Dakota Beacon

AMERICA IN TRANSITION

            “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 church 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 these institutions are undermined and eradicated from our culture, who will guard us? Who will 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 and one which ignores our Constitution? Today’s leaders at the highest levels embrace a vision of America comparable with that of the secular, dying European culture.

            As America’s election season culminates with the casting of votes by the Electoral College, it is worthy to reflect on where America is headed -- and why. Will the 21st Century become America’s recessional? And, what will a world look like without American leadership?

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).