Kingdom>>> Church>>> Culture

Judgment

2010-05-15T20:12:00.003-05:00

Unless we Americans earnestly and sincerely repent from the worship of self, and return humbly to God, seeking His forgiveness and mercy, Political Correctness will no longer be a voluntary thing, but a requirement delivered by the hammer of the state. Churches will have to abide by the government's guidelines, or go underground.

God is slow to anger. But the murder of over 40 million unborn children in their mother's wombs since our Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, has, I believe, finally worn thin with our Creator.

The American Church has failed miserably. We have allowed the secular culture to enculturate us. We are barely distinguishable from the world. The recent, rapid unleashing of the power of the state is the beginning of God's hand of judgment upon our nation. Things will get worse before they get better.

Yet true Christians will never stop living their faith. I still believe very strongly in American DNA, but the more I read and research the more I see that that DNA is rooted in the Christian faith, and until that faith is reawakened in America, no Tea Party, no state's declaration of its sovereignty, can save us.

I recently heard a woman say, "I want my country back."

I don't think that God is ready to give it back to us. We are being disciplined by a loving God.

For generations, Americans were a "good" people. Alexis deToqueville wrote that "America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." Within our lifetimes, America ceased being good. Thus the troubles on our horizon.

Our fight is not with Congress or the President. Our fight is with our selfish selves, and with God's arch-enemy, the devil, who wars against us.

I believe that God will achieve several things through the difficulties that await us.

First and foremost, He will judge His church and set it right again.
He will judge all of us Americans, rich and poor, for our worship of self.
He will judge our political leaders, and their fall will be public and spectacular.
He will judge the greedy business magnates who are the true barbarians of our day.
He will judge the abortionists and those who promote their bloody craft.
He will judge those who flaunt their homosexuality along with their vocal supporters.
He will judge the hedonists who prey upon our children.
He will judge Hollywood for their peddling of hedonism and violence.
He will judge the media who prefer the lie over the truth.
He will judge the educators who teach falsehoods and enslave young minds.

Jesus taught us that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it cannot bring forth fruit. I do not know how long this purging will take. I cannot say how long the seed will remain until its shoots begin to break through the soil afresh. Israel was held captive in Babylon for 70 years. Perhaps we will be long gone before God's work with America is done. Perhaps this truly is the time of history when God begins to wrap things up and bring His final judgment to bear upon all of mankind.

We must be faithful to God. And we must depend utterly upon Him for the power to remain faithful.

One thing I know. He IS faithful.

The Manhattan Declaration

2009-11-25T12:06:00.009-05:00

I signed The Manhattan Declaration.

Here's what it's about:

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:
the sanctity of human life
the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

John MacArthur didn't sign it. He said, "...the gospel itself is nowhere presented (much less explained) in the document or any of the accompanying literature. Indeed, that would be a practical impossibility because of the contradictory views held by the broad range of signatories regarding what the gospel teaches and what it means to be a Christian."

In The Manhattan Declaration, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians have come together to defend the unborn, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. As I see it, the sole purpose of this document is for Christians to go on record, not about specific doctrines of their respective Christian faiths, but about the specific, historic Christian values that are mentioned in the document. It is a line in the sand, an affirmation of long held beliefs, an oath to defend Christian civilization against the ravages of secular humanism and the tyranny that is showing its ugly head in America in the form of political correctness.

Now is not the time to pick nits over doctrine. All three groups named in the declaration adhere to the Nicene and Apostles Creeds. We agree on the basics: Christ's virgin birth and divinity, His sinless life, His literal death, His literal resurrection, the Holy Trinity, etc. Read the creeds for crying out loud! Our very survival is at stake here. Christianity is seriously under attack in our land today. And for those who cannot see that, I suggest you begin paying attention a bit more closely and take your proverbial head out of the sand.

We will not emerge victorious in this struggle if we stand alone. We all serve the same Lord and Savior. Now is the time to rally around our common faith and defend ourselves, our children, and all of those who haven't a clue about what is happening to this country.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, ""We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Success and Failure Redefined

2009-07-28T05:25:00.008-05:00

Things aren't always as they seem.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your waysand my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)

Adam's rebellion was failure disguised as success.
Christ's crucifixion was success disguised as failure.

The serpent's wiles were failure disguised as success.
Abel's sacrifice was success disguised as failure.

Esau's apathy was failure disguised as success.
Jacob's scheming was success disguised as failure.

Pharaoh's hardness was failure disguised as success.
Moses' flight was success disguised as failure.

Saul's kingship was failure disguised as success.
David's brokenness was success disguised as failure.

Rome's persecutions were failure disguised as success.
Martyrs' deaths were success disguised as failure.

The Pope's power was failure disguised as success.
Luther's trial was success disguised as failure.

Chamberlain's negotiations were failure disguised as success.
Churchill ignored was success disguised as failure.

Obama's ascension is failure disguised as success.
Palin's resignation is success disguised as failure.

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Matthew 20:16 (NIV)

911: While We Sleep

2009-07-04T09:33:00.008-05:00

I just uploaded a new post to my new blog, A Digital Pamphleteer. Titled Thuggery and Thievery, the post links to a substantive article in Rolling Stone Magazine about how movers and shakers in the finance industry, the Federal Reserve, and the US government are literally stealing America's wealth.

I am posting a link to it here because this blog, Kingdom>>>Church>>>Culture is focused more on the spiritual aspects of life in our once Judeo-Christian culture.

Many Christians, and many pastors too, believe that Christians should not become involved in politics or engage in activity focused on civil government related issues.

Of course I disagree. And I have made what I consider to be a very strong, Biblically-supported case for involvement and engagement. In fact, much of this blog, since 2004, has addressed this question.

I write today to point the reader, particularly the Christian reader, to my other blog and specifically to the post listed above.

While we sleep friends, we and our American countrymen are being mugged and robbed. Our homes are being pillaged. Our government, and its accomplices, are raping the hard-working, tax-paying American.

A heinous crime is being perpetrated right under our noses, every minute of every day. And what do we do? We go to church. We attend our weekly home group meetings and discuss our marriage relationships. We attend our Bible studies and pray for the needs of our friends and families.

All of this is, of course, good.

But all the while, we are looking the other way, burying our heads in the proverbial sand, behaving as if things aren't really all that bad. And right now, on the surface, life is relatively calm. But don't be fooled. A nasty, deadly, multi-year storm is coming.

What would you do if you saw a person on the street being mugged and robbed by a thug? Well, first you would call 911 on your cell phone, and then, depending on who you are and how you react at that moment, you may intervene and try to stop the crime.

Well whats going on in America's halls of government and Wall Street offices is no different. The only thing separating one mugger from the other is a suit and tie.

Please read.

Coming Out of the Fog

2009-06-27T16:05:00.007-05:00

I am posting this information for those of you who did not catch Rush Limbaugh on Friday afternoon (6/26/09). On his program he read from an article by L. E. Ikenga, an African woman who has lived in the U.S. since the 1970's. The article, titled Obama, the African Colonial, explains the cultural mindset motivating our president, and who he really is.

Ikenga's article is moderately substantial in length, but once the reader is engaged they will have no problem finishing. She posits that Obama is what she calls an "African Colonial." I had not heard the term before but her description provides what I think is clear insight into the soul of the man in the White House. She writes:

"The African colonial (AC) is a person who by means of their birth or lineage has a direct connection with Africa. However, unlike Africans like me, their worldviews have been largely shaped not by the indigenous beliefs of a specific African tribe but by the ideals of the European imperialism that overwhelmed and dominated Africa during the colonial period. AC's have no real regard for their specific African traditions or histories. AC's use aspects of their African culture as one would use pieces of costume jewelry: things of little or no value that can be thoughtlessly discarded when they become a negative distraction, or used on a whim to decorate oneself in order to seem exotic. (Hint: Obama's Muslim heritage)."

Using Obama's Dreams From My Father as a springboard, the author concludes that our president sees himself not as a "black American" but as an "African." She writes:

In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father -- an eloquent piece of political propaganda -- Obama styles himself as a misunderstood intellectual who is deeply affected by the sufferings of black people, especially in America and Africa. In the book, Obama clearly sees himself as an African, not as a black American. And to prove this, he goes on a quest to understand his Kenyan roots. He is extremely thoughtful of his deceased father's legacy; this provides the main clue for understanding Barack Obama.

For more on the senior Obama, go here.

She then goes on to lay out a fairly bleak picture of the future, concluding her article with these words:

"... understand this: the African colonial who is given too much political power can only become one thing: a despot.

Prior to the November election, much noise was made in the conservative media about Obama's connections to men like the American terrorist, Bill Ayers and to the radical pastor Jeremiah Wright. He also sidled up to other like-minded America haters and cut his teeth as a "community organizer" in Chicago in the "school" of the radical Marxist Saul Alinsky. To date, Obama has yet to provide indisputable evidence of an American birth and many of his college records remain under lock and key.

While conservative pundits sounded the alarm in the summer and fall of 2008, the mainstream media buried their heads in the sand, so wildly enamored with this charismatic, yet enigmatic figure. Today, nearly eight months following that fateful November election, millions of Americans remain in denial about what we have done to ourselves.

I am confident that an unpleasant awakening is around the corner, a day or a season when Americans begin to realize the truth. Signs of this coming watershed moment are already beginning to appear. America committed a grave error in judgment last fall. Let us hope and pray it is not fatal to our republic.

I strongly suggest that you read the entire article. It cleared up a whole lot of my mental fog surrounding this mysterious man that we have elected as our president.

But beware, it is not pretty.

JOIN NOVA 912.

For a Pot of Stew

2009-06-19T05:37:00.006-05:00

One of my favorite Bible characters is Jacob. He was the second born son of Isaac, and completes the three part triad of ancient Israel's great patriarchy of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I have read and studied Jacob a fair amount. I've even written a song about him.

Jacob, Israel, my heart beats close to yours, I know
Jacob, Israel, I'm a striver like you
A striver like you
A striver like you

And I am.

Jacob's older twin brother, born just a few moments before him, was named Esau. Prior to their births, the Lord spoke to their mother, Rebekah, and declared that "the older shall serve the younger." (Genesis 25:23).

In those days, being the first born son meant everything. All that the family name represented came to the first born male. But contrary to cultural traditions, God had his eye on Jacob, not Esau. God had promised to do something unheard of, something unprecedented in those days. God was conferring the power and wealth of the family name upon Isaac and Rebeka's second-born.

But though God had promised it, Jacob tried to make it happen under his own power, with his own efforts. This is why he is considered a "striver."

Jacob knew his call even before his birth. When the twins came out of Rebeka's womb, second born Jacob was clinging to his brother's heel as if to say, "wait a minute, brother, I'm supposed to be first."

Now, Esau, though the first, did not seem to take his "natural born" inheritance all that seriously. But Jacob thought about it all the time.

One day, Esau came home from an exhausting hunting expedition. Famished, he asked his twin brother if there was anything in the frig. Seizing on the opportunity, the crafty Jacob struck a deal.

"I'll give you this pot of stew if you'll give me your birthright."

The hungry Esau agreed.

My focus has always been upon Jacob, the one with the promise, the one with the call, the one with the hope of a future. He stumbled and bumbled and literally limped his way to his inheritance, and I often feel like I do the same.

I have never given a great deal of thought to Esau. But recently he has begun to intrigue me.

I tell this story of Esau's sellout because it speaks to me of our own American countrymen. We, too, have a birthright, an automatic inheritance the moment we are born. Our birthright is liberty. Prosperity comes from liberty. In the chain of things American, liberty comes first. Liberty creates opportunity and if opportunity is capitalized upon effectively, wealth often follows.

Today, we hungry, short-sighted, self-focused Americans are, like Esau, selling our birthright, our liberty, for a lousy pot of stew, the empty promise of security.

We have said, "I'll give you my liberty, if you'll take care of me."

What a rotten deal!

JOIN NOVA 912.

Talk to the Hand

2009-06-11T03:29:00.018-05:00

I awoke early this morning following a frightening dream. In my dream, God left America to its own devices. He departed, removing His hand of blessing. And many Americans didn't even know He had gone.

Much is being made of the image that has hit the Internet, the photo of our president sitting with his feet propped up on his desk in the Oval Office while talking on the phone. There are two important things to know about the image: 1. when the photo was snapped he was speaking to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, 2. in Arab countries, showing the sole of one's shoe is meant as an insult.

An unfortunate, unintended incident? Think again. Our president spent a number of years out of our country, and under the sway of the Muslim world and its worldview. He spent the last twenty years of Sundays sitting in the church pew of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. You remember him, don't you? He's the man who preaches hate from his pulpit, casting insults at America. "Not God bless America, God d*** America!" Just a few days ago, Rev. Wright said in an interview that he had not spoken to his former parishioner since Obama became the president. Referring to the president's advisers, Wright told Virginia's Daily Press, "Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me ..."

Israeli newscasters and many others in Israel read this odd photo as a direct insult to their Prime Minister and to their nation. If this publicity shot was staged and released intentionally, our nation's immediate future looks grim. If it's a case of simple insensitivity (he's had others), it still demonstrates a genuine lack of class and character.

Last summer, during the primary campaign, Obama appeared to be giving "the finger" to someone (above). The apparent target? His primary opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Later that year, during the election itself, our future president is caught again, making an obscene gesture (below). Who was his target this time? Republican candidate, John McCain.

For a man as politically savvy as Barak Obama, a man raised in Chicago style "thug" politics, surely these three seemingly separate symbolic gestures cannot be mere coincidences. In fact, for this man, who trumpeted his many Muslim connections to the Arab world on his recent trip to the Middle East, allowing the world to see the soles of his shoes while speaking on the phone with Israel's leader is the Muslim-world equivalent of the middle finger.

