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March 13, 2012
American Calvinism
- specifically the belief that God's purposes transcended our knowledge and might conflict with our wishes - had remained the decisive residual influence on Lincoln and his generation.After the Civil War, it was replaced by the conceit that political tinkering and social engineering could remake the world in America’s image - an underhanded way of stating that there is nothing really special about America, and that America’s unique character as a country whose citizens selected themselves from out of the other nations does not really distinguish it from nations defined by blood, tradition, and geography. From this muddy well came both the naive universalism of the Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter and the Wilsonian optimism of George W Bush. -- Asia Times Online :: Asian news and current affairs
Posted by gerardvanderleun at March 13, 2012 8:51 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
Yes, it was the Calvinist work ethic and worldview that created and built this country to its greatness, and its the abandonment of this that is resulting in its demise.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 14, 2012 12:20 PM