(Wikimedia Commons public domain image).\u00a0 I need one of these on my lawn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sigh.\u00a0 Against my resolution and my better judgment, I watched the presidential debate tonight.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I vowed several weeks ago that I would post no political blog entries here, and I\u2019ve kept my promise.\u00a0 I will make an exception only tonight, and then I\u2019ll return to my nonpartisan silence.\u00a0 I have now made my presidential choice.\u00a0 See above.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m deeply troubled for my country.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his sermon\u00a0A Model of Christian Charity<\/i>\u00a0(ca. 1630), Governor John Winthrop said the following:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. Soe that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world. . . .<\/span><\/p>\nWe must delight in each other, make others conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, our community as members of the same body.<\/span><\/p>\nOn 3 November 1980, Ronald Reagan referred to A Model of Christian Charity<\/em> in his address \u201cA Vision for America,\u201d delivered on election eve:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have quoted John Winthrop\u2019s words more than once on the campaign trail this year\u2014for I believe that Americans in 1980 are every bit as committed to that vision of a shining \u201ccity on a hill,\u201d as were those long ago settlers \u2026 These visitors to that city on the Potomac do not come as white or black, red or yellow; they are not Jews or Christians; conservatives or liberals; or Democrats or Republicans. They are Americans awed by what has gone before, proud of what for them is still\u2026 a shining city on a hill.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr. Reagan returned to this theme many times throughout his presidency,\u00a0notably in the farewell speech that he gave to the nation on 11 January 1989:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don\u2019t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That\u2019s how I saw it, and see it still.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
God bless the memory of Ronald Reagan.\u00a0 How I miss him.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
And now, as I close, I go on record:\u00a0 I look forward to the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, whom I regard as an absolutely stellar nominee.\u00a0 I\u2019m enthusiastic.\u00a0 I could not be happier about her nomination.\u00a0 She was, in fact, my favored candidate back in 2018, when Mr. Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh instead.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Sigh.\u00a0 Against my resolution and my better judgment, I watched the presidential debate tonight. \u00a0 I vowed several weeks ago that I would post no political blog entries here, and I\u2019ve kept my promise.\u00a0 I will make an exception only tonight, and then I\u2019ll return to my nonpartisan silence.\u00a0 I have now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Cthulhu\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/09\/107567841_10216930930372948_4621287806331233679_n.jpg\")
<\/a>