Raising one's middle finger to a political opponent is childish, sophomoric and crude. It does not speak well at all of our president. But deliberately insulting the leader of one of our nation's staunchest allies represents a tragic, radical shift in American diplomacy.

"Talk to the hand" became a popular phrase in the mid 1990's. The saying is a shortened version of "Talk to the hand because the ear's not listening." The words, usually accompanied by the gesture of putting up one's hand in the face of the one who's speaking, represent a "brush off" or an intentional ignoring of the other party's thoughts. Like the middle finger and the shoe's sole in the Muslim world, a hand in the face is rude, crude, and deliberate.

But upon reflection, our nation has been telling God to "talk to the hand" now for quite a good number of years. Could it be that our classless president is but a mere reflection of the rude, crude, classless culture we have become?

It's one thing for a segment of society to be crude and classless. It's another for our president to behave in this manner. Many things shifted in November. We expect that policies and the ideologies behind them will change with a new administration. But we do not expect the man at the top, the one individual who represents our nation to the world, to behave like the basest among us. We expect better.

A switch was flipped this week. A cosmic shift occurred. A signal was sent to heaven's throne. It is now official. Our nation has just told God to "talk to the hand because the ear's not listening."

Snubbing Israel is a very bad idea. Add this offense to the forty million murdered unborn, and the growing cultural acceptance of homosexuality (remember Sodom and Gomorrah), and our Creator cannot be pleased.

This can't be good.

America's Freedom DNA

2009-06-03T21:43:00.003-05:00

We cannot help that our experiences, both painful and pleasant, shape our view of the world. I am working on a book tentatively titled Echoes of Eden. It tells the story of my growing up years in Ohio in the fifties and sixties. Though not without heartache, my childhood and youth were relatively pleasant. I had a good, solid home life. My folks were model parents. And my memories of those years are sweet.

In elementary school we learned about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We learned of Nathan Hale and Paul Revere and Molly Pitcher. We pledged allegiance to the flag and we even prayed the Lord's prayer in school. On our classroom wall hung a cardboard replica of the Ten Commandments. We sang patriotic songs. In later years we studied the Constitution.

I realize, with much sadness, that that America is not the America of today. But that is the America that is in my heart. And it will always be there. I cannot let it go. I WILL not let it go. I will give my life if I have to to recapture and restore it.

Not that my grandchildren could ever enjoy the same childhood as I did. Too much has changed. But I do believe that my grandchildren can yet know the same joy, the same freedom, the same patriotic pride as did I in my youth.

Deep down, I believe that most Americans are good, decent people. I think that many Americans have lost their way, become swept up in popular culture, and abandoned the Judeo-Christian principles that made America a great nation. Many have not been as fortunate to see America through eyes like mine, eyes that see the good, eyes that saw America as something to rejoice over, even with her flaws. Sadly, many have been blinded to that America by their education, by popular culture, and by that hideous human sin called selfishness. And our land is now awash with the putrid swill of immorality and godlessness.

But there are enough folks out there who still love this country, who instinctively know that something is not right. There are millions of people, right now, in denial, heads buried in the proverbial sand, not wanting to look at and witness the train wreck that is happening right before their eyes. One day, and we hope soon, these people will wake up and say, "Wait just a minute, here. This is not right. This is not America."

There will at some point be a revolution, bloodless we hope, but perhaps not. Actually, it has already begun. And some of us may be asked to lay down our lives.

Freedom is in the American heart. We may have it stripped from us for a while, but freedom has a life of its own. Freedom is our DNA. It cannot be destroyed.

Freedom is likely not the DNA of the Iraqi people, or the Afghan people. There is no long history of freedom and self-government in that part of the world. Our type of self-government has a slim chance of surviving in those places. Look what happened to Russia in just a few short years. They had great opportunity to build a free and self-governing nation. But they have stumbled and stumbled badly. Look at how quickly Europe succumbed to socialism, just a generation after American armies liberated Europeans from Hitler's murderous scourge. Even Great Britain, the root from which we sprang, has not had the internal fortitude to pay the cost to remain free.

There is a reason that America is the last to stand. Though freedom's branches are withering, though the outer shell is decaying, beneath the surface, America's freedom-roots still pulse with life.

We have stood while all around us have surrendered. And though presently faltering, we will not go down easily. We will not go out with nary a whimper like so many other nations. If we go down, we will go down fighting. And I plan to be there. I trust you do as well.

" ... our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

2009-05-13T20:56:00.005-05:00

Well, the party is just about over. Since WWII, most of us Americans have enjoyed a free and fun ride. I say most because some Americans got sent to Viet Nam against their will. But overall, we have been playing in the sandbox called America with minimal cost for a long, long time.

I fear the hammer is about to come down on us. Life as we have known it is changing, and changing rapidly. Right now, most of us are still unaffected by all of the backroom maneuverings of the current administration. Most of us have yet to grasp the real meaning behind the Fannie Mae/FreddieMac, TARP and Chrysler debacles. We only see the billions of dollars being poured into failing institutions. We don't yet see the real meaning behind these moves. A nationalization of American industry is occuring right under our noses. Our president fired GM's CEO. How can this even happen in America?

And soon, unless a miracle occurs, we will be saddled by socialized medicine, the scourge of countless other countries. Are we sleepwalking into oblivion? Have we chosen the path of least resistance? Indeed, our puny, reckless leaders are dwarfed by the giants of generations past.

Yep, as "Dandy" Don Meredith used to croon at the end of lopsided Monday Night Football games, "Turn out the lights, the party's over ..."

How long will it be before we realize that to right this errant ship of state may cost us " ... our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor?"

Emails to My Congressman

2009-03-22T20:55:00.006-05:00

I sent two emails to my Congressman, Frank Wolf. A Republican, and normally fairly conservative on most things, he went off the reservation with HR1586, the bill passed by the House to tax the recipients of AIG bonuses at 90%.

If he responds, I'll post his response.

First email, sent Thursday March 19th:

Congressman Wolf,

I cannot for the life of me understand what could have possible motivated you to vote YEA on HR1586. Do you really believe that a group of people should be (or even can be) singled out for punishment by the U.S. government?

I understand that the bonus money these people received was funded by the taxpayers. And that in itself was stupid to begin with. But these folks had contracts with their corporation. Contracts were honored. But now you clowns step up and pull a grandstanding stunt like this. It's theater. And few are falling for this crap anymore.

It's disgraceful.

Our Constitution prohibits "Bills of Attainder," or trial by the legislature. And that's what HR1586 appears to be. What's next, singling out people (like me) who don't believe in all the global warming hype?

Mr. Wolf, I have always respected you and voted for you. But sir, you really blew it this time. With this move, you have grown closer to being a part of that group we working people have become sick of. And I am sad to see it.

Mark W. Weaver

Second email, sent Friday March 20th:

Congressman Wolf,

I have had 24 hours now to consider your vote on HR1586. I am even angrier than I was yesterday. I expected better judgment from you. You apparently got yourself ensnared in the mob mentality and swept away by the hysteria.

A few words and phrases come to mind: bedlam; chaos; reactionary; unconstitutional; Kabuki theater; circus clowns; PMS; tyranny of the majority; frenzied; knee jerk.

You people in Congress need to calm down. The more laws you make, the worse things get. Can you guys just shut things down and go home for a few months? Years?

Most of us living and working outside the Beltway are reeling from the idiocy on display in Washington. Please snap out of it.

Mark W. Weaver

The Pledge

2009-03-21T20:30:00.003-05:00

President Obama is asking Americans to pledge their support to his plans and programs. Now at first blush, such a campaign might seem innocuous. But underneath, something sinister is in the air.

Mr. Obama appears to be continuing his campaign, using the community organizing methods of Saul Alinsky and other Marxist thugs. Our president is not asking for us to pledge allegiance to the flag, or the republic for which it stands. He is asking Americans to make a pledge to support his policies. Never in United States history has any president been so brazen and bold in his quest for personal allegiance.

Consider these facts.

Cuba's Castro has a "widespread system of neighborhood informers."
Venezuela's Chavez now has community-monitoring groups as intelligence gathering assistants.
The Moscow Duma recently created a network of neighborhood informers.

This is frightening.

Tea Party

2009-03-17T14:57:00.000-05:00

The Tea Party movement is growing.

Tea Parties are happening all across the country. So far, it looks like six separate Tax Day Party events are planned in Virginia, two in Maryland, and even one in DC at Lafayette Park. For more information about the Tax Day Tea Party, click on the picture at left.

The leadership for this movement is not coming from the usual places. No elected Republican official stepped up to lead in fact,

"…the first Tea Party was organized in Seattle, Washington by a 29-year-old blogger no one ever heard of before."

So, it's up to us, folks, everyday Americans, the ones who go to work every day, pay their bills, pay their taxes (ie: the ones who actually make this country work).

There's even a song trumpeting the movement, now, penned and performed by conservative artist, Lloyd Marcus.

American Tea Party by Lloyd Marcus
© 2009 ZEPHYRUS MUSIC, BMI

Mr President!
Your stimulus is sure to bust
Its just a socialistic scheme
The only thing it will do
Is kill the American Dream

You wanna take from achievers
Somehow you think that’s fair.
And redistribute to those folks
Who won’t get out of their easy chair.

We’re havin’ a tea party across this land
If you love this country
Come on and join our band
We’re standin’ up for freedom and liberty
Cause patriots have shown us freedom ain’t free

So when they call you a racist cause you disagree
It just another of their dirty tricks to silence you and me.
I believe in the Constitution and all it stands for.
Anyone who tramples it should be booted out the door.

We’re havin’ a tea party across this land
If you love this country
Come on and join our band
We’re standin’ up for freedom and liberty
Cause patriots have shown us freedom ain’t free

Now we’re not advocating violence
That’s what the so-called peace crowd do
We’re talkin’ peaceful protest to defend the red, white and blue

We gotta vote out these clowns who don’t love the USA
Who stay up late loosing sleep fearing what the French might say

We’re havin’ a tea party across this land
If you love this country
Come on and join our band
We’re standin’ up for freedom and liberty
Cause patriots have shown us freedom ain’t free

Freedom ain’t free
(Stand up for America)
Freedom ain’t free
(Gotta take a stand)
Freedom ain’t free
(Mr Obama)
Freedom ain’t free
(we work hard for our money)
Freedom ain’t free
(Don’t give it away)
Freedom ain’t free
(Save the day)
Freedom ain’t free
(Don’t go givin’ it away)
Freedom ain’t free
(It ain’t gonna work)
Freedom ain’t free
(Give back our freedom)
Freedom ain’t free
(Give back our liberty)
Freedom ain’t free
(I love my country)
(fade out)

I'm Back

2009-03-01T07:36:00.005-05:00

After a several month hiatus, I am back. Of course, probably a very few even noticed I was gone ...

A lot has changed in my four month absence. A nation leaning towards socialism is now careening towards it full bore. "Pedal to the metal" as they say.

The first few weeks of our new president's administration has confirmed my fears. He is even more radical than I expected him to be. And much more incompetent. Here are a few links to the thoughts of others that have helped me to understand this man who is now the leader of the free world:

A very convincing analysis of Mr. Obama's narcissism that made the email rounds can be found here:
It Isn’t Easy Being a Saint, Victor Davis Hanson
Another Tax Cheat?, Wizbang Blog
Santelli and Gibbs, Hot Air
And he's after Rush, too

Anyway, Obama is clearly a leftist. I don't think there is any doubt, now.

Socialism: Medicine Worse than the Disease

2008-11-08T11:46:00.027-05:00

An everyday fellow from Toledo, a workingman named "Joe the Plumber," stepped into the limelight in the last few weeks of the election. His brief conversation with Barack Obama about tax increases led to the "leaking out" of Obama's plan to "spread the wealth."

I don't know about you, but phrases like "spread the wealth" instantly raise a "red flag" with me. But with 63,000,000 Americans? Apparently not so much.

For those of us raised in the Cold War and practiced in some measure of discernment, "spread the wealth" is code for "socialism." And what's astonishing to me is that even the word "socialism" evidently does not seem to threaten a whole sector of our citizenry.

Perhaps a brief refresher course on the basics of socialism are in order.

Socialism is a set of ideas built upon the theories of 1. Central Economic Planning, 2. Collective Ownership of Property, and 3. Social Organization. The stated goal of socialism is the creation of an egalitarian society (ie: a society of equals). "Central economic planning" is code for the nationalization of industry. In other words, industry owned and managed by a centralized government, as opposed to individuals or privately held corporations.

1. Central Economic Planning. Little doubt exists that the goal of some in leadership at our national level is the nationalization of industry. Recently, in a perfect example of political theater, our Congress held hearings on the rapid rise in gasoline prices this spring. During the hearings, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) let slip the unspoken goal of nationalizing the oil industry. Watch it here.

But this is nothing new. President Roosevelt created Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association - FNMA) in 1938 to buy home mortgages from lenders in order to free up more money to loan to those who wished to buy homes. When the banks package their loans and sell them to Fannie Mae, they are freshly funded and able to keep loaning to new customers. To be able to sell loan "packages" to Fannie Mae, loans had to meet certain criteria set by FNMA. Loans meeting this criteria are referred to as "conventional loans." Loans not meeting this criteria and thus not available for packaging and sale to Fannie Mae are considered "non-conventional" loans.

Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation - FHLMC) was formed in 1970 to help handle the increasing load of new mortgages. Freddie Mac does essentially the same job as Fannie Mae. The nature of both of these entities has been hard to pin down. Prior to the "bailout" this summer, both organizations had been privately funded, and were considered to be a part of the private sector. And yet, like the Federal Reserve Bank, leadership in these two organizations is by federal appointment. Quasi private? Quasi public? No one can seem to pigeonhole these organizations.

