  us? Who would secure us from a political takeover that would radically  transform us into something our Founders never envisioned or intended -- a
 government too big, too powerful, too unforgiving? Today's leaders at the  highest levels accept a vision of America comparable with that of a secular,  dying European culture.
 
 As the 4th of July approaches it is worthy to reflect on where  America is headed -- and why. Will the second decade of the 21st Century  become America's recessional? And, what will the world look like without  America's leadership?
 
 
 
 Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or
 bnt@midstatetel.com.