The Rise and Fall of America?

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” – Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

American greatness started with this! Thomas Jefferson and his fellow forefathers acknowledged the existence of unalienable rights.  Recognizing God’s Divine Mandate, that man was created to be free in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by God’s own hand, was critical in the foundation of this new experiment in government they set to establish. 

Alternatively, if the concept of freedom was established as coming from man himself, it could be taken away at any time by men.  God is the source of these rights. When man denies God, he denies for himself the very source of his Freedom which then leaves him subject to men as his arbiter.  If able, evil men will place their brother into bondage.

As many in society increasingly choose the perceived conveniences, comfort, and security of the secular world, they steadily move away from God.  And with that chosen course they steadily find themselves losing the freedom our forefathers had so wisely recognized in God’s creation and enshrined in our nation’s founding.

The Constitution was constructed to deliver a Republic form of government, not a pure Democracy where the majority of opinion rules even if that rule is wrong, harmful or endangering to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness in a segment of our society.  Our Republic is different in that it CAN operate for the protection of the individual against the majority when they get out of control. The three branches of government and the representative nature of our congress offers some protection to individual rights. But even a republic cannot save a people from themselves if they choose to stray.

William Tytle (1711-1792) a Scottish lawyer and historical writer documents the life cycle of democracies and republics. Attributed to him is this description of the rise and fall of democratic nations:

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.

Even though the progression described by Tytle seems to be confirmed by history, could there be another outcome?  If we could understand the drivers that move us to the next step then perhaps we could break the cycle!   Is it possible?

Looking at the life cycle there are 4 steps to the rise and 4 steps to the fall of democratic societies.  One could divide the circle in two with a straight line up and down.  There is commonality to the four items on the right(rise) and a different commonality to 4 items of the left(fall).   Understanding this exposes the reason for the pivot point from rise to fall.

In society there is individual virtue.  Virtuous choices are ones made according to the natural law as embodied in Matthew 22;34-40:  Love God above all and love your neighbor as yourself.  When taken as a whole, societal virtue is a composite of its member’s virtue (or lack thereof).

In the rise of nations societal virtue is growing and becomes strong.   First is faith and the search for unity among the people. The Second is courage born of faith and unity. Next is liberty which manifests in a people united in faith, which then have courage and numbers to break the tyrannical bondage. During the rise of society, the measure of societal virtue is also rising.

In the life cycle of nations, it becomes obvious that the rise of nations is during the period where faith and the practice of the Golden Rule is strong and growing.   It is also obvious that the demise of nations follows when these are abandoned by more than one half of society.   This results in a situation where neighbor steals from neighbor and fosters other immoral acts under the protection of the government controlled by the now immoral majority. Here are two examples: the taking of innocent life in abortion and the legitimized theft inherent in entitlement and other programs designed for the political benefit of government officials and not for the common good.

In the fall of nations, we see a gradual abandonment of the virtues and then an increasingly rapid pursuit of the vices.  This marginalizes God and abandons the Golden Rule, resulting in grace being largely diminished.  We are then left to the influences of evil.

Very simply, it is Grace that supports the rise of nations.  Without Grace nations collapse.  Without faith the practice of the Golden Rule is gone and is replaced by selfishness.  And without the Golden Rule the flow of grace is halted, and societies move to narcissism, violence and irresponsibility; eroding the pillars of society until they collapse!

It is not hard to see that as a nation, America has moved past the mid-point.  Selfishness abounds and dependence is becoming the norm for a growing part of our society.  I fear for where we are heading with apparent haste!

So that’s the bad news. Now for the good news!

I take issue with Tytle’s conclusion that “A democracy is always temporary in nature.” Here is why.

God is constantly open to us returning to him.  In fact, Heaven gives us easy paths back and even extends personal invitations for us to come to Him.  This is true for individuals and nations.

Right now, America has a personal invitation to return to a life of virtue and practice of the Golden Rule in the devotion to Our Lady, the Immaculate Virgin, Patroness of America.   Our Lady of America is calling us to imitate the Holy Family where virtue was perfect, and sin was perfectly avoided.  

She is calling us, the United States of America, back to increasing greatness by our faith and our imitation of the Holy Family.  She is calling us to place God first, and our brothers and sisters next.  She is calling us to pursue the virtues and avoid sin.  She is calling us to the Golden Rule. She is showing us the way. 

But most importantly she has a promise for us.  She promises that if we pursue imitation of the Holy Family, fervently desire purity, frequent the Sacraments, practice the virtues, avoid sin and pray, she will lavish the graces to persevere in this Holy pursuit.  And if enough of us do this, it will change the future of our Nation.

Growing up I was blessed with wonderful parents.  I forget the context but have never forgotten the words my mother said to me as a young boy; “One person can change the world.”   The more I see in life the more I know this to be true – both for the better or the worse.

Heaven has a hope and plan for America – to lead the world to peace!  Will we rise to the call or disappoint our Sorrowful Mother?  By tapping the infinite treasury of God’s graces merited by Our Lord, Jesus Christ anyone can change the world for the better.  We are called by baptism to do exactly this!

This slide into bondage is not a certainty! We can change the course of history; one soul at a time. Commit today to changing the world in cooperation with Our Lady’s call to America.  We can do this! We must not fail!  Millions of souls are at stake.