What will we leave our children? The American Dream demands more than comfort
What will we leave our children? The American Dream demands more than comfort
As Americans prepare to vote in the Nov. 3 , much of the national conversation centers on which party will control Congress and what the next two years will mean for the country. Those are important questions, but a more consequential one reaches beyond the next election and our own lifetimes: What kind of America are we leaving to our children and grandchildren?
For much of our history, the American Dream was rooted in the conviction that the next generation should inherit greater freedom and opportunity than the one before it. Men and women crossed oceans, endured hardship, established communities and sacrificed their own comfort because they believed their children could enjoy opportunities they might never experience. They understood that the measure of a generation was not simply what it accumulated, but what it preserved for those who followed.
Consider the early settlers who crossed the Atlantic seeking religious freedom. They knew their journey would demand sacrifice, yet they believed the freedom to worship according to conscience was worth securing. Their convictions helped shape the American understanding that faith and conscience belong to the individual, not the government.
ARKANSAS TAKES HOME TOP RANKING FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AFTER GOV SANDERS EXPANDS KEY PROTECTIONS
In his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists, President Thomas Jefferson affirmed the constitutional protection of religious conscience against government interference. Religious liberty was never intended to remove faith from public life. It was intended to protect the right of every American to freely exercise their religious beliefs and worship without government subjugation.
Later generations of came seeking economic opportunity. They worked difficult jobs, built businesses and raised families hoping their children might achieve more than they had. Their circumstances differed from those of the early settlers, but they shared a fundamental understanding of the American Dream: sacrificing something in the present to secure something greater for the future.
SEN TIM SCOTT: MY FAMILY'S JOURNEY SHOWS AMERICA'S FOUNDING PROMISE IS ALIVE AND STRONG
Somewhere along the way, we began losing that generational perspective. The American Dream increasingly became a question of what we could acquire and enjoy during our lifetimes rather than what we could build for those who followed. We became more concerned with protecting our immediate comfort than confronting the difficult decisions necessary to preserve our children's future.
Our national finances illustrate that shift. The federal government continues operating with enormous annual deficits, adding to a national debt future generations will inherit. Reasonable people disagree over spending priorities, taxation and government's proper role. Yet every American should consider whether we are willing to make difficult decisions today or are content to pass their consequences to children who have no voice in making them.
