So far we have concentrated in our discussion on the WAR part. Perhaps it is time to hone in on the PEACE part.<\/p>\n
?What exactly IS peace. One definition might be the absence of war. That may be literally true but reeks of the kind of thinking we see today among our “journalists” and “leaders”. Take things at their most superficial and run with it.<\/p>\n
A bit more contemplation might, however, lead us to Freedom as the definition of peace. After all, freedom is the right to do as you please, to be unfettered by silly or useless regulations, to “spread your wings and fly” so to speak.<\/p>\n
Of course with freedom comes responsibility. Your actions have consequences. You have to be prepared to face those consequences. Some of them may not be pleasant. Further discussion of freedom and its ramifications I leave to others elsewhere. Here I wish to review some of the founders’ views on freedom, peace, and war. <\/p>\n
The founding generation contained some of the best, most schooled, thoughtful, religious people on the planet at the time. They were mostly, but not exclusively, from Britain. There were a smattering of other nationalities woven within, but for the most part, you can divide the settlers as either East Anglican (Protestant) or Wessex (cavaliers – generally Presbyterian or Church of England). They were highly conscious of, and extremely well read in, the latest philosophical musings of Europe. Most of these, granted, were English, but not all.<\/p>\n
And yet we can also note that they were different from both the English and Europeans in general. ?How so. Well, first of all, they were pretty much all escapees of the European systems, whatever type they were. Second, because of the distance, and because of the incredible abundance of the North American continent, they were rather independent. Most notably they thought differently about God and country than Europe. While all of Europe was mired in the concept of kings and divine right (even England, though to a lessor degree). Americans took some of the English philosophy about the limits of the king’s power one step beyond and simply claimed he had no power unless to serve the people<\/em>. If and when he failed in that task, he was no longer legitimate. They then went one step further and claimed that real power<\/em> rested with the people. On this premise they fought a somewhat reluctant rebellion against the mother country, established a new nation, floundered through some of their thinking about how to organize such a nation with some missteps, and after a year of debate, came up with the constitution, which despite some heated debate (many of the objections having come true over the years) became the Unites States of America.<\/p>\n ?So how does this all reflect on the title. Well, the question is, ?just how did they manage to avoid war and bring peace to the people.<\/p>\n Internally<\/em> they did this through a loose system of government that insured people who might otherwise war, would have the right to live as they<\/em> wished. This included the highly contentious question of slavery, which they solved in a less than good manner, ending with a more definitive solution some 80+ years later. <\/p>\n Externally<\/em> one can say there were missteps also. Washington managed to be the wisest among the highly educated mob. He, and to a great degree he alone, recognized that the country would have strong temptations to get embroiled in other peoples’ business. He warned about staying OUT of other peoples’ business. No entangling alliances. You might say friendly with everyone, close to none. <\/p>\n I think I’ll stop here for now and see what people have to add to any of this.<\/p>\n So far we have concentrated in our discussion on the WAR part. Perhaps it is time to hone in on the PEACE part.<\/p>\n ?What exactly IS peace. One definition might be the absence of war. That may be literally true but reeks of the kind of thinking we see today among our “journalists” and “leaders”. Take things at their most superficial and run with it.<\/p>\n A bit more contemplation might, however, lead us to Freedom as the definition of peace. After all, freedom is the right to do as you please, to be unfettered by silly or useless regulations, to “spread your wings and fly” so to speak.<\/p>\n Of course with freedom comes responsibility. Your actions have consequences. You have to be prepared to face those consequences. Some … Continue reading