by Dr. Larry Moses
Published August 20, 2008
No one asked me but… While we Americans have problems that are regularly chronicled in the paper and on television news, I think maybe it is time to take a realistic view of the American people. Tales of greedy, corrupt, selfish and uncaring people are distinctly a secondary part of the American story. These negative events make the news because they are not the norm. The old newspaper adage is: “Dog bites man is not news; man bite dogs is”. No matter what the press would want you to believe, Americans are good people.
Americans are believers in the good and that goodness is intrinsic to the American character. Positive features are ingrained in Americans. We prize faith, heroism, honesty, charity, initiative, perseverance and neighborliness. Americans have an inherent desire to do what is right.
Americans are a faith based people. Over 86 per-cent indicate they believe in God. This country was founded by men who stepped out in faith. Regardless of what the Supreme Court of today says, religious conviction has always held a crucial place in our national heritage. Sincere religious convictions and faith were principle motivators for the Plymouth colonists who sought, among other things, freedom to worship as they pleased.
The number of people saying religion is very important to them has gradually increased over the past two decades. Nearly two-thirds of Americans call religion very important. Fully nine-in-ten pray at least once a week and the overwhelming majority described God in very personal terms. Strong majorities in both political parties believe in the importance of religion. Six-in-ten attend religious service, not including weddings and funerals, at least once a month, and forty three percent attend weekly. The nation’s population remains overwhelmingly Christian – more than eight in ten people (82%) identify themselves as Christians. The nation’s non-Christian religious population remains fairly small. Only about four percent practice Judaism or other non-Christian religions. About ten percent of the American population claims no religious affiliation and might well argue that this faith in God does not help make America good; I am sure the other 90% of Americans would disagree. (More data on American religious beliefs can be found on the internet at www.people-press.org)
America is the most charitable nation on earth and this surely is an indication of the country’s goodness. The American nation is charitable to a fault. Any time there is a disaster in the nation or around the world, Americans rally with aid of all forms. America has been a mother to the world who can always be counted on to bail out the weaker members of the world family. In 2006, Americans gave nearly $295 billion to charity. Most estimates of the percentage of American households that make monetary contributions each year at 70 to 80 percent, the average American household contributes more than $1000 annually. About a third of the contributions go to churches and the rest to secular activities, education, health and social welfare.
Low income working families are the most generous, giving away about 4.5 percent of their income on average. This compares to 2.5 percent among the middle class and the three percent among high income families (Charity information is from Arthur C. Brook’s book WHO REALLY CARES. Basic Books 2006).
No one asked me but…both of the current presumptive candidates for the presidency are calling for change. While there is little doubt that there are problems that need to be dealt with, one must wonder how much change is good for America.
In 2006, Democrat Party took control of Congress with a call for change. At that time Consumer confidence stood at a 2 ½ year high, regular gas was $2.19 a gallon, the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent. Since the change in Congress, consumer confidence has fallen, gas is at $4.00 a gallon, the value of the America house is down over seven percent. Foreclosures are out of sight. Unemployment is over five percent. I am not sure how much more of this kind of change we can stand.
We live in a country where we have electricity and running water on demand. We can go to the grocery store and have an option to buy more food than major parts of the world see in a year. Our garbage disposals eat better than the majority of the world’s population. We have religious, social and political freedoms that set the standard for the rest of the world.
I am all for change if it makes us better, but I would challenge if that is what happened with the change in 2006. The Democrat Party had an opportunity to effect change in the country, but when leader of Senate Harry Reid was asked what was happening in the Senate he stated, “We are on hold until after the Presidential election in 2008”. I might say that if I was in charge of the Senate while the national economy was collapsing around my ears. Senator Reid and Congresswomen Pelosi apparently have replaced what they called the do-nothing Republican Congress with a do-nothing Democrat Congress. Now if we can just find someone who will do something. As the old Gunny Sergeant used to say, “Lead, follow or get out of the way.”
No one asked me but…Does the Russian movement into Georgia bring recollections of the years before WWII when Hitler began to move in territories it claimed before WWI. Does it seem that the world will do no more now than it did then? America is in no position to challenge the encroachment; we are already fighting two wars. The President of France met with the Russians. Do you suppose he is already figuring out how best to surrender?
President Bush has told the Russians that they must stop the aggression immediately but has pledged not to interfere militarily. He has sent the Secretary of State to Russia to emphasize his displeasure and I am sure that has Prime Minister Putin shaking in his boots.
Part of the Secretary’s plan is to allow some Russian troops to stay in Georgia to protect Russian citizens. To allow! How do we plan to get them out? This seems like giving the burglar permission to stay in parts of the house to protect the television he stole. This may well be the beginning of the re-establishment of the Soviet Union. Those provinces that broke away from the old Soviet Union should be concerned about their autonomy. Can anyone say Munich? I fail to see how anything short of trading nukes with the Russians will keep them from reclaiming those territories that broke away while the Russians were destroying themselves in Afghanistan.
President Putin came to the realization he was fighting a war he could not win. When he came to understand the war was destroying the Russian economy he brought his troops home and began to concentrate the economic recovery of the country. Russia is now economically sound enough to recover the areas while fighting a war in the Middle East. America might take a lesson from the Russians in this area.
Thought for the week… “It is the habit of every aggressor nation to claim that it is acting on the defensive.” – Jawaharlal Nehru
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!
Comment on this story. Send a letter to the editor by email, click here: EMAIL US
