The American Faith
posted at 12:00 pm on July 4, 2010 by Doctor Zero
During his immigration speech last week, President Obama said: “Being an American is not a matter of blood or birth. It’s a matter of faith.”
He’s obviously correct in observing the American character is not inherited through genetics. There is no “American race.” It’s also not determined by the location of our birth. Many who were born in other countries become Americans of outstanding patriotism. It’s an honor to recite the Pledge of Allegiance alongside someone who crossed long miles, and perhaps endured great hardship, to join us beneath the red, white, and blue. They mean every word of that pledge.
Some families have worked, studied, and waited patiently to obtain their citizenship… only to have their sons and daughters die on foreign soil in our service. We welcome their bodies back to their adopted home, comforted by the knowledge their souls never left. Those who recite the Pledge of Allegiance dwell in America forever, no matter the provenance of the ground upon which they take their final rest.
Is the American identity a matter of faith? If so, faith in what?
The President obviously doesn’t see it as faith in our laws, since he was speaking on behalf of people who broke them to enter the United States. “It’s a matter of fidelity to the shared values that we all hold so dear,” the President clarified. Does that include the shared value of disregarding the laws of other nations when they inconvenience us? If he was referring to the value of political freedom, did he mean to imply that illegal aliens are fleeing from tyrannical dictatorships? Is that an accurate description of Mexico – a country whose leader received a thunderous standing ovation from the Democrat Party for denouncing an American state?
Of course, the kind of value the President had in mind was the desire for a better life, and the pursuit of opportunity. These are not questions of faith,however. To use a term the President loves, they are matters of hope. They are not distinctly American values, for they are shared almost universally, in all but the darkest corners of the Earth. There are places where parents sell their children into slavery, or cover them with explosives and use them as murder weapons. Everywhere else, people yearn to do better for themselves, and pray for their children to surpass them.
Is America defined by faith in her government? That would seem contrary to the spirit of our Revolution, and the wisdom of our first magnificent President. George Washington preferred the company of fellow citizens at a round table over a throng of supplicants kneeling before a throne. No temporal authority has the right to demand the unquestioning belief of our Republic. Faith between free men must flow both ways to be valid.
Understand this, and the nature of the American faith is revealed.
You can search for its fiery glimmer between generations seated at picnic tables on this Fourth of July weekend. Its tracks are pressed into airport carpet by every soldier boarding an outbound plane to foreign shores. It echoes through the words of every man and woman with the courage to denounce evil, both within and beyond our borders. It is a symphony pouring through our national anthem. It is a cascade of bells dancing through every act of charity we show our neighbors. When we join together in battle against murderous enemies or callous Nature, it is the roar of a lion. When we take risks in support of bold innovation, it is the cry of an eagle, looking far ahead through a crisp morning sky. It swims happily through the air in every shop, gallery, and office.
On some rare days, it reveals itself with terrible beauty and glory, as in the sight of firemen raising the American flag over the ashes of fallen towers and the innocent dead.
It is a faith incomprehensible to tyrants, invisible to racists, intolerable to criminals. It dissolves in the quicksand of dependency, but flourishes among the windswept grain of liberty. It charges every word of the Constitution with lightning, and its afterglow pulses warmly through the Bill of Rights. It is a faith which suffers constant transgressions, for we are still struggling to understand it. It will survive every blasphemy, as it endured the agony of our Civil War, for its eternal truth is not tarnished by our incomprehension. When we do accept this faith at last, it will ease much of the torment we inflict upon ourselves. Its reflection is captured in coins, ballots, websites, and firearms.
Reflect upon these clues, and you can guess its name.
The American faith is our faith in each other. Nowhere else in the world is such a noble belief written so clearly, or shared with such pride and joy. We express that faith through respect for each others’ rights, choosing liberty above even the most benevolent domination. We honor it by respecting our laws, including the just laws governing our generous policy of immigration. Its grace is denied to those who lack such respect… from thieves to lawless bureaucrats, corporate criminals to greedy politicians.
