Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s speech at the RNC a couple of weeks ago got a lot of positive reviews. However, if one takes a closer look, there are some difficulties that need to be addressed. We have tried to do that; our comments are in [brackets].
Daniel Cameron: Good evening, my
name is Daniel Cameron. I’m 34 years old and the first African-American
attorney general in Kentucky history. It is an honor to be with you, as a proud
Republican and supporter of Donald J. Trump.
I was raised in Kentucky, just a few
miles from Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace. Our first Republican president
believed in compassion. Self-reliance. Freedom. Equality. And justice. [Actually,
he stood for crony capitalism, looked down on African folks, and wanted to
prevent the exercise of freedom by Southerners wishing to peacefully leave the
union: https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/the-problem-with-lincoln/.]
Sadly, there are some who don’t believe
in this wisdom or in the better angels of our shared American history, as they
tear down the statues of people like Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass, and
even Mr. Lincoln himself [Grant, Douglass, and Lincoln hardly represent the
better angels of ‘America’; all three had no qualms about fighting an
unnecessary war against South, a war which targeted many of her civilians, and
Douglass and Lincoln were certainly not traditional Christians (Douglass, for
instance, admired heretical thinkers like Ludwig Feuerbach, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass#Religious_views).].
Lincoln said that “any nation that does
not honor its heroes will not long endure.” And for Republicans, our heroes are
those who propelled an imperfect nation ever forward, always striving to make
life better for everyone.
But even as anarchists mindlessly tear
up American cities while attacking police and innocent bystanders, we
Republicans do recognize those who work in good faith towards peace, justice,
and equality.
In fact, it was General Dwight
Eisenhower, a future Republican president, who said: “Democracy is a system
that recognizes the equality of humans before the law.” Whether you are the
family of Breonna Taylor or David Dorn, these are the ideals that will heal our
nation’s wounds [Behold, the Great and Mighty Healer, Democracy.].
Republicans will never turn a blind eye
to unjust acts, but neither will we accept this all-out assault on western
civilization.
My values were shaped by my faith, and
by my parents. I worked at their small coffee shop, meeting people from all
walks of life. And I realized something: everyone needs a cup of coffee.
That lesson has stuck with me because,
despite our difference, we all want the same things: For our children to have
more opportunities than we did; to feel the dignity of work; and to believe that
if you play by the rules, you can make a good life for yourself and your
family. [The Yankee, materialist
definition of success (i.e., having more than the generations before) is in sharp
contrast with the Orthodox view. St
Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, North Africa, and martyr (+258), a wonderful Holy
Father of the Church, is an excellent ensample of the Orthodox Way, that we
should be willing to sacrifice money, status, family, etc. to obtain the Pearl
of Great Price, union with Christ through His Body the Church and not make an
idol of worldly success: ‘Thascius Cyprianus was the
son of a rich pagan senator, and received a fine secular education becoming a
splendid orator, and a teacher of rhetoric and philosophy in the school of
Carthage. He often appeared in the courts to defend his fellow citizens. . . . He was helped by his friend and guide,
the presbyter Cecilius, who assured him of the power of God’s grace. At 46
years of age the studious pagan was received into the Christian community as a catechumen.
Before accepting Baptism, he distributed his property to the poor and moved
into the house of the presbyter Cecilius.’
--https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2020/08/31/102443-hieromartyr-cyprian-bishop-of-carthage
By these and other actions, St Cyprian
would be accounted a ‘failure’ to many Yankee-minded Americans because he ended
life with LESS material wealth than his parents. And so too would be St Paula of Rome, St
Paulinus of Nola, and many, many others who renounced the world that they might
be able to dedicate themselves to a single-minded, whole-hearted pursuit of
life in the All-Holy Trinity.]
So the question is: will we choose the
path that gives us the best chance to meet those universal desires [Who says
the values/goals of classical liberalism are universal? This is an ideology that developed only in
the 1500s in a particular moment of European history: https://mises.org/library/what-classical-liberalism. It is not equally applicable to each and all.]
Or will we go backward, to a time when people were treated like political
commodities who can’t be trusted to think for themselves? [This is a false choice; there are other
civilizational alternatives.]
. . . [We are leaving out Mr Cameron’s Litany
of Fervent Execrations against Joe Biden, which aren’t of much concern when
contrasted with the rest of the speech.]
And he is captive to the radical left,
a movement committed to cancel culture and the destruction of public discourse.
They believe your skin color must dictate your politics. And if you fail to
conform while exercising your God given right to speak and think freely, they
will cut you down.
The politics of identity, cancellation,
and mob rule are not acceptable to me. Republicans trust you to think for
yourselves and to pursue your American dream however you see fit [unless your
American dream runs afoul of Republican big money donors; then you will not be
so ‘free’.].
Mr. Lincoln said, “the dogmas of the
quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high
with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion.”
I believe Donald Trump can meet
Lincoln’s mandate, even as Joe Biden remains trapped by his own failed record,
and by the radicals who dominate his party.
. . . [We are also leaving out Mr Cameron’s
Litany of Fervent Praises for Donald Trump for the same reasons as above.]
The choice is clear.
Let me close with something my mom told
me, this country’s many faces comprise a family, not separate parts to be
divided against each other [America is not a homogenous ethnos, but an
unnatural collection of such authentic ethnoi mashed together to create an
alchemically united utopia: Native Hawaiians,
Spanish Southwest, Afro-Western European Dixie, Scandinavian Upper Great
Plains, Germanic Lower Great Plains, etc.].
And like any family, we care for one
another. We grieve together. We share our burdens and struggles, and we
celebrate our successes. And though we fuss and fight, we are not enemies. We
are Americans, united by a collective faith in our Constitution and laws and
the fundamental fairness they represent [An honest statement about where
American faith lies – not in the Holy Trinity but in Americanism.].
We are defenders of life and of
individual liberty. And we carry the mantle of Eisenhower and of Reagan to be a
force for good in this world, and one that must always be reckoned with.
That’s my Republican Party, the Party
of Lincoln, that believes America is an indispensable nation, an Evergreen
Tree, standing tall in a turbulent world [Isn’t every nation ‘indispensable’
for a Christian? Doesn’t each have an
irreplaceable role in the working out of the history of the Church in the world
(a point made by Solzhenitsyn)? If only America
and perhaps a few other Western countries that closely resemble it culturally
are ‘indispenable’, does that mean most other peoples are ‘dispensable’? Judging by the actions of Lincoln, Sherman,
Sheridan, McKinley, Truman, Johnson, the Bushes, Clinton, Obama, Trump, etc.,
etc., vis a vis Native Americans, Philippine Islanders, Vietnam, the Balkans,
Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and more, the answer seems to be ‘Yes, most are
dispensable’. Such is AG Cameron’s
‘force for good in this world’; such is his phony Church of Americanism.].
And that’s why I am voting for Donald
Trump for President.
Thank you and God bless.
--Transcript courtesy of Maggie Astor, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/us/politics/daniel-cameron-rnc-speech.html
Thus does the
South lose yet another young, promising political leader to the idol of Moloch-America. ‘Tis a great shame.
--
Holy Ælfred
the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to
the Union!
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