The Beginning of the End of the Culture War?

Herbert E. Meyer has a great piece at American Thinker on what he calls the decisive battle in the culture war.

Though the "mainstream" media pooh-poohs the reality that a war of cultures has been going on in the United States for about 50 years, it is undeniable to anyone with eyes to see.

It is really a type of civil war, though unlike the American Civil War of the 1800s, this one knows no geographical lines, though the "red state/blue state" demarcations do provide some reference. It is also not fought with bullets, bombs and cannon.

This civil war is one fought on the battlefield of the heart and mind. It is a civil war of philosophies and worldviews. And the casualties are staggering: about 50 million dead on the abortion front, countless others on the substance abuse front, untold suffering on the promiscuity/STD front, generational suffering on the work ethic/personal responsibility front, and still more going downward into eternity in the secularist assault on the Christian faith.

Though I admit my doubts, I hope Meyer is prescient in his statement that this may be the "decisive" battle, because decisive battles mark a turning point in a war, one that portends an end.

And of course, I hope the battle is decisive in favor of the Christian values upon which our great nation was founded.

Though Meyer's piece sheds insight on all this, I found it notable that he did a very good job of describing the two ideological camps in this culture war, along with the values and behaviors that define them:

On one side are the Traditionalists. We believe that church and State should be separate, but that religion should remain at the center of life. We are a Judeo-Christian culture, which means we consider those ten things on a tablet to be commandments, not suggestions. We believe that individuals are more important than groups, that families are more important than governments, that children should be raised by their parents rather than by a village, and that marriage is a sacred relationship between a man and a woman. We believe that rights must be balanced by responsibilities, that personal freedom is a privilege we must be careful not to abuse, and that the rule of law cannot be set aside when it becomes inconvenient.

We believe in economic liberty, property rights, and in giving purposeful and industrious entrepreneurs the elbowroom they need to start and run their businesses -- and thus create jobs for all the rest of us -- with a minimum of government interference. We recognize that people in other countries see things differently, and we are tolerant of their views. But we believe that despite its imperfections the United States is history's most blessed country, and when attacked we will defend this country with our lives.

On the other side of this culture war are the Left-Wing Liberals. They are uncomfortable with our traditions, with the inevitable inequalities of our free-market economy, and with our military power. They dislike our values, our morality, and our unabashed displays of patriotism. At first -- back in the 1960s -- they were content merely to develop and pursue their own radical culture within ours. They tuned out, turned to drugs, and pushed the level of sexual license to a point our country had never known. They were so distressed by our imperfections that they refused to recognize or celebrate our achievements.

Meyer's description continues, as does his overall analysis of the culture war. It is a highly recommended read.

Our enemy tries to lull us into capitulation with propaganda that the culture war is "just politics" and that our religious values should not speak to public policy issues. The ranks of those who would otherwise be defending right have been thinned considerably by these deceptions, but the battle is far from over.

If it is won by truth and good, as the Civil War was, then just as that victory brought greater freedom and good to all Americans, so will this one.

As was the Civil War of the 1800s was about good and evil, so is this current cultural "civil war." It is one we should not abandon; it is one we cannot afford to abandon.

Especially when, as Meyer hopes, the beginning of the end might just be in sight.