They both fall under the heading of "Government Sponsored Enterprise" or GSE. GSEs are organizations that are privately funded but backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. They are not taxable, and they have an open line of credit with the U.S. Treasury. They are exempt from the oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The recent near collapse and subsequent bailout of these two entities paints a perfect picture of the ills of "central economic planning." Succumbing to pressure from the activist group ACORN, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Clinton administration agreed to loosen Fannie and Freddi's lending standards in order to help more people purchase homes. Proof of income, source of down payment, and credit history would no longer be required. This change was made in order to assist those unable to purchase homes under the old lending system.

We now know the result. Millions, previously unable to buy, bought. Housing prices soared. Borrowers over-extended themselves because lenders were making high risk loans that any common sense businessman would never have made. But they did it because they knew they could package and sell these loans to Fannie and Freddi.

But then the bottom fell out because the interest rates on Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) increased, and balloon payments came due. Borrowers defaulted. Foreclosures began. Housing prices plummeted. Borrowers in trouble seeking to refinance could no longer do so because they were now "upside down" in their equity (owe more than the home is worth).

Here we have the "perfect storm" of government intervention into private industry, and the subsequent debacle and bailout with taxpayer money. Rather than let the business community make loans based upon their own good judgment, assessing the risk themselves, politicians stuck their noses in, demanding that the underprivileged be given opportunities they were not qualified for, and created this disaster.

2. The Collective Ownership of Property. The idea of the "collective ownership of property" is bound up together with the concept of "central economic planning" as described above. The opposite of "collective ownership of property" is a "free market" system where individuals own both real property and other kinds of property. To understand this concept, one must understand the idea of "property" itself. Property can be many things: Land, a home, a car, clothes, all material things; money in the bank or other types of monetary assets; intellectual property such as an idea, or a copyright or a patent. And philosopher John Locke (1632-1704, at left, click to "embiggen") even wrote that our "conscience" is "the most sacred of all of property."

Collective ownership of property means public ownership of the means of production and distribution of all kinds of goods and products, and the elimination of private property ownership. In other words, it is the government who holds the power to control all material goods, how they are used, how and where they are sold and distributed, and how much they are valued.

3. Social Organization. The "social organization" component of socialism is complex. The goal is to reshape the thinking and behavior of the populace to produce a certain kind of result. Social engineers (like the politicians noted above reshaping the housing market) use several means to achieve their goals. Education is a primary means and we can see it at play at just about every level. Mr. Obama's plan to "require" community service of American youth is another clear example of "social organization" or "social engineering" as it is sometimes called. The now public video of Diatha Harris, an elementary school teacher in Cumberland, NC bullying a young student because of her support for John McCain, is a clear representation of how "social engineering" works. Such bullying is far worse in higher education. I shall not take time to document that here, but recommend the films Indoctrinate U and Expelled, No Intellegence Allowed. The prodcut review for Indoctrinate U offers this description:

"Speech codes. Censorship. Enforced political conformity. Hostility to diversity of opinion. Sensitivity training. We usually associate such things totalitarian regimes, not with the American universities that nurtured the free speech movement."

Another force for "social organization" is the media. The media in today's America consists of news and entertainment including film, television, music, and literature. Through media, ideas are disseminated conveying the accepted norm. Television in its early years showed separate beds for Rob and Laura Petrie, husband and wife characters on the Dick Van Dyke Show. Today on television, unmarried people pop in and out of bed nearly naked all the time. The message is that premarital sex (we used to call it fornication) is perfectly normal. More recently, the homosexual lifestyle has become more and more normalized via this same means. Our society is slowly being "re-engineered" by those whose goal is the conversion of our Judeo-Christian American culture into a secular, humanistic, socialist culture.

All societies experience peer pressure. But in "social organization" or "re-engineering," peer pressure is done deliberately and with the specific purpose of reshaping society. Acceptance by others is a strong, human need. Few have the internal constitution to resist it.

Post Election Thoughts

2008-11-07T22:15:00.006-05:00

It's finally over. I don't know about you, but I am emotionally drained and needing a recharge.

Of course I am disappointed by the outcome. I am tempted to worry about the future of my country. But, I have chosen to trust God because He knows best. After all, millions upon millions prayed for a different outcome in this election, and it did not happen that way. To me this means that God heard our prayers (He always does), and for some reason yet unknown to us, declined to give us the outcome we sought.

What does a Barack Obama Presidency really mean? There are several roads this question might take us down. The most obvious road is that we have, for the first time in our nation's history, elected a black man to the highest office in the land. And that is not a bad thing. I join others in celebrating this historic first. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Mr. Obama is an extremely poor choice for that honor, one whose credentials are unclear, whose past associations leave many serious questions still unanswered, and whose motives appear to be very, very suspect. I am afraid before all is said and done, that many will suffer from buyer's remorse.

But right now, I do not want to go down that road. Many questions (for those who were willing to ask) were raised during his campaign. Still, we do not know much about this mysterious man named Barack Obama, where he came from, and how he came to be chosen as the one to occupy the most important office in the world. As the next four years unfold, I am sure we will learn more.

Instead, I would like to look at the meaning of this election's result from a different vantage point. And to do that, I'd like to take you, the reader, down a unexpected trail for just a few paragraphs.

It has been nearly twenty years now since my friend John Jenkins and I penned and brought to market our novel Bloodlines. In that story, a fellow named Sam MacDonald captured the angst of his own generation by writing in his personal journal. It is through the mechanism of Sam's journals that our readers were able to glimpse briefly into another tumultuous time in America's past.

In June of 1856, sitting at his window overlooking the streets of our nation's capital city, Sam recorded his concerns regarding the rising tensions between our nation's political leaders. Battle lines over slavery and states' rights were being drawn. Newspapers had reported that congressmen and senators were now bringing knives and guns into the Capitol building. And a Southern Congressman had attacked a Northern Senator on the floor of the U.S. Senate, opening his scalp and nearly bludgeoning him to death with his cane.

Sam's journal for that day also included his recounting of and reflections upon a personal message he had received from a friend in Kansas. A pro-slavery woman by the name of Mrs. Doyle had written Sam to tell of the murders of her husband and two sons in Osawatomie. John Brown, that wild-eyed lightning rod of a figure, along with a small band of violent followers, attacked and butchered these three men with their swords, leaving them to die meaningless deaths.

Both of these fictionally reproduced accounts are based upon real, historical events. Thankfully, in our current war over the nature and direction of our nation's culture, little blood has been shed. Nonetheless, Sam's words capture my own personal feelings about the state of our country following the election of Mr. Obama, and the real meaning of his victory over John McCain. Sam deftly identified the challenge of his era:

"Madness has seized the hearts and minds of my countrymen."

Why would I equate the choice of over 63,000,000 Americans with madness? To answer this very real question, I pose a rhetorical one. Why would anyone in their right mind choose slavery over freedom?

Right mind or Madness?

Biblically, "madness" is equated with insanity.

Many of them said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?" (John 10:20 NIV)

And they were filled with madness and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus. (Luke 6:11 KJV)

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language defines the word the following way: 1. (n.) The condition of being mad; insanity; lunacy. 2. (a.) Frenzy; ungovernable rage; extreme folly.

Mr. Obama and his triumvirate counterparts in Congress are not our problem. They are but the latest manifestation of a nation that took a wrong turn a while back and is now careening down a road toward its own demise. No, the "madness" of which I speak resides in many of the millions who pulled the lever for Obama on November 4th. I say many and not all because of course the other "many" did make their choice out of core beliefs and an identification with Mr. Obama's agenda. But from what I have seen and heard in the campaign leading up to election day, I must conclude that countless millions do not have a clue about what they have just done.

A scant three days have passed and we already have a slight glimpse into how real power affects this man. Look at this!

This morning (Friday November 7th) a little bit more of Mr. Obama's personna leaked out. Obama is not yet our president. The electors we chose on November 4th have yet to vote. He is not yet sworn in. Nevertheless, he is already trumpeting his present position as "The Office of the President Elect."

Apparently, there is such an "office." It was created in 1963 under The Presidential Transition Act of 1963. But I had never heard of this office before now. I don't recall any press conferences by previous "presidents elect" with a sign and a seal. Maybe I just missed it. Ostentatious?

On his new website, www.change.gov, he posted this announcement:

Click on America Serves and read it for yourself.

"The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start."

Now community service is a good thing. But REQUIRE? I don't believe anyone in government has that kind of authority, do they? Did I miss something? Was a new amendment to the Constitution just passed granting this kind of authority to the president? Is this The Audacity of Hope? Or just plain old audacity?

This would be funny if it weren't so troubling.

We already have a window into this man's soul, don't we? Apparently he thinks that he can just order the everyday citizen to do stuff and that will be that. Wow.

Here is where the madness lies my friends. There are millions upon millions of our countrymen who don't even see a problem with this. They have become so accustomed to the government running our lives, telling us what we can and cannot do, where we can and cannot smoke a cigarette, what we can and cannot eat, or drink, or drive, that ordering us into community service seems perfectly OK.

This is the madness of which I speak, the insanity that has gripped our nation, the evidence that many Americans are no longer in their right mind.

The trickery is so subtle, so "under the radar." Americans are like the proverbial frog being parboiled in a slowly heating pot. We can't even see that our death is just a few more notches up that mercury-filled meter.

63,000,000 Americans bought into Mr. Obama's righteous platitudes, his slick, smooth delivery, his "coolness," his promise to restore America's reputation in the world. 63,000,000 Americans just sold themselves - nay sold every American - into a dreadful bondage to our entrenched, elected elites, and their fearsome horde of busybody bureaucrats.

Lost to most of these 63,000,000 Americans, our countrymen, are the fundamental principles that made our nation strong. I identified them here, and later here. Abandoning these historic American precepts for "required" community service, for "universal" healthcare, for mortgage bailouts, for the promise of higher taxes on the rich and those greedy businesses and a spreading of the wealth, is suicidal narcissism. How many of these 63,000,000 voters could actually explain why their values and ideas are better than the core principles captured by our founding fathers in our nation's founding documents?

Eric Rauch of American Vision calls the Obama phenomenon The Californication of the ObamaNation. Every election, America bears less and less resemblance to that industrious, independent, self-directed nation we used to be. Now, we just want our stuff. And we want it now. We appear to give little thought to the real cost of our selfishness, nor to the world we will leave behind for our children and grandchildren. Barack Obama is just the latest artfully packaged product we have been sold.

As Benjamin Franklin so deftly observed,"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

We are dancing precariously along the edge of a cliff. And so, with fear and trepidation, and with an acknowledged need of my utter dependence upon God, I am thoughtfully and prayerfully stepping slowly into a deeper commitment to my God, my family, and my country. I am making it public here.

I want to be used of God to inspire others with hope and vision, and to do what I can to provide weapons for fighting in this war of ideas, and some tools for planting, building, and restoring our Judeo-Christian American culture.

Many years ago, God gave me the following verse from the book of Jeremiah:

"See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." (Jeremiah 1:10 NIV)

Our work is cut out for us. The ultimate battle is not political. It is spiritual. It is intellectual. It is emotional. It is cultural.

I do sincerely believe that "madness has seized the hearts and minds of my countrymen." It is the kind of madness that insanely thinks only of the now and not of the future, only of the self and not of others, only of pleasure and not of the price of liberty and freedom.

The hearts and minds of many of our countrymen are held captive by the state, the media, and the schools. But God wants these hearts and minds. Those of us with the ability to see through all this foolishness must devote ourselves to freeing our neighbors from their bondage.

Joe Biden said that paying higher taxes is patriotic. Barack Obama intimated that to equate his desire to "spread the wealth around" with socialism, was to call "selfishness" a virtue. In my next blog I will examine the basics of socialism, explain why it's bad, why it isn't Biblical, and how our next president is planning to foolishly prescribe a socialistic, bureaucratic medicine for a "selfishness" that can only be remedied on a private, individual and personal level.

Please keep me in your prayers.

Update (11/08/08 11:30 PM):
Someone re-worded Obama's statement on his change.gov website to eliminate the word REQUIRE and add the words "setting a goal." Obviously they caught their mistake. But it is interesting to note the arrogance behind their original statement.

My Friend Tito

2008-10-25T13:08:00.017-05:00

Some of you reading this may be Obama supporters. If so, I'm sorry. I'm not sorry for what I believe, nor am I sorry for my right as an American to say what follows. I also understand that I do not have a right to be heard. So stop reading now if you don't want to hear. I am sorry that as an Obama supporter you have either deliberately abandoned, or perhaps have simply misunderstood, the ideals that have made our country the greatest country in the world. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and choose to believe that you have just misunderstood.

Barak Obama does not represent these historic American ideals. If you are stumbling over these first two paragraphs, then feel free to stop here and read no further. Unless of course you want to read about my friend Tito Munoz, a brand new American citizen, proud to be voting for the very first time in an American election, who wants to continue his pursuit of the American dream unencumbered by an oppressively large government bureaucracy.

My Friend Tito.
One of the joys of working for a manufacturer supplying the construction industry with materials is the opportunity to meet wonderful people. I have made many good friends these last 18 years selling concrete pipe and manholes.

One of my favorite customers is a fellow named Tito Munoz, owner of Deborn Construction Technologies. Tito was born in and grew up in Columbia, South America. A number of years ago, wanting to improve his life, Tito entered the U.S. He came in legally, played by the rules, started his own construction company, and just became a U.S. citizen a few weeks ago. He is so proud!

Last Saturday, Tito attended a McCain rally in Woodbridge, VA. Following John McCain's speech, Tito set out to engage the liberal media. You can read all about it here.

He lambasted the liberal press corps. “Why the hell are you going after Joe the Plumber? Joe the Plumber has an idea. He has a future. He wants to be something else. Why is that wrong? Everything is possible in America. I made it. Joe the Plumber could make it even better than me. . . . I was born in Colombia, but I was made in the U.S.A.”

