Why America Dies

Part 2: Lies, Damn Lies and the Father of Lies

The virtue of patriotism is quite easily distorted, and made vicious, by an inordinate, self-serving pride. This ego-maniacal, false “patriotism” is likely the source of that all-too-common (and annoying) chant:

U S A! U S A! U S A!

Or the equally sophistical slogan: Make America Great Again.

Can’t we just be good?

I am not denying that one will find greater morality and glory in our union’s history, but rather questioning the wisdom of ever holding oneself out as the paragon of virtue. Let’s leave that to the One Who can rightfully claim it.

But even our past, at least in the histories used in our educational system, is fraught with distortions. We, who have imbibed these falsities, perpetuate them at our own expense…or fall for the selfishness and pridefulness of the aforementioned slogans.

Pride starts and ends with lies. Humility, its antidote, is rightly understood as reflecting what actually IS the case. So, today, I hope to stare into a mirror, assessing the icons of Americanism to determine the truth (or error) of our self-knowledge. I think the assessment will hurt our collective self-image, but I beg you, in humility, to deeply reflect on this vision to see if it, in fact, comports with what is.

In a related piece, I mentioned a civilizational decline over 500 years old. But, in America’s shorter history, we can see the lies behind the destruction of Christendom growing in strength and in “certitude” (that is, the lie which has been taken as true). There are many examples that could be given, but I will focus on three lies about ourselves that we have come to believe almost universally.

First, the word “liberty”. Whether or not we ever understood the word properly, it has, in our modern world, come to mean nothing else than doing whatever one likes. In short, when we say “liberty”, we are usually accepting (promoting?) the lie of selfishness.

Next we have the lie of American “self-reliance”. Somehow we’ve all pulled ourselves up by our own bootstraps…but never thought once on the question of Who created the boots?!? This lie about ourselves is pride, pure and simple.

Finally, the “mythology” that goes by the name of the “founding era” or “the Founding Fathers” (yes, we even capitalize it in some quixotic adulation). If we look beyond our narrow history, it is evident that our founding period was one more assault on Altar and Throne, but even if we constrain ourselves to the particular actions of our forebears, we have to confess that their actions, and the myth of our founding, are based upon the sin of disobedience.

With a founding like that, is it any wonder that the devil rules in our land today?

Please recall, I am NOT trying to repudiate the virtue of patriotism. Rather, I am seeking to purify, through the virtue of humility, any pride which may have sunk into our current iteration of it. Let us love that which is lovable and reject that “hater of mankind” who seeks to mislead us with his multitude of lies.

Beg God for humility so that all of our loves may be true!