The greatness America needs

Donald Trump says we need to make America great again. He talks about diplomatic and commercial deal-making abroad and tightening illegal immigration at home. But it is generations of assaults on our families, our churches, and our schools that have crippled America’s capacity for greatness. These are the three pillars that support a people in great civilizational accomplishment.

American greatness grows out of healthy American families. Strong fathers, devoted mothers, and resilient marriages cultivate successive generations of creative, constructive Americans. In love, these parents deliver the tens of thousands of lessons, restrictions, rebukes, and examples that steer their children out of the foolishness of youth into stable, productive maturity; out of the self-indulgence of childhood into the self-discipline of adulthood. Family is the incubator of character and seedbed of civilization.

Full and faithful churches make America great. A faithful church is where we learn humility, to serve God first, neighbor second, and oneself last. It helps cultivate in each of us an “internal policeman,” good character that is essential to a free and stable society. The more that people are internally disposed to mutual respect and mutual help (Ezekiel 36:27), the less need there is for government power that can be abused, whether in blue police uniforms or gray administrative buildings. There can be no greatness except for a free people, and no political freedom where the flesh widely has sway.

Public schools would advance American greatness if they would effectively teach not only reading, writing, math, and science (which, despite spending more than $600 billion annually, they do not), but also teach the greatness of the American system of political, economic, and religious liberty. The passionate enthusiasm of many young people for the coddling government gospel of a Vermont socialist can be explained largely by the failure of American schools to explain the genius, dignity, and aspirations of the American experiment in popular self-government.

When people faithfully attend Sunday worship (I cannot speak to what happens in synagogues, mosques, and temples), there is an overflow to families. When children are schooled in the Bible, they are better students in school.

The current candidates are not addressing these issues, though Marco Rubio spoke about the priority of the family and Ted Cruz has revived the Reagan-era idea of abolishing the U.S. Department of Education. There isn’t much government can do to make healthy churches, but it can protect their freedom to be churches and it can respect their vital role in a flourishing life. The Democratic candidates seem at best indifferent to the further crumbling of all three pillars.

The call to greatness is a call to a kind of resurrection. What once stood tall and full of vigor is laid low and lifeless, seemingly lost to the past. We are asking if these national bones can live again (Ezekiel 37:3). Our political resurrection requires policy changes in these areas at every level, but will not be complete or lasting without the power that flows from Resurrection Sunday.