Now Tito is in an official McCain ad. I have attached the Windows Media file. Tito appears twice, once at 19 seconds in, and again at 1 minute, 15 seconds in.

What Makes America Strong?
America is made strong by the millions of "Joe and Josephine the Plumbers" all across our land. We are the ones who show up to work every day, do our job, pay our bills, pay our taxes, and obey the law. We don't ask for government handouts. We don't think we are owed something. We don't believe it is the government's responsibility to fix everything. In fact we want the government out of our lives as much as possible. We want the government to focus on defending our nation, to provide an environment where trade and commerce can carry on encumbered by only a small handful of the most important regulations, where the tax code is simple. And we want a press corps made up of actual, true journalists with integrity instead of the posers we have now, shilling for their own private ideologies.

Vote for Freedom.
Vote November 4th. Vote for freedom. Vote for liberty. Vote to return our nation to the ideals of hard work, personal responsibility and accountability. Vote to keep alive the American dream for any who choose to make as much money as they want and can without the fear of pretenders in Washington stealing their hard-earned dollars for some socialist notion of "spreading the wealth."

America has never been about spreading the wealth. America has always been about ensuring freedom so hard working Americans can produce their own wealth. Why embrace this fanciful yet bankrupt socialist notion now? Yes, times are tough. Some have lost their jobs. Some have lost their homes. It isn't easy. But don't throw away your freedom for a crust of bread. Freedom is the most treasured gift we possess. Don't surrender it because you think you need to be taken care of. Don't yield your freedom for a false sense of security.

Smaller government + Lower taxes = More and greater opportunities for success.

The Poor.
Much talk is made today about caring for the poor. And we should be looking out for and helping those less fortunate than we. But how? The best way and the only way that really works, is to remove the barriers to success. Barriers were removed in the 1960's with the Civil Rights movement. But other barriers went up. Excessive and costly regulation of businesses, forcing many businesses to relocate overseas or outsource jobs. Massive government intrusion into business means jobs lost. Jobs lost means more people in or near poverty. The answer is not to take from the rich and give to the poor. The answer is to release the rich to be more productive. Poor people don't create jobs. Rich people do. Help the poor to help themselves by allowing the market to create more opportunities. Don't punish those who produce. Free them.

Vote Smart.
Don't be fooled. Don't go on emotion. Get your facts straight. Obama is no Messiah, no Savior. He is just a front man for elite socialists who think they have a right to rummage around in your pocketbook. And oh yeah, he also supports abortion on demand: http://www.durarealidad.com/

Yes, John McCain is old. Yes, he is a Republican and we have had a Republican in the Whitehouse for the last eight years. But if you really want to know what has caused a lot of this economic mess, especially the mortgage debacle and the foreclosures and failed loans, look no further than Bill Clinton, who in 1999 forced the mortgage industry through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to begin making subprime loans to first-time, underqualified buyers. And don't forget Democrats Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, who oversaw Fannie and Freddie, telling concerned Congresspeople and Senators that there were "no problems." If you don't believe me, research it for yourself. Better yet, let me know and I will send you a short movie clip from 2005 with all kinds of Democrats claiming Fannie and Freddie were just fine, thank you very much.

And although I am disappointed in George Bush, and disagree with Senator McCain on several issues (he was not my first choice), I believe that right now, John McCain is the only thing left standing between us and a government totally controlled by leftists who want to take our freedoms away. Think the right to bear arms, freedom of speech, the removal of "God" from public life and discourse, the control of the broadcast airwaves, the nationalization of private industry, and much, much more.

Save your freedom. Save our country. Join Tito Munoz, the hard-working, brand new American citizen, and vote McCain-Palin November 4th.

Update
It is being reported that the LA Times has in its possession, a video of Barack Obama making a toast to PLO terrorist leader Rashid Khalidi at a dinner party in 2003, a video the Times is refusing to make public. Read about it here.

True Conservatism is Hard Work

2008-09-06T14:07:00.014-05:00

Now that both party conventions are "in the can" the race for the Whitehouse has kicked into high gear. No more "presumptive nominee" language.

As I ready myself for the face-to-face debates, the TV interviews and all of the "air time," I can't help but wonder which candidates will tell me not only what they promise to do, but the thinking behind their promises. In other words, give us the reasoning behind your positions, don't just promise us you'll do stuff.

What is best for our country and why? Tell me that. Appeal to my intellect, not just my emotions. And tell me why your ideas will actually work and why the other guy's won't.

Obama promises to raise the minimum wage. OK. Why? How does that strengthen the economy? I don't understand. Follow MY thinking on this and tell me where I'm failing to understand.

Let's say that I'm a small business owner with twenty-five employees making the minimum wage. Suppose Mr. Obama takes office and he raises the minimum wage. Now my payroll costs have gone up. Instead of employing twenty-five people, I had to let three go to cover my additional payroll expenses. Three more people just entered the unemployment line.

Now there are ways around this, ways I can keep all of my people and still absorb the minimum wage increase. 1) The government could cut my taxes to offset my additional payroll costs. 2) The government could loosen up or eliminate some of their heavy burden regulations, all of which cost me money to comply with. 3) I could raise the cost of my products/services to offset the additional payroll costs.

Options 1) and 2) would be welcomed. But they are very, very unlikely to happen. Option 3) is not a very good option because I become less competitive in the marketplace. Of course my competitors would also be faced with these same choices, so that may be a wash. But then our collective price increases have just added to the inflationary cycle. Yes, my employees are making more money, as are employees across the country, but prices have also gone up because businesses need to make money to stay in business. So we are back to where we started from.

Help me understand how over-taxing and over-regulating businesses will keep jobs in the country. Help me understand how raising taxes on "big oil" will lower the price of gasoline. I just don't get it. Can anyone explain this to me?

If the government bails out homeowners who over-extended themselves, who maybe did not read the "fine print" about their adjustable rate or their balloon payment, my hard earned money, collected at tax time from Uncle Sam, will be thrown down the drain. My government is using my money to reinforce the bad judgment and bad spending habits of my foolish countrymen.

Psychologists call this co-dependency. Co-dependency takes two parties. One party misbehaves. The other party fails to confront, allowing the bad behavior to continue. The second party is known as the enabler.

Our federal government, and many of its state counterparts are guilty of grossly enabling millions upon millions of Americans who refuse to step up to their own responsibilities.

Someone please explain to me why we continue to throw money at public education. Benjamin Franklin once quipped that insanity is "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Our public school systems do not need more money. They need more people committed to the idea of hard work and its commensurate rewards, people who have no problem failing students who don't perform, people who will not put up with nonsense. Public education needs to get back to teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic, teaching our young ones how to think and reason and analyze ideas. Private schools, charter schools, and home schools are running rings around public schools, and often with fewer resources.

True conservatism is hard work. One has to actually engage the brain. True conservatism requires adhering to principles despite their unpopularity and the temporary difficulty such adherence might bring. It is kind of like walking with Jesus in a way. We are to obey Him even if it makes our lives more difficult.

I don't want platitudes. I want a clear-headed plan. I want a plan built upon sound, defensible, proven principles. And if the plan is good, even though it will cost me something, I'm in.

Liberals, and those who vote them into office, seem to want the easy road. "Give me my share." "Take care of me." "It's my right."

It is easy to be a liberal. All one has to do is point the finger at someone and blame them for their difficulty. As a liberal, one only needs to think loosely, put together a speech or a platform that sounds good. But when it is dissected and analyzed, huge holes in reasoning are usually found. For example, Barack Obama claims that our focus on Iraq has left Afghanistan weakened. What he fails to note or acknowledge is that Afghanistan's neighbor, Pakistan, is openly harboring and providing succor to Al Quaeda and Taliban terrorists in the mountains that border their country. Could it be that Pakistan, a sovereign country in its own right, has made our job more difficult?

But to be a conservative, one has to work. One has to think and reason. One has to assemble all the pieces of an argument, not just parts of it. It takes work. It requires not only critical thinking skills, but the willingness to employ them.

Being a conservative also means that one has to step up and take responsibility. Todd and Sarah Palin chose to have their baby, Trig, despite the fact that they knew he had Downs Syndrome. Extra work, extra care, extra time, extra thought would accompany this tough decision of theirs and they did not shrink back. They saw Trig as a blessing, not as a "punishment" as Mr. Obama does, reflecting on his response should one of his young girls become pregnant at an early age.

God created us to manage our own lives. Government in its most basic form begins with the self. It then extends to the family. The idea of big governments taking care of millions of people (or should I say trying to take care of millions of people) is not found in Scripture. The only job a civil government should tackle in this regard is "setting the table" to make it possible for people to take care of themselves, to manage their own lives.

Oh sure, we are to be our "brothers keeper," to share his burden and to help carry his load. But that's OUR job, not the job of our government in Washington. And it's OK to ask for help. It's OK to receive charity now and then. My family certainly has. We have been through long seasons of hand-to-mouth existence and have survived because of the kindness and charity of others. But not as a lifestyle. Not as a permanent state of being.

I have experienced a job layoff, collected unemployment, been without work, and stood in the SERVE line for food and financial assistance. I know what it's like to wake up every morning not knowing how my bills are going to be paid. I know the fear of losing my home, losing everything. I have driven cars that were just one breakdown away from the junkyard. I have worked two jobs to try and make ends meet. I got up at 3:30 in the morning to deliver papers. All of this to keep my kiddies fed.

I have started three businesses in my lifetime. Two are now defunct and the third exists only on paper. I know failure and it is not fun. So I write from first-hand experience.

And I still say we need to get off our butts and quit blaming others for our problems. Our lives are our responsibility, not others, and certainly not the government's.

This November, when I go to the polls to vote, I will not vote for the silver-tongued, platitudinous promise maker. I will pull the lever for the candidate who best understands the principles and ideals that made this nation great, the party which has traditionally celebrated and promoted hard work, self-reliance, and personal responsibility.

Voting Republican might, in the short term, make life a bit more difficult, but in the long term will ensure a brighter future for our children and grandchildren.

Voting Democrat might make you feel as if you are voting for "change," but in the end you will only be burdening your children and grandchildren with the bill for the "freebies" you get today.

McCain/Palin '08.

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Clarity

2008-09-05T04:52:00.020-05:00

When John McCain sewed up the Republican Party's nomination this spring, I, like millions of other true conservatives, shook my head in disbelief and disappointment. The man known as the "Maverick" had betrayed his party and our conservative cause. His role in McCain-Feingold, his "gang of 14" efforts and its impact upon judicial confirmations, and his leadership in the failed Senate push for "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" angered me and countless others. My vote on November 4th would be cast for him, but tepidly, reluctantly, more as a vote against ZerObama than for the aging Senator from Arizona.

And although I am still angered at Mr. McCain for the "shamnesty" debacle in the Senate last spring, and what I deem are his several other misguided efforts, I have begun growing unexpectedly warm to him these last few days.

Last Friday's introduction of Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin shocked me as it did the rest of the world. His nearly flawless rollout of the announcement on the heels of his opponent's Invesco Field spectacle delighted me. Palin's spectacular Wednesday night address in St. Paul assuaged any doubts about his judgment for his veep selection. And during his Thursday night acceptance speech the ice continued to melt.

I have begun to see his maverick nature in a new light. Sarah Palin's war against government corruption, even within her own party, got me to thinking afresh about how my party's own representatives in Washington had betrayed us. We Republicans had the Whitehouse, the Senate and the House. And what did we do with this power? We squandered a perfect opportunity. Our Republican representatives, and even our president, recklessly authorized the waste of billions upon billions of dollars of the people's money. Big-moneyed lobbyists bought influence. Corruption ensued.

Although not nearly as charismatic as his running mate, McCain, speaking to his party and the nation, laid out his case for reform. He pointed to his own party's failures and to the failure of big government to deliver upon its myriad promises to make our lives better. He said:

"We believe in a government that unleashes the creativity and initiative of Americans -- government that doesn't make your choices for you, but works to make sure you have more choices to make for yourself."

Earlier in the election season, I had learned of McCain's strong record of opposing legislative "earmarks," what we used to call "riders," those troublesome bill attachments filled with self-serving "pork-barrel" money--the reason most of West Virginia's parks, bridges, and public buildings have Harry Byrd's name in front of them. Why should the money I worked hard to earn in Virginia money go to fund a "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska?

McCain and his team have proven to be far smarter, far more adept and intuitive than I, and many others, gave them credit for. They craftily conceived their theme of "Country First," and brought Palin on board to reinforce it with her dynamic testimony of taking on waste and corruption. Then Thursday night as he walked haltingly out on the stage, unable to raise his arms above his shoulders as he waved to the crowd in the convention hall because of the torture he endured, my resistance softened to this unusual man. Then he won me over with the very personal story of his own awakening, his own painful road to discovering his love of country over love of self. He demonstrated true humility, even alluding to being broken by his captors in Viet Nam and how his countrymen saved his life, feeding him when he could not feed himself.

Both Palin and McCain are authentic. ZerObama is smoke and mirrors.

Honestly, as one who has long carried a burden for the direction this country has taken these last forty years, my hope has been renewed. Both Palin and McCain have shown me that in our cause of liberty and our battle against the ever-encroaching menace of big government, we are not alone. I have been energized afresh to fight. McCain invited me to join him to do just that.

"Fight with me. Fight with me. Fight for what's right for our country. Fight for the ideals and character of a free people. Fight for our childrens' future. Fight for justice and opportunity for all. Stand up to defend our country from its enemies. Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America. Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history."

This election is no longer about choosing "the lesser of two evils." Clarity broke into our lives this week. And on November 4th, when I go to cast my vote, I won't be holding my nose after all.

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I'm a Palinista

2008-09-01T16:36:00.019-05:00

The news of John McCain's selection of Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate came as a surprise to everyone.