This Sunday, I will happily toast every American, from coast to coast and around the world. I will never stop believing in all of you.
Happy Independence Day!
Cross-posted at www.doczero.org.
Doctor Zero: Year One now available from Amazon.com!
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Sweet. How sweet it is.
Finally, Obama’s chikkinzzz are coming home to roost.
petefrt on May 19, 2013 at 8:22 PM
This.
When you have to plead incompetence to defend against charges of malfeasance, you know you might be in trouble.
petefrt on May 19, 2013 at 8:36 PM
ear relevant…
driguana on May 19, 2013 at 8:59 PM
Flush this lying tudd down the drain with the rest of the Obamacrap.
kemojr on May 19, 2013 at 9:34 PM
This was Dan Pfeiffer’s week in the barrel, like Susan Rice he was given the White House talking points and sent on a mission. He really needs to get copies of these tapes and watch them and see how foolish and unbelievable he looked and sounded. The White House is losing the little credibility it still had by sending these shills out every week trying to do damage control. Community organizers make poor leaders.
savage24 on May 19, 2013 at 9:42 PM
Pfeiffer’s statement that the law is irrelevant because the IRS conduct was “outrageous” and “inexcusable”, tells us all we need to know about this administration.
However, the follow-up should have been, “On what standard do you judge their conduct to be outrageous and inexcusable since the law is apparently not an appropriate standard?” (At least in Pfeiffer’s mind.)
What this comes down to is this: “if the Administrative deems something “outrageous” and “inexcusable,” then it is declared such. As we have seen in so many other areas, if the Administrative deems something to not be “outrageous” and “inexcusable,” then it is declared such.
In their mind, the law is – in fact – irrelevant. That’s what makes this situation so dangerous.
It’s not socialism. It’s worse.
EdmundBurke247 on May 19, 2013 at 10:36 PM
Irrelevant = “What Difference Does It Make?”
jaydee_007 on May 19, 2013 at 10:41 PM
A fitting capstone to Ed’s story about loss-prevention (aka employee theft) and management’s “permission structure” in this post.
(Not to mention the jaw-dropping statements of Eleanor Clift in this one.)
AesopFan on May 19, 2013 at 11:40 PM
I enjoy popcorn and hope it is a long week.
Drill and Fill on May 20, 2013 at 12:41 AM
Hey give Barky a break. He had to get his sorry ass out to Vegas.
tbear44 on May 20, 2013 at 4:49 AM
Of course they sent Pfeiffer out to do the Sunday shows. He was the most senior expendable staff member they had . . .
BigAlSouth on May 20, 2013 at 5:39 AM
Pfeiffer… The guy with the red shirt in the landing party…
Boudica on May 20, 2013 at 5:53 AM
Perfect!
lea on May 20, 2013 at 7:11 AM
Does anybody else remember the campaign in 2008 when Obama defended his lack of administrative experience by saying he was just so smart and tuned in that his instincts were better than experience. Someone needs to dredge up these sound bites and play then with the current line about the government being too large to control and that the White House only knows what it reads in the newspaper.
bartbeast on May 20, 2013 at 8:43 AM
If where the president was during the Benghazi crisis is “irrelevant”, then he wasn’t where one would expect the Commander-in-Chief to be. So, where was he? Was he watching a movie in the residence? Was he bowling? Or was he having a bi-curious outing with his good buddy Reggie Love? If Obama was AWOL, as I suspect he was, it is he who is irrelevant. This entire stinkin’ criminal Obama Regime must go and now!
SpiderMike on May 20, 2013 at 9:31 AM
If this continues all week, it will be ‘O’ himself doing the rounds on the Sunday talk shows – except for Fox, of course. (‘O’ can do everything better than everyone else as he has been known to say.)
He then gets the extra benefit that no one will challenge him like they have begun to do with his minions.
Carnac on May 20, 2013 at 11:00 AM
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