{"id":823966,"date":"2021-09-28T13:14:13","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T17:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=823966"},"modified":"2021-09-28T13:14:20","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T17:14:20","slug":"watch-making-america-john-adams-and-virtue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-making-america-john-adams-and-virtue\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Making America: John Adams And Virtue"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatch-making-america-john-adams-and-virtue%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=823966&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-28-at-12.09.53-PM.png?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>In the new \u201cMaking America\u201d series for PragerU, Dinesh D\u2019Souza, the author and speaker, takes a look at Founding Father John Adams and his thoughts on the importance of virtue and good character.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Adams believed cultivation of virtue should be the chief concern of Americans.&nbsp;<\/span><span>But to understand \u201cvirtue,\u201d says D\u2019Souza, Americans today need to understand another phrase \u2014 the \u201cpursuit of happiness.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The phrase meant something different before.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>D\u2019Souza explains that to many today, the pursuit of happiness means following one\u2019s heart and being true to one\u2019s self. But Adams would disagree with that interpretation.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cTo John Adams, America\u2019s second president and a seminal figure in the creation of the country, this was bad advice. For Adams and the Founders generally, happiness was a modus vivendi, a way of living, expressed by how one conducted oneself, especially in public,\u201d D\u2019Souza explains.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBeing yourself,\u201d Adams would have argued, would lead to self-absorption, not virtue. Instead, as explained by D\u2019Souza, Adams would have argued that happiness is having good character which needs to be worked towards. It means being a noble person.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cOver time, through the result of continual effort and the slow working of habit, one can become that person. Adams practiced what he preached. In this way, he became a public figure both incorruptible and unfailingly honest. He became<\/span> <span>the best version of himself,\u201d says D\u2019Souza.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Adams and the framers understood virtuous people were necessary for a well-functioning nation.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe preservation of liberty,\u201d Adams wrote, \u201cdepends on the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused generally among the body of a nation, it is impossible they should be enslaved.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Adams was also a Christian, and he believed that a fear of God and respect of the Bible would be one means of inculcating virtue in the new nation.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, as D\u2019Souza notes, Adams also strongly believed that a virtuous government was necessary. Adams hoped that politicians and statesmen of good character would be attracted to serving in the government instead of men who just wanted power.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHis focus was to give citizens the ability to thwart the conniving, corrupt, power-lusting politicians for which he had so much contempt. Once identified, they could simply be voted out of office and better people could take their place,\u201d D\u2019Souza says.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>WATCH:&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"John Adams and Virtue: Making America | 5 Minute Video\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nOygPirXXmw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the new \u201cMaking America\u201d series for PragerU, Dinesh D\u2019Souza, the author and speaker, takes a look at Founding Father John Adams and his thoughts on the importance of virtue &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1896108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-823966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1896108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}