Commentary: Presidential candidates a reflection of the nation
By Jim Denison If we don't like our choices in the presidential election, perhaps we should look at ourselves. Joseph de Maistre famously declared, "Every nation gets the government it deserves." Neil deGrasse Tyson recently noted that if people don't like their elected leaders, "you have an issue with your fellow citizens who put them there."
By Jim Denison
If we don't like our choices in the presidential election, perhaps we should look at ourselves. Joseph de Maistre famously declared, "Every nation gets the government it deserves." Neil deGrasse Tyson recently noted that if people don't like their elected leaders, "you have an issue with your fellow citizens who put them there."
We clearly have an issue with the current election. Hillary Clinton is viewed unfavorably by 55 percent of Americans. Donald Trump is even more unliked, with a 58 percent unfavorability rating. According to the Pew Research Center, the top reason Trump's supporters are backing him is that he is not Clinton. It is the same for Clinton against Trump.
Many Americans are asking, is this the best we can do?
We tend to view ourselves as a "city on a hill," a belief in American exceptionalism that is ingrained in our self-identity. There's little doubt that America is one of the most exceptional nations in history. We are the wealthiest, most powerful nation the world has ever seen. Our national wealth exceeds 33 percent of global wealth, more than the next five countries combined.
However, when we hold up the presidential candidates as a mirror of ourselves, glimmers of American exceptionalism are harder to find. This election could be an indicator that what made America great is in decline.
The democracy that made our success possible was founded on consensual morality. In his 1796 Farewell Address, President George Washington stated that "virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government." Thomas Jefferson agreed: "Injustice in government undermines the foundations of a society. A nation, therefore, must take measures to encourage its members along the paths of justice and morality."
In addition, Washington grounded morality in religion: "Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
The Founding Fathers believed that American exceptionalism was tied directly to the nation's religiosity and morality. If we don't like the reflection our presidential candidates provide, perhaps that's the first place we should look.
Is America today a moral nation? Consider some facts:
The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world.
More than 100,000 websites offer illegal child pornography.
According to the FBI, 33,000 violent gangs with 1.4 million members are active in the United States today.
The average age a person in America enters prostitution is 12 to 14 years old.
According to the FBI, murders rose 11 percent in 2015.
Only 35 percent of Americans believe in objective moral truth.
Are we religious? The Pew Research Center documents the much-discussed decline in faith and religious practices in America today. It's noteworthy that the younger we are, the less religious we are.
We shouldn't be surprised that so many Americans question the integrity of our presidential candidates. Or that so many Americans are opposed to them.
It's not just that we dislike the candidates - perhaps we don't like the reflection of ourselves we see in them.
Jim Denison is founder and CEO of the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, a Christian think tank in Dallas. jim.denison@denisonforum.org