Moral rebirth | Democracy in America | Lessons for India

Plato, one of the greatest minds in human history, was convinced that a democracy could not last. The people could be swayed too easily by public speakers, he warned. And once the people discovered that they could vote based on their personal interests rather than the good of the nation, their democracy would begin to fail.

In a democracy, we do not seek to legislate morality. But did the founders of the nation of USA believe that morality was essential to their democratic experiment?

In his farewell address (September 19, 1796), President George Washington told the nation: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. . . . Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. . . . Virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government."

John Adams, the second president of the USA, claimed that "the general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity." He stated, "Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the USA, was not a biblical Christian. He cut from the Bible every reference to the miraculous, and viewed Jesus as only a man. But he insisted, "Injustice in government undermines the foundations of a society. A nation, therefore, must take measures to encourage its members along the paths of justice and morality."

And Abraham Lincoln said of the Bible, "Nothing short of infinite wisdom could by any possibility have devised and given to man this excellent and perfect moral code. It is suited to men in all the conditions of life, and inculcates all the duties they owe to their Creator, to themselves, and to their fellow men."

The Founders of USA knew that democracy requires morality, a basic insistence on character and integrity by the culture.

It is critical that India experience a moral rebirth, for the sake of our future as a democracy. Such a rebirth begins with us—with you and me.

In 1831, the French scholar Alexis de Tocqueville went to America to study the nation. Here is his report:

I searched for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there. I searched for the greatness and genius of America in her fertile fields and boundless forest, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her public system and her institutions of learning, and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.