Being a student of history has its advantages and disadvantages. In a way, when things happen in current event that mirror events of the past, the student of history sees patterns and repetitions that he feels should be obvious to others. This pattern of repeating history can lead to either pessimism or optimism.
For instance, in this recent election, conservative principles were not really defeated, they weren’t even represented. If the conservative principles espoused by the majority of the American population had been represented by the candidates in the Republican party, it is possible that the election could have gone differently. But a president so quick to spend massive amounts of money on “finishing his daddy’s war” in Iraq and on insane “bailouts” following national disasters and government-spawned financial problems may call himself anything he wants, but in truth he governed as a big-government Democrat. If the world thought his was an example of “conservativism,” no wonder they became disheartened with it! An analysis such as this can certainly lead to pessimism, realizing that when a candidate campaigns from one position and governs from another he weakens his whole party.
On the contrary, history is replete with examples of dangerous cycles followed by revival. For instance, when I was born the United States was embroiled in a messy “police operation” in Viet Nam and the civil rights movement was in full swing with riots in the streets. This was followed by the OPEC oil embargo, then Watergate. Quickly on the heels of these good times came Jimmy Carter and the Iran hostage crisis. All in all, this was a pretty bleak stretch in American history. However, Ronald Reagan arrived with a real set of principles that gained national acclaim and he was elected by a massive landslide victory. He then proceeded to govern upon the same principles upon which he campaigned, successfully exposing Communism as the fraud it is and reigniting a doomed American economy. The Reagan Revolution effectively rolled the wheel back, reinstituting the principles of freedom and setting the United States on course for more prosperous years. There is certainly a lot more to the story, and much more analysis to be understood, but effectively a tide of shame and failure in United States governance (brought about by BOTH parties, by the way) had been stemmed and reversed.
So, pessimism or optimism? What do times such as ours call for?
I would posit that we need a dose of each. Allow me to recommend that you read an article posted by my co-author and business partner Orrin Woodward(click here to see the article). In this post, Orrin comments upon one of the most fascinating pieces of political commentary I have ever read: Alexander Tyler’s Cycle of Democracy. To me, Orrin’s comments are spot on. We can gain a better perspective by understanding history and being wise to the fact that any nation that loses its principles will soon lose its freedom. There are no guarantees. But we can also take stock in the fact that God is sovereign, and throughout the course of history He has raised people up to shape events. And always, these people who do so much for the cause of freedom in the lives of others must battle fiercely for it. This is because freedom isn’t free. It requires “eternal vigilance.” It is a sacred flame that warms many, but is not beyond being snuffed out. My hope is that I can do my part to protect that flame, so that future generations may live under the benefit of its warmth, as I have.
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