The Missing Element Part I

I submit to you that there was but one element missing in this year’s election process. And it is the sole reason our incumbent Commander-in-Chief was returned to the White House for another four years.

The missing element? Virtue.

Virtue has all but disappeared from our American landscape. Virtue is out of vogue. Virtue is not cool. Virtue is so old school. In fact, the idea of personal virtue has all but dropped off the radar. Not only do we no longer talk about virtue, we don’t even think about it anymore.

Virtue is so old-fashioned of an idea, it’s almost 19^th century old. The individual pursuit of personal virtue has been slowly fading, decade by decade, for several generations.

Virtue deserves a fresh look. We desperately need a vigorous return to virtue, a revisiting of its essential role in preserving our republic. Our founders believed that virtue was critical to retaining our freedom in our self-governing, constitutional republic. More on this below …

But first, what is virtue? Dictionary.com defines virtue as follows:

• moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.
• conformity of one’s life and conduct to moral and ethical principles; uprightness; rectitude.

Dr. David Wells, Distinguished Senior Research Professor at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and author of numerous books including The Courage To Be Protestant, offers the following thoughts on the loss of virtue in our culture:

“Virtues … are the moral norms that are enduringly right for all people, in all places, and in all times … To speak of Virtue, then, is to speak of the moral structure of the world of God made. Rebellious though we are, we have not broken down this structure, nor dislodged God from maintaining it. It stands there, over against us, whether we recognize it or not. We bump up against it in the course of life and we encounter its reflection in our own moral makeup. And from all sides a message is conveyed to our consciousness: ‘Beware! This is a moral world you inhabit!’”

We have exchanged virtue for a far inferior idea—the anemic substitute we refer to as values. Leo Strauss, author of Natural Right and History, published in 1953, wrote the following almost sixty years ago:

“By teaching the equality of all values, by denying that there are things which are intrinsically high and others which are intrinsically low as well as by denying that there is an essential difference between men and brutes, it unwittingly contributes to the victory of the gutter.”

The gutter now prevails in America.

Now let’s look at the original Webster’s 1828 Dictionary definition of the word virtue:

“Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law. In this sense, virtue may be, and in many instances must be, distinguished from religion. The practice of moral duties merely from motives of convenience, or from compulsion, or from regard to reputation, is virtue, as distinct from religion. The practice of moral duties from sincere love to God and his laws, is virtue and religion.”

Values can and do change. But virtue, rooted in historic, Biblically-based moral law, is unchanging. Historically, in America, moral law has been an external, transcendent standard rooted in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, and traced back to Moses and the Ten Commandments.

The presidential candidate who supports abortion and gay marriage will return for another four years. Consider these two rhetorical questions:

• To defend life in the womb, or to support the idea of a woman’s right to choose—which idea, based upon the definitions noted above—is more virtuous?
• To defend marriage as a lifetime covenantal union between one man and one woman, or to support the idea of “marriage” of same-sex couples—which idea, based upon the definitions noted above—is more virtuous?

Changes in our culture’s valuing of the unborn and of marriage are but the tip of the iceberg. In future posts, I will look deeper into the signs of lost virtue in America and why it bodes poorly for our future.

Our founders stated very clearly that religion, morality, and virtue would be essential in maintaining our republic and thus our liberty. Here are but a few of the founders’ admonitions:

John Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

James Madison: "To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical (unrealistic, fanciful) idea."

Thomas Jefferson: "When virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it, and avarice possesses the whole community."

George Washington: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim tribute to patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness — these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens … reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles."

Benjamin Franklin: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

Patrick Henry: “… Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed . . . so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger."

John Hancock—Signer Of the Declaration of Independence and President of The First Continental Congress: “Sensible of the importance of Christian piety and virtue to the order and happiness of a state, I cannot but earnestly commend to you every measure for their support and encouragement. . . . [N]ot only the freedom but the very existence of the republics . . . depend much upon the public institutions of religion.”

John Jay—Federalist Papers, Governor of NY: “[It is] the duty of all wise, free, and virtuous governments to countenance and encourage virtue and religion.”

Henry Laurens—South Carolina Delegate to the Second Continental Congress—Signatory the The Articles of Confederation: “I had the honor of being one among many who framed that Constitution. . . . In order effectually to accomplish these great ends, it is incumbent upon us to begin wisely and to proceed in the fear of God; and it is especially the duty of those who bear rule to promote and encourage piety [religion] and virtue and to discourage every degree of vice and immorality.”

Abraham Baldwin—Georgia Delegate to the Constitutional Convention: “When the minds of the people in general are viciously disposed and unprincipled, and their conduct disorderly, a free government will be attended with greater confusions and evils more horrid than the wild, uncultivated state of nature. It can only be happy when the public principle and opinions are properly directed and their manners regulated. This is an influence beyond the reach of laws and punishments and can be claimed only by religion and education. It should therefore be among the first objects of those who wish well to the national prosperity to encourage and support the principles of religion and morality.”

I’m just getting started. More to come …