Take 10 with Will Luden

Take 10 with Will Luden


America And Her Heroes: Miraculous and Flawed (EP. 376)

November 12, 2021

The founding of our nation, the United States of America, in 1776 included a stunning claim of the creator-granted rights of the individual by a pipsqueak country, hurled in the face of the most powerful empire the world had ever seen. A key part of America her heroes


And our nation has been deeply flawed, and to a far lesser extent, still is. Yet it remains the last, best hope of earth. Lincoln and Powell.


Christopher Columbus was courageous, and dedicated to the heretical notion that the earth was round, not flat. He opened the New World to Western Civilization. And he was deeply flawed.


All nations, and every person was or is greatly flawed. We must not search for and punish imperfections; we must search for those entities whose contributions were far in excess of these flaws.


(N. B. With the first Revolution 2.0™ YouTube video posted November 4th, and the podcasts continuing into their 4th year, this space is now a summary, more like my speaker’s notes, pointing to both the audio podcasts and the videos.)


That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode.


 



Continuing:


Declaration. Virtually all countries were monarchies or other forms of dictatorship.


Summary: We lost, and we lost and we lost, then we won. Miracle. Flawed.


First to declare that man’s rights came from his creator, and that government was there to defend those pre-existing rights.


Lives, fortunes, sacred honor. Honor, much less sacred?


Powell quote re constitution (operational 1789): “Just as they did in Philadelphia when they were writing the constitution, sooner or later, you’ve got to compromise. You’ve got to start making the compromises that arrive at a consensus and move the country forward.”


No nation without the Constitution. Articles of Confederation (1781-1789) did not work. What entity would have defeated slavery?


Commitment when time was right. Union dead. Massive casualties. 110,100 Union soldiers died in battle: 67,088 KIA, 43,012 MW. 224,580 died of disease. 2,226 were wounded. 1 Army commander, 3 corps commanders, 14 division commanders, and 67 brigade commanders, including 32 generals, were killed in the Union Army.


Regression line of progress.


Jim Crow


Integration. Military in 1948. Before Browne v School Board. Powell saw as a meritocracy. Where is our meritocracy?


America and her heroes. Wars: Revolution, Civil (oxymoron), Native Americans, WWI, WWII, Marshall Plan, Vietnam, Iraq. Middle East.


America and her heroes. People: Jefferson, slaves; Washington, slaves; MLK; Columbus on a 62′ ship with 40 men on board for 36 days, inept and cruel administrator. Hitler. Yes, Hitler. Loved dogs.


Glass is 95% full, or completely empty. On balance. Preponderance.


Us? Our flaws? Do we hold ourselves to the same standard?


Today’s Key Point: fix not curse.


I don’t like him. I need to get to know him better. Dislike Washington and Jefferson until you get to know them better.


Democracy is the worst form of government, until you compare it with all the others. America–is the worst country. Get to know her. History. Warts and all. were  Fix not curse. History. Roll around in it; get it all over you.


We all have the personal responsibility to be at our best. And when our faults come to the fore, apologise, recant, ask for forgiveness, make it right, and keep on improving.  Speaking of personal responsibility, this principle does not stand alone; the two main and interdependent principles at Revolution 2.0 are:


1. Personal Responsibility; take it, teach it and,

2. Be Your Brother’s Keeper. The answer to the biblical question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is a ringing, unequivocal “Yes.” There is no other answer.


Where do you stand? What are you going to do? Remember, it does not matter where you stand if you don’t do anything. You can start by subscribing to these episodes, and encouraging others to subscribe with you.


As always, whatever you do, do it in love. Without love, anything we do is empty. 1 Corinthians 16:1.


Contact


As we get ready to wrap up, please do respond in the episodes with comments or questions about this episode or anything that comes to mind, or connect with me on Twitter, @willluden, Facebook, facebook.com/will.luden, and LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/willluden/. And you can subscribe on your favorite device through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts.


This is Will Luden. We’ll talk again soon. In the meantime, please subscribe and encourage others to subscribe with you on our YouTube channel.