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American Reform – What, Exactly, is the Governing Spirit of America? — Tardivel, 1900

“The spirit of the American Revolution does not differ much, whatever may have been said, from the spirit of the French Revolution. In the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, we find, it is true, the name of GOD, of the ‘GOD of nature’ and of the ‘Creator’; but it is only a question of the rights of man. There is no more mention of the rights of GOD and the duties of man than there is of them in the “immortal principles of ‘89.”>

Colorized portrait of Mr. Jules-Paul Tardivel

The American Situation

Our beloved country, America, is very sick. A disease has been spreading through her body, as far back as any man can remember. It spreads now with ever increasing intensity and scope. Godlessness, immorality and the cry of “rights, rights and more rights” dominate American life, culture and government. Political parties are mired in liberalism, corruption and tired ideas. Capitalism, emboldened and without restraints, has produced a money-obsessed, individualistic and debauched culture. Morality has taken the back seat to profit, and individual goods triumph, routinely, over the common good. We are told America was founded as a Christian nation, so how did we arrive here? >Realizing some of these problems, the solution most people give for our country is more freedom, strangely never bothering to define their term. Others, no less impassioned, insist on returning to a vision of America before the 1960s, that is “before things went crazy”, while those with an eye for history dare to suggest a restoration of the order before the Civil War.

Originally published in The Journal of American Reform. Read original article