Dear Editor:
Dick Dalton in his letter of May 22 titled "Thoughts about 'ideas'" seemed to ask for a response so here goes.
Dalton, a Christian minister for 25 years, wrote a very thoughtful letter about the phrase "Ideas control the world" that he saw etched in our Capitol's rotunda. As a Christian minister, I can't seem to understand why Dalton was so struck by that one phrase and not any of the other six etched around our Capitol's rotunda. My feeling is that to isolate that one phrase is to attempt to justify the philosophy of our modern western civilization which is wrongly centered on self esteem and unfettered tolerance of everyone's ideas and behaviors. As he said, "ideas get our bodies to say things and do things even to the point of violence."
For ideas to control the world and the world to benefit from those ideas they must pass the scrutiny of the other six quotes. The following is my take on the validity of anyone's ideas regardless of the source of those ideas after passing the litmus test of the other six etchings.
"Righteousness exalteth a nation;" Is the idea righteous? "The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof;" does the idea protect the Lord's earth? "Property is the fruit of labor;" Does the idea protect the property we work for? "Where there is no vision the people perish;" does the idea offer a vision? "Lord God of Hosts be with us lest we forget;" Does the idea please the Lord? "Party honesty is party expediency;" Does the idea promote honesty?
One has to first accept some basis from which to assess the acceptability and value of the idea. It's my firm belief that those bases in America was first the Bible which promotes individual freedom in accordance with obedience to God's law and from that our Constitution and Bill of Rights was developed as America's law both for the control of ideas.
All the etchings taken together bear that out. I was taken aback by the fact that Dalton, a Christian minister, did not include any reference to any boundaries to the acceptability of ideas, whether by Christian belief or even the law as necessary for an orderly and righteous society to exist. The present discord in America clearly demonstrates the willingness to forego any consideration of the other six etchings.