Bulwark Against the Darkness - Commentary by Michael Kilpatrick, the Dirt Road Scholar

Michael Kilpatrick

Michael Kilpatrick is a painting contractor in Macon, husband of one wife, father of nine children. He is a firearms enthusiast, troubler of the 'progressive' elite, and a Christian, Southern, Constitutionalist.

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Bulwark Against the Darkness – Commentary by Michael Kilpatrick, 2/21/10

The family is the essential acorn from which the oak of civilization grows. Destroy it, and there will be no oak. Cherish, and guard the last human bulwark against the darkness. ---Dirt Road Scholar

“From all that I had read of History of Government, of human life and manners, I had drawn the conclusion, that the manners of Women were the most infallible barometer, to ascertain the degree of morality and virtue in a nation. All that I have since read and all the observations I have made in different nations, have confirmed me in this opinion. The manners of women, are in the surest criterion by which to determine whether a Republican government is practicable, in a nation or not. The Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Swiss, the Dutch, all lost their public spirit, their Republican Principles and habits, and their Republican forms of Government, when they lost the modesty and domestic virtues of their women...
The foundations of national morality must be laid in private families. In vain are schools, academies, and universities instituted, if loose principles and licentious habits are impressed upon children, in their earliest years. The mothers are the earliest and most instructors of youth....The vices and examples of the parents cannot be concealed from the children. How is it possible that children can have any sense of the sacred obligation of morality or religion if, from their earliest infancy, they learn that their mothers live in habitual infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant infidelity to their mothers?” --John Adams, Autobiography IV: 123.

[Editor's Note: We note the common adage and proverb that Behind every good man is a great woman. Taking that a step further, we note that "great" women all share the virtues of morality and religion. As we have noted in other commentaries, the Framers firmly believed that liberty in our republic could only be preserved by a virtuous and religious people. Once the People deny or ignore the Higher Power, they pervert even the best form of government into tyranny and the majority impose the worst injustice and inhumanity on the minority...until at last, tyrants impose injustice on all. --Steve Scroggins]

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” --John Adams
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. " --George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
"Throughout history, while males have been pushing culture in the direction of expansion, conquest, and increased power, females have been the so-called civilizing force, striving for security and safety. ---Richard Brodie, from "The Civilizing Effect of Women," Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme, page 145.