Not long after McCain had sewed up the nomination I stumbled across her name somewhere in one of the many political blogs I peruse every day. And after reading a little bit about her, I thought that she would be a great choice for the "maverick" Senator from Arizona to add to his team. But I dismissed the idea as a real longshot. When the news came last Friday, I could barely contain my excitement.

Governor Palin has taken the nation by storm with her short but successful history of cleaning up corruption in her home state. With her NRA membership, her PTA,"hockey mom" everydayness, her Downs Syndrome new-born, her "choice" to walk the walk regarding her "pro-life" stance, and her good looks, she is the talk of the nation.

Sarah "Barracuda" Louise Heath Palin played high school basketball. Her team won the Alaska small school championship in 1982. She served as a leader in her high school's Fellowship of Christian Atheletes (FCA) chapter. Beneath her picture in her highschool yearbook are these words: "He is the Light and in the Light there is Life." She represented her home town of Wasilla Alaska in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant and came in second. She owns a float plane. She fishes and she hunts. Moose stew is her favorite food. She rides snowmobiles. In 1988 she worked as a "sportscaster" for KTUU-TV in Anchorage.

Her husband Todd, part Yup’ik Eskimo, is a registered Independent and a member of the United Steelworkers Union. Together, they run a commercial fishing business.

Their son is soon deploying to Iraq.

She is a Christian. She and her family hold membership at The Church on the Rock in their home town of Wasilla, and attend Juneau Christian Center when working at the state capital.

Palin's very well delivered introductory speech in Dayton, Ohio on Friday morning made it clear that she is a force to be reckoned with. She has shaken things up quite a bit in her home state and enjoys an 80% approval rating as governor. She is clearly a strong conservative, although she is fiercely independent. She opposes federal "earmarks" and has stood up to "big oil."

From what I've read, Palin is the most knowledgable of all the candidates on both major party tickets when it comes to the oil industry. She has conducted meetings with Canadian leaders, and oversees the Alaskan National Guard which is our first line of defense against the Russians who are a mere fifty miles across the Bering Strait.

Today Ms. Palin disclosed that her seventeen year old daughter Bristol is pregnant. Bristol and the baby's father, known only as "Levi," plan to marry soon. Bristol made her own "choice" to see the pregnancy through.

What I like so much about this family is that they are as real as they come. True, red-blooded American pioneers, living life with gusto, unafraid to stand up for what they believe, yet flawed like all of us. Just plain real.

In fact, I am so excited about this unexpected development that I sent the McCain campaign $25.00. I would never have done that without her on the ticket. In fact, I have never done it for any presidential candidate until now.

Palin has already been assaulted by the left wing media, and no doubt will continue to be. Left wingers are trying desperately to a find of photo of Sarah Palin in a bikini. (I put that last line in there just to draw more hits to my blog. Sorry suckers. Although it is true.)

I'm a Palinista. You go Sarah! And Lord, keep them all safe. Amen.

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But Capitalism is Not Enough

2008-08-17T15:35:00.017-05:00

The Summer Olympics delivered China into our living rooms. At least the China its leaders want us to see. Presenting an unparalleled visual smorgasbord in the opening ceremony, the Chinese spared no expense to show off their country and their culture to the world. China pulled out all of the stops to sell itself. A better job Madison Avenue could not have done.

In the last decade or two, China has risen from what was once a backwards, agrarian country to a modern capitalist engine. More and more of the products we buy and the food we eat originate in China. As with other nations emerging into the 20th and now 21st century, manufacturing and industry are replacing agriculture and generating wealth.

But capitalism is not enough.

We are not really clear on the back stories behind the Chinese athletes. A young female gymnast who appeared to be no older than fourteen reportedly said that she did not know whether her parents were in the stands for her performances. Is this typical? Chinese officials are saying that the sporting venues are not filled to capacity for fear of violence and civil unrest. One can only wonder what is really going on behind the smoothly choreographed events.

But this we can know. Capitalism works. What we are seeing in China is the indisputable metamorphosis of the world's most populous nation. In economic terms, China's recent discovery of capitalism is slowly bringing it into serious economic competition with the West.

But as I said above, capitalism is not enough. It is not enough for China. It is not enough for our own nation. In different ways and for different reasons, our own form of American capitalism has become unhealthy and imbalanced. And it is not the first time.

In the early decades following our nation's founding, slave labor drove much of our economy. Textile plants in the North spun cotton harvested by slaves in the South. At the height of the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, unions formed to provide counterweight and protection for workers abused by wealthy industrial magnates. Strikes became commonplace and sometimes violent.

In the 1890's, many industrial giants came under the scrutiny of legislators who passed laws like the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Dubbed "Trustbusters," government officials began breaking up companies which had created virtual monopolies in their particular industries, driving up prices and crushing smaller competitors. In 1911, US courts forced Standard Oil to divide into six smaller entities. We witnessed a similar breakup of the AT&T company in the 1970's. And the US Justice Department has long been after Microsoft.

Personally, I am a huge believer in free-market economics. Private industry and entrepreneurship function so much better than does the government. But like everything, private industry must be watched and checked from time to time.

Today, more and more jobs are leaving the USA as companies seek to compete in the global marketplace. Companies can produce goods for less in foreign countries because labor is so much cheaper overseas. And the subtle encouragement for illegal aliens to steal across the border and into our country for "jobs Americans won't do" is likewise disturbing. The "Almighty Dollar" reigns.

But the almighty dollar will only take us, or China, or any country, so far. Ultimately, worship of the dollar, or "mammon" as our Savior labeled it, can only lead to loss of conscience, sacrifice of principle, the selling of the soul, and the weakening of our patriotism.

We fat, lazy, spoiled Americans had best snap out of our slumber. Our great nation has been compromised not only by the pursuit of pleasure and the devaluing of human life and marriage, but by our pursuit of mammon.

No man, no nation, can serve two masters.

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Shut Up and Drill

2008-07-14T02:35:00.011-05:00

When it comes to talk of "green," I am first a skeptic. I deeply distrust the mainstream media, the public education system, and our institutions of higher learning. I see in these institutions an intentional, organized push toward an indoctrination of the general public, particularly our youth. If you doubt my statement, just ask yourself how free our science teachers are to discuss the "Intelligent Design" alternative to the "creed" of Darwinism in the classroom.

When it comes to politics, I prize liberty above everything. Liberty is the engine which has made our nation the most prosperous, the most blessed nation on earth. If my grandchildren are to enjoy these same blessings, then I see myself as having a responsibility to defend liberty—liberty of thought, liberty of worship, liberty to pursue one's dreams and aspirations. To me, liberty sits far above protecting the environment on my scale of important things. And this is so because once liberty is gone, it is almost impossible to get it back.

I grew up in Cleveland Ohio. For a short time I lived on the third floor of an old house that overlooked the Cuyahoga River Valley. At night I would walk out onto the metal fire escape and look out at the steel plants belching fire out of their smokestacks. I could see the river barges moving coal and other raw materials up and down the river. Trains also carried their goods in and out of those plants. Both night and day that entire river valley bustled with manufacturing activity. Dirt and noise filled that valley, the valley that provided jobs and income for thousands of men so they could put food on their tables and feed their families.

Then in 1969 the Cuyahoga River caught fire. $45,000 of damage was done to the Norfolk & Western trestle bridge over the Cuyahoga. We became the laughingstock of the country for a while. But that dirty old river had had two previous fires, one in 1936, and one in 1952.

Cleveland sits on Lake Erie. The Great Lakes, especially Erie, suffered greatly from toxins and trash. After the fire, the US Congress passed the Clean Water Act and efforts to clean up the river and the lake went into full swing.

I was part of a small clean-up crew in 1970. A bunch of us went down to one of the beaches of Lake Erie and picked up trash and debris. It was filthy. Dead pigeons littered the beach. The air was putrid.

Nearly forty years later, the steel mills are gone, the river and lake are cleaned up, and the Cleveland waterfront, along with the Cuyahoga River valley are enjoying a renaissance of parks, recreation, restaurants, walking paths, and many other people-friendly features.

I tell this story only to demonstrate that environments can be reclaimed. Political liberty on the other hand, is not nearly so easy to recapture once taken.

Liberty of course comes with responsibility, and our nation certainly has a long laundry list of abused liberties. Labor unions came into real influence around 100 years ago because factory owners, mine owners, and other wealthy business magnates took advantage of their workers. In time, our federal government crafted laws and established agencies to defend and protect the little guy. Today, labor unions exist primarily to line the pockets of labor union bosses and to perpetuate their existence.

I grew up in the fifties and sixties. In those days our highways were utterly littered with trash. Our public rights-of-way looked like today's third world countries. Recycling did not even exist. Everything was used up and then just tossed out.

We've learned. We've become much more cognizant of our environment. And that's a good thing.

My father was one of the first people hired by the EPA when they came into existence in 1971. In fact, his job here in DC is the reason I live in Virginia today.

Our nation's economy runs on oil. And 70% of the oil we use comes from outside of the United States. We have become far too dependent on foreign oil. Because of our politicians' fear of radical environmentalists, we have become prisoners of OPEC.

As for the "hated" oil companies themselves, say what you want about them, but they keep this country running. Eighteen wheelers bring us our food, our clothes, and everything else we Americans consume on a daily basis. Airlines carry millions of people across this great land of ours every year. Transportation, which runs largely on oil, is absolutely vital to a healthy economy. Right now, Florida's economy is in the tank. Why? It's largely due to the drop in the tourist trade. People can no longer afford to travel like they used to.

The company I work for has eight plants in Florida. Five of them have been shut down this year.

I have truck-driving friends whose livelihood depends on oil. Just the other day I heard that it cost a driver over $900.00 to fill up his tanks with diesel fuel. Many truckers are now off the road, unable to afford the fuel. The rising cost of oil drives up the cost of everything else. When people can no longer afford to buy products, the workers that provide them lose their jobs. Everyone suffers.

"But even if we drill for oil today, it will take ten years to see the benefit."

I don't know about you, but I have grown weary of what former Senator Phil Gramm calls "whiners." What happened to the American "can do" spirit? What happened to the America that built the largest military in just four short years and defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan? What happened to the America that, nearly one hundred years ago, dug a 51 mile-long canal through the tiny nation of Panama, with locks capable of handling ships 1,000 feet long? We saw what needed to be done, and did it.

Construction began on the ALCAN Highway in March of 1942. The 1,320 mile road from Dawson Creek British Columbia, to Delta Junction Alaska was completed just seven months later, in September of 1942. From March of 1975 to May of 1977, workers constructed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, an 800 mile conduit to carry crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska. We landed a man on the moon in 1969—almost forty years ago.

These examples show that when Americans decide to do something, we can do just about anything that needs to be done. Why can't we drill for our own oil and seek out new and renewable energy sources at the same time?

Today, we need oil to keep America strong. We need to wean ourselves from FOREIGN oil. We can do this. We should do this. And we can do it all while developing new, renewable sources of energy at the same time.

France's electric power is about 80% nuclear.

The environmental restrictions we labor under the weight of today strike at our liberty. That's how I see it. And the global warming alarmists want to lay more on us. They want to control the cars we drive, the light bulbs we use, and the food we eat.

I value liberty too much to stand by and do nothing. That's why I vote, why I write, why I speak out whenever the opportunity presents itself, and why I am in regular contact with my senators, my congressman, and even my president. I also write my state representatives as well.

I am not advocating destroying the environment. Besides, that wouldn't happen anyway. We've come too far and learned too much. What I am advocating is using our minds, our willingness to work hard, our American freedoms and know-how to find a way out of this mess. For the short term it will take oil. Fifty years from now, regardless of new technology, we will still need oil to some degree.

We just need the chains of government control loosened so we Americans can do what we have historically done better than anyone else in the world. Find solutions to problems.

Yeah ... I am essentially a free-market, laissez-faire capitalist. The free market almost always works better than the government. The people are almost always smarter and wiser than the politicians.

Look at the ethanol debacle. The government, under pressure from environmentalists, mandated that all of our gasoline include a mixture of bio-fuel. Corn ethanol is the bio-fuel of choice. Here are the unhappy facts: 1) the production of corn-ethanol (clearing of land, production, and transportation of the product to market) leaves twice the "carbon footprint" as gasoline; 2) corn-ethanol produces between two and nine times the greenhouse gases as the gasoline it replaces; 3) corn prices have soared because farmers are now producing corn for ethanol and not for food.

All this is because an army of government experts decided that they knew better than the free market.

I say, "Shut up and drill."

Dwarfed by Giants

2008-07-06T14:12:00.002-05:00

Saturday morning a friend dropped by the house and loaned me the seven part HBO series, John Adams. Last evening I watched Part II, Independence. I was deeply moved by the portrayal of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, struggling to find a way to deal with the oppression of Great Britain's King George. I decided that while we are still in our 4th of July weekend, and while things were still fresh, I needed to write something.

So far, this acclaimed series lives up to its reputation. The performances of both Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as "dearest friends" John and Abigail Adams, amaze. The quality of the production itself easily compares with the other Tom Hanks produced HBO series, Band of Brothers. And Tom Wilkinson's portrayal of the old sage, Benjamin Franklin, could not have been more believable.

But none of the above are my reasons for writing.

What compelled me to write was not the production itself, the actors, or even the conversion of work to a screenplay. I write because I saw the staggering peerlessness of the men in Philadelphia that summer of 1776. Watching Adams, Dickenson, Rutledge, and occasionaly Franklin debate the principles of independence, liberty, and the natural rights of men brought me to realize just what dwarfs we have for leaders in our generation.

Today, our elected officials wield power over some 300 million Americans. Most would argue that our world is far more complex than it was 232 years ago. And their arguments would be sound.

