DO WE KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING?

There is firm belief that absence of knowledge of the state of government is more destructive to our cause than all the armies of the world. -- Thomas Jefferson

KENNETT, Mo. -- If Thomas Jefferson worried about the "absence of knowledge" among Americans more than two centuries ago, as he obviously did, we should be consoled he is not contemplating on the porch of his beloved Monticello the identical absence in the third century of the nation he played such a large part in establishing.

Creating as they did a form of representative government predicated on the formation of an enlightened constituency, the Founding Fathers recognized the need for an interested, informed and contemplative society in which the climate of freedom, tolerance and intelligence would become the basic, paramount characteristics.

There have been many moments in U.S. history when these characteristics have evidenced themselves and have prevailed: evil attempts to divide the nation both economically and racially, the efforts to curtail the ability of a central government to carry out needed functions, the opposition to participating in world events beyond our borders, and limiting our ability to promote freedom when it is denied regardless of the venue.

When faced with these challenges, past generations have displayed an understanding and a wisdom that was far from parochial and miles away from nativistic self-interest.

Looking back over these events, Americans have since taken pride in their willingness to share our concepts of freedom, tolerance and concern for individuals as well as societies. America's preamble of religious freedom has been built on the intellectual capacity of individuals to assume their rightful share of contemplation and determination that right shall overcome wrong, that concerned citizens were engaged in our nation's greatness.

Not even Washington, Jefferson and Madison and particularly Adams could have envisioned today's American society, with its great industrial capacity, its worldwide influence, its wealth and riches beyond imagination, its leadership and its influence. The commonplace status of today wasn't even conceivable in the 18th or even 19th centuries of our history. Change has been the theme of America's history, with more and more promised seemingly with each passing day.

We are, indeed, a new world, not unlike our colonial heritage.

Except one.

The society deemed so important by Jefferson and others is still essential, even critical to America's continuing march toward a better world for a larger and larger population. The Founding Fathers wisely recognized their concepts would remain dependent upon an informed and intelligent society.

Absent this characteristic, and lacking any other human traits that were in any shape or form different from those of other nations and civilizations, our strength was in our individual willingness to learn and know the essential ingredients of a free and vibrant nation.

Washington and Madison were both quick to disclaim societies that had long repelled efforts to secure and guarantee personal freedom, insisting that American could only maintain its greatness if its citizens remained dedicated to the maintenance of a free and open society and its citizens felt an obligation to inform themselves and to broaden their ideals.

How far we have strayed from these ideals is still open to debate, but with an objective view of history, most of us could agree there has been slippage.

If the creation and perpetuity of a free nation was the underlying goal of our earliest citizens, today's society seems focused on other qualities that separate the two with a seemingly increasing frequency.

We have become a dot.com society in which the overriding purpose of life appears to be divided into separate parts of the denial of individual responsibility, creation of personal wealth, freedom from concern about the plight of the poor, the elderly and the deprived, and the search for a security that will make us immune from the rest of society.

There are untold names for those who seek these goals, perhaps the best one being the Let-Me-Alone Society.

These are the citizens who refuse to follow the concerns of our constitutional Framers because they have convinced themselves they have no obligations but their own. They refuse to become involved in society's dilemmas because they somehow feel they bear no responsibility for involvement.

Hoping to avoid societal concerns, they divorce themselves from society as much as possible even if its ills exist as close as the next block.

Hoping to avoid this involvement, the new American pays no attention to transgressions of government or economic greed or racial distrust, refusing even to take part in voting and other requirements of citizenship.

What the individual sees as self-protection is merely collective degeneration, a breakdown in the orderly progress toward an ever-improving civilization.

The new American takes a puzzling pride in his own indifference, pretending it is independence, rather than abdication of individual responsibility. The citizen unable to identify his elected representatives in government or vote can never be counted on to defend democratic self-rule, much less advance democracy's ideals for the sake of others.

Today's Americans may never reach the goals set for us by our Founders, but we ought to try. If we don't, we may someday wake up and find that our nation has become like all the rest, and we will have lost the one great chance in the history of the world to create a civilization worth passing on to future generations.

~Jack Stapleton is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.