The Value Proposition
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Five history lessons not well learned
Consider Edward Gibbon's great historical novel, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It's quite interesting to note that the first of three volumes was published in 1776, the same year that began the American Revolution. It's even more fascinating that Gibbon's work seems to describe our circumstances today.
Gibbon assigns Rome's decline in part to its increasing vulnerability to barbarians who gained power by infiltrating the country and terrorizing the people, eventually decimating traditions, authority and the military. Gibbon faults divisive beliefs; melting the spiritual glue that had held the empire together and separating Rome into two polarized political and social camps. Rome eventually became so divisive and bureaucratically paralyzed that it was unable to defend itself from its enemies.
Gibbon's historical work is massive and the causes for demise of the empire are way too complex for any brief summary. However, he lists five primary reasons for the fall of Rome. They sound eerily familiar.
--Rapid increase of divorce, with the undermining of the sanctity of the home, which is the basis of society.
--Higher and higher taxes; the spending of money for bread and celebrations.
--The mad craze for pleasure, sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal.
--The building of gigantic armaments, when the real enemy was within; the decadence of the people.
--The decay of religion, faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life, and becoming impotent to guide it.
We may disagree with one or more of Gibbon's reasons but it's difficult to deny how well they apply to modern America. The structure of the family has radically changed. Marriage is being re-defined to mean anything anyone wants it to mean. Children are no longer the primary responsibility or purpose for marriage. Government taxation divides our nation so that one half of our citizens pay little or nothing while the other half shoulders the majority of the burden. Decadence has now become cool. Pleasure and entertainment dominate our lives, corrupting the morals of our young. Terrorist barbarians build nuclear armaments while the spiritual glue holding America together gives way to relativism and value-free tolerance for things antithetical to our survival.
America's freedom and democracy have depended upon the transfer of traditions and values to our children. That role is changing. Gibbon's work is an alarming description of a how the most powerful society in the world discarded religion, values and tradition until all that was left were barbarians.
More of Value as InteractiveMediaForum.Com Reveals the Source!
Discuss these things, meanings and values in light of the Jesus Parables!
Consider Edward Gibbon's great historical novel, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It's quite interesting to note that the first of three volumes was published in 1776, the same year that began the American Revolution. It's even more fascinating that Gibbon's work seems to describe our circumstances today.
Gibbon assigns Rome's decline in part to its increasing vulnerability to barbarians who gained power by infiltrating the country and terrorizing the people, eventually decimating traditions, authority and the military. Gibbon faults divisive beliefs; melting the spiritual glue that had held the empire together and separating Rome into two polarized political and social camps. Rome eventually became so divisive and bureaucratically paralyzed that it was unable to defend itself from its enemies.
Gibbon's historical work is massive and the causes for demise of the empire are way too complex for any brief summary. However, he lists five primary reasons for the fall of Rome. They sound eerily familiar.
--Rapid increase of divorce, with the undermining of the sanctity of the home, which is the basis of society.
--Higher and higher taxes; the spending of money for bread and celebrations.
--The mad craze for pleasure, sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal.
--The building of gigantic armaments, when the real enemy was within; the decadence of the people.
--The decay of religion, faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life, and becoming impotent to guide it.
We may disagree with one or more of Gibbon's reasons but it's difficult to deny how well they apply to modern America. The structure of the family has radically changed. Marriage is being re-defined to mean anything anyone wants it to mean. Children are no longer the primary responsibility or purpose for marriage. Government taxation divides our nation so that one half of our citizens pay little or nothing while the other half shoulders the majority of the burden. Decadence has now become cool. Pleasure and entertainment dominate our lives, corrupting the morals of our young. Terrorist barbarians build nuclear armaments while the spiritual glue holding America together gives way to relativism and value-free tolerance for things antithetical to our survival.
America's freedom and democracy have depended upon the transfer of traditions and values to our children. That role is changing. Gibbon's work is an alarming description of a how the most powerful society in the world discarded religion, values and tradition until all that was left were barbarians.
More of Value as InteractiveMediaForum.Com Reveals the Source!
Discuss these things, meanings and values in light of the Jesus Parables!
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Gay Activists Promise Court Challenges
In nearly a dozen states yesterday, voters sent the loud, clear message that they think marriage should be reserved for unions between a man and a woman.
Reacting to recent court rulings allowing same-sex marriages, voters from Oregon to Georgia passed state constitutional amendments banning such unions – often by sweeping margins.
"The people are responding to the courts, which are increasingly trying to change the definition of marriage," said Carrie Gordon Earll, a spokeswoman for Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group. "Marriage is not some kind of social play dough that the courts can reconstruct."
Gay rights activists vowed to challenge some of the amendments in court. "Basic human rights should not be put up for a popular vote," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "We're confident that the Bill of Rights is going to secure the freedom to marry for gay Americans."
Gay rights advocates claim the GOP used the measures to rally social conservatives and boost turnout for Bush. Four of the measures were in presidential battleground states. "(Republicans) will pay a long-term price for this kind of intolerance," Foreman said. "Young people and swing voters are going to reject the Republican Party." Said Gordon Earll, of Focus on the Family: "These measures would have been on ballots regardless of who was running for president."
The measures were on ballots in 11 states – Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah – and they were placed before voters at a volatile time. Ohio's measure is considered the broadest because it bars any legal status that "intends to approximate marriage." The measures won easily in the 10 other states – by ratios as high as 3-to-1 in Kentucky and Georgia, and 6-to-1 in Mississippi.
More of Value as InteractiveMediaForum.Com Reveals the Source!
Discuss these things, meanings and values in light of the Jesus Parables!
In nearly a dozen states yesterday, voters sent the loud, clear message that they think marriage should be reserved for unions between a man and a woman.
Reacting to recent court rulings allowing same-sex marriages, voters from Oregon to Georgia passed state constitutional amendments banning such unions – often by sweeping margins.
"The people are responding to the courts, which are increasingly trying to change the definition of marriage," said Carrie Gordon Earll, a spokeswoman for Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group. "Marriage is not some kind of social play dough that the courts can reconstruct."
Gay rights activists vowed to challenge some of the amendments in court. "Basic human rights should not be put up for a popular vote," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "We're confident that the Bill of Rights is going to secure the freedom to marry for gay Americans."
Gay rights advocates claim the GOP used the measures to rally social conservatives and boost turnout for Bush. Four of the measures were in presidential battleground states. "(Republicans) will pay a long-term price for this kind of intolerance," Foreman said. "Young people and swing voters are going to reject the Republican Party." Said Gordon Earll, of Focus on the Family: "These measures would have been on ballots regardless of who was running for president."
The measures were on ballots in 11 states – Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah – and they were placed before voters at a volatile time. Ohio's measure is considered the broadest because it bars any legal status that "intends to approximate marriage." The measures won easily in the 10 other states – by ratios as high as 3-to-1 in Kentucky and Georgia, and 6-to-1 in Mississippi.
More of Value as InteractiveMediaForum.Com Reveals the Source!
Discuss these things, meanings and values in light of the Jesus Parables!
