What a difference a year can bring.
Some years are good.
Some years are bad.
Some shoot by in a flash while others seem to drag on for an eternity.
While the jury still is out on the next twelve months, the next year is certain to be a memorable one.
Crises at home and abroad still will exist.
Record budget shortfalls still will be hanging over our heads, and power struggles between the president and Congress still will be playing out in our nation’s capital.
However, all hope is not lost.
Patrick Henry said, “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.”
Surely, America’s past has been bright. For most of the 20th century, the United States was a light to a dark and hopeless world.
In addition to twice saving the world from tyranny, the U.S. survived, and recovered from, the crash of its stock market, the assassination of a president and numerous other tragedies that should have crippled this relatively new nation.
While these uplifting thoughts certainly come to mind today, Patrick Henry was offering his words as a cautionary tale against those who would undermine individual liberties protected by a republican system of government.
It was Thomas Jefferson who said, “History has informed us that bodies of men as well as individuals are susceptible to the spirit of tyranny.”
During these times of heightened national security and record budget shortfalls, all Americans must be mindful of these words.
Fortunately, there is no reason America’s future cannot be as bright as its past.
Many experts often say the first and hardest step on the road to recovery is recognizing a problem exists. As a nation, we have done this and are beginning to discuss the next steps necessary to treat our current financial condition.
The problem, though, is that many of the remedies currently being discussed are merely superficial fixes — remedies akin to only lifting one’s foot off the accelerator of a speeding car rather than wholeheartedly applying the brakes when confronted with the possibility of a crash.
U.S. domestic security, national security and ultimately its protection of individual liberties at home and abroad depend on our ability to place our nation on a sound financial footing.
As both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson implied, much can be learned from history. History has seen many great nations rise but unfortunately fall from their own internal failings.
The United States is at a crossroads.
We can join these other nations that have fallen by the wayside, or we can reform and continue to show the world what can be rather than being remembered merely for what once was.
Zack Smith is a first-year law student. His column appears on Mondays.
