The Press-Dispatch

July 10, 2019

The Press-Dispatch

Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1140505

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 15 of 24

The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, July 10, 2019 B-5 OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. The Philippines, part II Continued on page 6 Continued on page 6 Minority View by Walter E. Williams Assault on western civilization Continued on page 6 Western civilization was found- ed on a set of philosophies that fo- cus strongly on the sanctity of indi- viduals and their power of logic and reason. This belief led to a desire to trust things that could be proven to be true or legitimate, from gov- ernment to science. Judeo-Chris- tian morality has formed the basis of most Western notions of ethics and behavioral standards. Thus, the attack on Western civilization must begin with the attack on the church and Christian values, and, just as important, the family unit must be undermined. The reason why the church, Christian values and family are targets of the left is they want people's loyalty and allegiance to be to the state. The church, Christianity and the fam- ily stand in the way. Let's look at some of the left's agenda. Joe Biden, criticizing sexu- al assault, said, "This is English jurisprudential culture, a white man's culture," adding, "It's got to change." The Western world's cul- ture isn't perfect but women fare better under it than any other cul- ture. Just ask yourself: If you're a feminist, in which countries would you like to live? Would it be Sau- di Arabia and other Middle East- ern countries, China or countries on the A frican continent, north or south of the Sahara? In those countries, women encounter all kinds of liberty restrictions plus in at least 30 countries on the A f- rican continent, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, female gen- ital mutilation is practiced. You might ask Joe Biden what part of the "white man's culture" needs to be changed. The greatest efforts to downplay the achievements of Western civ- ilization start at our colleges and universities. An Amer- ican Council of Trust- ees and Alumni 2016 study reported that "the overwhelming majority of America's most prestigious insti- tutions do not require even the students who major in history to take a single course on United States his- tory or government." Because of this ignorance, our young people fall easy prey to charlatans, quacks and liars who wish to downgrade our founders and the American achievement. In 2012, 2014 and 2015, an ACTA-commissioned survey of college graduates found that less than 20 percent could accurate- ly identify the effect of the Eman- cipation Proclamation. Less than half could identify George Wash- ington as the American gener- al at Yorktown. One-third of col- lege graduates were unaware that FDR introduced the New Deal. Over one-third of the college grad- uates surveyed could not place the American Civil War in its correct 20 -year time frame. Nearly half of the college graduates could not identify correctly the term lengths of U.S. senators and rep- resentatives. The left in our country often suggest that people who stand up for Western civilization are sup- porting a racial hierarchy. The fact is that the history of the world is one of arbitrary tyrannical abuse and control. Poverty has been the standard fare for a vast majority of mankind. America became the ex- ception to what life was like. That exceptionalism in- spired imitators, and our vision of freedom and liberty spread to what has become known as the West- ern world. Many do not appre- ciate the fact that free- dom and competition in both the market- place and idea arena unleashed a level of entrepreneurism, risk-tak- ing and creativity heretofore un- known to mankind. Look at the marketplace of ideas. The Nobel Prize has been awarded to 860 peo- ple since its inception in 1901. The prizewinner distribution: Ameri- cans (375), United Kingdom (131) Germany (108), France (69) and Sweden (32); that's 83 percent of Nobel Prizes won. The large ma- jority of other Nobel winners are mostly westerners. I might add that Japan has 27 Nobel Prize winners, but their first winner was awarded in 1949, after W WII led Japan to became more westernized. There's a reason why the West leads the world in terms of scientif- ic innovation, wealth and military might and it has little to do with genetics. Instead, it's the environ- ment of freedom, both in the mar- ket for goods and in the idea mar- ketplace. Rigorous competition brings out the best in mankind. Leftists and would-be tyrants find Western values offensive. Walter E. Williams is a profes- sor of economics at George Mason University. Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond No, Democrats, America works Freedom and liberty With the first round of Demo- cratic Party debates behind us, Americans have now heard from their candidates why they think they should run the country. One theme permeates the mes- sages of all these Democrats. America is not fair, and they as- pire to be president to make things fair. Elizabeth Warren: "When you've got an economy that does great for those with money and isn't doing great for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and sim- ple. We need to call it out. We need to attack it head on." Kamala Harris: "For too long, the rules have been written in the favor of the people who have the most and not in favor of the peo- ple who work the most. ... on day one, I will repeal that tax bill that benefits the top 1 percent and the biggest corporations of America." Bernie Sanders: "Well, Presi- dent Trump, you're not standing up for working families ... 83 per- cent of your tax benefits go to the top 1 percent. That's how we beat Trump: We expose him for the fraud that he is." There are, of course, more can- didates and more issues. But this generally sums it all up. Per the Democrats, America is rigged for the wealthy; everyone else is a getting a raw deal; and we need government to straight- en everything out. The challenge for President Trump and Republicans in the up- coming elections is to make clear to voters that the Democrats' mes- sage is not true and to communi- cate what is true. Who are these wealthy Amer- icans who, according to Demo- crats, control everything? The answer is that those who are wealthy are changing all the time, because contrary to what we hear from Democrats, Amer- ica works. Every year, Forbes Magazine publishes a list of the 400 wealth- iest Americans. In 2018, 43 percent of those on this list were not on it 10 years be- fore. Forbes notes who among these 400 inherited their wealth and who are self-made. In 1984, according to Forbes, less than half of those on the list were self-made. In 2018, 67 percent "created their own fortunes." "Over the past 30 -plus years," says Forbes, "the number of Forbes 400 members who have forged their own path, using entre- preneurial capitalism as a means to attain a vast fortune, has in- creased dramatically. This tells us many things, but one should stand taller than the rest: The American