The relationship between private virtue and public flourishing
In our ever-more connected world, what happens anywhere can affect us everywhere. For example, what implications could the recent exploding pager attacks against Hezbollah have for air travel in America? Could terrorists do to us what Israel was able to do to Hezbollah terrorists? Could our personal electronics explode mid-flight, bringing our planes crashing to the ground?
The answer is actually good news: US officials say TSA screening is able to detect such explosives, so they have no current plans to ban such devices from air travel. However, the issue reminds us that actions in one part of the world have direct consequences on the other side of the world.
Another example is President Biden’s recent announcement that the US is donating one million mpox vaccine doses and at least $500 million to African countries to support their response to the outbreak. This is good global citizenship, but it is also a way to counter the spread of the virus to our country.
Now let’s consider another illustration of our topic, one that affects every one of us in truly vital ways.
Do you trust the government to tell you the truth?
More than 60 percent of Americans admit to “self-silencing”—keeping their true feelings on sensitive topics to themselves. For example:
- Only 22 percent of Americans say publicly that they trust the government to tell them the truth. (Consider for a moment the implications of this response.) However, when asked in a way that preserves their anonymity, it turns out only 4 percent actually feel this way.
- 24 percent say publicly that they trust the media to tell them the truth, but only 7 percent say the same in private.
- 37 percent say publicly that we live in a “mostly fair society,” but only 7 percent say the same privately.
These numbers are deeply troubling on two levels: the degree of distrust we feel toward our government, media, and society, and the degree of distrust we feel even to share our true feelings in public.
This news reveals an issue foundational to our democracy, one identified early in our history by John Adams. (In what follows, the founding father means “Republican” to refer to the American democratic republic, not the political party that arose nearly a century later. Also, I preserved the capitalizations and spellings he used.) In 1772, Adams wrote that “the preservation of Liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral Character of the People.” Four years later, he stated:
There must be a positive Passion for the public good, the public Interest, Honour, Power, and Glory, established in the Minds of the People, or there can be no Republican Government, nor any real liberty. And this public Passion must be Superiour to all private Passions. Men must be ready, they must pride themselves, and be happy to sacrifice their private Pleasures, Passions, and Interests, nay their private Friendships and dearest Connections, when they Stand in Competition with the Rights of society.
In 1795, Adams warned: “When Ambition and Avarice are predominant Passions and Virtue is lost, Republican Governments are in danger.” In 1798, he famously stated:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
In 1807, he claimed, “Without national Morality, a Republican Government cannot be maintained.” And in 1819, he stated, “Without Virtue, there can be no political Liberty.”
“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom”
According to John Adams, the personal morality of some of us affects the national experience of all of us. Private virtue is vital to public government.
The reason is simple: If we cannot govern ourselves, we cannot govern each other.
We cannot give others what we do not possess. We cannot ensure that, in Abraham Lincoln’s immortal words, “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” if “the people” are incapable of such government.
What is the pathway to personal character? Consider this biblical command:
Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth (Jeremiah 9:23–24).
Jesus prayed: “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Paul therefore testified: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).
Oswald Chambers observed: “The summing up of our Lord’s teaching is that the relationship which he demands is an impossible one unless he has done a supernatural work in us.”
“Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one”
If you want our nation to experience God’s best today, strive for personal morality that strengthens public democracy. To do this, “seek the Lᴏʀᴅ and his strength; seek his presence continually!” (Psalm 105:4). Settle for nothing less than a transforming, intimate daily relationship with your Father. Experience his love in prayer, Bible study, and worship. Practice his presence as you walk consciously with him through your day.
God calls us to “seek my face” (Psalm 27:8), knowing that one day we will “see his face” (Revelation 22:4). In the meantime, let’s make the medieval Irish hymn our prayer:
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Be all else but naught to me, save that thou art;
Thou my best thought in the day and the night,
Waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.
Be thou my wisdom, thou my true word,
Thou ever with me, and I with thee, Lord;
Thou my great Father, and I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.
Are you “one” with your “great Father” today?
If not, why not?
Thursday news to know:
*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.
Quote for the day:
“There are far too many people who settle for practicing a sterile religion rather than enjoying a growing, vibrant, personal relationship with the living God.” —Henry Blackaby
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