Recent news makes it clear that not all that needs to be said is being said. Most reports, reports rife with sly innuendo, fail to understand or admit what is really happening. I’d like to rectify that...

Newflash #1: History sucks. It’s merely a record of how screwed up mankind is, was, and, I’m afraid, will be in the foreseeable future. It’s a list of wars and rumors of wars, of pestilence and drought and hunger. In fact, other than the First Advent, the founding of this country may well be the only bright spot in human history. But even the birth of this nation was heavy with death and misery. And yet we need history -- how else can we make decisions about the future?

This recent spate of statue-hatred stems itself from a lack of historical knowledge. It is ignorance promoting more ignorance, and placing further national policy choices in even more jeopardy. Has there ever been a nation that has improved itself by erasing or altering its history? Every country that has gone that route has ended up with a tyrannical government and violence is always a part of the process.  Visit Cuba.

You can understand the disaster of the loss of history simply by imagining what your life would be like if you woke up tomorrow and had no memory -- no knowledge of who you had been. There might be the benefit of not remembering your sins and embarrassments -- but that would be tempered by the suspicion that they had happened nevertheless, only you don’t know what they were and therefore can’t atone. You wouldn’t know who your friends were, where you came from, or where you belonged. You wouldn’t know what you had believed or why. You would always be only half a person.

Our history may suck, may be a scary, cringeworthy litany of things gone wrong and only now-and-then right, but it is our history, our life as a nation, and it cannot be erased without erasing our future as well. The movers and shakers on the left know that. A few years from now we may look just like Venezuela.

Newsflash #2: There is no shortcut to moral rectitude. And to make things worse, there are a million ways to be wrong and only one way to be right. It is never right, for instance, to mindlessly adopt a few slogans, have occasional self-righteous tantrums, and repeat anything, no matter how senseless, that airs on NPR or CNN. I suspect that there must be a list somewhere of mandatory opinions one must espouse in order to remain a person in good standing with the more-progressive-than-thou crowd – perhaps a kit we must buy that contains a few pat phrases, a flag to wave, some posters, and a stick for hitting those with whom we don’t agree. Anyone who’s made the mistake of purchasing such an item, has been robbed. Anyone who got his as a door prize for matriculating at a leftist college, has been doubly robbed.

Goodness only comes when we care more about individuals and their well being than we do about the faceless “masses” and the “oppressed.”  To be good means to see each person as a masterpiece of God’s making, a person with a unique purpose in God’s plan, a person with worth and special talents and potential, a person in need of freedom to become what he can become. We can’t be good and hate any group or any individual. We can’t hate the rich, or people with white skin, or people who just don’t suit us. We have no moral right to hate people with whom we don’t agree. We can’t hate our way to love.

It’s a lot harder than marching around with flags and torches, a lot harder than calling people names to show how angry we are, a lot harder than pretending we can change the world. It requires that we change ourselves, from the inside out. In fact, it requires that we let God change us -- give up the reins completely.

Newsflash #3: The mainstream media can splinter opinions into a thousand differing factions, but I know a lot of people and none of them belong to any of these micro-sects. America functions fine with two parties -- I learned that the hard way from Ross Perot. When we get more than that, everything falls apart; note how well Europe is doing these days. I’m sure, as are all thinking people, that this fragmentation is part of the leftwing agenda -- the divide and conquer approach. If you look closely enough you can see that all these groups -- Antifa, BLM, alt-left, alt-right, white supremacist, white nationalist (there will be 6 more by tomorrow) are all tentacles off the same giant squid. They have one credo -– knock people around and make a mess. Distract. Confuse. Accuse. Defuse.

I talked to one person this last week who was sure the BLM were in the right in Charlottesville because they were against the anti-Semitic, torch-bearing radicals. However, to do so ignores the fact that the leftist Antifa/BLM is anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian -- so how does that work? How do you hate one group for hating a group that your group also hates? When logical, careful thought is no longer occurring on a regular basis, the society will cease to function.

Newsflash #4: America is ceasing to function. Congress is frozen solid. The presidency has taken more incoming fire than any other administration in history. The judiciary hangs on one vote. And the fourth estate has utterly abdicated its responsibilities.  Our educational system is churning out dimwits so fast that we can’t keep up with it, and our medical infrastructure has been damaged beyond repair.  

America has survived and thrived long enough to prove that freedom without righteousness doesn’t work, that limited government doesn’t stay limited, and law doesn’t protect. Only God does that.  Israel –- ancient Israel –- proved over and over again that her Law didn’t make for a perfect nation. It would have, had the Hebrew tribes actually followed it. Like the United States, Israel was now-and-then successful in what she set out to be –- during the reigns of David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah –- but those regimes were short-lived and the rest of the time the Israelites were joining their neighbors in worshipping demonic idols. America was successful until we, too, walked away from God.

Our forefathers set out to build a righteous nation, but she can only be as good as the righteousness of her citizens and if those citizens think they can fake integrity and moral virtue by being destructive loudmouths then America is over. When asked what kind of government the Constitutional Convention Good Citizen Badges aren’t earned that easily. It takes being a decent, productive, loving person who takes the time to learn before speaking.  had given the people, Ben Franklin answered, “A republic –- if you can keep it.” It’s becoming more and more evident that we have failed at that, and destroying the history that proves my point will not stop our downfall.

Deana Chadwell blogs at www.ASingleWindow.com. She is also an adjunct professor and department head at Pacific Bible College in southern Oregon. She teaches writing and public speaking.