It is amazin’ to observe the demise of the greatest civilization the world has known From the time of the first European settlers (I’m thinking of the Pilgrims), those who lived on the North American continent were rugged and driven to live life on their own terms.
William Bradford and his band of 106 Pilgrims settled in what is now known as Massachusetts as they had a vision of worshipping and practicing their faith, apart from any government telling them what to believe. Truly they were rugged individualists.
Other settlers to the New World had a similar disposition, that of living free.
In fact, isn’t that one of the tenets of the most basic levels on Maslow’s hierarchy – to live freely.
American history is replete with stories of those having the same thirst in their hearts. Some simply desired a plot of land, a farm, a small business to provide for their family while breathing in the fresh air of liberty.
Revolutionaries to the crown desired the same. Thousands upon thousands of Europeans flocked to the shores of North America to experience this ‘envy of the world’ for themselves.
Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison and countless others embraced the free world, unencumbered by the hierarchy and legalist societies of Europe and elsewhere. Not only were these men rugged individualists, marching to their own tune, but they employed many who found the difficulties within America more tasteful than anywhere else.
Somewhere we lost this. Rather than cheering on the person championing a cause, society ridicules them. Many today love to attack the rugged individualist success stories, touting “you didn’t built that.”
After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, the city lay in ruins. A few thousand had been killed in that fire – more than the number that died on September 11. (I am not attempting to downplay the tragic events of that day in 2001, but merely attempting to explain the number of lives lost during each event.
Over the past year or so, the USA has experienced a number of catastrophic events, from the Maui fires to Helene and Milton. I don’t know about you, but if my wife and I met a couple named Helene and Milton today, I’d make sure I’d leave the scene as quickly as possible.
Over the past few days, the LA fires have been in the news. The amount of damage and loss of property is almost too amazing to take in.
Yes, there are individuals and organizations to point out on how the fire hydrants were tapped out of water, the lack of water reservoirs and how DEI played a part in this on-going holocaust, but I can tell you this for a fact,
You won’t find the solution to these events in Washington. You won’t find them in adding more regulations and taxes (climate reparations) to strained bank accounts, many of which are already over-leveraged. You won’t find the answer in the LA mayor’s office.
Did their ineptitude assist in these events? Without question, IMHO.
The answer lies in a band of weird, different, willing-to-help, loving farmers from placed such as Holmes County, Ohio. I am speaking of the Amish who built houses in 48 hours for a total cost of $300,000 to help out their fellow Americans in North Carolina and Tennessee.
Again, please get the gist. It wasn’t being Amish that made the difference. It was their rugged individualism backed by God.
It’s not going to be the billionaires in Washington or NYC or elsewhere that will rebuild the country and Make America Great. It’s not going to happen through more defrauding (and bankrupting) the public by debasing the currency.
It isn’t my parading around flaunting my sexual orientation or gender for everyone to exclaim with the little girl in the children’s story book, “but he has no clothes.”
It’s going to take heart. It’s going to take drive. It’s going to take rugged individualism – banding together for the greater good.
Most importantly, it’s going to take trust. A trust in God.
After all, isn’t that what Tocqueville found when he visited America? Isn’t that at the very core of the Constitution – as John Adams noted – “written for a moral and religious people;… wholly inadequate to any other”
That’s yours and my heritage. Now, will we live it?
