Dan Popp
Civilization and "values"
By Dan Popp
If there be some nations which allow civilization to be torn from their grasp, there are others who trample it themselves under their feet. – Alexis de Tocqueville
The Founders of our nation used solid building blocks like "self-evident truths," and "unalienable rights" granted by the "Creator." Contrast their words with President Trump's recent speech in Poland, wherein he cheered the West's "values." Trump said, "We can have the largest economies and the most lethal weapons anywhere on Earth, but if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive."
Um, what?
Strong families are those that provide for their own, protect their own, train their own in right conduct (not "values"), care for their own, respect their own, and produce good neighbors and citizens. Since the 60's, unconstitutional federal programs have devastated families. Dads are paid to go away, so they do. Everyone in the family is taught to rely on the government, not each other. If President Trump believes in strong families, what has he done to end Washington's ongoing siege against them?
Strong families are natural families. Has President Trump done or said anything to stop barbarians from legislating their insane mockery of sex ("gender"), marriage and family? Is Trump – himself on his third marriage – suddenly serious about "strong families?"
At least the term "strong family" is more or less comprehensible. "Strong values" will prove more slippery. That's intentional. The taxpayer-funded assault on the family is just part of a larger war that includes attacks on all of America's foundational principles, on the very concept of truth, and on God. One of the weapons in this battle of ideas is the word, "values." President Trump is using a propaganda word designed to undermine our civilization in bragging about our civilization.
"I have the best words."
Values are barbarian substitutes for principles. Principles are firm, immovable. They don't even care about your feelings. But values shift. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were against play marriage before they were for it. When you look for a principle behind their views, you'll find no "there" there, only words about tradition and the test of time at first, then (after the shift), words about equality and love. I suppose all of those things are values. What determines which value is chosen as the controlling value? Nothing but an individual's will. So we are the choosers, the value-valuers, the gods of our own nonsensical moral universe.
The question isn't whether Western civilization will triumph, but whether there is anything of Western civilization left to save. If the war is between things our enemies believe to their core, and things we happen to prefer today (our "values"), we're toast.
This is something our non-ideological President doesn't seem to grasp. Unlike Reagan, who despite his imperfections did seem to understand the need for principles undergirding our actions, Trump sees the world through the fake lens of the left. Let's grant that he means well. But the barbarians mean well, too, given their own definition of "well."
Mr. Trump: "I declare today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive. And our civilization will triumph."
Values don't prevail, Mr. President. They are not solid. They are nothing. In the hands of politicians, values are moods with weapons. Values, as substitutes for principles, have done more to destroy Western civilization than fanatical Muslims ever could. If you want our civilization to triumph, sir, scrap the spiel about values and start re-educating your audience about moral absolutes, justice, reverence, personal responsibility, duty, honesty, private property, true charity, and the godly self-discipline that makes self-government possible.
© Dan Popp
July 10, 2017
If there be some nations which allow civilization to be torn from their grasp, there are others who trample it themselves under their feet. – Alexis de Tocqueville
The Founders of our nation used solid building blocks like "self-evident truths," and "unalienable rights" granted by the "Creator." Contrast their words with President Trump's recent speech in Poland, wherein he cheered the West's "values." Trump said, "We can have the largest economies and the most lethal weapons anywhere on Earth, but if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive."
Um, what?
Strong families are those that provide for their own, protect their own, train their own in right conduct (not "values"), care for their own, respect their own, and produce good neighbors and citizens. Since the 60's, unconstitutional federal programs have devastated families. Dads are paid to go away, so they do. Everyone in the family is taught to rely on the government, not each other. If President Trump believes in strong families, what has he done to end Washington's ongoing siege against them?
Strong families are natural families. Has President Trump done or said anything to stop barbarians from legislating their insane mockery of sex ("gender"), marriage and family? Is Trump – himself on his third marriage – suddenly serious about "strong families?"
At least the term "strong family" is more or less comprehensible. "Strong values" will prove more slippery. That's intentional. The taxpayer-funded assault on the family is just part of a larger war that includes attacks on all of America's foundational principles, on the very concept of truth, and on God. One of the weapons in this battle of ideas is the word, "values." President Trump is using a propaganda word designed to undermine our civilization in bragging about our civilization.
"I have the best words."
Values are barbarian substitutes for principles. Principles are firm, immovable. They don't even care about your feelings. But values shift. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were against play marriage before they were for it. When you look for a principle behind their views, you'll find no "there" there, only words about tradition and the test of time at first, then (after the shift), words about equality and love. I suppose all of those things are values. What determines which value is chosen as the controlling value? Nothing but an individual's will. So we are the choosers, the value-valuers, the gods of our own nonsensical moral universe.
The question isn't whether Western civilization will triumph, but whether there is anything of Western civilization left to save. If the war is between things our enemies believe to their core, and things we happen to prefer today (our "values"), we're toast.
This is something our non-ideological President doesn't seem to grasp. Unlike Reagan, who despite his imperfections did seem to understand the need for principles undergirding our actions, Trump sees the world through the fake lens of the left. Let's grant that he means well. But the barbarians mean well, too, given their own definition of "well."
Mr. Trump: "I declare today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive. And our civilization will triumph."
Values don't prevail, Mr. President. They are not solid. They are nothing. In the hands of politicians, values are moods with weapons. Values, as substitutes for principles, have done more to destroy Western civilization than fanatical Muslims ever could. If you want our civilization to triumph, sir, scrap the spiel about values and start re-educating your audience about moral absolutes, justice, reverence, personal responsibility, duty, honesty, private property, true charity, and the godly self-discipline that makes self-government possible.
© Dan Popp
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