DECONSTRUCTING AMERICA

 

 

I had held some negative views about our American Revolution. Should we have fought this war over “taxation without representation?” Didn’t England have a right to tax us? Didn’t they have a right to recoup the money that had spent on fighting the French Indian War to protect their colonies?

 

It seemed like they did! Why then go to war over such a minor matter and then to celebrate our great patriotic “achievement?”

 

I was conflicted until I saw a video by historian David Barton, who claimed that our Declaration of Independence had listed 27 reasons to declare our independence from England. “Taxation-without-representation was only one of these reasons, and it was listed as the 17th reason out of 27!

 

I was surprised by Barton’s claim, even incredulous. I had been taught to believe that Taxation-without-Representation had been the primary reason! Usually, no other reasons were mentioned, leaving me with the impression that our revolution was all about power and money. I therefore read the Declaration and found that Barton was correct!

 

This typical portrayal of the USA has made many of us cynical about the foundations of this nation. Barton had explained that, starting in the 1920s, historians began to deconstruct America, reducing our history to merely a matter of money and power. The guiding principles of truth and justice were entirely left out. Consequently, I have met many college students who emphatically declare that America has been the worst nation in the world and had to be radically changed.

 

As a UC Berkeley student (1965-68), I had been one of them. I had been convinced that America was so evil that I had left for three years, resolved to never return! Why? I had become blinded by the increasing influence of deconstructionism that America was evil.

 

This masochistic auto-immune response was noted by Pope Benedict XVI. Western culture has turned against itself and its own Christian heritage in a vain attempt to purchase self-validation as we drifted into the lifestyles of the affluent:

 

• “This case illustrates a peculiar western self-hatred that is nothing short of pathological. It is commendable that the West is trying to be more open, to be more understanding of the values of outsiders, but it has lost all capacity for self-love. All that it sees in its own history is the despicable and the destructive; it is no longer able to perceive what is great and pure…Multiculturalism, which is so constantly and passionately promoted, can sometimes amount to an abandonment and denial, a flight from one’s own heritage.” (Quoted by Jean Bethke Elshtain, First Things, March, 2009, 36)

 

We validate ourselves by turning against ourselves and the traditions that had nurtured us. We take-a-knee to those who hate us in a vain attempt to prove to them and ourselves that we are “good people.” We will even cut and burn ourselves to alleviate our sense of shame.

 

Why? We have morality written into our DNA and know that there is something terribly wrong within. We know that we need to be loved and forgiven, but we search for self-acceptance in all the wrong places. Therefore, Jesus taught:

 

• “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)