-Caveat Lector-
"What Made Our Revolution Different?"
by Don Feder - Jewish World Review
After 223 years -- and William J. Clinton notwithstanding -- America is
still the most successful experiment going.
Among other things, the American revolution demonstrated that majorities are
frequently wrong, a fact worth recalling in an age of focus-group worship.
Historians tell us that the colonists were evenly divided in favor of,
against and ambivalent toward independence. If Gallup had been around in
1776, we'd be driving on the wrong side of the road and obsessing about the
royal family.
Unlike all men, all revolutions are not created equal. What makes ours
unique?
There were three revolutions that profoundly influenced the course of human
events: the American, French and Russian. The first transformed the world;
the latter deformed it.
The best revolutions are made by elites -- men of property and learning with
a sense of service. The French and Russian revolutions soon fell into the
hands of bloody-minded fanatics. Jacobins and Bolsheviks -- these are not
names that inspire confidence.
America's was a revolution of words (albeit defended by the sword),
epitomized by the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and lesser
works like "The Federalist Papers" and "Common Sense."
It wasn't ink that flowed in the streets of Paris and St. Petersburg. If our
revolutionary era was symbolized by a quill pen, theirs would best be
represented by Madame la Guillotine and a Cheka firing squad.
Those who make revolution reluctantly do so most wisely.
With a few exceptions, the Founding Fathers came to accept the necessity of
a break with the mother country late in the game. Even after the Intolerable
Acts, Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill, it took months of debate to get a
resolution of independence through the Second Continental Congress.
Revolutions with narrow goals -- those that eschew grand utopian visions and
settle for modest improvement of the human condition -- work best. Madison,
Adams and their associates didn't aim to overhaul society or remake human
nature. They were wise enough to understand that, like inalienable rights,
our nature is endowed by the Creator.
Mere mortals, and the Founders never pretended to be more, understand they
are incapable of giving people new hearts.
The most Founding Fathers aspired to was an orderly society, governed justly
(where state interference in human affairs is minimum), where property
rights are respected and individuals can work, play and pray pretty much as
they choose.
Marat and Robespierre, Lenin and Trotsky saw humanity as clay on the
potter's wheel. The Paris commune, the Terror, collective farms, purge
trials and gulags all were ghastly attempts to fashion a new Eden.
If that weren't enough, French and Russian radicals felt compelled to export
their glorious revolutions, on the point of a bayonet, to those who fiercely
resisted the favor.
By contrast, the generation of 1776 said to the world: "Well, here it is. We
wish you well. Look to us for inspiration, not liberation." The most-quoted
line from Washington's farewell address is his warning about entangling
alliances.
Finally, the American revolution had a spiritual foundation. The Declaration
of Independence appealed to "the Supreme Judge of the World" and affirmed
the colonists "firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence."
The French and Russian revolutions were unalterably opposed not just to
religious expression but to the very idea of a power above the party or
state. Jacobins attacked the Catholic Church, murdered clerics and erected a
Goddess of Reason. The communists made atheism an official state dogma.
Heaven distributed its blessings -- and maledictions -- accordingly.
Consider the aftermath of the three revolutions.
Both communism and fascism were forged in the fires of revolutionary France.
The revolution of 1789 led directly to Napoleon, a resurrection of the
monarchy, a second empire and a series of unstable republics, culminating in
a nation known principally for its cuisine.
Russia suffered 70 years under Bolshevism, with untold millions dead, and
spread its blight to half of Europe.
America shaped the 20th century, created the greatest industrial engine in
history and saved humanity from the twin totalitarian And the future? That
depends on how well we recall the lessons of our revolution and what
distinguishes it from those that failed.
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"To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of
men, their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism
and religious dogmas".
--- Brock Chisolm, former Director of the World Health
Organization
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That Freedom Shall Not Perish.
http://www.jbs.org
God bless the Republic of the United States of America!
Bard
Visit me at:
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