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WHY I FIGHT Readers of my columns which often
excoriate secularizing organizations, may of them Jewish, frequently ask me,
“Lapin, why do you fight?” My answer is always the same. I fight
to preserve an Living among people who do not behave
virtuously is at the very least unpleasant. It is usually also intimidating,
and ultimately dangerous and expensive. If many of my fellow citizens are unable
to restrain themselves from criminal conduct, the quality of my life declines.
An evening stroll through the neighborhood becomes a frightening experience.
My cost of living goes up as commerce compensates for shoplifting, fraud, and
robbery. Mounting regulations rob me of my freedoms as government futilely
attempts to control the anti-social behavior of those who have lost the ability
to control themselves. If many of my fellow citizens strip the
sacred out of sex, the quality of my life declines. My struggle to reach for
the stars, already difficult, becomes infinitely harder as the culture around
me shackles me to the barnyard. I struggle to raise my children for a life of
refinement and spiritual aspiration while hormonal hysteria competes for their
attention. One can tell people by the language they use and the language around
us becomes ever more vulgar and obscene. One can tell much by how people dress
and my daughters are made to feel like freaks because they don’t expose
their belly buttons, breasts, or thighs. If many of my fellow citizens replace
courage with cowardice, the quality of my life declines. They may cloak their
cowardice in virtue by speaking of pacifism or wishing to save lives but their
abject fear nonetheless empowers tyranny. Their fear of confronting evil means
they see only victims, never villains. They see only the deprived and never
the depraved. They make it all but impossible for government to fulfill its
primary purpose—defending citizens from violence. It is cowardice when
government fails to empower the military to protect us from violence
perpetrated by outside enemies. It is cowardice again when our criminal
justice system fails to protect us from violence inflicted by conscienceless
psychopaths. Crime, sex, and cowardice are all
natural. They are found in nature. Animals seize one another’s food,
they respond instinctively to the sexual impulse, and, given the choice, they
run rather than fight. I think that God may have hoped for better from
humanity. We all live more happily when we live among people who do not act
upon their natures but resist them. The quality of all our lives is enhanced
when we each conquer our natures. If we hope to deter crime only through
police, why, there cannot be enough police officers to prevent crime. For in
the final analysis, who will police the police? In similar vein, all the
sex-ed classes in public education are inadequate to prevent young human bodies
from responding instinctively to the sexual impulse. With regard to cowardice,
the rarity of courage reminds us of how banal is cowardice. It is the natural
reflexive response to frightening challenge. In other words, it seems to me that our
only hope of escaping increasing crime is either increased rates of
incarceration or alternatively if we each recover our own capability to reject
the lure of crime. Not because we might get caught by a policeman but because
we loathe the idea of sullying our souls. It used to be that way. I’m
sure you remember a time when Americans seldom locked their doors. Our only hope for replacing public depravity
and animalism is if we all raise children who revel in modesty and who take
pride in saving themselves for marriage. No government program can accomplish
this. Our only hope for recovering national courage is if we once again find
meaning in masculinity and we view cowardly behavior as shameful rather than as
newsworthy. However government cannot effect any of
these changes. But God can. I think there may be only one hope for restoring
and maintaining the quality of life which originally made It is no accident that in the many
American communities of Orthodox Jews, dedicated Catholics, and serious
Evangelicals these problems are considerably less severe. I say “Biblical” because only
the Bible is built on the lesson of the Garden of Eden. Man is placed in this
world to do battle with nature—all nature, especially his own. Left to
itself, the earth will bring forth weeds and thistles but man must make it
yield food. Left to itself, the jungle will overwhelm the city but man must
defend civilization. Left to himself, man will follow his nature toward crime,
animalistic sex, and cowardice. It is our God-given duty to resist. As
Kathryn Hepburn said to Humphrey Bogart in that wonderful movie, African Queen,
“Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are
put in this world to rise above.” That is what I am fighting for and if my
children understand this, it would be enough for me. However, I am blessed
with armies of allies. Blacks, whites, and all other colors, Jews and
Christians, rich and poor, men and women—all of us recognize the
secularism that jeopardizes the very quality of our lives. We also recognize that
a similar diversity of Americans see things very differently. If they win, we
lose. We can’t both win. That is why I fight. And I hope you’re
alongside me too. |
