It is sometimes thought that men are constantly choosing between the right and wrong things in life. While this is most commonly that case, there sometimes arises that situation where there appears to be only one choice. Well, then what is the case? If it is an evil path, does that make the traveler evil? Or if it is the noble way to go is the decider inherently virtuous?

I believe that there are some people who honestly do not know any way but one. Perhaps they have not been taught an opposing side or they have never come across it in there life. When this is the case, they can not be seen as choosing their way. If a person has grown up with a family who has always followed a certain path and was never told that there are other options, they are not choosing between good or evil; they are following what they know.

We look around our country right now and see thousands of examples of this very thought. The virus that is plaguing our country is not the current generations doing. It has come from decades of un-education in generations of Americans. The “blame” is so far back that is is very hard to pinpoint exactly where it started. People today are simply following what they know. Their parents, and their parents’ parents years back, have only presented them one way to live and act. They honestly do not know any better. So they are not “choosing” the wrong thing if they are not seeing any options.

This is where people start to get heated, however. Many argue that they are still making that choice no matter what because the good path is always there. And while this is technically true, just because a path is there doesn’t mean they can see it. And usually, they haven’t even been taught how to look for it.

We must be their guiding light. It is our job, those of us that can see the good way to do things, to show them that they have other options. We must educate them, teach them the difference between right and wrong, the true difference. If you are able to consciences make the decision to do good each and every day, you have been given the gift of the truth. Now it is up to you to share it.

But be careful. Often times, there are people who only see one choice in their life, and it happens to be the good one. Perhaps you were raised in a very virtuous family and were blessed to have the righteous path laid out very clear. You still need to pay attention. As Plutarch wrote, “Virtue, like finest brass, by use grows bright.” If you have been blessed with an inclination towards virtue, you must still make the best of it. Strengthen it like any other muscle. Not acting on the best instincts makes them useless.

People are quick to judge the others around them. They see people’s actions and have no consideration to the process behind them. We must always be open to the possibility that others have not been shown the truth. Because many have not. But if we always meet these people with disapproval and contempt, no one will ever want to hear what we have to say. Keep this in mind every time you try to speak the good word to those around you.

Yours truly,

Publius

This past Sunday marks the three year anniversary of America Restored. As we celebrate everything that has lead us here, we think back to our original purpose of these blogs. We truly do want to restore America because we love our country. But sometimes it is unclear what that love, which some refer to as patriotism or ‘public spirit’, actually looks like. As Gordon wrote in Cato’s Letter Number 35, “The love of one’s country, or publick spirit, is a phrase in every body’s mouth, but it seldom goes deeper, it is talked of with out being felt.” 

We see false patriots around us every day. They claim to love America and the freedoms it possesses, yet they act in ways that completely undermine what the founders stood for. They, in fact, are the opposite of true patriots. Those people slowly lead the masses away from what America is and act against the public’s own good in a way that could never be considered the love of one’s country. Gordon writes that the “duty of a man to himself [must] be performed subsequently to the general welfare, and consistently with it.”  There are still many who claim to have a different duty – be it protection or humanitarianism or whatever flag they wave. They use their titles to take us away from our governing document and ideals. They make wild claims or use invisible threats to make us unsteady. It is best put in letter 35:

“Those patrons therefore of dry dreams, who do mischief to the world to make it better, are the pests and distressers of mankind, and shut themselves out from all pretense to love of their country. They would force all men into an absolute certainty about absolute uncertainties and contradictions; they would ascertain ambiguities, without removing them, and plaque and punish men for having but five senses.”

We must not listen to these men. In order to defeat their false pretenses, we should strive for the truth. To love one’s country, you must understand what it stands for. What good is spirit if it is not rooted in the proper place?

So how do we show our public spirit? We strive to be true patriots and support our country as best we know how – by upholding the principles of its founders and honoring the government they created. We seek to educate the public and point out the misdeeds around us. As Gordon wrote, “we…dread to see the day, when it will be safer for one man to be a traitor, than for another man, or for a whole people, to call him so. Where-ever public spirit is found dangerous, she will soon be seen dead.” 

Thank you for being with us these three years as we work towards our goal. We would also like to apologize for our lack of consistency these past few weeks. Our lives have been moving forward and changing, but because of this we are focused on making “America Restored” do the same. We hope you will stay with us as we further pursue the noble path of our fathers before us. 

Yours truly,

Publius