The Movement You Need…

If there is anything I wish I could change about my past, I would have become a serious student of history at a much younger age. Yes, I’ve always had an interest in the past, thanks to the loving intention on the part of many in my family who explained my ancestors’ roles in the establishment of what became the United States. But my interest in things historical was made too narrow, I think, because the left-leaning educators who made up the vast majority of those I came in contact with from elementary school through university were antipathetic toward Western Culture and the philosophies that fed it. My instructors were predominantly disdainful of Christianity, though their views were never directly stated, as the political correctness of the 60′ and 70’s had not yet made it fashionable to knock and mock all things related to Christ. It did not fit their agenda to impress upon me, and my classmates, the importance of truly knowing history because if we knew it and embraced it as prescriptive, we’d likely not be easily sold on whatever pretty packages of radical leftist drivel that might be offered up as “reforms” in the future.

That said, I’m taking notes and drawing inferences about the information being presented at a web site called The Maps of War. Visually, the materials presented there are stunning, and designed to make the viewer ponder that conflict and borders are inseparable. Read below, visit the site an ponder how the “borders of religion” relate to the ongoing conflict between a West born of Christianity and neighbor nation states steeped in Islamic Sharia.

History of Religion

How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? Our map gives us a brief history of the world’s most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds?

Those who think that our struggle with expansionist Islam is something “new” either aren’t well-versed in history or lack critical thinking skills. Where will the colors runneth over next?

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Tags: borders, christianity islam, history of the world, Political Correctness

The folks at 18DoughtyStreet ponder a world without America. Good Stuff.

I’ll bet stuff like this annoys the hell out of liberals.

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HT: FreedomFolks

Tags: Conservatism

I’ve been looking at some art by Akiane, an 12-year-old art prodigy. Her work simply blows me away.

Akiane: child prodigy, artist, poet.

Her biggest wish: “that everyone would love God and one another”.

She says that her art comes from her visions, dreams, obervations of people, nature and God. I’m not about to argue with her. Wow!

Technorati Tags: arkiane, art, God, prodigy

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Tags: art

I consider my personal brand of Conservatism to be descended from that of Edmund Burke and informed in large part by Russell Kirk. Like James Madison, I have a rather dim view of my fellow man when his actions are not voluntarily shackled by moral imperative backed by law.

What is government but the greatest of all reflections on human nature. If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on the government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. — James Madison, The Federalist No. 51

For quite some time I’ve been wondering how post-Reagan Revolution Conservatism has morphed into “big government Conservatism.” Yesterday, a column by George will pointed to a potential answer that I need to think on a bit.

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: George Will :: Yes, Reagan was great, but it’s time to move on

If the defining doctrine of the Republican Party is limited government, the party must move up from nostalgia and leaven its reverence for Reagan with respect for Madison. As Diggins says, Reaganism tells people comforting and flattering things that they want to hear; the Madisonian persuasion tells them sobering truths that they need to know.

I think it is important to note that at Reagan’s time, this nation was suffering from dual malignancies brought on by the corruptions of Watergate and destruction of faith in American exceptionalism fomented by Jimmy Carter’s milquetoast platitudes that projected his personal malaise upon us all. Carter proved not only to be a literal peanut farmer but an idealogical one, too. This nation needed Reagan’s optimism in 1980. Perhaps his place, his time and his ideology was Providential; but, we are not at that time and place today. A different set of guiding principles are probably needed for today’s Conservatism: Older ones.

If there was ever a time in which we need a reality check about who we are and who they are, it is today. My distrust in the core of my fellow man is, I think, most prudent considering the threats that confront us. It is becoming my political dogma that multiculturalism, diversity and political correctness endanger us because they all blind us to the more base potentialities of human nature.

I was doing a bit of Googling on these topics and ran across this:

We need to learn some lessons from the tolerance-fomented decline of Lebanon. I wonder whether or not our current PC indoctrination will let us. Will we break free from socially-Marxist constraints in time to save ourselves from the fate that looms?

My pessimism about human nature conflicts with my optimism about Americanism on this.

Tags: american exceptionalism, Conservatism, russell kirk