Stewards of the Flame
The United States is under intense scrutiny these days. The widespread consensus, both foreign and domestic, seems to agree that Americans should pack her troops and send them home. What business is it of ours that we should try to dictate the behavior of nations?
I can understand where this sentiment comes from, and I can understand how our own citizens are weary of spending our blood and our treasure. The costs are high and painful in this quest to battle unseen boogiemen in lands far away. I maintain; however, that our goals in this regard are noble, and are in keeping with the spirit of the founders of our great nation.
Never before in history have people come from all corners of the globe in search of freedom, and so successfully implemented their desires. America’s spirit, the yearning of the colonists to live free and under a government of their own design, was made manifest by the men who crafted the Declaration of Independence, and later, by the wise ones who penned the Constitution of the United States of America.
It is that unique opportunity, fashioned by those pioneers of freedom hundreds of years ago, which never existed before, and may never exist again. It is our responsibility to care for that tiny flame, and to spread its warm passion wherever there are people who live oppressed, and yearn for that which we take for granted today.
I wrote the following short piece a little over two years ago. It is as relevant today as it was then, to the discussion of America’s place in the world, and her role in spreading the flame of freedom. Give it some thought in terms of our being stewards of a unique phenomenon, perhaps never to be replicated again if we fail to protect the tiny spark.
We can live here, relatively protected, and isolated from the rest of the world. However, to do so would be tantamount to allowing that flame to consume all of the fuel for our own selfish purposes. Once consumed, the flame will wither. The only way to keep it going is to pass it around, and let the flame catch on wherever opportunity arises.
Now here is the older article...
Is Freedom America’s Job?
January 21, 2005 from the Citizen Phil archives:
There was a poll question posted on the MSNBC website today. They asked. “Is it America’s job to spread freedom around the world?” Incredibly, the results of the poll so far showed nearly 81% of people answering no. Perhaps people do not have a good perspective on freedom.Freedom is like a new house. Before adding a new home to a community, a high price is paid and lots of hard work is performed. The eventual homeowners do not generally front the construction costs and they are rarely the ones who provide expertise and labor.
When construction is finished, the builder is reimbursed for his construction costs and there will be a nice profit added as well. The community benefits, because a valuable asset fills an empty hole. The people benefit because the new occupants are proud and responsible neighbors.
It is not difficult to see how the community of nations, led by the chief architects of freedom, the American people, must undertake this challenging work. Free nations do not build themselves. With our help, the people of aspiring free nations can and will participate, and it is our job to stand with them, helping in any way necessary. If we do this job well, our community will gain beautiful new homes, proud and responsible new neighbors will strengthen our neighborhoods, and we stand to gain even more by trading with new, prosperous economic partners.
Perhaps the analogy stretches a bit... but then, the idea that our founders envisioned a day when we could just shut our doors and windows and be done with the hard work of freedom, seems unlikely to me. Their ideals were tested by fire and blood, and the very struggle for existence must have been painfully fresh in memory for a very long time.
Copyright ©2005, 2007 by Phil Harris
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