Greatness Is A Three Legged Stool

Back in the days when cows were milked by hand, milkmaids carried a three legged stool from cow to cow. Floors in cow barns were uneven, but a three legged stool would always be stable. (No pun intended.) As my old geometry teacher would say, "three points describes a plane.

The greatness of the United States was built on three points of honor. They were Country, Family, and Faith. These were the three points that provided the stability that our country needed grow and prosper.

We had a republic based on a Constitution that made every man equal and protected the individual from government excess. I realize that it took many years before "every man" actually meant and protected every person who is a citizen. But we did get there. People were free to live where they chose, work where they chose, own there own property, get an education and prosper. And prosper we did. Two hundred years from colony to superpower and manufacturing dynamo.

The core of our nation was the family. A family with two parents that brought up their children with a love of honesty, integrity, and a respect for traditions. Children were a gift, not a burden. Discipline was taught along with love. Families joined and became communities. Children were given freedom, but they were watched. By teachers, by neighbors. Raising children was a joint effort. And woe be unto any child who's mother got a phone call reporting misbehavior.

In spite of what some people are want to say in these times, this country was built on Judeo-Christian principles. From the Ten Commandments to the Beatitudes we, for the most part, learned our values from Biblical religion. Thankfully, today many still do. The problem is that many no longer respect people of faith.

It seems that the glue on our three legged stool is crumbling and the legs are falling loose. We have acquired a class of professional politicians who believe that the country and all in it is their plaything. Many are abandoning the Constitution. Especially the Bill of Rights. They have destroyed our manufacturing base and support those that are overtly anti-religion. 

More and more, two parent families are giving way single parent households lacking in direction and stability. We have a generation of parents that, not only lack the parenting skills to provide discipline, get angry and combative if a neighbor or teacher should intercede. 

Atheists and others have targeted our Biblical religions with the full support of many powerful politicians. Although we are supposed to have freedom of religion, these anti-religious zealots are driving religion from the public arena.

Right now, our country is in decline because our leaders and many citizens have lost sight of what is right and good. They have forgotten, if they ever knew, what our country was like at our best. Perfect, no, but a far length ahead of whoever was in second place.