A brief review of If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty, by Eric Metaxas.
Benjamin Franklin supposedly said after helping with the Constitution that they had given the people not a monarchy but a republic—“if you can keep it!” Metaxas here examines the history of American democracy and draws the Americans of today to see the value of guarding democracy for the generations that will follow us.
Why assume that people won’t just vote for their cronies who will give them what they want? Metaxas points out that the founders of America counted on religion to keep people wanting to do the right thing. Voters have to vote in a way that does not “sacrifice the future for the present.” (Ch. 1) A culture that cedes more and more of its governing right to a strong central government instead of doing the right thing because it’s right (not because it’s mandated) will eventually lose the ability to govern itself.
Metaxas backs this claim by pointing to the apparent inability of the Iraqi and Afghan people to jump right into democracy after years of “atrophied” muscles in the cultural sense. In their case, they didn’t have the opportunity to become great at self-governing because they were under oppressive regimes. In our case, we are simply letting go of more of our ability to self-govern, perhaps because we lack the desire and drive to do so. Metaxas contrasts the Afghan women in inspiring photos with purple thumbs with Abigail Adams, and says the difference lies in the years of training. In fact, he attributes the readiness of the colonists to band together and pursue democracy to George Whitefield’s unifying effect on them in both faith and readiness to govern.
A fascinating concept in If You Can Keep It: The Golden Triangle of Freedom.
The Golden Triangle= freedom requires virtue, which requires faith, which requires freedom. Basically, without faith-driven virtue, freedom will not thrive. (See Alexis de Tocqueville) In the story of George Washington entreating the troops not to mutiny and make him into a dictator/leader, he appealed to their sense of duty and spoke of glory and sacred honor. Metaxas points out that such themes have totally disappeared from the conversation of today. He asks how a democracy can survive unless our society changes for the better.
Cons of If You Can Keep It:
I kept waiting for a mention of those who did not enjoy the great American freedom. Eventually, he does write of the 3/5 clause in which a slave counted as 3/5 of a person. But Metaxas avoids discussing any American problems at length. He argues that plenty of writers are jumping on the hate-America bandwagon, and that is not his task in this book. He even believes that love of country is something God commands and something that enables us to love others. I found this portion of the book interesting, but couldn’t agree with how he (mis?)used Scripture to attempt to reinforce some of his points.
Overall, this was an excellent read. It provoked me to thought, whether in agreement or the reverse. I highly recommend it.