In 1776, the delegates in Philadelphia held the fate of 2-1/2 million colonists in their hands, a miniscule number compared to today's masses. And yet, upon the shoulders of those men weighed not only their own fate, and the fate of those they represented, but the future political course of the whole world.

Never in history had a nation come into existence so deliberately, so purposefully, so intentionally. What these men did has yet to be replicated. Oh yes, other nations have copied us to some measure, re-designed their system of government, and re-structured themselves in a new way. But none have made so clear and precise a break with intentions as noble, as high-minded.

We are, as noted in my previous blog, a nation "of the people, by the people, and for the people." Any free nation, with the privilege and opportunity to choose their own leaders, clearly gets the leaders they deserve. And so the only explanation for the dwarfish leaders we have, is the dwarfish people we have become.

Regarding the basic elements of our self-governing system, the spectacular ignorance of the general population in America is more than alarming. We are unskilled in wielding big ideas. We have become reduced to slandering those who don't agree with us rather than debate ideas on their merits.

As a baby boomer, I have watched my share of presidential debates, both in the primaries and in general elections. They make me very sad. Few and far between can we find candidates who stand, unashamedly, on an ideological platform they can passionately defend. They dodge and weave through the tough questions, hoping to supply answers that will leave them wiggle room should the winds shift direction. Few with firm convictions emerge from the pack. Most are simply proefessional opportunists with deep pockets seeking power and influence.

Our founders were reluctant everymen. Farmers, doctors and shopkeepers, they convened in Philadelphia to address the problem of British oppression. Little did they expect when they first arrived that they would break ties with England and form a new nation. They made great sacrifices to do their duty. They pledged everything (their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor), expecting that everything would be lost. And yet they chose this course because they believed it to be the correct course.

In 1825, one year before John Adams passed away (both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July 4th, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence), young neighbor Ralph Waldo Emerson stopped by to visit him. Emerson later recorded their conversation in which Adams stated, "I wish people had more ambition. Ambition of the laudable kind. To excel."

Indeed, we stand as dwarfs to these giants.

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We the Middling People

2008-07-04T10:32:00.017-05:00

I offer my thoughts this Independence Day, July 4th, 2008.

In 1747, Benjamin Franklin, a man who would one day become a founding father of our nation, published a pamphlet titled Order, Discipline, and a Few Cannon. His purpose for this pamphlet was to rouse the everyday people to form a citizen's militia. He referred to his fellow Philadelphians as "we, the middling People, the Tradesmen, Shopkeepers, and Farmers of this Province and City."

Middling? Average. Everyday. Common. Joe Six-Pack.

America has always been about "we the middling people." We are the nation who rejected the reign of monarchs, who established a system of self-government run "of the people, by the people, and for the people." We Americans have historically been able to do just about anything we set our minds to do.

We defeated Great Britain, the world's mightiest military twice, once in 1775-83 and again in 1812-14. We survived a war between ourselves and came out better for it. We built telegraph lines from coast to coast, then railroads, then telephone lines, then airlines, then Interstate highways. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we geared up our factories and built the world's mightiest military machine in just four short years, defeating Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. We set the wheels in motion to correct past abuses when we repealed Jim Crow laws and determined that the "civil rights" of every American would be protected. We landed a man on the moon.

But now, pundits are decrying the horrible condition of of things in this sad little country of ours. Other nations are passing us by in education, technology, science, etc. Fareed Zakaria writes in Newsweek of his read on the American situation:

"American anxiety springs from something much deeper, a sense that large and disruptive forces are coursing through the world. In almost every industry, in every aspect of life, it feels like the patterns of the past are being scrambled. "Whirl is king, having driven out Zeus," wrote Aristophanes 2,400 years ago. And—for the first time in living memory—the United States does not seem to be leading the charge. Americans see that a new world is coming into being, but fear it is one being shaped in distant lands and by foreign people."

Zakaria goes on to say that the day is coming when America will no longer be the leader of the free world. Huh? ... who will take our place, then? Will there even be a "free world" if America slips from the stage? Read it for yourself: The Rise of the Rest.

I admit that there is somewhat of a pall that hangs over our country these days. We are portrayed by media as a nation divided. We are "red states" and "blue states." And according to Michelle Obama, America is "just downright mean."

None of this makes us feel real good about ourselves, does it? And it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, either. How is it that we have somehow slipped into this self-induced, "woe is me" state?
We suffer from an identity crisis. Who are we? Apparently we are not as sure as we once were.

Are we the same "middling people" who did all of those great things listed above, and more, or are we now some other people? Have we lost pride in our country, our flag? Is patriotism now passé?

America is becoming like the child who has been told over and over and over again by a parent that they will never amount to anything. Our self-image is bruised. We beat each other up with our words. Our national psyche has been damaged.

Have "we the middling people" trusted too much in our presidents, our judges, our congressmen, our senators, our bureaucrats, our radio talk show hosts, our college professors, our media elites?

Well ..... duh.

Hey, here's some GOOD news! America belongs to "we the middling people." It is ours, not theirs! The first step in climbing out of our national "malaise" is to remember the first three words of our nation's Constitution: "We the middling People."

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Is it OK to Laugh Now?

2008-06-24T19:55:00.004-05:00

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Shiny and Beautful but Check Under the Hood

2008-06-22T21:40:00.009-05:00

Barack Obama recently introduced a new seal, designed, no doubt, to resemble the Presidential seal. These days, running for office is more of a marketing campaign than a test of qualifications. Packaging a presidential hopeful now requires Madison Avenue expertise.

Unknown just a year ago, Obama blasted off and quickly shot to the top of the polls with his captivating rhetoric and his catch phrases "Yes We Can" and "Change We Can Believe In." Luring and attractive, this candidate appeals mostly to those who don't care for substance, or those who don't even realize that substance actually exists. Women have fainted at his rallies. He has been dubbed Obamamessiah by those who see through his brittle facade.

Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and well known essayist and novelist Ralph Peters recently remarked that Obama is like a beautiful Ferrari with no engine under the hood.

I agree.

And apparently, this is just the beginning. For Obama's next marketing move, click here.

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The Price of a Well Oiled Machine

2008-06-21T06:12:00.007-05:00

The gradual creep of of governmental control over our daily lives marches on slowly, methodically, and unnoticed by millions. Way too many people actually believe that our federal government can be more efficient and more effective in managing our day-to-day affairs than we can ourselves. Year by year, Americans relinquish a little bit more of their freedoms for what they believe is security.

But on the whole, government-run programs have proven to be a colossal failure. Nearly thirty years, and billions upon billions of dollars after the U.S. Department of Education came into existence in 1979 at the end of Jimmy Carter's term, look at the still pitiful condition of education in America.

LBJ's attempt to create a "Great Society" failed utterly. Our nation's "War on Poverty" and "War on Drugs" have been nothing more than black holes, draining American treasure.

Medicare, Medicade, and Social Security limp along under the constant threat of collapse. FEMA flunked a major exam when tested on Hurricane Katrina. And yet our politicians continue to promise us the moon even as one government run program after another fails to deliver.

Just recently, two Democractic Congresspeople said that the federal government should take control of oil companies. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) said, “We should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.” And Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), in a recent Congressional hearing let slip these thoughts about government control of the oild industry. “Guess what this liberal (referring to herself) will be about? This liberal will be all about socializing - um, uh … will be about … basically … taking over, and the government running all of your companies.”

Two government run institutions do seem to work fairly well, however. America's space program, run by NASA, has, with a few bumps along the way, consistently yielded a good return on our investment dollars. Perhaps this is because space, and the technology it fosters, is really an industry.

But the greatest, historically proven success in government run institutions is the military. We can disagree on the merits or even morality of fighting in Iraq, but most will concede that our Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and even our Coast Guard are essentially well oiled machines. Yes, they too experience waste and mismanagement, but on the whole, they are far more efficient than other government run institutions.

But why is the military so much more successful at what it does than those government run programs on the civilian side? Could it be because military authority is so much more absolute? When a young man or woman joins the military, they surrender just about everything. They no longer have control over their time. They cannot choose where they live or what they do. Their wardrobe is very limited. They don't even have the ability to choose their own doctor or hospital should they need medical care.

So, be careful what you wish for. If you want the "government" to care for you from cradle to grave, then be prepared to surrender your freedom.

The Myth of Multiculturalism

2008-06-18T20:54:00.025-05:00

America's journey down the road toward multiculturalism leads to a cliff.

Before you throw up your hands in disgust and write me off as another racist, xenophobic, close-minded, right-wing religious nut, ask yourself a simple question:

What is culture?

For our purposes we will limit the exploration of the word's meaning to a "set of learned beliefs, values and behaviors—the way of life shared by the members of a society."

The word "culture" stems from the Latin word cultura which finds its roots in the word "worship." At the heart of every culture is who or what the people of a culture worship.

Archaeological findings from ancient cultures demonstrate the central role of religion in national life since the beginning of time. The ancient Egyptians, primarily a farming culture, worshipped many gods, each representing a different part of the nature that was so much a part of their daily lives: Ra, the sun god; Tefnut, the god of rain; Seb, god of the earth; and Nat, goddess of the sky.

The Greeks also gave obeisance to a variety of gods. The list is long, but here are a few: Zeus and Poseidon—nature; Apollo—music, prophecy, poetry, archery; Dionysus—wine, festivals, merriment; Aphrodite—love, lust, beauty; Ares—war, murder, bloodshed.

Although these ancient cultures worshipped many gods, their gods collectively represented their core beliefs. Each of their "small g" gods embodied an element of life that held significance for their singular culture. These ancient communities were not multicultural. They had one religion consisting of numerous deities, each with limited power. But together, these deities incorporated the whole.

In constrast, the ancient Hebrews worshipped one, all-powerful God who they believed had revealed Himself at various times, in various ways, to various people. Their primary source of knowledge of God came from the Pentateuch, what we know today as the first five books of the Old Testament. But on many occasions throughout the history of ancient Israel, we see a straying from the worship and obedience to the God of the Pentateuch, and an embracing of the gods of neighboring cultures: Dagon, the chief Phillistine god; Baal, the Caananite god; Ashtoreth, god of the Phoenicians; Chemosh, god of the Moabites.

Whenever the Israelites abandoned the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they fell prey to the myth of multiculturalism. They believed that they could have things both ways. They wanted God's blessings to continue while they disobeyed His commands.

But their frequent experimenting with other religions always took them to the edge of a cliff. And sometimes they tumbled over the side to their deaths.

Throughout the world, many countries, especially western nations, include a "state religion" as a central component of their nationhood. Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Finland recognize the Lutheran Church as their official "state religion." Great Britain long ago established Anglicanism as theirs, and many of the cantons (states) of Switzerland list the Reformed faith as theirs. Likewise, most Middle Eastern nations recognize Islam as their official "state religion."

The historic success of American culture rests largely upon its Judeo-Christian foundation. For generations, Americans embraced the idea that we were a Christian nation. Though made up of Christians from many streams, from mainstream Protestant, to Evangelical and Pentecostal, to Catholic and Orthodox, we rested secure in the knowledge that on Sunday mornings it was Jesus Christ being worshipped almost universally from Boston to San Diego, from Miami to Seattle.

Whether English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, German, Scandanivian, French, Italian, Greek, Polish, or Czech, we knew that America was first and foremost a Christian nation. We brought with us our unique sub-cultural flavors, but we embraced America first, and did not find offense in its rudimentary, Christian quintessence.

And yet, neither of our nation's two founding documents (the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) mention Jesus Christ, or even name God directly. By the time our nation's founders sat down to craft the constitution that would form and govern our new nation, many Christian faiths were represented throughout the thirteen colonies. But our nation's founders purposefully determined not to make Christianity our "state religion."

Historian Sydney Ahlstrom, in his work titled, A Religious History of the American People, dubs America from it's beginnings in the early 1600's to the Civil War era of the mid-1800's, as The Protestant Empire. Protestant Christianity has been, and remains, the primary religious component of our republic. In generations past, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) dominated America's cultural landscape. For the first 171 years of American history, we did not elect one Catholic to our nation's highest office. Not until John F. Kennedy took the oath of office in 1961 did we put a non-Protestant man in the White House. And we have not elected a non-Protestant since. Out of our 43 presidents to date, 42 of them have been Protestants.

Through the years, those on the outside of this dominant Protestant circle (Catholics and Jews) learned to bear the sometimes-inflicted stigma of being non-Protestant in a Protestant land. Blacks and native Americans however bore the almost insufferable burden of being labeled by many as "sub-human." Thus, even in the midst of the God-rendered blessings of liberty and prosperity, our "Protestant Empire" became tarnished and stained by our unChristian treatment of those not like us.

Despite the abominable actions of some in our past, our Christian nation remained strong and secure from its inception through WWII. Yet bubbling beneath the surface, a cauldron of atheistic, hedonistic, and socialistic unrest threatened to erupt.

United for generations by our mutually-embraced Christian faith, we began to slowly gravitate toward the conduits of popular culture to define our Americanness. Film, radio, telelvision and youthful music began to unite Americans in a new way. The Civil Rights Movement arrived in our homes via our televisions, while our movies began to portray the darker side of American history. Racial unrest in many of our nation's urban areas, and social unrest among our youth, opened wide a crack in our Christian civilization. The bubbling, godless cauldron beneath the surface broke through and began gushing across the landscape.

Those promoting godlessness and secularism employed our own shame and embarassment to weaken our resolve, using the unsightly components of our own history against us. Faced with the ugly reality of some of our Christian forbears' unseemly conduct, and the guilt and shame it produced, many Christians shrunk back from defending our Christian heritage.

Into the breach swept the new false religions of atheism, socialism, materialism, moral relativism, political correctness, humanism, Darwinism, narcissism, radical feminism, hedonism, and nihilism (love of death). These are the gods we wrestle with today, the gods who are turning our nation from a thriving Christian culture, into a multicultural mess of self-worshipping heathenism.

