As Americans prepare to vote in the Nov.3 midterm elections, much of the national conversation centers on which party will control Congress and what the next two years will mean for the country.
Those are important questions, but a more consequential one reaches beyond the next election and our own lifetimes: What kind of America are we leaving to our children and grandchildren?For much of our history, the American Dream was rooted in the conviction that the next generation should inherit greater freedom and opportunity than the one before it.Men and women crossed oceans, endured hardship, established communities and sacrificed their own comfort because they believed their children could enjoy opportunities they might never experience.
They understood that the measure of a generation was not simply what it accumulated, but what it preserved for those who followed.Consider the early settlers who crossed the Atlantic seeking religious freedom.They knew their journey would demand sacrifice, yet they believed the freedom to worship according to conscience was worth securing.
Their convictions helped shape the American understanding that faith and conscience belong to the individual, not the government.ARKANSAS TAKES HOME TOP RANKING FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AFTER GOV SANDERS EXPANDS KEY PROTECTIONSIn his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists, President Thomas Jefferson affirmed the constitutional protection of religious conscience against government interference.Religious liberty was never intended to remove faith from public life.
It was intended to protect the right of every American to freely exercise their religious beliefs and worship without government subjugation.The question Americans face is, what legacy are they leaving for the future? (iStock)Later generations of immigrants came seeking economic opportunity.They worked difficult jobs, built businesses and raised families hoping their children might achieve more than they had.
Their circumstances differed from...