Dakota Beacon

As happens annually to each of us, I had a birthday last week. This was a quiet affair with family and friends in attendance, some wondering how I made it this far. Good question.

For all the youngsters in attendance (those under seventy) I could have lectured on the “good ol’ days.” But, I refrained out of courtesy. Instead, I kept good company with myself and reflected on days gone by.

Several books influenced my thinking during the 1970s and 1980s.

Theologian, philosopher, and the foremost evangelical thinker of the day, Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer wrote “How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture,” 1976. In this very informative and readable book he describes “…a personal analysis of the key moments in history which have formed our present culture, and the thinking of the men who brought those moments to pass.”

Continuing to observe the decline and pointing to evangelical silence and reticence he wrote “The Great Evangelical Disaster,” 1984. This book highlights the rise of compromise and accommodation along with the tragic consequences of this failure within our society and within the evangelical church.

Dr. Schaeffer together with C. Everett Koop, M.D. wrote “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?: Exposing Our Rapid Yet Subtle Loss of Human Rights,” 1979. They focused on the destruction of human life, young and old, being sanctioned on an ever-increasing scale by the medical profession, by the courts, by parents, and by silent Christians. This book poses the challenge, “One hundred years from now, will future generations look back on us with pride for the way in which we have preserved the sacredness of human life? Or will they be ashamed?” At the rate we are going, there will be little cause for pride.

Another group of books influencing my thinking was written by attorney and Rutherford Institute president John W. Whitehead. He wrote, “The Second American Revolution,” 1982. Praised by Francis A. Schaeffer as “…the most important book that I have read in a long, long time,” this book addresses the issue of religious freedom versus a secularist and humanistic wave which increasingly controls our society.

This was followed by Whitehead’s next book, “The Stealing of America,” 1983. In the book he reviews how the federal government increasingly gained control over education, family life, and church life that were previously reserved for individual or local control. Erosion of freedom resulted.

Akin to Schaeffer’s observations, Whitehead wrote “Grasping for the Wind: The Search for Meaning in the 20^th Century”, 2001. He offers an incisive analysis of 20^th century Western civilization and the cultural forces that shaped it. Whitehead acridly comments, “People now appear to be mere parts in the so-called machinery of life.”

Over the span of my lifetime our society has changed. We have experienced a metamorphosis -- and not for the better. I understand that ideology and political rhetoric are not static. Political thought evolves over time in response to developments in culture and demography. For example, Donald Trump is not Ronald Reagan. Reagan was too nice of a guy to govern in today’s ruthlessly-partisan politics. Unfortunately, politics has become a cage fight and we need a warrior, not a genial Mister Rogers, in the White House. So, what happened to the conservative movement of yesterday?

Toward the end of the twentieth century, things changed. During the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations, in the absence of a strong national conservative leader like Ronald Reagan, the canon of conservatism was shaped by Beltway-based think tanks and publications. Subsequently, conservatism suffered an identity crisis resulting in the election of a populist candidate, Donald Trump. In hindsight, this was not a fluke. The earlier candidacies of Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot, and even George Wallace, were forerunners of the populism to come. Post-Trump, conservatism is still trying to regain its bearings, unable to agree on what is worth conserving. The once-united sages on the Right are now fragmented, if not downright antagonistic to one another.

If there is such a thing as “good ol’ days” then there must have been some point of reference. Surely there must be more to a perception of change than mere nostalgia. To my old eyes we have morphed culturally into something unrecognizable. When wrong becomes right and evil becomes good; when standards evaporate and everyone does that which is right in their own eyes; we have degenerated into a moral vacuum.

A clarion call was sounded many decades ago by the likes of Schaeffer, Whitehead, and others. Many people heeded but the generations that followed did not. As a result we are experiencing today a cultural rot of our own making.

My birthday wish? Certainly not to return to the era of the Cold War or Vietnam. However, it would be nice to return to some semblance of cultural normalcy and stability.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).