Cicero warned, “To be ignorant of history is to forever remain a child.” Is it possible that the United States is following in the footsteps of Revolutionary France because so many Americans are ignorant of history?
There are twelve similarities between the France of 1789 that led to the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror and the beheading of thousands of people and the United States of 2013.
The Zeitgeist of 1789 France
The mood of the people was: change. As in, “fundamentally change our country.”
Intellectuals had grown ashamed of their country, history and institutions. Have you seen your child’s history textbook lately?
French theaters were turned into instruments of propaganda by liberal anarchists. Hooray for Hollywood.
King Louis XVI’s efforts to lower taxes and create a free market economy were blocked by the nobles. Paging Barack Obama.
The news media admired agitators and never discussed the church without scandal nor the government without criticism. They relied on outrages of the court. They distorted, lied, colored and mis-reported. Nice work, Diane Sawyer.
France had a major debt-crisis that led to the crumbling of their economy. Does the number 17 trillion ring a bell?
Pornography circulated publicly. OK, so ours doesn’t circulate publicly; 80% of American males watch porn on the privacy of their own computers.
Homosexuality held public balls while police guarded their carriages. Don’t miss your town’s next homosexual pride day parade.
Strange cults and Satanism/black magic appeared. Hello Harry Potter and Edward!
The humanism of Rousseau and Voltaire paved the way for revolution. The “Nones” are the fastest growing worldview in the USA.
The French of 1789 were so anti-God, they embraced the label “left,” as in, “the left will be told, depart from Me into everlasting hell-fire.” Did you see the Democratic National Convention?
The French Catholic Church was intellectually gutted. The Catholics may have been vapid in 1789, but they don’t hold a candle to the foolishness of 2013 seeker-sensitive evangelicalism.
No doubt that many Frenchmen in June, 1789 proclaimed, “We are too advanced to have anarchy. We built the Palace of Versailles that will be the royal residence of a French monarch forever.” Let’s not make the same mistake.