Our Way of Life
We are in a great struggle across the seas against another country, whose culture has a history of tyranny. It is being argued in many circles whether or not our way of life will prevail in that struggle.
The great public theorist Francis Fukuyama writes in his famous 1989 essay and later book “The End of History and the Last Man” that the economic logic of our form of democracy, along with the struggle for individual recognition and our desire for freedom, will eventually lead to the collapse of world tyrannies.
That is our hope.
Our country is not like many others. Our citizens are not aloof from public life. We like to debate all matters of public policy. We engage in conversations around coffee tables and pay close attention to newspapers, radio, television and Web logs because we feel policy and laws are doomed to failure when not debated and discussed with vigor.
In the election of our public officials we welcome everyone to participate, and only ask they use their talents, their gifts and their graces for the public good.
We hold a person who expresses ignorance to be useless. The opposite of this is one who has a clear vision of what is ahead, and acts on that vision.
We hold that securing friends is done by giving, not by accepting favors. We believe that this is the best way to cement relationships. Continued kindness is the best method to secure comrades, and usually is paid back in kind with warmth, friendship and trust.
We pour out money and other kinds of help to those who are in trouble, asking only that the recipients make an honest effort to overcome their poverty. In cities and counties in Georgia and all across the nation, churches and other agencies both public and private, such as the Salvation Army, are the instruments of this effort.
The education of our youth is of primary importance to all of our citizens. We spend a great deal of our state and community taxes and revenues on this area.
We believe it is better to teach someone how to fish than give someone a fish. If we teach a youth to fish, he or she will learn to grow and bring wealth back to the community. There is no greater calling for any of our citizens than to be a teacher.
Our system of government is not one that others have embraced. But we are a model to those who have copied our style. We are a democracy wrapped into a republic. The power and strength of our country rests in the hands not of the few, but the many.
As Warren Bettis once said, “No one of us is as smart as all of us.” Our laws guarantee equal protection for all people and all races.
In the ongoing debate of our vision and purpose we hold that our form of rule with a three-in-one form of government made up of executive, legislative and judicial branches is the best method to insure that all citizens remain tolerant, open and still keep within the law.
In being obedient to our form of government we give protection to those who excel and achieve, as well as others who are of lesser ability.
When some things are taken away, other gifts are enhanced, as when a blind man sees with hearing and touch. Our system guarantees that all people can contribute in their own fashion to the betterment of our state.
It is our hope that those who are living in the past of yesterday’s tyranny, whom we fight today, can be our friends tomorrow. They can make our way of life their own.
Man can live in a stable society that can leave all people completely satisfied; and liberty, equality and fraternity can be a universal way of governing for all mankind.
Neely Young is the editor and publisher of Georgia Trend.
