Texas Faith: What is America’s common creed and how do we forge it together?

President Obama is one of the best communicators that there is. I am writing a full blown article on how I felt through the inauguration and I am sure some of you can relate with it. However, in this piece at Dallas Morning News, it is about his masterful skills in building bridges between the entrepreneurial individualism of Republicans and Communalism of Democrats. This is our moment in history, and we have to leave a legacy of peace, prosperity and harmony to the next generation.

Published at Dallas Morning News, Monday, January 21, 2013.
Continued at: http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2013/01/texas-faith-what-is-americas-common.html

Texas Faith is a weekly column at Dallas Morning News moderated by Bill McKenzie and Wayne Slater. At least ten panelists contribute each week including Mike Ghouse.

Throughout his inaugural address today, President Barack Obama emphasized our common creed, we the people and taking action together. In short, his speech was heavy on the communal aspects of our work as Americans. His address contrasts with the individualism you often hear from Republicans. They regularly emphasize enterprenurialism, personal initiative and the power of local communities. So, here is the question I would like you to consider: What is America’s common creed and how do we forge it together?

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas

President Obama is one of the greatest communicators in our modern history. Perhaps he is the first president to have articulated America’s common creed profoundly, clearly and comprehensively as envisioned in the immortal declaration by our Founding Fathers: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

The success of an individual hinges on the success of others around him or her. You cannot build a successful business without the support system and consumers for your goods and services. The president said, “We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class.”

Indeed, the entrepreneurialism of Republicans will bear fruit and multiply when there is an environment for it. It is not a charity, welfare or a noble thing. Instead, it is a genuine investment in human capital that pulls up men and women from the ditches onto a level playing field. That effort allows more people to compete in the marketplace for resources and become “synergists” to each others’ success.

He also articulated the need to be free and to be regulated: “Together we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.”

The president turned the light on a bridge between individualism and the communal aspect of our life. The bridge was always there but had remained in the dark due to the chasm developed through arrogance of bigger majority in the house by each party in the last eight years. Instead of serving the purpose they were elected for their purpose became defeating the other for some.

The message of the president was for all Americans. I hope the elected ones will heed his wisdom and continue to be a catalyst in the pursuit of our happiness.

And here comes the ultimate wisdom from the president: We have always understood that when times change, so must we, that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges, that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.”….. ..

Eleven panelists contributed to this forum, to read the contributions from all the panelists, please visit – http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/2013/01/texas-faith-what-is-americas-common-creed-and-how-do-we-forge-it-together.html/