The Passover story in the Bible begins: “Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.” (Exodus 1:8, NIV.) Joseph had performed great services for Egypt, and the king or pharaoh was grateful to Joseph and his people, the Israelites. But time passed, and a new generation arose that did not remember Joseph and what he had done. So the king enslaved the Israelites and made their lives bitter.

That is the first lesson of Passover: When we forget the great individuals of the past who contributed so much to our lives today, bad things happen. Pharaoh forgot Joseph, and slavery resulted. We are forgetting our Founders and the Constitution and Bill of Rights they left us as a precious inheritance. And the result will be the same.

No, not actual slavery, with slave drivers cracking whips as the slaves labored to build monuments to the king. But a modern kind of slavery. We see its beginnings if we have the courage to open our eyes.

• We see social media that censor or ban ideas that they (the indefinite, anonymous they) disapprove of, or merely disagree with.
• We see important news items buried on page 9, or ignored completely.
• We see vast new powers over our daily lives assumed by the government with the excuse that the pandemic requires this.
• We see our freedom to move about, to speak out, or even to think restricted for our own good – for health, for equity, for whatever vague, elastic word that somehow always seems to justify what the elite want to do today. Tomorrow, another vague, elastic word may justify the elite doing the opposite.
• We see college students agree that those who express “incorrect” ideas should be silenced.
• We see relatives and friends cutting off contact because we expressed a “wrong” idea or hold a “wrong” belief.
• We see our motto “E Pluribus Unum” mocked as we are split into factions of race, ethnicity, or economic class.
• We see our most basic truths undermined as biologic males compete in, and win, women’s sports events.
• We see the idea of truth itself undermined as we are told that mathematical problems have no correct answer.
• We see young people with no idea of what the Constitution and Bill of Rights contain, and no desire to find out.

A pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. Now a generation arose that did not know its roots. And the result will be the same.