Laura Ainsworth, Staff Writer

Offhand, I can think of three “Cs” that are really bad for America: communism, corruption, and crime, all three of which are currently being excused and even promoted by the left. In fact, we talk a lot about those three “Cs” often, right here. But Gov. Huckabee has a great new book –- just out –- that’s written from the positive perspective we need more than ever now. Co-authored by Steve Feazel, it’s about the three “Cs” that made America GREAT and must be protected at all costs.

Do you know what they are? Here’s a clue: the title of the book is THE THREE Cs THAT MADE AMERICA GREAT: CHRISTIANITY, CAPITALISM, AND THE CONSTITUTION.

This is the right book at the right time, because America really is in a fight for its soul right now. All three “Cs” are under relentless attack. The book was written as a call to action for Christians and conservatives who look around and can’t believe what they see. This is not a time to be shocked into paralysis but to take an active role in the political arena, to push back against the forces that are trying to tear America away from its founding principles and its heritage. Our nation has been the brightest light of freedom the world has ever known, and it’s time to make that light shine again.

On his weekend TBN show, Gov. Huckabee was freshly inspired about what makes America great after watching Trump’s convention speech from the White House lawn. In his monologue, he talked about the new book as “a fact-filled reminder of the underpinnings of America and its origins,” saying the “leftist loons” who are educating our kids are responsible for their lack of knowledge, as these people are clueless about the role played by Judeo-Christian values in our launch as a new nation. This monologue focused on the first “C,” Christianity.

The Gov. said he’s aware that not all the founders were devout Christians, but stressed that even the less pious were aware “that liberty only lives when people self-govern, and that’s because of the moral code written onto the tablets of our hearts by our Creator.”

People who follow the word of God don’t need to look to an authoritarian government to worship, he explained, “because then you’re free from the bonds of self-centered behavior.”

The Gov. also offered some surprising history I wasn’t aware of, saying that today's secular Ivy League universities generally have their origins in schools devoted to religious instruction. For example, Harvard University was named for a young minister, John Harvard, who died at only 31. So far, a statue of him, seated and holding a Bible, still graces the campus, unless some numb-skulled anarchist has pulled it down.

And did you know Harvard students were once required to read Scripture twice daily and be ready to “give evidence of proficiency of their knowledge of the Bible”? Me, neither. An early school motto was “Truth for Christ and the Church.” Yale students, as well, were required “to live according to the rules of God’s word.” Princeton has a similar religious legacy; I wonder how many students can translate its Latin slogan, “Under the protection of God she flourishes.” How is THAT still on their flag? (I also wonder why they necessarily assume an institution of higher learning would use the pronoun “she” –- maybe it would prefer “xi.”)

Did you know that in 1782, the Continental Congress actually printed Bibles to give to inhabitants of the United States? They thought the values taught in the Bible were essential to the emerging nation. I thought I knew my American history pretty darn well, but this was news to me.

John Jay, our nation’s first Supreme Court justice and obviously one of the founders who WERE very devout, referred to America as “a Christian nation” and said we should “select and prefer Christians” as our leaders. Didn’t know that, either! (Of course, that didn’t and shouldn’t carry force of law; it was just his view.) Gov. Huckabee did say this book would make liberals’ heads explode; I think the part about John Jay might be where that happens.

Later in the Gov.’s show, co-author Steve Feazel sat for an interview. (He joked that Sarah Sanders wasn’t available to co-author his book with him, so he’d had to call Huckabee. He and the Gov. did have a mutual friend but had not met prior to this project.)

This is going to be the book to give your liberal friends --- especially the ones with kids in school --- who just have no clue about the founding of our nation, the “underpinnings,” as the Gov. put it.

Not one to just be “preaching to the choir,” I’d like to add something for the agnostics and even atheists who might be seeing this. You should read this book, too. Even those of us who aren’t as devout as John Jay and some of the other founders should not allow ourselves to be in denial about the role Judeo-Christian values played in the formation of America. That understanding of right and wrong is basic –- it’s written into our law and forms the basis of a society being able to live together, whether or not everyone goes to church or even believes in God. (Obviously, people are not able to live together peaceably in our cities right now, and this is because the traditional moral code is out the window.) Whether or not one believes that God literally gave us natural law or handed Moses the Ten Commandments on stone tablets, we have to treat the Constitution and our system of justice with that same level of reverence if our nation is to endure. The republic itself, our freedom, and the system on which it rests must be treated as sacred. We seem to be far away from that as a nation right now.

Mike Huckabee

Ordinarily, I would have written extensively about Friday’s 57th anniversary of the March on Washington led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He was a huge inspiration to me as a kid growing up in the South, and his dream of a land in which all the races live together in peace, judged by the content of their characters and not the color of their skin, was an inspiration to my life and those of countless others.

Unfortunately, this year’s observance of that anniversary in Washington, organized by Al Sharpton, in many ways betrayed the spirit of the Rev. King’s message with gratuitous racial slanders for political purposes (i.e., Sharpton calling the President “Bull Trump” – Bull Connor was a Democrat, it needs to be noted again and again) and divisive, anti-American rhetoric. Some speakers couldn’t have perverted the Rev. King’s message more if they’d literally declared that we must judge people by their skin color, not their character.

One praiseworthy exception worth mentioning is the Rev. King’s 10-year-old granddaughter, Yolanda Renee King, who said, “My generation has already taken to the streets – peacefully and with masks and social distancing – to protest racism.” I wish some of the adults there had her wisdom and sense of responsibility.

Before anyone starts accusing me of only saying this because I’m white, read the words of this longtime Democratic Tennessee state Representative and veteran of the civil rights movement who calls it “appalling” and “heartbreaking” to associate the non-violent protests of the Rev. King with “burning and looting and stealing.” He said, "It's like we're trying to live up to the worst of stereotypes, the worst of behavior, the worst of perceptions.”

As I often like to remind people, especially those who forget or try to obscure this fact, the Rev. King was, first and foremost, a great preacher of the Gospel. Some of his most inspiring words came in the form of sermons. I urge you to honor his legacy by reading those, not listening to people who would distort his message for their personal political motives. You can start with this, the final sermon he ever gave on April 3, 1968 in Memphis. You will search in vain to find any encouragement of violence or incitements of race hatred in it.