Blogger Baron Bodissey of Gates of Vienna expresses so well what I have been trying to articulate in The Greatest Betrayal in History:

"What we are dealing with in the Western world is demographic warfare closely aligned with psychological warfare, aimed at breaking down our self-confidence and self-awareness to the point where our technological superiority is rendered useless because we are ashamed of ourselves or incapable of articulating what we should fight for. Sun Tzu in The Art of War said that wars are won in the temples before they are fought. The mass media are the temples of our time, which means that we are currently losing badly."

Hatred of America is now widely promoted in our schools and in our media. In many places within our own borders, America has become something to loath and despise. Consider the recent remarks by presidential candidate, Barak Obama:

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Without pride in our nation and culture, we will not rise to defend them. Indeed we will likely assist in their destruction either by direct action, or by doing nothing.

Multiculturalism, the false idea that a nation can serve many gods at once, will be the end of America.

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Domestication, Feminization, Wussification Part II

2008-06-17T06:30:00.007-05:00

My online conversation at Black Velvet Bruce Lee under the author's blog entry of Happy Metrosexual Fathers Day continued as another reader commented on my comments:

Mark W. Weaver, What happened 40 years ago that changed things around? I am curious.

So, I replied:

Let’s see. Where do I begin… ?

1) Prayer was taken out of the public schools (45 years ago)
2) The Supreme Court approved the murder of the unborn, allowing pregnant parents to discard their children because of inconvenience, thus devaluing “human life” in general (Roe v. Wade 35 years ago)
3) Playboy, Penthouse, and likeminded publications began the devaluing of women, telling men that its OK to yield to their baser instincts, and that women were merely objects to be possessed
4) Moral absolutism was rejected in favor of moral relativism
5) Universities ceased the practice of historic, classic, liberal education, and began promoting agenda-driven, political ideologies
6)LBJ’s “Great Society” and the birth of the modern welfare state released young men from their fatherly responsibilities and rewarded women for having babies out of wedlock
7) Filmmakers and television producers loosened their standards, showing fornication, adultery, violence, and crude language, all of which demean humanity
8)The wholesale promotion in public education of Darwin’s ideas of “evolution,” “natural selection,” and the “survival of the fittest” have reduced many of us to a life where only our wants and needs matter
9) The institution of marriage became weakened as more and more couples just “shacked up” without a marriage covenant, the divorce rate soared because marriage was minimalized, and the offspring of these relationships suffered greatly for lack of strong family ties, poor role models, and vision for life
All of these changes have sapped hope and stolen vision from us, especially our young. The idea of living for something larger than ourselves, and embracing the sacrifices required by such a vision, is now passé.
I’ll stop there …

Now, as promised, here is the remainder of my thoughts on Manhood and Manliness penned eight years ago.

Manliness in the Church. Scripture employs allegorical portraits of both construction projects and gardens to convey God’s principles. His first commandment to man charged him with fruitfulness, growth and the subjugation of the whole earth (Gen. 1:28). In essence God said, “Here’s the earth—build and plant!” Every time ground is broken for a construction project or the cultivation of the earth, man fulfills God’s Biblical command to subdue the earth.

Mankind is made in God’s image—both male and female. Building and planting come naturally to us. For centuries, men utilized their hands and tools to plant their fields and craft earth’s raw materials into finished products. Many of America’s most common names reflect our heritage from the trades: Chandler, Cooper, Glover, Mason, Miller, Sawyer, Smith, Turner and Webster.

When we use our hands to build and plant, to craft and create, we engage in the subjugation of the earth—we fulfill God’s first commandment. And creative activity is by no means limited to the male gender. Women also find great joy in crafting and producing. And many now work in the trades alongside men.

Made in God’s image, men and women bear both masculine and feminine qualities. Naturally, men tend to be more masculine and women more feminine. But it is not unusual for a man to cry or for a woman to make a logical assessment.

The Church of our generation contains both feminine and masculine expressions. Some pastors utilize teaching, sound doctrine and reasoned Biblical arguments to engage their congregants and guests. Others employ emotion to move both the lost and the saved. Altar calls generally appeal more to the emotional part of man than the cerebral. On balance, the current trend finds the American Church moving toward knowing God through emotional experience and away from an intellectual knowledge and understanding of God.

In truth, God desires that we know Him in all ways possible. God is Spirit and we must first have a spiritual knowledge of Him—we must be born of the Spirit. As we mature, our intellectual understanding of God grows alongside our emotional experiences.

To say that the Church needs more manliness means that Church life must include more than the joy of relationships with God and fellow believers. To be complete, we should be producing, creating, building and planting. We should be bringing in our manly earth movers and heavy equipment and demolishing vain imaginations, pulling down intellectual as well as spiritual strongholds, laying in spiritual infrastructure and erecting spiritual edifices for the furtherance of God’s kingdom.

God’s kingdom should be expanding and not simply absorbed in recovery, fellowship and times of praise and worship. Our minds should be expanding as well, learning more and more about God and His plans and purposes in creation. We should be taking ground for God.

Is it any wonder when our church marquis’ display messages like “Jesus Cares About You” that most of our churches have more women in their pews than men? Why not deliver a masculine message? “God’s Kingdom is Under Construction. Come in and Help Us Build.”

Over the last few generations in the western world, technology and progress have moved us from our fields and shops to factory production lines and offices with desks and computers. Much has happened in recent generations to strike at Christian manhood and manliness.

Today, Christian manhood is in recovery. With the growing influence of organizations such as Ransomed Heart Ministries, Christian men are slowly, painfully, beginning to rediscover what it means to be a man of God.

But how much have progress and technology denuded the Christian man of his manliness? What are the implications of a lack of manliness in the Church's ranks? Have 20th and 21st century Christians drifted away from the noble themes of godly manliness found in generations past, and in Scripture, and settled for a stripped down version of Church life?

I say we have.

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Domestication, Feminization, Wussification Part I

2008-06-16T20:51:00.012-05:00

Black Velvet Bruce Lee posted an interesting blog today titled Happy Metrosexual Fathers Day. The well read local blog engendered some interesting comments, most in support of a return to manhood and manliness. I offered my two cents worth:

"A question to the male readers of this blog:

When you were growing up, did you desire to one day be a pampered, nice, sensitive man? It’s doubtful.

"No. As a boy you longed for battles to fight, adventures to live, and a beauty to rescue. America has been feminized by popular culture, by political correctness, by televison, movies, and poor role models, and by the grossly imbalanced ratio between male and female educators in our schools. The “establishment” and the “experts” have been attempting for years to “domesticate” our boys, to make them more like girls. Instead, many an American male has been quietly “castrated.”

"I am not an any way denigrating female teachers. The vast majority work hard and do their best in the face of great and growing challenges. But because they are female, they represent only half of the adult role model for the boys under their tutelage. Without male educator counterparts, the boys suffer.

"Sadly, today’s male role models are fantasy superheroes, self-centered, overpaid atheletes, and rude, crude, and vulgar action heroes. Fewer and fewer young men have genuine fatherly figures to look up to, to emulate.

"A real man can be manly without crudeness. A real man can be gentle when necessary, but uncompromising and tough as nails when he knows he is in the right, when he is defending his family, his property, or his nation.

"We have lost a great deal of ground in the last forty years."

And then I remembered something I had written about eight years ago:

Manhood and Manliness

What is the difference between manhood and manliness? The following stories may help distinguish the two.

Manhood. Sometimes we can learn much about a subject by studying what it is not. Take for example Frank, a hard working, thirty-five year old. Recently married, Frank and his wife are expecting their first child. Not long ago, Frank decided to purchase a $35,000, top-of-the-line diesel pick-up truck. When questioned about his extravagance, Frank responded that now that he was starting a family, he wanted one last opportunity to spend some money on himself. When further questioned regarding his excitement at becoming a father, Frank offered a telling response:

“Well … I don’t know … there’s going to be so much change in my life. I’m going to have to give up so many of the things I’m used to having. My whole lifestyle is going to be different.”

Yes, marriage and family will change Frank’s lifestyle, his bank account and his whole outlook on life. But at the age of thirty-five, isn’t it about time for Frank to grow up?

Such is the essence of manhood—maturing, accepting responsibility, learning to place the needs of others above our own. Manhood involves self-sacrifice and accountability. Others are depending upon us, looking to us for their care and provision. We are leaders, if not yet in our communities and workplaces, then at least in our homes.

Christian manhood involves even more. Christ has become our standard. His lifestyle of purity and righteousness and serving others becomes our model. His example of the ultimate self-sacrifice becomes the basis for our conduct in the world.

What then is manliness? Another story may help elucidate.

Manliness. Tom and John own an excavation company. Running their business requires expertise in many areas. Not only are Tom and John skilled in construction, they also have to work up estimates, produce proposals, negotiate contracts, meet deadlines, manage their workers and their subcontractors and make certain that their invoices are paid on time.

Responsibilities sometimes create stress. Tom and John enjoy getting out in the field with their projects and workers. Tom particularly enjoys running his bulldozer, clearing the land of trees and scrub bushes and performing rough grading on the site. John finds pleasure in working the backhoe, digging trenches and laying pipe.

Bulldozers, backhoes, front-end loaders, generators, earth-movers, cranes and other heavy equipment are manly things. On Tim Allen’s popular television show, Home Improvement, tools and equipment take center stage. Tim “the tool man” Taylor appeals to such a broad audience because he has cleverly touched the very heart of manliness.

As homeowners, few joys compare with planning and building improvements to our homes and property. A home addition or renovation, a new deck or patio, a paint job, or even a freshly cut lawn brings untold satisfaction to the manly part of us.

God understands manly nature. After all, He created us men. Here’s what He said to the prophet Jeremiah:

“See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jer. 1:10)

Jeremiah’s mission from God consisted of two essential components:

Demolition and uprooting. Men delight when a wrecking ball smashes an old building into rubble or when a lumberjack hollers “timber,” signifying a crashing tree. We like explosions. And we enjoy turning over the soil in our gardens.
Building and planting. Men’s chests puff out just a little when they enter the basement of a newly constructed home and inspect the floor joists and bracing. “I would have preferred 2 x 10 fir myself.” Men stop and peer through knotholes at building construction sites. “What’s going on down there? Are they pouring footers, pilings? Is that foundation going to be deep enough?” Many men also take great pride in planting trees and shrubs and even flowers.

Yeah, this is real man stuff. I'll post more tomorrow.

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Divinization

2008-06-11T20:04:00.013-05:00

I learned a new word today—divinization. It means "to make divine" or "to deify."

This is precisely what is happening, in the shadows, in North America.

Systematically, in both Canada and the U.S., quasi-governmental groups functioning under banners which usually include the words "Human Rights Commission," are methodically dismantling our rights to free speech. Fueled by what some are now calling a "grievance culture," the power of these so-called "Human Rights Commissions" has quietly grown over the past decade.

In Alberta, Canada, after several years of hearings, Pastor Stephen Boisson was ordered to cease all forms (including newspapers, emails, sermons from the pulpit, and postings on the Internet) of expressing his views on homosexuality, and to pay a $7,000.00 fine.

His crime? He published a letter in the Red Deer Advocate in which he expressed his views about the nature and dangers of homosexuality.

The judgment came down from The Alberta Human Rights Commission, an independent commission of the Government of Alberta established under The Alberta Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act (HRCM Act) to "carry out functions under the Act." The Commission reports through "the Minister of Culture and Community Spirit, who has responsibility for human rights issues."

A similar trial under this same human rights "tribunal" is now ongoing against Ezra Levant, the publisher of the Western Standard magazine. Levant made the grevious error of publishing the now infamous Danish cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. An Islamic Imam and a group of Muslims persuaded The Alberta Human Rights Commission to pursue Levant, a man who will not roll over for them, but is vigorously defending himself. See Levant in action here:

In British Columbia, writer Mark Steyn, Canadian author of America Alone, has been on trial by the "British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal" for publishing the words of a Norwegian Islamic Imam in McLean's Magazine.

In another case, Fr. Alphonse de Valk, editor-in-chief of The Catholic Insight, is being dragged through an expensive hearing process for writing about traditional Catholic teaching on homosexuality.

In yet another case, Christian Horizons, a charity group that ministers to the handicapped, has been ordered by the "Ontario Human Rights Commission" to cease requiring their employees to sign a "Lifestyle Agreement," attesting to their own personal commitment to live according to Judeo-Christian moral standards.

Of the judgment against Christian Horizons, Fr. de Valk writes, "By presenting state and God as equal opposites between whom we must choose, Gunter and Hannaford appear to accept the fascist order whereby the state tells the citizen what he may and may not do, think, and write."

These so-called Human Rights Commissions are popping up everywhere. We even have one right here in Prince William County. The "thought police" are growing in power.

Yes, the state is beginning to compete with God for our souls, our hearts, and our minds. Powerful people in high places are brazenly attempting to usurp God's place as our judge, setting up their own standards of right and wrong and carrying out their laughable sentences upon those who refuse to conform.

And we continue to allow them to be deified, to be made godlike in their power, to be divinized.

We would all be wise to stay alert.

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A Most Important List

2008-06-09T11:50:00.011-05:00

As the attention span of the average American grows shorter and shorter, the list of publishers using lists grows longer and longer. Here's a list of ten lists from recent magazine covers:

Men's Health: 10 Ways to Supercharge a Boring Gym Session
Good Housekeeping: 10 Best Places to Raise a Family
Popular Science: America's 50 Greenest Cities
Southern Living: 40 Things Every Southerner Should Do
Cosmopolitan: 250 of Your Beauty Questions Answered
Consumer Reports: 10 Common Car-Buying Mistakes
Popular Photography: 101 Tips
Money: The 10 Best Big Cities
Fast Company: 15 Reasons Google is No. 1
Sports Illustrated: The Top 100 Sports Books of All Time

Just about everyone enjoys perusing a list. In 1977, Irving Wallace, his son David Wallechinsky, and his daughter, Amy Wallace published The Book of Lists. The work of this trio has grown into a decades long enterprise, with four sequels. Their latest, The New Book of Lists, appeared in 2005.

