Where Have You Gone, Aretha Franklin? You may recall the line in Simon and Garfunkels soundtrack to the movie The Graduate, Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you? To update that question I would ask today Where have you gone, Aretha Franklin? because it is evident that throughout our country there is a great need for her message of R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Respect is the foundation of a civil society. Citizens are to respect their leaders, who in turn are to respect those who chose them to serve as their representatives. Citizens are to respect each other and all citizens, both elected officials and their constituents, are to respect the law. One group that does not merit respect are those who would seek our destruction. Hillary Clinton recently stated that America needs to show respect and understanding for our enemies. Respect for those who want to kill us? Respect for those who viciously murder children because they refuse to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ and convert to Islam? Such vermin only respect one thing - power that will annihilate them and we should teach them that aspect of respect. But I digress. We are living in a country that has lost all elements of the respect I outlined above. We have elected officials who show no respect for those who elected them as they act with disrespect to our Constitution, their oath to uphold it and to govern within its limitations. Because of this a growing majority of the citizenry have lost respect for them and the government, and rightly so as respect on the part of leaders is something that must be earned, not given without consideration. The events in Ferguson highlight the lack of respect the protestors and looters had for the rule of law, the police, and especially the private property of the businesses they destroyed. John Locke, the influential 17th century political philosopher, rightly stated that the basis for individual freedom and liberty is the right to individual property. These anarchists protest of the decision rendered by the grand jury was a mere pretense for their destruction of the liberties of others. If you examine the Ten Commandments you will discover that they are all based upon this notion of respect - respect for God and His person, and respect for the property, relationships and reputation of others. Obviously this is a principle in society that is not something new with John Locke or American Constitutionalism. When respect for the law, the liberties of others, and the limitation of power upon rulers disappears, the wantonness behavior exhibited in Ferguson and other cities is the result. When anarchy such as this replaces civil respect in a society, then that society has set its feet on a path that will only result with the rise of iron-fisted tyranny which purports to save society by returning it to order. Unfortunately, its view of order has no room for individual freedom or liberty - only submission and servitude. Its time for a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T America.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 14:40:47 +0000
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