Don't Tread on Me

I recently finished viewing the HBO miniseries produced on the life of John Adams. The viewing of this film stirred me. I am awed by the sacrifice displayed by such men in order to form this country in which we live. There is no other explanation save they were inspired by God. At the very founding of our country, we were blessed with the presence of some of the greatest most influential leaders in the history of the world. And yet, even now, as our country has grown to become the world’s greatest super power, we are rarely capable of producing one such leader.

"Society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases."- John Adams

Bill George, of Harvard Business School states, “We have come to realize that the economic crisis was less a matter of subprime mortgages than subprime leadership.” I desperately long for the days when a leader’s promise was his binding word. When his greatest asset at stake was not his popularity or public recognition, but rather the maintenance of his personal honor and dignity. If government were ran with such simple ideals, we would all live in a very different country.

So our situation begs the question, what are the bulwarks of our national leadership? Once again, John Adams is able to offer some insight on the issue.

“We have no government armed in power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” –John Adams

As a country, we are shunning religion, discrediting morality, and rationalizing the most grotesque of unbridled passions in an increasingly mortifying fashion. Consequently, the very values on which our country was founded are being “mocked on every hand” (doctrinally speaking). This should be a terrifying realization to anyone who believes in this prophesy given by John Adams. If he is to be trusted, every day we allow laws to be passed allowing dwarfed moral standards and unwelcomed religious expression, in the name of free speech, we are casually loitering our way closer to becoming “wholly inadequate” for the government we so fruitfully enjoy.

It is time for our voices to be heard. We can no longer be a casual spectator regarding the laws of our country. Our corruptible leaders need to listen to the voice of the people, rather than assume “they know better”. Our government was founded by the people, for the people. We need to reclaim that power, as our founding fathers did. Only then will our world class leaders hear the call of our nation. It is time for the strong, religious, and otherwise virtuous citizens of this nation to exclaim the same sentiment our founding fathers once did. “Don’t tread on me”.