Dream, it seems, is alive and well." What about all the tax unfair- ness that Democrats tell us about? According to the Tax Founda- tion, in 2016, the latest data avail- able, taxpayers earning in the top 1 percent paid 37.3 percent of all federal taxes. Those earning in the top 5 percent paid 58.2 per- cent of all federal taxes. Those earning in the bottom 50 percent paid 3 percent of all federal taxes. At less than 250 years old, the USA is one of the planet's young- est countries. Yet at $20.5 trillion gross domestic product, its econ- omy is by far the world's largest. It's 60 percent larger than China's, the second-largest economy, and more than 400 percent larger than Japan's, the third-largest. Those who want to lead the country should be talking about what has created America's enor- mous wealth and success, how to keep it going and how to assure that as many Americans as possi- ble participate. Freedom and entrepreneurial capitalism have been the moth- er's milk of the magnificent Amer- ican success story. The poor are not poor because the rich are rich or because the system is rigged. If we want to help them, let's honest- ly examine why they are not par- ticipating and try to help them The Philippines. As I promised, I would tell some things about the visit to the old country. Having lived there for 26 years prior to mi- grating to the Western world, Can- ada to start with and then the Unit- ed States, I must say my visit to the place where I was born and grew up produced a flood of emotions for me. The memories of the places I grew up, schools I went to, church- es where I visited and attended services, shopping areas where I spent time, restaurants I enjoyed dining at, streets I traveled, etc, etc flashed back to my being like a re- run of movies. You know, memories of one's growing up from childhood to adulthood never leaves all of us. So, now, I found it hard to recognize the scenes of yesteryears. Why? Because there are new buildings, new roads, new rail transport sys- tems, many big shopping centers have been built. What buildings and structures I had memories of are gone, replaced by new enterprises and mega-structures. I had to look and orient myself several times to check if those plac- es and structures I was looking at were real- ly what I had known. Whew, it really was a surprise. Traffic, lots of people, lots of stores, lots of vehicles, lots of tall build- ings, lots of the bustle of life bar- raged my senses. Thank goodness we were in a private air-conditioned van that muted all the noise and made me feel safe and comfortable. Again, I was closely watching the rest of my company as to how they would react. I think they felt fascinat- ed, bewildered, and excited of what they were seeing for the first time, the sights and sounds of an- other culture, another universe. We will be reminiscing all these when we come back to the States, now our home sweet home. • • • Highlights of our trip. So we went to three places that left an impression on all of us. The first one was the Taal lake and volcano. It was an area where it could be viewed from the ridge of a mountain, where my family and I drove by during each summer when I was growing up. It happens that my late father's hometown was about seven kilo- meters from the Taal volcano. So we saw the place every summer. It is a spectacular view, seeing the History records men have en- slaved others through the eons of time. All ethnic groups have been enslaved. Freedom has never been universal in the world. What histo- ry shows is a mankind's constant struggle for freedom. Allow me to tell a story about a man who sought freedom from not only the bonds of slavery, but also the enslavement of sin. It is difficult to get an exact num- ber of slaves in America before the Revolutionary war. The first offi- cial census of the U.S. was con- ducted in August 1800. It showed that 5,308,483 people were liv- ing in the United States, of whom 893,602 were slaves. In 1789, Josiah Henson was born on a farm owned by Francis New- man in Charles County, Maryland. As a child, he was sold to Isaac Ri- ley. By the age of 15, Henson states he was a strong and athletic youth, filled with spirit and energy. He was smart and clever, and said that he could "run faster and farther, wrestle longer, and jump higher" than anyone around him. His mother taught him about God and taught him the Lord's prayer. At age 18, Henson's mother encouraged him to attend a reli- gious service. Because of his loy- alty, when Henson asked Mr. Ri- ley if he could attend the service, he was allowed to go While he was there, he learned a text that would change his life: He- brews 2:9, which reads, "That he, by the grace of God, should taste of death for every man." Henson was impressed by the fact that Jesus cared about every man, including a slave like himself, as this was the first time he had ever heard any- thing of this sort. He is converted to Christianity and wrote later, "I date my conversion, and my awak- ening to a new life . . . from this day, so memorable to me" Henson shared his faith and wrote "I could not help talking much on these subjects with those about me . . . I began to pray with them, and exhort them, and to im- part to the poor slaves those little glimmerings of light from anoth- er world." He became "an esteemed preacher" within his communi- ty, embarking on a career that is confirmed by his admission to the Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church in 1828. He had several opportunities to escape slavery, but he decided that he would buy his freedom from Mr. Riley, who agreed. However, Riley fell on hard times and sold 18 slaves to his brother Amos who lived in Kentucky. Hen- son goes along with the slaves be- cause his wife and children were sold. When he got to Kentucky, he found out that Mr. Riley cheated him, and he was not free, and dis- covered that Amos was going to sell him south in New Orleans. Fearing separation from his family, Henson fled north with his wife and children in the summer of 1830. On October 28, 1830, they reached Canada. Upon reach- ing Canadian soil, Henson threw himself on the ground and rolled around in excitement. A man from the neighborhood thought that he was having a fit and being con- cerned, asked what was wrong. Henson jumped up and exclaimed that he was Free. He settled in Dresden, Ontario, Canada. Henson became a preach- er and a leader in the A fro-Cana- dian community and traveled back into the United States to help an- other slaves escape. Reading his story, it became clear that he knew the meaning of 2 Corinthians 3:17- "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Our political forefathers want- ed freedom from British Rule. The Declaration of Independence has been held up as the most pres- tigious declaration of liberty and freedom ever put on paper. The most moving paragraph of that document reads, "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, Lunch by the waterfall, as shallow river flows under your bare feet in Villa Escudero, Phil- ippines.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Press-Dispatch - July 10, 2019