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The "Ten Cannots" Weren't

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Letters To The Editor & Editorial Columns

Story date: Nov. 16, 2010

A different perspective on the ‘Ten Cannots’

I write this after reading “Exploring the Ten Cannots” written by John Montgomery and published under “Your Voice” in the Oct. 27 edition of The Courier. I know Mr. Montgomery to be an active voice for the local Republican political party and I offer a differing perspective.

First of all the “Ten Cannots” that Mr. Montgomery attributes to Abraham Lincoln were actually first published in a pamphlet in 1916, some 50 years after the death of President Lincoln. The legitimate author of the “Ten Cannots” was Rev. William Boetcker, who could best be described as an outspoken political conservative of the Presbyterian faith. By attributing these ideas to Abraham Lincoln, one of our nation’s most beloved and respected leaders, Mr. Montgomery has misled the readers. I am sure that Mr. Montgomery did not purposely mislead but nonetheless he did mislead. Ronald Reagan made a similar mistake when addressing the Republican National Convention in 1992. Following the example of a leader as popular as Reagan does not excuse the mistake of attributing the quote to a respected leader in an effort to sway political views. Abraham Lincoln did make the following quote: “I see in the near future a crisis that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong it’s reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic will be destroyed.”

I find Mr. Montgomery’s attacks on “social justice” and “wealth-sharing” disturbing as well. When did these concepts become so abhorrent? It is a mystery to me how the people who cry out for America to become a “Christian Nation” can ignore or rationalize away the basic message of Jesus stressed in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The following passages make the point that as a Christian nation we are called to love and care for others first and ourselves second. That seems to me to be the very definition of social justice: Luke 1:53, 21:1-4, 15:19-31, 6:30-37, 14:12-14; Matthew 23:23, 22:37-39, 25:31-46; 1 John 3:17; Acts 2:44-45; 2 Corinthians 9:7; 1 Timothy 6:10; James 5:4; Proverbs 14:31, 14:21; Psalms 82:3-4, 72:2; Ezekiel 45:9; Jeremiah 22:13-17; Deuteronomy 15:7-11; Amos 2:7; Isaiah 30:18, 3:14-15. I have heard Glen Beck speak out against “social justice” but simply do not understand this way of thinking. To me there is very little in the Bible that aligns with this anti-social justice and anti-wealth sharing agenda proposed by Mr. Beck and Mr. Montgomery.

Rather than focusing on a 96-year-old list of “cannots,” the progressive-liberal agenda has historically fought to prove we are a nation that “can” improve the circumstances and opportunities of all our citizens. The following are a few of the changes, ideas or programs that progressive-liberals have fought for throughout our history: democracy, liberty, equality, a living wage, tax-supported public schools, civil rights for all citizens including minorities and women, safe food and drugs, protection against predatory business practices, clean energy, clean lakes, rivers and air, safe and healthy working conditions, the middle class, the GI Bill, state and national parks and reserves, freedom of religion represented by and protected with the principle of “separation of church and state,” affordable health care for all, social security, workman’s compensation, Medicare and Medicaid, humane prisons and mental hospitals, equitable and upright police protection, consumer protections and many protections for children.

Our Constitution begins with the following words: We the people of the United States, in order to perform a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. It was progressive-liberalism that established this country and made it great and I shudder to imagine what kind of nation we would be today without this progressive Christian attitude.

Bruce Futterer

Russellville

God Bless America ( and please do it fast despite the Republicans)

It seems to me in the United States of America it should be We the People and not Me, the Individual that matters.
The Democrats won't get everything right, but they will try to make things better for the people of the United States of America rather than mostly their family, their friends, and their businesses.