The American Revolution Is About To Experience The ‘Ken Burns Effect’
As our nation nears its 250th birthday, Ken Burns’ miniseries should give us a newfound appreciation for the sacrifices of our ancestors.As our nation nears its 250th birthday, Ken Burns’ miniseries should give us a newfound appreciation for the sacrifices of our ancestors.Yes, There Is Such A Thing As A Heritage American
Remembering the particular cultural heritage of the Founding keeps us anchored in a uniquely American identity — one the left is desperate to destroy.American Heritage Is No Myth, It’s The Source Of Our Liberty And Peace
A shared American identity and cultural heritage isn’t some nativist delusion, it’s the only reason we’re not a collection of warring tribes.'The American Miracle' reveals God's hand in nation's founding
Less grievance. More gratitude.
That was the motto guiding film scholar and talk show host Michael Medved as he wrote “The American Miracle," his 2016 tome exploring the providential moments that helped create the freest country in human history. The subject proved so vast that the author penned a companion book, “God's Hand on America: Divine Providence in the Modern Era.”
'One of the very few things they agreed on completely … was divine providence, the invisible hand. Washington used that phrase in the first inaugural address.'
Almost a decade later, we're drowning in grievance, while gratitude remains in short supply. A perfect time for Medved's book to reach the big screen.
No accident
“The American Miracle” hits theaters June 9-11, courtesy of Fathom Entertainment. The docudrama features recognizable names like Kevin Sorbo and Pat Boone, but the true stars are Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin.
The movie, subtitled, “Our Nation Is No Accident,” argues that God’s hand worked in mysterious ways to boost the country’s creation.
“I’ve been living with this idea of divine providence,” Medved tells Align, recalling pre-recorded history segments on his long-running radio program. “The most popular episode, ‘God’s Hand on America,’ gave rise to the book.”
Years later, it seemed like the right moment to bring its message to theaters nationwide.
The movie shares amazing stories tied to the country’s birth, including the many near-death experiences George Washington survived before becoming the nation’s first president.
Early in Washington’s life, he fought alongside the British and was the only horseback officer to survive a harrowing battle. “His hat was shot through with bullets, and two horses were shot out from under him. He was unscathed,” Medved shared.
No sugarcoating
The film doesn’t sugarcoat the Founding Fathers but puts them in spiritual context.
“At no point do we suggest the people you meet in the film are perfect human beings. … They were a remarkable group of human beings,” he says. “One of the very few things they agreed on completely … was divine providence, the invisible hand. Washington used that phrase in the first inaugural address.”
RELATED: Holy shot: Did Trump's assassination attempt survival prove miracles are real?
Medved recalls a sermon from Presbyterian Minister Samuel Davies that echoed that sentiment.
“I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved [him] in so signal a manner for some important service to his country.”
“The American Miracle” blends re-enactments with historical experts to buttress Medved’s arguments.
“Some of the leading historians in the country take the idea of divine providence very seriously,” he says.
Avoiding polarization
Medved’s conservative thinking is part of his brand, along with an extensive career as a film critic. He worked alongside fellow critic Jeffrey Lyons on the 1980s PBS show “Sneak Previews,” taking over for original hosts Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
His personal politics aside, Medved still didn’t want “The American Miracle” to embrace a partisan ethos. The film’s array of experts, including Robert P. George, Joseph Ellis, and Jana Novak, offer some ideological diversity. That includes contributions from Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss.
The Hollywood icon is no rock-ribbed conservative. He’s left-leaning but a patriot who promotes a better understanding of the country’s founding principles via his Dreyfuss Civics Initiative.
“We tried to avoid some of the polarization that has been poisoning our politics,” Medved says of the film. “[Dreyfuss] has been a friend of mine for many years, since high school. He has made a passionate cause of civics and teaching civics.”
Part of “The American Miracle” explores the role black soldiers played in the American Revolution, fighting on behalf of the patriots. It’s hardly the kind of material one expects in a 21st-century film. Hollywood narratives wouldn’t allow it, but the historical facts remain.
Medved called their contributions “indispensable."
Spotlight on the founding
Medved’s decades-long media career allowed him to watch the pop-culture transformation up close. He hails the new wave of choice in media circles, be it podcasts or new media platforms offering something different from what legacy media outlets provide.
“Today, depending on what your own obsession or interest is, there’s something there for you. Generally, we all spend too much time on mass media,” he says. “However, the advantage today is that there is a great deal of choice.”
That also holds for the pop-culture realm. Medved brings up the crush of stories tied to the American Civil War, from feature films to the celebrated “Civil War” docuseries from PBS mainstay Ken Burns.
What’s missing? More cinematic takes on the country’s Revolutionary War and astounding origins. That’s where “The American Miracle” comes in.
“It hasn’t gotten the same kind of attention. There’s no equivalent of ‘Birth of a Nation’ or ‘Gone with the Wind’ or ‘Glory,’” he says.
New Exhibit Profiles ‘The Two Georges’ Behind America’s Fight For Independence
'The Two Georges' lets visitors see George Washington and George III as they were, rather than as the caricatures portrayed in history books.The next American revolution is happening — will you be part of it?
