Reason, the strongest weapon

By Alan Keyes

The war against terrorism is a war in defense of liberty. The defense of liberty has many aspects, of course. We should be careful not to let the drama of the military and diplomatic struggles now beginning, to distract us from what we can do at home to shore up freedom’s moral foundation. Today, America is insisting that the world join us in enforcing the fundamental standards of civilized life. It is a time to be particularly clear in our own minds what those standards are, and how we intend to sustain them in the years to come.

As I have written before, I believe that one of the best ways to keep America on track is to return the study of the founding principles of American life to our schools. Several states have already taken steps to ensure that all children will receive a clear and direct formation in the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the crucial features of American life that flow from it. There is no more important part of “homeland defense.”

Florida is the latest state to join the effort. A bill is now before the legislature of that state to “reaffirm the American character” by beginning each school day with the recitation of the key portion of the Declaration, and by requiring an “age-appropriate curriculum” teaching the “meaning and importance of this statement” in American life. Rep. Jerry Melvin, the author of the bill, wisely makes the connection between our national response to terror and the teaching of our young. “The strongest weapon in our arsenal,” his bill states, “is the firm American character informed by the reasoned principles of the Declaration of Independence.”

Rep. Melvin goes on to trace how the Declaration’s statement of the “fundamental human principles of government upon which the new nation was to be founded continued to have resonance long after the contents of the remainder of the document were forgotten.” Inspiring our national conscience with the noble goal of liberty and justice for all, the Declaration was the banner of the struggles to end racial injustice, including slavery, and to establish women’s suffrage, the rights of labor and property, and all key components of self-government in America.

Rep. Melvin’s bill makes a crucial point in the following words: “reason is the strongest weapon against the mindless fear the terrorist seeks.” American resolve to destroy the enemy that has taken aim on our liberty is founded on our rational understanding of the justice of our cause. We can be grateful to God that we have, in the Declaration, a founding creed that has not only inspired our hearts but also informed our minds.

We can be grateful as well that leaders are coming forward at the state and local level to take responsibility for renewing our dedication to the reasons for the confidence America still has in the justice of its cause, and in the aid that we can rely upon from Divine Providence in the pursuit of that cause. Citizen education, particularly of our young people, has no finer purpose than to sustain the people’s support for the just ends of government while ensuring that they will recognize and resist any usurpation of its powers for other ends.

In time of war, there is a natural and necessary tendency for power to concentrate at the federal level, and particularly within the executive branch. Far from simplistically rejecting this tendency, our founders understood that it was necessary for the nation to be able effectively to prosecute any armed conflict. They relied upon us, however, to remember and insist that the extraordinary and necessary imbalances in government that war can require are just that – extraordinary, and to be accepted only because they are necessary. The impossibility, during wartime, of the same degree of leisurely and public deliberation that can be expected in our national policies during peacetime is a necessary danger to our liberty.

The concentration of government power that war requires is safe only if the people understand the reasons for its necessity, and retain the firm purpose to permit it only so long as it remains necessary to meet the extraordinary demands of war. This understanding can be secure only in a people that understands the reasons for its liberty, and its duty to defend it.

The moment of unifying national determination in response to the September 11th attacks needs to be supplemented by months and years of rededication to what America is, and why it must be defended. State legislation to encourage and prepare our young to join this effort will help ensure that the federal government – which we trust and pray will soon be a “terrible swift sword” to the terrorists – remains forever the authentic servant of the American people. Let us cherish the sacred fires of liberty. Let us be a generation that shows a high resolve that it will indeed be the American truth – liberty and justice under God – that, in the war against terror, is marching on.

Alan Keyes

Once a high-level Reagan-era diplomat, Alan Keyes is a long-time leader in the conservative movement. He is well-known as a staunch pro-life champion and an eloquent advocate of the constitutional republic, including respect for the moral basis of liberty and self-government. He has worked to promote an approach to politics based on the initiative of citizens of goodwill consonant with the with the principles of God-endowed natural right. Read more of Alan Keyes's articles here.