The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

Have We Lost Our Way?

America was founded on the ideals of Freedom, Liberty, Equality, and Equal Justice for All. Along with the ideas of representative government, due process, the rule of law, property, and contracts. It has been a long and incomplete struggle to achieve these ideals and ideas in America. In the history of the United States, there were abuses and shortcomings of these ideals and ideas because this was a struggle that had initial defects and setbacks during its advancement. Man is imperfect and makes bad choices, or is good or evil, or lacked the knowledge or experience of the proper morals and ethics to achieve these goals. But the United States people engaged in this struggle to improve our society and achieve these ideals and ideas. Sometimes this struggle was bloody (The Civil War) and sometimes mostly not (The Civil Rights Movement). My History article “United States History Perspective” is an examination of this struggle.

When an immigrant obtains United States citizenship they have to learn of these ideals and ideas before they obtained citizenship. Indeed, they had to pass a test to show their understanding of these ideals and ideas before they became citizens. These were the ties that bound us. But this binding is unwinding, not only for immigrant citizens but also for natural-born citizens.

The Revolutionary War, the adoption of the Constitution and The Bill of Rights, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement was about our ideals and ideas. These ideals and ideas were the center point of the discussions of the people at the time they occurred. And so, they should remain a central point when we discuss issues of Governance, Law, and Social Policy. Many of the articles I have written in the “Miscellaneous Items” and “History”  sections of this website have been directly focused on these ideals and ideas.

Rarely, today, do we discuss these ideals and ideas except in the context of political gamesmanship. The true meaning of these ideals and ideas, and their application in Governance, Law, and Social Policy, is almost never expounded upon. This leads to confusion and bickering between the parties in the dispute. Rather than talk about these concepts we throw out words and phrases that seem applicable to the dispute but rarely are applicable. Indeed, many of the true meanings of these words and phrases contravene the argument that is being made. We also have the propensity to not practice what we preach. We should remember that actions speak louder than words, and the actions we take on these ideals and ideas are far more important than the words and phrases.

The confirmation hearings of Justice Kavanaugh and the Russian Election Collusion allegations, and the Impeachment of President Trump have demonstrated how much we have lost these ideals and ideas. The inane comments by (mostly) Democrat Party leaders about these events demonstrate that even our political leaders have forgotten these ideals and ideas. The appalling lack of Due Process, The Rule of Law, The Presumption of Innocence, the Burden of Proof on the accusers, and no burden of proof on the accused, as I have outlined in my articles “Justice and The Rule of Law in America” and “Justice and The Rule of Law in Non-Judicial Proceedings”, was not afforded to Justice Kavanaugh and President Trump. And if they can deny these rights to prominent and powerful persons such as Justice Kavanaugh and President Trump they can deny these rights to any American.

And I blame this loss on our Politicians and Educators. Politicians rarely speak on the meaning of these ideals and ideas as it is often not opportune to the achievement of their goals of legislation nor governance. And with the lack of knowledge on these ideals and ideas by the general populace, it is not helpful for their reelection. They are also utilizing these ideals and ideas as a political sledgehammer to gain power rather than guiding principles for the application of power. It is much easier and less time consuming to sway an unknowledgeable public than to inform them of the meaning of ideals and ideas and the consequences of Laws, Regulations, and Social Policy to these ideals and ideas. It can also be less popular as many of the general public want what they want rather than incorporating their wants within these ideals and ideas.

Our education system is not teaching these ideals and ideas, nor the history of our struggle to achieve these ideals and ideas. An educational system that seems to be more concerned with the self-worth and self-esteem of its students than the education of these ideals and ideas, and an educational system that seems more concerned on what to think rather than how to think. These ideals and ideas, and the history of the struggle to achieve these ideals and ideas, needs to be taught for the United States history in this struggle is a laudable one. As I stated earlier in this article our history has been not been perfect, but it is a history of our attempts to achieve these ideals and ideas. We need to educate students on these ideals and ideas and their history, both good and bad, to achieve these ideals and ideas. For if we understand these ideals and ideas and their history, we can make better decisions as to the future course of America. I may be stating the obvious but the obvious has been obscured in our modern educational system. An educational system that emphasizes self-worth and self-esteem rather than historical facts and truths. It is time to reclaim these ideals and ideas, and the history of our struggle to achieve these ideals and ideas, by educating the people on these ideals and ideas that bind us.

It is easy to think that these ideals and ideas are natural and will be retained by us for the foreseeable future. But these ideals and ideas are the most unnatural thing in human history. History has shown that without these ideals and ideas the common man will be treated as chattel and abused by rulers. We must always keep these ideals and ideas man in mind when discussing or acting on matters of Governance, Law, and Social Policy, or we risk losing these ideals and ideas.

Unless we can reclaim these ideals and ideas, we have lost our way and the ties that bind us together. A loss that devolves us into political factions and power struggles between the factions. I fear that we shall remain ever lost and that the ideals of "Freedom, Liberty, Equality, and Equal Justice for All" , along with the ideas of representative government, due process, the rule of law, property, and contracts will disappear from the progression of mankind. The entire world will be poorer, and these ideals and ideas will be infringed, with this disappearance.