We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Declaration of Independence
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
1 Peter 1:16
In one of my favorite movies, a bunch of people are chasing around after the statue of a black falcon. Under its plain exterior, it is said to be gold and encrusted with jewels. Those trying to get the statue lie, cheat, and even kill in pursuit of the blackbird. At the end when asked what the falcon really is, one of the characters replies, “It’s the stuff dreams are made of.”
The stuff dreams are made of—yes indeed. We all need dreams, or more precisely, ideals. Those things we value and reach for, but never seem to fully capture. Things like freedom, liberty, happiness, and holiness—not necessarily in the churchified (it’s a southern word) sense, but in the sense of doing what is fair, right, and just by our neighbors.
I know of no one who has yet attained the ideal. Even in the famous prayer St. Francis ask for the wisdom to accept things he cannot—though would like to—change. That is, things less than ideal.
People in America deride the writers and proponents of our Declaration because they sought high ideals they never attained, not for themselves nor for the country they hoped to begin and build upon those ideals.
We tend to forget those men were humans, like us, inspired by ideals and often driven by expediency. And that precarious balance between ideal and circumstance is where we live too. Perfection is not something humans do, and it is both wrong and unjust to expect it from them.
That we cannot reach the pinnacle of the ideal, is not a valid excuse to stop striving for it. Paul once told the church at Corinth that he laid for them a foundation. (He was speaking of their personal lives, not a building.) What they built upon that foundation was up to them. Then he warned that everyone should take heed to how they build.
Build with ideals, though you are called a hypocrite for falling short, and never give up reaching higher.
Wow! That’s a whole lot of talking to lay a foundation for what I set out to say in this blog. But without all that, what follows is without proper context.
There is in our country a thriving idea that is being forced into school curricula, government contractor business models, as well as broadcast and social media. It’s called “critical race theory”. Don’t let the word race fool you. It’s not just about race, it’s about gender, sexual orientation, immigration, due process under the law, freedom of speech, and an endless list of every point at which the government touches us.
This theory reminds me of the inhabitants of Orwell’s Animal Farm and the rallying cry: “Four legs good, two legs bad”, that was chanted whenever the truth got inconvenient to the leaders. This theory, in essence, says that whosoever is born white is an oppressor, it is in their DNA and they cannot by any means be redeemed or changed—they are inherently evil.
White women, or perhaps I should say, whites who identify as anything but a male, get a break here because they are less oppressive and largely belong to the “correct” end of the political spectrum making them useful idiots.
Because white males have expressed ideals they did not reach, this evil must be torn down. They must be dethroned and the oppressed—as determined by their place on the victim hierarchy—made to rule.
This ideology is already at work. It is everywhere. Colleges teach it, the media broadcasts it, and the government sponsors it. It is the driving force that seeks to dismantle police forces, borders, and historic memories that we had a past founded on different ideals.
All that’s needed now for this theory's triumph is for good men to do nothing.
Facebook recently warned me that I could not label myself an evil white male. They said it went against their community standards. I suppose you can identify as anything as long as it does not shed light on the new normal.
Well, according to theory, I’m still an evil white male—so here it is—in your Facebook.
Maranatha
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