America the Chosen Nation

Last week I had the pleasure of seeing Dennis Prager in person at the Norris Theater in Palos Verdes. Dennis is the host of a splendid radio talk show that airs M-F from 9-11AM (Pacific) on 870AM (KRLA). Dennis spoke on "America the Chosen Nation" and it was a treat for the packed house that several times interrupted the talk with standing ovations. The talk was an extended version of the one that Dennis gave at the Republican convention last year.

Dennis drew many parallels between the chosenness of America and the Jews, the chosen people. I was surprised to learn that Jefferson wanted the seal of the US to depict the Jews leaving Egypt. He thought the parallel with the Americans leaving England was very powerful.

On his radio show Dennis frequently states that clarity is more important than agreement. Clarity is one of the overarching virtues of his show and his speech. Dennis clarified what it means to be a country based on Judeo-Christian values. A primary J-C value is a belief in liberty, as opposed to the European belief in equality. That is why every US coin has "Liberty" and "In God We Trust" stamped on its face. Dennis worries that our J-C philosophy is under attack from the secular left and that public schools largely ignore it. (In my last post I called out for right-minded activism to urge school boards to renew the teaching of J-C philosophy.)

America's chosenness accounts for the Founding Father's belief that it is America's mission to spread liberty to the world. Largely ignored by Democrats after the Vietnam War, it is the mission that drove Ronald Reagan to confront the "evil empire" and George Bush to confront the "axis of evil."

Another J-C value is the belief in God and God's laws, a belief in a universal morality as opposed to secular relativism. Like the Jews who brought forth the Ten Commandments, America is hated by the secular Europeans and leftists everywhere who deny the existence of evil in the world.