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OPINION

Have You Ever Heard Any Current Politician Use the Word 'Virtue'?

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe

My dear friends, if you want to know how America has gotten so far off the track, where our beloved country has lost its way, why there is so much moral decadence, so many utterly corrupt, self-centered, power-hungry politicians, and a largely ignorant, gullible citizenry, the majority of whom don’t seem to know what is really happening, then please read the following quotes.  Each of them is from James Madison, one of the greatest minds in our history, and the man given the most credit for writing our Constitution and establishing the government we were supposed to have.  I shall add brief comments after each quote:

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Quote 1:  “The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue the common good of the society, and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.”

Note:  “rulers” with “wisdom” and “virtue” to “pursue the common good of the society,” and to “take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous.”  Yeah, “wisdom” and “virtue” to pursue the “common good” for Ukraine and every country in the world but our own.  

When was the last time you heard ANY American politician talk about “virtue”?   None of them ever do because so few of them have any.  You don’t talk about qualities you don’t possess and expose your own blatant hypocrisy.   With very few exceptions, we have the sorriest collection of humanity ever assembled in Washington, D.C. now running our government—running it, mind you, into a sewer.  You can count the good ones on one hand.  And don’t waste time checking the Democratic Party.   Virtue in our rulers today?  That’s a laugh.  Put all the “virtue” in Washington today in a thimble and you could see the bottom of it.

Quote 2:  “I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom.”

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Yes, well, here is the real problem, the true source.  The people, in a democratic republic, select their rulers.   We’ve nobody to blame but ourselves. If the majority has no “virtue” and “intelligence,” then we can’t be surprised if none exists in Washington, D.C. or most state governments.  Ultimately, the fault lies right at the feet of the American people.

Quote 3:  “Is there no virtue among us?  If there be not, we are in a wretched situation.  No theoretical checks--no form of government can render us secure.   To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.” 

Why is America, currently, in such a “wretched situation”?  Madison clearly answers that question.  And please note the conclusion Madison draws:  it doesn’t matter what “form” of government a country has, if the people are not virtuous, if the people are decadent, you are going to have “wretched” leaders and a “wretched” country.  Washington, D.C., is actually only a symptom of America’s greatest problem.  The true disease, as Madison so ably points out, is a lack of virtue among the people.  There can be no liberty, no happiness, no leadership in a democratic republic if the core of the apple is rotten.

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Quote 4:  “If a man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else?” 

I have only two words in confirmation of that quote:  Joe Biden.

Quote 5:  “The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”

I could give you a plethora of quotes from our Founding Fathers on the necessity of an educated public for the success of liberty and a nation.  I may write about it soon.  Knowledge, truth—contrary to the recent assertions and implications of the NPR’s CEO—come from God.  They are absolute, unchanging, fixed, because they come from eternity, not an ever-evolving, unthinking, unguided, materialistic miasma.  

If people aren’t taught virtue, honesty, self-control, respect for property, industry, truth, and goodness, then they will have none of these qualities.  And, again I ask, when was the last time you heard ANY politician in America, on either side of the aisle, encouraging Americans towards the absolute necessity of a virtuous, godly, self-controlled life?  They aren’t going to talk about it for two reasons:   one, almost none of them has any, and two, if the people did practice virtue, honor, industry, and self-control, they wouldn’t need or elect unvirtuous, corrupt, godless politicians, or allow them to steal their money and destroy their country.  Joe Biden and the Uniparty doesn’t want a population educated in, and practicing, self-control and virtue, because self-control and virtue are the direct opposites of everything the Democratic Party stands for.  An unvirtuous people with no self-control will produce societal chaos, i.e., America in 2024.  And a society in chaos will cry out for greater government to protect it.  

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Washington, D.C., every anti-American politician there, has a vested interest in keeping the ignorant, blindfolded, brainwashed Americans who elected them ignorant, blindfolded, and brainwashed.  The politicians aren’t going to try to change that by teaching their citizens “virtue.”   Why would they want to do that?

If you wish to know what is going on in America today, read our Founding Fathers.   They told us how to do it right over 200 years ago.  They are still telling us if we’ll only listen.  But Joe Biden and the Democratic Party/Deep State will fight to the death to prevent that from ever happening.

The answer is the one Madison taught us:  to educate our people in virtue and elect leaders of wisdom and virtue.  If that is even possible any more.

Check my substack mklewis929.substack.com.   There’s lots of other good stuff on Leftism, the Founders, etc., along with Biblical studies, so sign up.  Follow me on Twitter:  @thailandmkl.   Read my western novels, Whitewater , River Bend,  Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon.  

 

 

                                                             

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