America’s Sun; Rising or Setting?

Washington's Chair

By Wayne Leeper

On September 17, 1787, George Washington was presiding over the Constitutional Convention.  The motion before the Congress was whether or not to adopt the proposed Constitution for the United States of America.  Eighty-one year old Benjamin Franklin had cast the yes vote for Pennsylvania.  He leaned forward on his cane as the remaining votes were cast.  When the last vote had been cast and the Constitution of the United States of America was adopted, he rose and asked permission to address the assembly.  When permission was granted Franklin pointed to the president’s chair, which had a sun carved on it, and eloquently stated before all the representatives:

“I have often…in the course of this session…looked at that …without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”

Today I turned 70 years old.  It has been my privilege to have lived during the best years of the greatest nation in the history of mankind.  As I enter my sunset years, however, I have to ask myself the same question Benjamin Franklin asked two hundred and twenty-nine years ago.  Is America’s sun rising or setting?  Is America, like me, also entering her sunset years?  The America I see today is far different from the America of Benjamin Franklin and the America I was blessed by God to be born into.  I was barely one year old when, on December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed the U. S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.  Thousands of young Americans lined up to enlist in the various branches of service.  Our nation had been attacked, and like the colonist of 1775, there was no way the patriots were going to remain silent.  During the next five years 416,800 young Americans gave their lives that the United States might remain free.  Those who returned were given a heroes welcome by a grateful nation.

At the end of WWII Americans began making major changes in their lifestyles.  Prior to WWII America had been basically an agrarian economy.  The family farm was the center of family life.  Three, and sometimes four, generations would occupy the farm house.  Very few women worked outside the home.  Dad and the boys manned the fields while Mon and the girls took care of the house.  With the advent of WWII this arrangement underwent a major change.  With so many of the men and boys going to war in foreign lands, the women of America had to step up and maintain the defense industry at home.  By the time the war ended women had assumed a role in the workplace that would continue to this day.  Taking Mom out of the home led to other major changes in our society.  There are three influences which determine both the personal, and the national mind-set; the home, the church, and the schools.

Over the past forty years the definition of the home in our society has changed from being the biological family to being any sexual arrangement between two or more consenting adults.  While the Bible and Bible study was very much a part of home life prior to WWII, many homes now consider God’s word to be a myth, and useless as a guide for behavior.  Do we wonder where some youth get the ideas they have?  They get them at home.  Again, when the respect for the authority of parents and God’s word, was removed from the home, it was also removed from society.  It is my privilege to work with some young men serving time in jail.  As I hear their stories I can easily understand why they are in jail.  Time and time again I hear, “I wish I had been taught that before.  If I had, I wouldn’t be in jail today.”  The home is the basic building block of society and a breakdown of the home will always lead to a breakdown of the society.

The breakdown in the home has also led to a breakdown in our churches.   When I was young we went to church to study the Bible.  Young people were brought up to revere God and learn His word.  As the Psalmist said, “Your word is a lamp to me feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 109:105).  Each man in my jail class has been given a Bible.  I ask them the question, ”How many of you spent as much time reading the Bible before getting in jail as you have since getting in here?” I have yet to find one who will raise his hand.  Political correctness has turned us into a Godless society.  His word no longer guides our lives.  Church membership is declining and everything possible has been done to expel God from our society and our nation.  He is no longer allowed in the schools, the government or the public square.  The discussion of religion has been restricted to the churches, and many of them spend more time preaching politically correct sermons than Bible based ones.

The lack of respect for authority, resulting from the breakdown of the home and the churches, has led to a lack of respect for the authority of teachers, principals, and other authority figures.  Too many parents have no real interest in their children’s education.  They spend their time trying to climb the corporate ladder.  The status of one’s life has become more important than the quality of one’s life.  Perhaps the greatest reason, for the breakdown in our school system is that the authority of our local school systems has been usurped by the Federal Department of Education.  As a result our schools have been changed from places of learning, to places of indoctrination.  Very few parents have any idea what their children are being taught.  This change has achieved the desired result of changing the national mindset of our young.  Taught that they must be tolerant of everything except Christianity, they are adopting life-stiles far different from the America of my youth.  It is only a small fraction of our youth who attend church on a regular basis and, as a result, religion and religious training have been removed from our politically correct society.  Today, it is the federal government, not the parents and teachers along with local school boards, who determine what will and will not be a part of our school system.  The Federal Department of Education has done more to destroy our young people than any other force.

When I went to school we studied English, history, and math.  But, we also learned love of God, love of family and love of country.  We learned to appreciate our great heritage as Americans.  A high school diploma was something to be strived for, and cherished.  The school day began with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.   The most common infractions were chewing gum and running in the halls.  The teachers worked closely with the parents to insure each student received the needed attention to succeed.   A sixth grade teacher named Mrs. Smith instilled a love of American history into an 11 year old boy, which has remained with me to this day.

The schools of today are not the schools that I attended.  Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance have been replaced with drugs and guns.  Students today no longer learn love of God, love of home, and love of country as a part of their education.  Nor are they taught their great heritage as Americans.  Parents and teachers too seldom work together for the benefit of the child.  As a result, the drop-out rate is the largest it has ever been.  Children, as low as the first grade, are being taught sex education, and taught that “alternative live-styles” are natural and to be accepted.  That which God calls an abomination, is being taught in our schools as natural and acceptable.  Students are being herded through school as cattle with many graduating from high school without basic reading skills or the ability to do simple math without a calculator.

As a result of these changes which have taken place in my lifetime we are seeing men and women elected and appointed to high places in our government who, unlike the statesmen who founded this nation, are nothing but sleazy politicians and bureaucrats whose only interest is in gaining power.  Together they have brought our nation to the brink of destruction.  It is the change in national mind-set over the past fifty years that has made this possible.  We complain about the government then elect the same ungodly people time and time again.  In a few days Americans will once again go to the polls to cast their vote.  This election is not about Democrat vs Republican. It is a choice between Reagan’s America and Obama’s America. Will it be freedom from government, or servitude under a socialist government.  That is the choice that we will be making.

So again I ask, “Is America’s sun rising or setting?” Will we relinquish the freedoms bought and paid for with the blood of patriots since 1775 or, as Abraham Lincoln said, “…we here will highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, will not perish from the earth.” We will make the choice, but it is our children and grandchildren who will bear the consequences.

May God guide our choice and may God continue to bless these United States of America.