Yes, Judeo-Christian virtues are the Americans’ Souls, and we must ‘Save Our Souls.’
A nation is distinguished from other nations by its virtues (‘souls’, spirituality, morality, traditions, history). When national virtues are destroyed – either by foreign assaults or domestic upheavals, nations are dying, and the history is the best witness of this.
Why the Roman Empire died? Because during its territorial expansion it had included in the Empire numerous tribes with incompatible, adversary virtues.
Why the Jewish Nation survived? Because during its Roman-imposed exile it was able to preserve the same virtues for numerous territorially disunited Jewish communities.
***The Judeo-Christian virtues are the American virtues: why and what are they?***
The England’s colonies and then the USA were created by the European Christians whose virtues were rooted in the Old (the Torah = the Jewish Bible) and New (the Christian Bible) Testaments.
Although the Rabbis and Priests for the last two millenniums created numerous religious articles of faith, the Bible’s virtues directly from the Above (and we know that the images of ‘the Above’ are numerous, not only the image of Biblical God) are the Ten Commandments and ‘In the Image and Likeness of God.’
These virtues could be translated in the language of social and political actions in the following way:
- All people are created spiritually-wise equal – the people of all races, in all communities and families with different incomes, etc. – they are created equal in their ability to reach their individual best while fighting for their happiness individually or in collaboration with the others.
- All equal people are competing with the others in their labors, and the Ten Commandments provide the rules for creative and peaceful competition.
- All spiritually-wise people are becoming economically-wise unequal – depending on how they define their happiness: whose who prefer to be individual creators and those who prefer to be helpers of individual creators have different probabilities of failures and rewards.
- Among all equal people there are the unfortunate ones who are not able to sustain their own living, and they are helped through the individual/collective Mitsvah/Charity.
- All equal people are electing a small national government with only one purpose – to defend and protect the-virtue-guided citizens’ lives from all enemies foreign and domestic. The people prevent a national government from growing big to become a government-god.
***The American Judeo-Christian virtues are under assault now: why and who are the assailants?***
However, in the second half of the last century we the people stopped paying attention to the growth of the national government and it has become a totalitarian monster.
We have let the national government to take from us our Judeo-Christian virtues and substitute them by government’s orders that transformed us from the Bible-guided individuals into the government’s spiritual and economic slaves.
It was done by two pivotal government actions – (1) replacing the spiritual equality by economic equality, and (2) not only accepting the new immigrants with the spiritual virtues that are hostile to our Judeo-Christian ones but attracting them by free-of-charge ‘economic goodies’ they did not have in their own countries.
Why has the government done it?
Because most government ‘lords’ are ‘simple people’ who have two simple goals in their minds – personal enrichment and personal power. And the government ‘lords’ reach these goals through the government power. A member of US Congress takes from his constituents the monetary rewards that are 3-4 times greater than his average constituent makes. And they do it always if we the people let them. The government hates the Judeo-Christian virtues that restrain the government power, and if the government is unrestricted, it ruins these virtues.
***The American Judeo-Christian virtues must be defended and protected to save ‘our souls’ that is to save our nation: how to do it?***
All of us, the Americans of Judeo-Christian virtues, should decide what we can do individually and collectively, and more thought on what to do could be found in this Blog ‘Intellectual Judaism.’