These are remarks adapted from the closing keynote at the Heritage Foundation’s Annual Leadership Conference, which took place earlier in April in Naples, Florida.
Conservatives have been given a generational opportunity — a once-in-a-lifetime chance to shift our country’s trajectory back toward people and values that Washington has for too long left behind. The five values that Ronald Reagan espoused when he won the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 1980 are “family, work, neighborhood, peace, and freedom.” More than any time since Reagan, those values are making a comeback. “Rejoice in hope,” St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans. How could we not?
This is our moment to truly shape America’s future.
But this should be our rallying cry, not a victory lap.
Because the left’s counter-fight is coming, and our response will determine whether last November was the high-water mark of the new conservative movement or simply the first triumph in America’s greatest comeback — whether we squander this moment in history, or whether we seize it.
Conservatives have the opportunity, the mandate, and the plans to rise to the occasion. The only question is whether, in these turbulent days, we have the vision to put those plans into action and the grit to see them through despite doubts and adversity.
Mandates from the past
When I think about how the conservative movement should respond to this moment, I look for lessons from our past. And lately, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about one of my heroes from the founding era: Patrick Henry.
Two hundred and fifty years ago last month, Henry stood up at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, and delivered one of the great speeches in American history. Everyone remembers its most famous line: “Give me liberty or give me death.” That one always hits home.
But another sequence in that speech resonates even more specifically with us now. Henry’s speech was not just a call to revolution. In his mind, the colonies had already passed that point. “The war is actually begun,” he said, whether Americans realized it or not. He was calling for the courage to see it through — to push past fear in the face of a powerful adversary.
“They tell us, sir, that we are weak,” Henry said, “unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger?”
The question still resonates: When shall we be stronger?
Six months from now, when the left throws everything it has in Virginia and New Jersey, or 18 months from now, when we head into the midterms, shall we gather strength while sitting on our hands? Will we stand by as our president weathers a hurricane of criticism? Shall we watch quietly as our majorities in Congress sidestep the most critical issues facing our country? Will we pass by the working families who wait for Washington to deliver them from a woke culture, a weaponized government, and a rigged economy?
Of course not. We have worked too long and too hard to squander this opportunity. Now is the moment conservatives can enact permanent policy change, not just half-a-loaf compromises: rebuild our economy, our military, and our local communities to answer the challenges of the coming generation.
This is our moment — not just to win elections or temporary 51-49 majorities — but to truly shape the future. This is our generation’s shot to secure a new birth of freedom. To write a new chapter in the American story — one that begins with courage and ends with victory.
The left is regrouping
But as extraordinary as this moment is, it will be just as fleeting. If we do not seize it now, it will slip through our fingers and won’t come back for a long time. And what comes next would be worse than anything we have yet endured.
The left hasn’t changed. Leftists may rewrite their talking points, but the writing on their hearts is the same. They’re still elitists who disdain the Constitution, globalists who scorn national sovereignty, and woke theocrats who reject religious liberty, parental rights, moral truth, and scientific fact.
They are already regrouping, re-funding, and reasserting their power. Their victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race was not a fluke. They still control the media and elite institutions, and they are going to weaponize both for as long as they can.
That is why conservatives cannot sit back. We must stay in the fight — and open new fronts in it.
Will we rise up?
Two hundred and fifty years later, Americans still face Patrick Henry’s question: When shall we be stronger?
At the Heritage Foundation, we have an answer.
We’ll be stronger every time we stand on principle — and for America and Americans. When we act with the urgency and courage this moment demands, when we realize the future is ours to win or to squander, when we understand that neither the left, China, media, nor any other adversary can defeat us, our only downfall is our own timidity and complacency.
Just consider: What do we think the other side wants us to be doing right now? What do Planned Parenthood, the teachers’ unions, George Soros, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and MSNBC want us to do right now?
Nothing. They want us complacent, fat, and happy — just like good establishment Republicans. They want us to think the last six months are all we need and all we can hope for. They want us basking in the success of 2024, eating popcorn, and watching Fox News while they storm the field.
Well, I’m sorry to disappoint them.
The Heritage Foundation is not sitting this one out. Donald Trump and JD Vance are not sitting this fight out. And I know you won’t either.
We can’t. The moment is too important. The stakes are too high. Last November’s historic victory was only the beginning. The next chapter in America’s history is ours to write. Whether we fight or not will be our generation’s story — what our children and grandchildren learn about us.
A time to act
I can’t help but think that if Patrick Henry were alive today, he would look at President Trump and his entire administration and be convinced that the American dream is still possible to revitalize. And that dream isn’t just about an idea, as noble as that idea is. It’s about a real place — where you were born and are likely to be buried. It’s a place our children and grandchildren and generations after us — God willing — will be born and buried.
This providential moment we’ve been given to save this republic and revitalize America gives honor to all those who came before us — wherever they were from — who, in their last moments, were as grateful as you and I are to call ourselves Americans.
The Nonprofit Hijacking America’s 250th Birthday Celebration Is The 1619 Project On Steroids
Leftist organizers see America’s 250th anniversary as a major cultural battlefield to push political agendas instead of celebrations.Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com