Make America Great Again!

“Make America Great Again!”  Those words strike a chord with a lot of folks, doesn’t it? Images of American independence, industrial might and military prowess leap to our minds when we hear them. That phrase, for some people, can illicit the feeling of Manifest Destiny. It’s such a powerful statement that Donald Trump has incorporated it as his campaign slogan. But where have we heard that slogan before? It was used by Ronald Regan in 1980 during his successful bid for the presidency.

Mr. Regan effectively employed the phrase “Make America Great Again,” as does Mr. Trump. They use it skillfully, drawing comparisons between past accomplishments and the current national direction of the USA. They illustrate the miraculous rise and strength of the American Republic and imply a fall from what once caused that rise. It covers numerous areas of public life which have (either seemingly or actually) deteriorated including economic dearth, corruption and governmental incompetence. By painting that mental picture they stoke the fires of those who support their ideas and objectives.

It appears that Mr. Trump is currently just as successful as Mr. Regan was in garnering the exact response they wanted. The phrase, “Make America Great Again” employs sentiment in driving the image of decline home to the hearer. Using that sentiment – and not necessarily historical facts – allows for quite a contrast between then and now. However, are sentiment about the ‘way things used to be’ and facts the same thing? If not, then what are the facts?

What was it that made America great in the first place? Both these men use it to refer to the national economy, immigration, taxes, international relations, industrial productivity, state and federal authority and a host of other issues which concern us. But are these the things that made America great, or are these things the byproducts? To answer this question we can look at the writings of a foreigner who once saw, clearly, what the foundation of our success was. His name was Alexis de Tocquecille.

Tocqueville came to America in the 1830s to try and find out what made this country so prosperous. He came from France, a country which had tried to follow the lead into a similar form of government but with less than similar results. In his travels he noticed a striking difference between the two countries, and attributed that difference to the American character of Christianity as the true source of the difference!

Here are just a few of his observations, contained in his work Democracy in America;

Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things.

In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.

Religion in America…must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it. Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief.

I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion — for who can search the human heart? But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.

In the United States, the sovereign authority is religious…there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.

In the United States, the influence of religion is not confined to the manners, but it extends to the intelligence of the people…

Christianity, therefore, reigns without obstacle, by universal consent…

I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors…; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution.

Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.

Both France and America strived for the same political framework. Both countries had similar resources. Both countries had sufficient manpower, and France actually had more people than America. But it wasn’t those things he saw as the source of American exceptionalism, it was the pervasive influence of Christianity which was apparent in every area of life.

As he rightly comprehended, the dominant Christian character of America had caused us to become a world power in just a few decades. It stands to reason then, that a decline in the national identity of Christianity would eventually lead to a decline in the national condition.

The Pew Research Center recently conducted a survey which shows a startling fact; America is becoming less Christian. Is this decline having an effect? Of course it is! Why do you think the slogan “Make America Great Again” is so effective? People know intuitively that things are getting more chaotic, deteriorating from a standard we once enjoyed almost without thought.

Americans were educated, to be sure, but that education began with the Bible. People learned to read by reading the Bible, and some of the greatest American educational centers were initiated as Biblical colleges and universities. People were educated at home and local schools using the Bible or the McGuffey Readers (which relied heavily on Biblical passages and content). Since that time America has seen fit to remove God from the classroom, and we see the results of that momentous decision.

The Bible was the standard used to administer American jurisprudence. Tocqueville saw this in action during a court proceeding he witnessed in New York;

While I was in America, a witness, who happened to be called at the assizes of the county of Chester (state of New York), declared that he did not believe in the existence of God or in the immortality of the soul. The judge refused to admit his evidence, on the ground that the witness had destroyed beforehand all confidence of the court in what he was about to say. The newspapers related the fact without any further comment. The New York Spectator of August 23rd, 1831, relates the fact in the following terms:

“The court of common pleas of Chester county (New York), a few days since rejected a witness who declared his disbelief in the existence of God. The presiding judge remarked, that he had not before been aware that there was a man living who did not believe in the existence of God; that this belief constituted the sanction of all testimony in a court of justice: and that he knew of no case in a Christian country, where a witness had been permitted to testify without such belief.”

Since that time we have removed God from the public square, believing the lie that America was founded as a completely secular government. The Founding Fathers had no intention of establishing a secular government because they knew the Christian character of the country and assumed that character would continue in every area of life – including government. That is why God is referenced and thanked in the Declaration of Independence. That is why God is referenced and thanked in the state Constitutions. That is why John Adams went so far as to claim;

[W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Tocqueville records this observation, and we would do well to listen to it today;

America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law as well as the surest pledge of freedom.

The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other

Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts — the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims.

The only hope we have, both individually and as a nation, is to turn from what we think is right and good and trust in the God Who gives us life. He alone helped to secure our power, industry and success, and He alone can restore us to the place we once enjoyed. If we place our trust in the things we enjoy – and not the God Who gives us those things – we will continue to degenerate and will, ultimately, be left on the side of the road.

We need to return to God, and that return can only come as we – individually – return to faith in Him. Only then will we “Make America Great Again.”