Traditional Values

What are "traditional values"?

One of my sisters-in-law insists that the country was founded on Christian principles, and that Thomas Jefferson was a Christian.  Not just was a Christian, was a born-again evangelical Christian!  This, in spite of his writings and in spite of the "Jefferson Bible" which he created using a knife and splicing together the teachings of Jesus minus any miraculous materiel.  So, if Jefferson was a founding father and a Deist (at best), does he create a "traditional value"?  I suspect he does.

I was raised in a community and a grade school that embraced the traditional values of inclusion and welcome to immigrants.  Many of my family and the families of my friends were second or third generation Scandinavians, Poles, Italians, Irish and Welsh.  We were not tested with people from Mexico or Africa, but I suspect the teachers (at least) would have embraced them as well.

However, our nation has the traditional value of hating newcomers (unless they are "our sort", of course)., bigotry, racism as well as welcoming your huddled masses.  Both are traditional values, and they are in massive conflict.

The White Male of European extraction who touts "traditional values" demonstrates unclear thinking at best and loud-mouthed ignorance at worst.  We'll look at this more in future blog articles.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.