The Wisdom of Ronald Reagan

Looking back through my 2003 journal entries, I found this interesting proverb attributed to Ronald Reagan:

I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.

Simple, but profound. It's so easy to be passive, to believe everything is predetermined by the hand of God and we can't do anything about it (thank you, John Calvin...) The genius of Ronald Reagan, and any other great leader in history; whether political, religious, or military; is their steadfast unwillingness to accept the status quo.

So should it be for those of us who are in Christ. Relying on your "election" by the sovereign hand of God does not mean you can now sit back and enjoy life as it passes by. Rather, Christianity is the ultimate activism, but strangely unpolitical in nature. Yet here in the United States, everyone is a politician, like it or not, and we have a duty not only to ourselves, but to our nation, to vote and support those who value life, liberty, and morality. There can be no pursuit of happiness without virtue. It was another sage in another time who perhaps came up with the best single, succint definition for happiness that I have yet encountered:

Happiness is an activity of the soul in accord with perfect virtue.
--Aristotle