Through American history, cultural change precedes political change.
A growing group of young Republicans is embracing “post-liberalism,” a political philosophy James Patterson — co-author of Why Postliberalism Failed — examined in National Review yesterday for its economic merits (or lack thereof). As Patterson wrote, post-liberalism calls for an executive-dominated state, which uses power to impose Christian values on the public.
While Patterson predicted the political philosophy’s dismal economic outcomes — characterized as “indistinguishable from progressivism” — Troy Miller, the CEO of the National Religious Broadcasters, added concern that political power will prove incapable of improving morality.
In a conversation with National Review, Miller pointed to the First and Second Great Awakenings as examples of cultural change preceding political change. Both movements, he argued, transformed American society not primarily through new laws or changes in government, but through religiously motivated changes in beliefs and behavior.
“The First Great Awakening led to the American Revolution, which led to the greatest experiment of governance the world has ever seen,” Miller said. Through this early American period, between 1730 and 1750, colonists began questioning traditional Christian hierarchies. The movement encouraged individual relationships with God, rather than reliance on pastors. This shift, historians say, aided American revolutionaries in questioning political authority and British rule.
Peaking between 1800 and the 1830s, the Second Great Awakening “brought the greatest expansion of our country,” Miller continued. This second religious revival fueled the temperance movement, the abolition of slavery, the establishment of universities and asylums, and the development of an American identity that crossed race, religion, and class.
“Both of these awakenings were characterized by one common denominator: It wasn’t laws that were changed, and it wasn’t a massive change in the country’s governance — although the country did change in governance and direction — they happened because of a massive change in the hearts, minds, and attitudes of people,” Miller said.
The Second Great Awakening “led people to just stop going to bars, stop going to brothels, stop stealing, and start the things that Christianity calls for: family, hard work, and cooperation,” Miller continued.
He then referenced claims among younger generations that the American Dream has died, given the increased difficulty to attain financial freedom.
“Don’t buy into the propaganda that you have lost the American Dream of freedom or prosperity. It’s still there,” Miller said. “Get involved in the system to bring it back, and reach out to your polar opposites for discussions, not arguments. . . . The world tears people apart. Christianity brings people together, and if we focus on that, I think we’re going to have a richer, fuller life, and I think we’re going to see real change.”