"National greatness"

Looking for purpose in all the wrong places | Marvin Olasky

Two rallies last month-Promise Keepers in Washington and the "Million Women March" in Philadelphia-showed that some political intellectuals have it wrong when they try to give us only two choices: individualism or nationalism.

Promise Keepers speakers stayed away from talk of government, but such silence spoke loudly in Washington, D.C. Speakers at the Philadelphia gathering similarly emphasized "repentance, resurrection, restoration," not governmental action. Both rallies emphasized individuals' gaining purpose in their lives by looking beyond themselves and working to build strong families, churches, and communities.

None of the speakers, to my knowledge, said that people will be sad unless government gives them something to be glad about. But that, curiously, is the gist of the message from Washington neoconservatives William Kristol and David Brooks, a message that has created an East Coast teapot tempest.