Honor and Virtue

Lost American values?

Concepts of “honor” and “virtue”, integral in the lives of the Founders, almost appear to be foreign in modern day America. In regard to the last sentence of the Declaration of independence where honor is mentioned, I was trying to find the words to describe what the Founders meant. The definitions of honor of course are:

adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct:

fulfill (an obligation) or keep (an agreement):

I found John Liberty from RedState captured what I was trying to say:

The most intriguing concept of all can be found in the final section of the final sentence, “… we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”  The word honor is singled out here.  To the signers, their lives were not sacred.  Their fortunes were not sacred.  They appear to have fully realized that the only thing likely to endure an armed rebellion, if it came to that, would be the ideas, beliefs and faith that formed the philosophical heart of what we today call liberty.

For all the signers, the one thing that was sacred was their honor.  That was the gift they hoped to leave for future generations. 

How powerful is that? They would rather die than go back on their promise and endure whatever to succeed!

How many things are you personally willing to die for? Is your freedom and that of your children that important?

Regarding “virtue”:

behavior showing high moral standards.

The Founders had many thoughts on virtue regarding the documents they created and its relation to a just government:

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. - Benjamin Franlin

“We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition Revenge or Gallantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” - John Adams

“It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?” - George Washington

“If Virtue and Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great Security.” - Samuel Adams

Obviously, the Founders thought honor and virtue were essential for the very existence of America. Where are we today?

What oaths are taken by the people we elect to represent us?

First, a suggestion made to me by a wise contributor. That before even running for any office, you need to pass a test equivalent to the test given to people becoming citizens, since it is apparent that a majority of elected officials have never even read the Constitution, Bill of Rights or the Declaration of Independence. How can you honorably swear an oath? If they are familiar and violate them anyway, that is criminal maliciousness.

The Presidents’ oath found in Article II, Section 1, Clause 8 of the Constitution:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Article 4 Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states:

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, (FAIR):

Since President Biden took office, nearly 4.9 million illegal aliens have crossed our borders.

122,000 Russian troops just sitting on the Ukraine border was an invasion!

"Roughly the equivalent of the entire population of Ireland has illegally entered the United States in the 18 months President Biden has been in office, with many being released into American communities. In that time, the Biden administration has blamed an unprecedented surge of illegal immigration on all sorts of external factors, except their own sabotage of our nation's immigration laws. The endless flow of illegal aliens and the incursion of lethal narcotics pouring across our border will not end until this administration demonstrates a willingness to enforce our laws," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR.

What is hysterical is Governor Abbot of Texas bussing illegals flooding his state to Washington DC and New York is cruel and overwhelming both cities, while Biden bussing and flying thousands of illegals into red states and cities in the dead of night is not a problem.

This is preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution?

Biden has committed impeachable offenses and treason.

Congress:

“I, [name] , do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

Does that include passing laws that you exempt yourself from, like the Affordable Care Act, (what an oxymoron), and insider trading laws?

Attorney General, FBI and other federal employees:

“I [name] do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

Does that include looking the other way while BLM and Antifa burned cities committing over $2 billion in damages and killing at least 12 people? Then refusing to declare them terrorist groups while declaring in a memo:

the Betsy Ross American flag, the Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, symbols of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, and other imagery as symbols of “Militia Violent Extremists” or MVEs.

With absolutely no crimes committed.

Local and state oaths are variations of, including an oath to uphold the state Constitution.

It has become a sick joke that when a politicians’ lips are moving, they are lying. Why? Do we elect these people because they are the only ones who want the job out of a population of 338,308,043? How pathetic is that? The media, if possible, is trusted even less!

At the local level, school boards, schools and teachers are conspiring behind the backs of tax paying parents to teach Critical Race Theory, transgenderism and fluid gender theory while also teaching children how to perform sex acts on themselves and others. When parents protested, the U.S. Education Secretary outrageously solicited a letter from the National School board Association to take to the White House so the complaining parents could be declared domestic terrorists!

Now we have judges participating in the crime.

A Maryland judge has dismissed a complaint against Montgomery County Public Schools made by three parents who claim the district's "gender identity" guidelines violated their state and constitutional rights. According to the guidelines, teachers are permitted to socially transition students to a different "gender identity" at school, without their parents' consent or knowledge.

