Extractos

Chapter One The Case for Character What sense is there in winning, in success, or even in prosperity if there is not truth? We really are reaching the point in this society where people are denying that there is any line to be drawn between truth and falsehood, right and wrong. But if that's the case, then our whole way of life can't work any more--because it is based on the sense that there are certain self-evident truths, that those self-evident truths support a certain idea of human justice, which requires respect for human rights, that, therefore, you must have elections and due process, and all the other things we consider to be the hallmarks of freedom. If there is no difference between right and wrong, then none of that is true, and there is no need to respect individual rights, there is no requirement that to be legitimate government has to be based upon consent, and the only thing that separates us from tyranny and despotism is that at the moment nobody has yet gained the upper hand. The Message of Freedom We don't have money problems. We have moral problems. America has once again arrived at a momentous crossroads. We are going to have to decide--as we have had to decide so many times in the past--whether we shall only speak of justice and speak of principle or whether we shall stand and fight for them. We are going to have to decide whether we shall quote the words of the Declaration of Independence with real conviction or whether we shall take that document and throw it on the ash heap of history as we adopt the message of those who insist that we stand silent in the face of injustice. When it comes to deciding whether we shall stand by the great principle that declares that all human beings are "created equal" and "endowed by their Creator" with the "right to life," it seems to me, there is no choice for silence. Again, there is no choice for silence. Thus, for instance, those so-called Conservatives who are recommending that we avoid the pro-life issue in our public discourse and civic responsibilities are actually recommending--as some people decided in the Whig Party, in the years before the Civil War, that they would be silent on the great issue of principle that faced this nation--we should be silent. And you remember what happened to the Whigs--once the most powerful political force in America. They vanished altogether. Modern cultural and political Conservatism grew up as a movement aimed first and foremost at dealing with that kind of moral irresponsibility--standing on the principle that Lincoln articulated: you cannot have the right to do what is wrong. In the public arena, there are innumerable spokesmen clamoring for public attention today. Whether from the Right or the Left, the focus and crux of their message is basically the same. They talk about money. They talk about budgets, deficits, gross national products, and trade imbalances. "It's the economy, stupid," is their mantra. But you and I both know, if we are willing to look ourselves in the eye, what the truth is. America's problems are not merely economic. Why is it that we spend so much money dealing with welfare and illegitimacy? Why is it that we spend so much money dealing with crime and violence in our streets? Why is it that we even spend so much money dealing with the problems of irresponsible behaviors that contribute to the decline of the health of this nation? I think you know in your heart what the real answer is. We don't have money problems. We have moral problems. And it is time we stood up and faced that truth. But, I don't know how we're going to face that truth if, as has been so often suggested, we can look our daughters in the eye and tell them that it is somehow consistent with freedom for them to trample on the human rights of their unborn offspring. We are going to have to find the courage one of these days to tell people that freedom is not an easy discipline. Freedom is not a choice for those who are lazy in their heart and in their respect for their own moral capacities. Freedom requires that at the end of the day, we accept the constraint that is required, the respect for the laws of nature and nature's God that say unequivocally that our daughters do not have the right to do what is wrong, that our sons do not have the right to do what is wrong. We do not have the right to steal bread from the mouths of the innocent, we do not have the right to steal life from the womb of the unborn. Some people may say that if we stand up and we speak out and we fight for this basic principle, we'll be dividing the nation and the burgeoning Conservative movement. But I don't think so. The Republican Party, for instance, was born on a clear commitment to principle. It was founded by those who had the courage to stand before the American people and in the face of the threat of a greater division than we'll ever face, insist that we had to respect the principles that make us great, the principles that make us strong, the principles that make us free. Here we are more than a hundred years later and I'll tell you, we're going to have to do it again. Look at what is happening in the streets of our cities. Look at what is happening to our families today. Do you think that the decline of marriage and the moral dissolution of the family is a money problem? Or do you think it is a problem that comes from putting the self first, from deciding that there are no obligations that have to be respected, and that at the end of the day freedom is just another kind of empty licentiousness? We know better and our Founders knew better and it is time that we get back to the truth. The men and women who first launched the great experiment in liberty we enjoy to this day did not tell us that freedom would be an easy road. They offered us a hard-won vision of the future of America. It was not a vision of licentious freedom and stupid self-indulgence. Instead, it was a vision of freedom based upon the fear of God and the respect for law. Excerpted from Our Character, Our Future: Reclaiming America's Moral Destiny by Alan Keyes All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.