You can feel it.
The country is shaken.
The events of this past Saturday have America on edge.
But for a slight turn of his head, President Trump would likely be dead. A former President, now leading candidate for re-election, was nearly gunned down in the final months of an historic election. These are the kind of things we expect to happen elsewhere. Not here in America.
Imagine the chaos that would have ensued.
Since the horrific scene last Saturday, there have been widespread calls to “tone down the rhetoric” and to unite as a nation. There’s some truth in this. Nobody should interpret honest talk about the stakes of this election as a justification for violence. We live in a nation of laws and participate in a political process designed to resolve our differences with arguments and votes. Not guns.
But left unsaid (and often avoided) is the question — unity in what?
Should Trump stop talking about the plight of families and workers or the chaos at the border? Should Catholics stop talking about the cultural rot or the exploitation of our kids by the LGBT movement? Likewise, do we think Biden will stop talking about the “end of democracy” and so-called “reproductive” rights?
Of course not.
Calls for unity are all fine and good — but unity in the truth.
It’s often assumed that elections are about policies. Like immigration, inflation, crime, and education. Or more significantly, protecting the vulnerable, like the poor and unborn. But the events of last Saturday serve as another reminder that this election — perhaps more than any other — is about what kind of country we will live in. What kinds of ideas and ideals do we still hold in common that will allow us to live and prosper — even when we don’t always agree?
What unifying principles or ideas still bind us together as Americans?
How can we avoid the trap now being set to sit down and shut up lest anything we say or do be blamed for the reckless acts of political extremists?
We don’t need to look far for the answer.
It starts with four words. “We hold these truths.”
It sounds almost too simple, but if there is to be unity, there must be things that we agree are true. Beginning with the idea that there is such a thing as truth.
And what are these truths?
That there is a God and we are not Him.
That our dignity and worth — and liberty — come from a Creator God, who endowed us with rights that no government can take away — beginning with the right to life, and by extension, the right to worship the Creator God who gave us our life.
That freedom is not the freedom to do what we wish, but the freedom to do what we ought. That freedom doesn’t work if everyone can do whatever they want. Real liberty is ordered liberty. And that without religion and morality, freedom (and democracy!) don’t work.
These aren’t new insights. You’ve heard them all before. They are the basic propositions put forward by our Founders. They are universal truths. They are the time-honored ideals that inspired our fellow citizens to sacrifice their lives. But for too long, they have been forgotten and ignored.
These TV pundits who are calling for “unity” are just using empty rhetoric designed to gain the moral high ground.
Real unity requires real talk about defending basic truths — and persuading our fellow citizens that these truths are worth fighting for.
That is what this election is ultimately about.
And why we’re proud to stand with you in this noble cause.