America spends the most money in the world on public education, about $14,480 per student and gets the least results. At Patterson High School in Baltimore for example:

In reading, 628 Patterson High School students took the test. Out of those students, 484 of them, or 77%, tested at an elementary school reading level. That includes 71 high school students who were reading at a kindergarten level and 88 students reading at a first-grade level. Another 45 are reading at a second-grade level. Just 12 students tested at Patterson High School, were reading at grade level, which comes out to just 1.9%. (Fox 45 News)

Cities like Washington DC, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, etc., have failing schools also. Instead of being educated, these mostly minority kids are doomed to a life of poverty as inescapable as any penitentiary, unless they choose a high paying career like drug dealing, prostitution, burglary, armed robbery, etc., which guarantees them a short life and a good chance of becoming a homicide statistic. Of course, we have pathetic excuses galore. Poor kids don't learn as well as wealthier kids. Poverty makes people stupid? The same way poverty supposedly makes people criminals? How racist is that? It’s “white privilege”, math is racist, blah, blah. Parochial, private, charter and home schools also deal with poor, special education and dysfunctional kids. The results speak for themselves with average test scores in private schools 18 points higher than public schools. People who profess to be educators and teachers throw their hands up in the air and say it's impossible. How would that work in any other profession? Your plumber says, “boy, that's something I've never seen before! Good luck, and here's my bill”. Just stop testing, because tests are stressful. Where testing is still done, as in New York:

A teacher has put out a detailed exposé proving a child can pass New York’s algebra Regent’s exam by simply guessing all Cs.

What’s absolutely appalling is that it worked. River actually deviated to two B answers when both correct answers were C — and still managed to pass the exam.

Knight explains this works because a student needs to score only 19.8% to pass the exam. A travesty.

Should we apply that to doctors and nurses? Airline pilots?

Let's not forget, outrageously, teachers’ unions directed the Center for Disease Control (CDC), that schools would be closed! They also told the CDC how masks would be worn!

Education of America's children was set back two years with unimaginable mental damage done to them! It horrifically is still continuing despite the statistics and evidence to the contrary.

So much for the “honorable and virtuous” job of teaching!

Regarding doctors, who at one time took the Hippocratic Oath, which includes:

avoid harming patients, including providing no “deadly medicine” even if requested to do so

Some of them, along with some other health care professionals, have played and are continuing to play the most diabolical part in the alleged pandemic.

A flawed model by Neil Ferguson predicted 2.2 million deaths from COVID-19 in America. A "scientist" with multiple wrong predictions regarding mad cow, bird flu, etc. Well intentioned officials had white coat syndrome and blindly followed the seriously flawed advice of health officials without looking at the bigger picture and killed the American economy! 

Before consulting with Dr. Fauci and not getting a second opinion, America had a $22 trillion economy. Talk about an expensive doctor bill!

We went from science, (not deranged Dr. Fauci who actually referred to himself as such), to science fiction. Wal Mart, with hundreds of customers at a time was open, while a mom-and-pop convenience store was shut down. Churches were shut, but strip clubs were open. You had to wear a worthless cloth mask with NO chance of blocking a virus but could take it off between bites or drinks. Vaccines were superior to natural immunity. The Bill of Rights was violated by forcing people to get a shot or be terminated. Meglamaniac governor Whitmere of Michigan had a really bizarre ban:

In Michigan, these are currently not allowed:

-Lawn care
-Construction
-Buying home improvement materials
-Buying seeds & plants
-Fishing if a motor is used

(Just to name a few)

All these are safe. But the Governor says no. We can ensure safety & be reasonable. Let’s do both.

— Lee Chatfield (@LeeChatfield)April 11, 2020

Strangely, the actual verbiage of this ban has been removed from the Michigan website.

Child abuse was committed against little children forced to eat their lunches in the cold and snow because they couldn’t be unmasked in their teacher’s presence!

Then we went absolutely ridiculous. Trump rallies were always “super spreaders”. When the riots started with hundreds of thousands of people, no social distancing or masks, it was declared okay because, I kid you not, racism is more dangerous than Covid.

There were and are several other alternatives on how this could have been handled from doctors and scientists from "back water universities" like Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT and Carnegie Mellon. They were ridiculed and mocked. Some were even fired and professionally black balled! Doctors and health care professionals who questioned “the science” were threatened with license suspension or removal and termination. Of course, censured and blocked on social media sites. They exhibited honor and virtue. They are being vindicated with all the blatant lies being exposed, though that is a small compensation for what they suffered and are still suffering.

