The conscience of America must be laid bare. And this quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau urges every American to re-examine his sense of right, what he holds dear and the inner core of his being. Ask yourself: Have I sold my soul to evil? What do I view as right or wrong? Does it matter that many of my fellow citizens are receiving inhumane treatment while I silently watch on the sidelines? Are money and power the forces that ignite my moral compass? How do I define truth? What does true leadership look like? To answer these questions, every American citizen must ask himself what he stands for.

WHO AM I AND WHAT IS MY SENSE OF MORALITY?

Are you hiding yourself from yourself, making excuses for the choices you made or refusing to think about morality? If so, your day of reckoning will come. There will be a time when you will be forced to look at your mental self? A time when you ask yourself what you stand for. What will you find? Will you be pleased with what you see? Analyze yourself! The conscience of America is represented by its people, and you are one of them.

For the past four years, we have lived under the leadership of people we placed in office based on political party, policy control, racism, man’s inhumanity to man and greed. Let’s face it . . . we got what we asked for. Lying to ourselves with, “I didn’t know,” simply prolongs our ability to find solutions. Four years ago, we saw, we heard and we ignored, and chose what benefited “self” and not goodness and mercy. We knew . . . we just didn’t care! Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let’s move ahead. To do that, lies and conspiracy theories must be faced and denied.

RISING ABOVE LIES AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Are you one of the masses (the 73 million Americans) or are you one of those who sees beyond the shadows and will never be understood? It is your choice! Human nature is no different today than it was during the era of Plato. Are you satisfied with being used by those in power to enrich themselves, while you are left materially poor and morally destitute?

Many Americans pride themselves on ignorance and lies. Instead of using their God-given intelligence labeled “common sense” and logic, they accept and act on lies, violence and immorality. They blindly follow statements and suppositions with no proof or evidence. Who are we? What are we showing each other? Where is the conscience of America? It is not what we have become, it’s what we have brought to the surface what we have always been? We simply kept it hidden until someone in power gave us permission to claim it. The time is now . . . let’s move forward! No person is better than another.

WE HONOR OUR SAMENESS

For over 400 years, the American culture has had white supremacy as its foundation. We have “moved the goalpost” little-by-little to reach the culture we live in today. That culture abolished slavery “on the books,” but practice it in some form in day-to-day life. Our laws say one thing, but we interpret them based on race, ethnicity, gender and sexual preference. The man Jesus called such behavior hypocritical.

Sadly, we saw that cultural bias vividly displayed with the insurrectionists and thugs on January 6, 2021 at our nation’s capitol. If those rioters had been thousands of “Black Lives Matter” peaceful demonstrators headed toward the building, there would have been hard-core armor, tanks, shields, barricades, heavy weaponry set-up, well in advance of their arrival. And the words “kindness and helpfulness” would have been extremely scare if present at all. It is easy to believe, based on past experiences, the streets would have been lined with blood. Black and brown people live with these cultural biases every day! Policies and laws must be enforced equally.

The Conscience of America is Its Rule of Law

Many of our policies aid the rich, and rape the poor. The “almighty dollar” is what we honor in our pulpits and religions, and . . .while we sit in world judgment of others. Let me say to everyone reading this article, “You are no better or less than anyone else. We are all the same.” Money or color of skin do not make you superior or inferior. These are the lies that this culture has, and is perpetuating, you have a choice to believe them or not. Remember: “We are what we believe!” Every person, according to Genesis 1:27, is “made in the image and likeness of God.” That image is our spiritual nature, not money or the color of skin! The lie of white supremacy has only the power you give it. We are all the same. . . one nation under God.

A NATION UNDER GOD OR THE GOD OF A NATION

There are millions of people searching for a better understanding of God and goodness. Many sit in church every week and do not have a clue as to what it means to think and act godly. They have formed a false understanding of God as made in the image of themselves. The question begs an answer: “Is America a nation under God, or have we become the god of a nation–a nation steeped in lies, deceit and human power?” The pursuit of godliness is a struggle each day to rise above human thoughts and concepts and embrace through words and deeds, divine thoughts and actions. We have only to look at what one man has reduced us to, how easily we shed decency and choose a “world of fantasy” and lies. Where is the moral fiber of our nation? Do we have a conscience?

BUILDING A CULTURE ON ETHICS

The “jungle of human nature,” can only be restrained by divine nature. Human laws pale in the light of divine law; human actions fail in the absence of integrity and honor; and mortal thinking is no competition for immortal wisdom. The foundation of all goodness rests on “doing unto others as you wish they do to you” and “loving a neighbor as yourself.” Every person is a neighbor because spiritually, we belong to one nation. . . under One God.

The “jungle” of hate and destruction, must yield to love and construction. As long as our cultural foundation is built on one person being “less than” and another “more than,” we will have the scenes we viewed January 6th, played out over and over. Violence, destruction and power at any cost, are the darker impulses of thought that must be contained by the lighter rays of truth.

Written by Dr. Mamie