On this first Friday
night of Christmas break, I find myself reading Peggy Noonan's column
for this week. It is titled "Who We (Still) Are." For those of you who
don't know, Peggy Noonan was one of Ronald Reagan's speechwriters and
one of his close friends. Knowing this, I cannot help but imagine her
writing these columns with Ronald Reagan at the front of her mind.
The basic point of her column is that America, while in a state of
doubt and fear right now, has always prevailed. She says that it is our
people that have ensured this.
Thinking about these points really humble me. They also disappoint me.
I don't mean to politicize the situation, but it seems that in the
doubt and fear we have a public clamoring for the government to save
us. The people have turned both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue blue,
increasing its power and role in all of our lives.
Will the government save us? History being any guide, it will not. It
did not save us from the Great Depression, nor did it save us from the
serious economic recession of the 1970s.
Americans are scared. An endless list of horrible things has ravaged
our faith in both government and free enterprise. Bernard Madoff. The
Wall Street bailout. The Big 3. Rod Blagojevich. What next?
I thought the reason no one I knew was surprised about the Illinois
governor was because I was surrounded by people from Chicago who are
used to such behavior. But I have returned to New York, where the
politics are many things but not corrupt, and find even citizens here
unphased. Would we be surprised if this happened in 2004 or 1996,
election years of economic prosperity and (relative) national harmony?
Just a thought.
I think Americans right now are groping through the darkness, looking
for something stable to cling on to. This, I think, is the greatest
tragedy of 2008.
In
1980 (from what I have read, seeing as how I had nine years to wait
until I was born), Americans felt similarly about, well, everything. We
had several citizens being held hostage in Iran. Gasoline was being
stolen from our cars in parking lots. Inflation was at record highs.
And along came a man. An actor from California. Americans were groping
blindly. He gave them that stable something.
What Americans found to cling to in 1980 wasn't an institution. It
wasn't the government, it wasn't a bank, it wasn't a car. It wasn't
even an individual. It was themselves. It was each other. It was what
truly is America: the people.
Ronald Reagan taught us to believe in ourselves. His well-known quote
summed it up quite well: "Government is not the solution to the
problem. Government is the problem." But it was more than just
government. The true essence of that quote is that in America, we have
the strongest, smartest, and most resilient people on Earth. This
country is different. It is not the envy of the world, it is not the
most powerful country in history, because of the things about it that
are similar to others. It is because of the things that are different.
It is because in America, you keep the majority of your salary. In
America, you find your own job. In America, you can own your own gun.
In America, you can drive anywhere you want on wide open roads and with
cheap gas. In America, the only person running your life is yourself.
The light at the end of the tunnel is there. It is within reach.
Sometimes, though, confused Americans need a gentle push in the right
direction, and maybe even a gentle one in the wrong direction (which we
are now guaranteed). With the right leadership, we can find our inner
strength again, collect it, and pick ourselves up!
Just as institutions cannot guarantee our positive future, we must not
let them guarantee our negative future. The American people have and
will always come out on top.
I believe the second verse of "America the Beautiful" truly encapsulates the beauty of this country:
"Oh beautiful for Pilgrim feet whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat across the wilderness!
America, America, God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!"
Our beauty comes not from government, not from mountains or fields or
skyscrapers; it comes from the people and the culture of self-reliance.
It comes from the idea that every man is free to live his own life,
endowed to us by those great Fathers from centuries ago. It comes from
our faith, or, as declared by our currency, our trust in God for strength. And that strength is there, ready to be taken by the horns.
God Bless America, and everyone in it.