Now, more monstrosities are being committed against children by “so called” doctors and health professionals:

Boston Children’s Hospital boasts about having the first pediatric transgender surgery center in the country offering a "full suite of surgical options for transgender teens."

However, once the cat was out of the bag, they edited their website:

The hospital now claims that criticisms and “attacks” on clinicians and staff are fueled by “misinformation and a lack of understanding and respect for our transgender community,” all while subtly removing videos detailing transgender procedures and updating its website to say that genital surgeries are only performed on individuals 18 and older — a claim that was not clear on the original webpage at the time of Breitbart News’s original report.

Regarding the American Academy of Pediatrics:

The American Academy of Pediatrics called for “reproductive justice” and advocated for pediatricians helping minors get abortions without their parents’ knowledge in the July issue of its official journal Pediatrics.

How bereft of honor and virtue can you get?

Concerning local politics, America's largest cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, Seattle, Portland and others are actually falling apart. In more than one, you literally take your life in your hands going out in the street, with 50 to 60 shootings EVERY WEEKEND in Chicago for example, which incidentally has some of strictest gun laws in the country. In fact:

Per capita murder rates in major U.S. cities such as Chicago, Baltimore and St. Louis are outpacing Ukraine’s recorded civilian death rate from Russia’s invasion.

Portland, once considered one of the safest and most beautiful cities in America is the poster child for what happens when you let Democrat “white, woke politicians” run a city:

Real numbers! Not a computer manufactured climate model.

Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle have tens of thousands of homeless, with San Francisco astoundingly publishing a "poop map", because of all the human waste in the streets! In Seattle, before allowing kids to play in the parks, parents have to do a needle clean-up of all the "free syringes" that are handed out. Los Angeles police stations and city hall are infested with rats, roaches and disease carrying fleas. Police and city workers "sharing" with their families TB, typhus, and incredibly bubonic plague they contracted at work! Detroit, once THE industrial city in America, declared bankruptcy and was taken over by the state, with miles of city blocks where decrepit houses were flattened.

All of these cities and others were once beautiful shining examples to the world of what America was. What do they all have in common? 50+ years of Democrat politician rule. The last Republican mayor of Atlanta was Nedom Angier in 1877. The last Republican mayor of Chicago was William Hale Johnson in 1927. In Baltimore, Theodore McKeldin, 1963. With politicians re-elected over and over again despite the obvious results. Pittsburgh, for example, re-elected Mayor Tom Murphy for 16 years till the city was taken under state fiscal oversight in 2004. (Last Republican mayor in Pittsburgh was John S. Herron, 1933). President Trump's criticism of the now deceased "honorable" Elijah Cummings of Baltimore was spot on! What did Baltimore have to show for his 22 years in office? A black politician can't be criticized for a pathetic job? The white half of his gerrymandered (I thought only Republicans did it) district was prospering while the minority half is the one with the rats, yet he looked good on paper! Who was the real racist here?

Former Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh touring the city in 2018:

What does Los Angeles have to show for Maxine Waters’ 27 years in office? Incidentally, she lives in a gated mansion outside her district.

Definitely not examples of honor and virtue our Founders demonstrated.

Apparently, we have sunk to an even lower level of dishonor. Where people who swore oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution actively worked to undo the will of the people who they serve. The debunked Russia Collusion Hoax? and the Mueller probe, where peoples' lives such as General Michael Flynn’s were destroyed with fabricated false information, accused of lying even though the FBI interviewers said he did not and was prosecuted and ruined anyway! The two disgraceful impeachments of Donald Trump, conducted in such a shameful and unfair way, that practically the whole Bill of Rights was violated. Flimsy charges and then no opportunity to defend yourself with your lawyers able to question witnesses against you. Rules of Discovery, where the prosecution must present the defense with all the evidence against them violated, and on and on.

Violent rioters and repeat offenders with hundreds of crimes committed being released right back on the street by George Soros elected prosecutors while actual political prisoners are being held in prison in the United States of America for months under inhumane conditions for alleged crimes like “parading” and “trespassing”.

America has definitely drifted far from honor and virtue and closer to corrupt and vicious. Recognizing the problems is the first step. Next, finding honorable and virtuous people to replace the dishonorable. Things certainly seem overwhelming.

I’ll end with another quote from Benjamin Franklin, who was not considered religious, yet often came up with most profound thoughts on God, faith and providence:

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.

When you're down to nothing, God is up to something. The faithful see the invisible, believe the incredible and then receive the impossible. Where liberty dwells there is my country. - Benjamin Franklin