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What would you do if you wanted to destroy America?
The first thing you would do is take control of the education system and teach children that they are living in an evil country. Then you would undermine the police, the military, and law enforcement. You’d use every opportunity you can to divide people by race, religion, and class. You would stoke feelings of grievance regardless of how much progress was being made to promote racial reconciliation and equal opportunity.
You would attack churches, too. You’d teach children that there is no God, thus eliminating an important way of transcending racial tension, which is the knowledge that we are all created equal by that God. You would take prayer out of schools and systemically try to eliminate religion from the public square. And then you’d tell people that the churches represent a form of modern fascism and must be condemned and closed. And you would try to elevate science in place of the transcendent. It wouldn’t be objective science — but a politicized science that serves only to reaffirm the socialist mindset.
You wouldn’t stop at the church — you would weaken as many bedrock institutions as possible.
You would defund the military and police, leaving us vulnerable to enemies abroad and criminals within. You would turn the media into a propaganda arm of the progressive mindset, where objective truth no longer matters. Blinded by greed, you would invite foreign adversaries in to take over sensitive industries, such as telecommunications. You would wash out the foundation of America, the family, and act like men are superfluous to the raising of children. You would convince people that killing their unborn children is a human right and the very essence of being a woman instead of the barbaric reality of infanticide.
All of these things have been done by the cultural and political left over the last 50 years. Unless the forces of family and faith rally soon, we will lose our constitutional republic.
So, has our country been lost?
Recent news would suggest that many people believe it has. A recent study found that 83% of Americans are very stressed over the future of the country, and 72% believe this is the lowest point in the country’s history that they’ve witnessed. A May survey found that people are the unhappiest we’ve been in 50 years. Just 14% of people say they are “very happy.” The survey further found that just 4 in 10 expect their children to have a better standard of living than they have, the lowest percentage since the question was first asked in 1994.
According to the Pew Research Center, 21% of Americans believe other countries are “better than the United States.” But here's the truly disturbing part: Among those between the ages of 18 and 29, the figure jumps to 36%.
Most ominously, a third of voters think a civil war is “likely” sometime in the next five years.
There are many reasons for all of this doom and gloom. But it’s no accident that it’s happening at a time when pride in America has fallen to an all-time low. According to a June Gallup poll, just 42% of Americans say they are “extremely proud,” and only 21% say they are “very proud” to be American. Both of those numbers are the lowest recorded since the question was first asked in 2001.
These statistics partly explain why we see the destruction of monuments and memorials to America’s heroes and history. In the wake of protests and riots over the police killing of George Floyd, the Lincoln Memorial and other monuments to the Great Emancipator have been vandalized. Statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the World War II Memorial, dedicated to the Greatest Generation who defeated fascism, have been damaged. Some activists are now even calling for depictions of Jesus Christ to come down. Meanwhile, most of the media, corporate America, and many politicians have remained silent or even encouraged the mob.
To many on the Left, the problem isn't the existence of statues or memorials; it’s the existence of the American republic and Judeo-Christian civilization itself.
This weekend, Americans are celebrating our nation’s founding. But it’s not the formation of our great nation that will be foremost on many Americans’ minds, but rather its destruction.
We are locked in a battle for the heart and soul of our country. This is no longer a dispute between two parties or movements that broadly share the same goals but merely disagree on how best to achieve those goals. This is battle over diametrically opposed worldviews, informed by different values and different notions about the very meaning of America.
Gary Bauer is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is president of American Values and chairman of Campaign for Working Families. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000.
The first thing you would do is take control of the education system and teach children that they are living in an evil country. Then you would undermine the police, the military, and law enforcement. You’d use every opportunity you can to divide people by race, religion, and class. You would stoke feelings of grievance regardless of how much progress was being made to promote racial reconciliation and equal opportunity.
You would attack churches, too. You’d teach children that there is no God, thus eliminating an important way of transcending racial tension, which is the knowledge that we are all created equal by that God. You would take prayer out of schools and systemically try to eliminate religion from the public square. And then you’d tell people that the churches represent a form of modern fascism and must be condemned and closed. And you would try to elevate science in place of the transcendent. It wouldn’t be objective science — but a politicized science that serves only to reaffirm the socialist mindset.
You wouldn’t stop at the church — you would weaken as many bedrock institutions as possible.
You would defund the military and police, leaving us vulnerable to enemies abroad and criminals within. You would turn the media into a propaganda arm of the progressive mindset, where objective truth no longer matters. Blinded by greed, you would invite foreign adversaries in to take over sensitive industries, such as telecommunications. You would wash out the foundation of America, the family, and act like men are superfluous to the raising of children. You would convince people that killing their unborn children is a human right and the very essence of being a woman instead of the barbaric reality of infanticide.
All of these things have been done by the cultural and political left over the last 50 years. Unless the forces of family and faith rally soon, we will lose our constitutional republic.
So, has our country been lost?
Recent news would suggest that many people believe it has. A recent study found that 83% of Americans are very stressed over the future of the country, and 72% believe this is the lowest point in the country’s history that they’ve witnessed. A May survey found that people are the unhappiest we’ve been in 50 years. Just 14% of people say they are “very happy.” The survey further found that just 4 in 10 expect their children to have a better standard of living than they have, the lowest percentage since the question was first asked in 1994.
According to the Pew Research Center, 21% of Americans believe other countries are “better than the United States.” But here's the truly disturbing part: Among those between the ages of 18 and 29, the figure jumps to 36%.
Most ominously, a third of voters think a civil war is “likely” sometime in the next five years.
There are many reasons for all of this doom and gloom. But it’s no accident that it’s happening at a time when pride in America has fallen to an all-time low. According to a June Gallup poll, just 42% of Americans say they are “extremely proud,” and only 21% say they are “very proud” to be American. Both of those numbers are the lowest recorded since the question was first asked in 2001.
These statistics partly explain why we see the destruction of monuments and memorials to America’s heroes and history. In the wake of protests and riots over the police killing of George Floyd, the Lincoln Memorial and other monuments to the Great Emancipator have been vandalized. Statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the World War II Memorial, dedicated to the Greatest Generation who defeated fascism, have been damaged. Some activists are now even calling for depictions of Jesus Christ to come down. Meanwhile, most of the media, corporate America, and many politicians have remained silent or even encouraged the mob.
To many on the Left, the problem isn't the existence of statues or memorials; it’s the existence of the American republic and Judeo-Christian civilization itself.
This weekend, Americans are celebrating our nation’s founding. But it’s not the formation of our great nation that will be foremost on many Americans’ minds, but rather its destruction.
We are locked in a battle for the heart and soul of our country. This is no longer a dispute between two parties or movements that broadly share the same goals but merely disagree on how best to achieve those goals. This is battle over diametrically opposed worldviews, informed by different values and different notions about the very meaning of America.
Gary Bauer is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is president of American Values and chairman of Campaign for Working Families. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000.
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