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The American Story.
 By Claston Bernard

God made us in his image. He made us of one blood. Genetically we are 99.8 percent similar.
 
When I See the Declaration of Independence, I see the Genesis story. "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth." Our Declaration of Independence, says “we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal with certain unalienable Rights.” Genesis 1:27- "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them male and female he created them."
 
Our founders knew that the recognition and protection of our God-given rights, life, liberty, and property was essential to a free society.  

Government has no right to dictate our God-given freedom. We cannot separate life from liberty without falling into tyranny
 
The tyrants always feel it is his moral duty to use force to compel us because of the common good.
 
For a free government, we need God, and Christian morality, for freedom and equality of opportunity we need Capitalism.
 
To maintain freedom government needs to be controlled. We must hold our elected officials responsible for what is written in our Constitution. The Constitution cannot enforce itself as it is ink on parchment paper.
 
The American struggle for independence was seen as a struggle for all humanity. The Conservative Construct of our Constitution is to preserve the ancient moral traditions of humanity and the belief in God. It recognizes that God's natural laws are self-evident and that freedom and property are linked and that we should all have equality before the court of law. The writers of the Constitution cautioned us that government long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.
 
The American story is beautiful, sometimes tragic, and even painful, however it shows how the hands of God have been integral in where we are today. It shows how good triumphed over evil over and over again.
As an immigrant, one of the greatest moments of living in this great country is to be called an American after obtaining your citizenship.
 
We have to have a common set of ideas that define who we are. Without a common identity, we will disintegrate into a tribalistic society. It is imperative we learn and understand how history and government shape our identity as Americans. History is for us to learn from, not for us to interject ourselves into.
 
The American story started when the Pilgrims came ashore in December of 1620. It was a belief in Providence that brought them to the Americas shores to practice their beliefs and raise their families. They tried communism, failed, and eventually recognized that in order for our society to succeed we needed a free market system, where rights are respected. The recognition of individual rights is the key to capitalism. It recognizes an objective good, a moral law giver as the standard of all rights. It forces men to strive for this on an individual basis.
Only the individual can decide what is valuable to him. Man must be free to discover this value. And Make choices about his family and livelihood.
 
The Free-Market system is the only place where this is possible where we can have an objective value to something.
 
Thanks to Adam Smith, he gave the blueprint to capitalism. The only moral system that recognizes our rights to our property as God's creation. According to Aynn Rand, Capitalism is the only system geared to the life of a rational being and the only moral political-economic system in history.
 
The founders knew that understanding of civics, history, and Godly principles were essential to the keeping of our Republic. As John Adams stated; our Republic is made for a moral group of people and is unfit for no other, General Washington our first president said, religion and morality are key pillars to our Republic’s longevity. Without a moral foundation, our Republic will cease to exist.
 
We have removed prayer from schools, the American story is being watered downed to promote Marxist revision of our history. The teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) is not the teaching of American History. CRT seeks to use the incidents of the past to attack white Americans and Western Civilization. Yes, history is to be taught in its proper context.
 
Yes, we had slavery and Jim Crow, but we had rebellions against the system of men stealing, and enslavement. Two rebellions come to my mind of men who understood their civic duties. Denmark Vessey in 1822 and Nat Turner's in the 1830s, these were men who knew that their liberty was God-given and to be enjoyed freely. As Abe Lincoln said, “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
Those very rights the Pilgrims fled Europe to enjoy. We had a civil war that ended the ugly institution of slavery. We had marches, protesting segregation, led by Medgar Evers, MLK Jr, Malcolm X, and many others. MLK Jr. held up the Constitution as a promissory note and asked us to honor it. MLK Jr. asked that all men be treated as equal under the law and not be judge by their melanin content but by the content of their character. Frederick Douglass saw the Constitution was written for everyone. Many have tried to use the Constitution to justify their twisted and wicked agendas. However, the Constitution should not be judged by its abusers but by the truth claims it makes. 
 
It is our civic duty to teach students and immigrants their civic duty not just about voting, but about being informed voters and about their God-given rights. Having a healthy knowledge of history and civics will keep our Republic.
 
Thomas Jefferson wrote that education is important so that “everyman” can “judge for himself what will secure or endanger his freedom.”
 
I say this often, as an immigrant, the understanding of our Constitution gave me great confidence and honor to be called an American and to live the American dream. Frederick Douglass said, Yet the U.S. Constitution is a “glorious liberty document.” My love of America is because of my understanding of my civic duties and American history. Our Churches, schools and public life should reflect our culture and who we are as a people. The sins of the past should not be used to shame us, but to learn from in creating a more perfect union.