December 31; What Makes The USA Great?
MANAGEMENT BY THE BOOK:
365 Daily Bible Verse &
One-Minute Management Lessons For The Busy Faithful

31 December

if my people, who are called by my name,

will humble themselves and pray and seek my face

and turn from their wicked ways,

then I will hear from heaven,

and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

II Chronicles 7:14

Exceptionalism

“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union…”

The Constitution is the basis for the laws for the USA and to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…” It is not perfection. Some 27 amendments, including the Bill of Rights, which are the first 10, would attest to a document almost 250 years old.

North Americans are not a people ruled by royalty. The people and the servant leaders get things done without monarchs. We are accountable to our Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers.

So who are these enterprising Americans who are managed so well? Writer Mark Helprin details for us what makes the USA and her leadership unique. Helprin uses the point of view of an heir to the British throne who has lived and worked, suffered and succeeded across the Fruited Plain in his book Freddy and Fredericka.

Helprin explains the National Treasure that is American leadership; “You become a king not by making yourself great, but by recognizing the greatness of others and humbly receiving your appointment.” (Helprin 2005).

He ends his book with a speech from the protagonist at a political convention,

I was born to be a king, and you were born not to have one. America does not need and cannot have a king, for it is majestic in itself as perhaps no country has ever been.

And its greatest majesty is not the splendid landscape or the long and sunny coasts, not the Mississippi or the snows of the Pacific Crest.

Its greatest majesty, its gift to the world, is that it has carried out God’s will to make each man a king, subservient only to Him.

From the beginning, this has been the underlying force of every footfall, smile, and blink of the eye in this country. It, and not your power, is what has lifted you up, is what distinguishes you from others, and has made you the leader of the world.

And may God bless and keep you as you find your way.

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14

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Helprin, Mark (2005-07-07). Freddy and Fredericka (p. 457). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.

Helprin, Mark (2005-07-07). Freddy and Fredericka (pp. 495-496). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.