OPINION:
The Judeo-Christian tradition, along with the Constitution, is the rebar that holds our republic together.
Founding Father John Adams understood that passions unbridled from morality and religion could unravel a republic. And here we are 250 years later, a morally divided nation being seduced by an ideology that is empowered by fanning the flames of greed and envy while promising its followers other people’s stuff.
But demonizing the rich so that you can plunder their wealth is hardly a sustainable economic model. The money taken is like a sugar high that soon runs out. And once it’s gone, then what?
Well, if history is any guide, what follows is hardly the promised equality with an end to want and need or even the warm embrace of a collective sustained by endless free stuff. No; what follows is a highly bifurcated society: Those running the scam live like royalty while everyone else navigates the soul-crushing poverty that is the hallmark of communism.
It’s no surprise then that in a society with a growing number of voters who have cast aside a moral tradition they find antiquated and oppressive would swallow the bait of an ideology that appeals to the baser passions Adams warned about.
The idea that freedom means the absence of moral restraints is a ticket to tyranny. Our Founders understood this. Many Americans today do not.
THOMAS M. BEATTIE
Mount Vernon, Virginia
Please read our comment policy before commenting.