As a writer, I easily forget that most folks like their reading in tiny bites. And I constantly struggle to keep my words to a minimum. I don't always succeed.

As we move into the general election season, I offer below, my list of ten cornerstones of our American republic. These ten cornerstones played a major role in forming our nation, enabling freedom and prosperity to flourish through the generations in our land.

Yet over the last seventy years, we have been gradually veering further and further from the core principles represented by the words below. And as we do, our freedom is slowly being chipped away.

As you evaluate candidates this fall, set their ideas up against this list and see how they fare.

The list is not new. I originally published it on July 4th, 2006. I have since added one more cornerstone—property.

Today I offer only the list. If you wish to delve deeper into the ideas behind the words below, click here.

Transcendence
Self-Government
Liberty of Conscience
Individuality
Moral Law
Covenantalism
Separation of Powers
Republicanism
Federalism
Property

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The Decline and Fall of our Once Great Nation

2008-06-08T06:40:00.011-05:00

Our nation, the cradle of freedom, "the last best hope" as author William Bennett calls us, is collapsing around us. There are many reasons for our seemingly pending demise, but Edward Gibbon in his classic work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, summed it up very nicely:

The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home—the very basis of human society.
Higher and higher taxes; the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace.
The mad craze for pleasure; sports and other entertainment becoming every year more and more exciting, more brutal and more immoral.
The building of great armaments when the real enemy was within . . . the decay of individual responsibility.
The decline of religion—faith fading into mere form; losing touch with life, losing power to guide the people.

Where to begin? Let's launch into the second half of number four—the decay of individual responsibility.

In 1993, the last first lady of the twentieth century, Ms. Hillary Clinton, was commissioned by her husband, the president of the United States, to develop a plan for universal health care. The failure of this effort is widely known, and Ms. Clinton herself has owned up to the washout with the explanation that she shot for too much, too fast. She has acknowledged that she failed to listen to Congress, who would ultimately have to approve her plan. She wanted 100% coverage for every American, a massively huge step that the Congress was not prepared to make.

Barring a political earthquake, Clinton's Democratic primary opponent, Barak Obama, will in August, become his party's nominee for president. The silver tongued one, the man who has mesmerized so many with his silky smooth rhetoric, is also promising "universal health care."

But that isn't all he is promising. In the closing moments of his speech on the night of the last primary, June 3rd, Mr. Obama promised us the world:

"... generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth."

WOW!

So prior to now, the sick in America have never been cared for? And I guess work for the unemployed has never been remedied by the private sector before, so now it's up to Obama to fix all of that for us? Somehow the marvelous Barack Obama is going to quell the invetiable swelling of the oceans from melting icebergs, and heal our planet!

Al Gore, the man who invented the Internet and is raising our consciousness on global warming, better watch his back! Obama is out for his title of Mr. Wonderful.

"College education is the birthright of every American."

So claimed Mr. Obama in that same triumphant speech. And people actually believe this stuff.

As Francis Schaeffer so clearly iterated, "ideas have consequences."

Recently, a friend of mine said that "everyone has a right to healthcare." I asked him, "Did people in the 16th century have a right to health care?" I ask now, "Was a college education a birthright for the people of the 16th century? How about the people of Jesus' time?"

Our nation's wise founders identified but three components of the human birthright: "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Has something changed? Do we 21st century Americans suddenly have more unalienable rights than our forbears?

Many Americans now want something for nothing. Many claim helplessness and an inability to do much for themselves anymore. Big government is the answer to our every need.

". . . the decay of individual responsibility."

It is rampant. It is toxic. It is deadly. We careen carelessly toward the edge of a cliff, our selfishness applying ever more pressure to the gas pedal, led to our own demise by a blinding self-absorption, and by those who promise us the world.

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Resumption

2008-06-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

Today marks exactly seven months since my last blog post.

It feels like a lifetime.

Yes, I have been writing—writing, brainstorming, and editing The Front Line, the newsletter of Help Save Manassas. I have poured an awful lot of time, energy, emotion and thought into this effort, and have received a few pats on the back. That's always nice.

I have learned a great deal, too—about the workings of local governmental bodies, about some of the dynamics of politics, about the rhetoric and general whining of an opposition who, having no rational argument for their support of illegal behavior, resort to name-calling.

It is sad. I wish that our country had more people willing to simply sit down and discuss their differences in a rational and respectful way.

I have twice met and spoken with the mayor of our city. I am cultivating relationships with two of our city councilmen. Our local state delegate, Jackson Miller, knows me by first name. And, and a few months back, I sat down next to PWBOCS Chairman Corey Stewart at a local pub and enjoyed a beer.

But unquestionably the largest benefit of this newsletter project has been my new relationship with The Front Line's co-editor, and his family. One year ago, I did not know them at all. Today I count them among my good friends.

I have made other friends as well since joining Help Save Manassas. And involvement overall has deepened ties with my community.

This past week, while enjoying breakfast with my pastor, I was encouraged to take up my blog again. And so ... here I am, diving once more into the fray of public, Internet-furnished disquisition.

Laura Ingraham: Rescuing the Culture

2007-11-07T21:22:00.000-05:00

I listen to talk radio. I probably listen too much. My two favorites are Rush and Glenn Beck. Among the second tier of favorites are Mike Church and Andrew Wilkow of Sirius Satellite Radio. Somewhere in between sits Laura Ingraham.

Laura is brilliant, fearless, and humorous. I find myself agreeing with her about 99% of the time. Here are a couple videos of her on her Power to the People tour.

In the first video, Laura confronts the degradation of our culture, labeling it as "pornification."

In the second video below, Laura discusses the importance of faith and virtue in the preservation of our nation. She says that we need to rescue our culture for future generations.

"... without virtue, there is no America. Without virtue, we will be ruled by tyrants."

We need more like Laura!

Igniting Brush Fires in American Minds

2007-11-03T11:07:00.000-05:00

“It does not require a majority to prevail,

but rather an irate, tireless minority

keen to set brush fires in people's minds.”
Samuel Adams

Reading through this month’s issue of The Front Line, I found myself utterly inspired by the words of my neighbors. As each presented their case to our Prince William Board of County Supervisors (BOCS), I caught a glimmer of patriotic splendor I thought had passed from the American scene.

In the newsletter, I also noted the above quote from Samuel Adams, an American patriot himself, who set many a brush fire in the minds of his neighbors, and helped launch the revolution which led to the birth of our nation. Apparently, patriotism not only lives, but thrives in the minds and hearts of many Prince William citizens. What a relief. What a comfort to this lonely and weary patriot.

In our media-driven, pop-culture age, patriotism seems passé. From my vantage point, it appears as if those who control our print media, those who produce our television programs and make our big budget movies, view patriotism as out-of-date, old fashioned, or even obsolete.

We Americans have been browbeaten over and over again by the purveyors of political correctness. Many of us have felt so intimidated that we hesitated to even speak up in public about the rapidly rising plague around us. Perhaps, at last, that cursed spell has been broken. As more of us rise to speak, joining our voices with others, we find ourselves invigorated, encouraged, and revitalized.

Samuel Adams was but one of several outspoken voices of his age, crying for deliverance from what he deemed to be excessive taxation by the British. Appointed to prepare instructions for Boston’s four delegates to the Massachusetts General Assembly, Adams’ words aroused others in his circle of influence, igniting brush fires that grew to become the American War for Independence.

Adams’ writings complemented others of his era, an age when patriotic pamphleteers delivered regular ideological fuel to feed the fires of freedom in the American colonies. Among his peers we find Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense. Paine’s pen ignited many a brush fire in the days when our nation’s founders gathered in Philadelphia and severed their ties with Britain.

Following Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown in 1781, our leaders gathered again and cobbled together our Constitution, the document that still holds us together some 230 years later. But the American people had to be persuaded that this new form of government should be the law of the land. And so, American pamphleteers pulled out their pens and cranked up their presses again.

Our nation has always been at its finest when everyday people join the struggle to make necessary changes. Prior to our unfortunate and bloody split in 1861, writers and circuit lecturers like Lyman Beecher, the Grimké sisters, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe used words to convince the public of the need to end the scourge of slavery.

Likewise in the ante-bellum South, pastors used their pulpits and pamphleteers their pens in an effort to defend the “peculiar institution.” They wrapped arguments for their very indefensible institution, in the very defensible cloak of states’ rights.

Later that century, and on into the next, women suffragettes used their pens and their voices to lobby for the right to vote. Their words succeeded, and the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution became law in the summer of 1920.

In the twenty-first century, pens and presses have been replaced with keyboards and printers. Today, Internet bloggers and political pundits feed our minds with ideological observation and analysis.

But perhaps today’s most instructive voices are those right here amongst us. Because our national leaders have ignored our open Southern border, we citizens have begun sounding a loud distress signal. All across the land, everyday people are rising up and speaking. State and local leaders are beginning to listen. Some, like ours, are taking steps to defend our nation and our culture from what Prince William’s own Robert Duecaster calls “an invasion of this country.”

From those who argued for enforcement on October 16th and 17th, much wisdom flowed. Consider the words of Kathleen Godfrey who told the BOCS “what we’re talking about is dishonesty. What we are talking about are basic, core values—decency, telling the truth, and not taking what is not yours.” Or Judith Taylor who reminded the board that “it’s about respect, respect for the laws of this country. If the people expect respect, you must also give it, but you haven’t given it because you haven’t respected our laws.” Mary Ellen Espinosa Lewis, granddaughter of legal immigrants from Mexico, explained that those who are really “being treated unfairly are those who are waiting very patiently in line to come here legally.”

Brush fires have been ignited. The minds of many Americans have once again become engaged in rational, clear-headed thinking. Citizens across the land are speaking up, taking steps, and inspiring others to do the same.

We have only begun. As Charles Burgher of Woodbridge declared that lengthy, wearying night in October, “It’s time to take America back.”

"Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation
must bear the fatigue of supporting it.”
Thomas Paine

Advancing Forward: Part I

2007-10-08T14:48:00.000-05:00

As I take small steps to move more fully into my call, I have devised a preliminary approach. The tools that I have been given and the tools I hope to impart are idea-based. Developing a comprehensive Biblical Worldview involves a lifetime of learning. A Worldview is a way of thinking. It is not only a view "of" the world, but a view "for" the world as well. In other words, it defines not only where we are, but also where we need to be.

At our church retreat mentioned in a previous posting, I heard God speaking the name "Bridge-Builder" to me. I see myself building a bridge "for all who wish to cross over from the despair and frustration of watching our once-Christian nation disinegrate into the dust ..." What follows are several components in that bridge.

The first component of the "bridge" I hope to build will be to explore and examine the idea of culture from a Biblical perspective. Culture is God's idea. I believe that our part in God's creation is to subdue the earth, to manage creation, and bring all things into subjection to Christ. This should be done solely for the glory of God. I believe that the elements of culture are manifold and that the best of culture is reflected in Plato's triad of "goodness, truth, and beauty." The Church, in my view, has become fixated on redemption and sanctification, neglecting creation. My first goal will be to teach others that creation (and thus culture) is important to God.

The second component of the "bridge" will be a study of the nations in God's plan. God created the nations, confusing languages and scattering people across the globe in response to Babel's offensive "one-world-government" tower. God set boundaries so that men would strive against one another and be compelled to seek him (Acts 17:24-28). God is Lord of the nations, yet the nations "rage" and imagine "vain things." He is the judge of nations, and any reader of the prophets will quickly see that God speaks to all nations, not just his special nation of Israel.

The third component of the "bridge" will be to explore and examine our particular nation in history and in God's plan. Is America truly "exceptional" and does it have a special and unique purpose in God's plan? Toward this end I want to teach on America's unique history, its Providential beginnings, its roots in the Protestant Reformation, and its rise to become the world's leader.

The fourth component of the "bridge" will be an in-depth examination of the very specific principles and ideals, drawn from Scripture, which make our nation what it is. I believe that I can clearly demonstrate, by comparing Scripture to both our nation's historical record, and our most important institutions, that America is indeed a nation built upon Godly principles and ideals.

The next "bridge" component will be an examination of the decline of America's historical greatness, and the reasons for it. Among the topics will be our failures and their consequences, and our recent "buying in" to ideals and philosophies that spring from hellish origins.

The last component to this bridge will be an examination of the questions, "Is America worth saving?" and "What can we do?"

Please understand that this brief outline is just "off the cuff." I am only in the very early stages of thinking and developing my approach and will likely make modifications as things unfold. In addition to these themes and topics I want to also teach on more purely Biblical themes such as Covenant, Moses' wilderness tabernacle, and the kingdom of God and nature of earthly authority, among others.

I envision each of these "bridge" components being one or more four-week modules delivered via weekly, evening classes in my home. Some themes may require multiple four-week modules.

Note that my primary mission field is the Body of Christ. As God's people we are quite anemic in the area of vision for culture. Our leaders have failed us. We do not yet grasp the big picture, and are held back by Worldviews touted in books like those in the "Left Behind" series (I hate those books, they have weakened the work of furthering God's kingdom in the here and now). This rapture/escape mentality has grossly undermined the Church and its role among the nations. "Surrender to the inevitable" end-time, eschatological thinking is so prevalent among Christians that many believe fighting for America is as foolish as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Thus I will also be teaching on topics such as dualism, gnosticism, and syncretism on the loose in the present-day church.

Still holding your interest? Or have I scared you away?

The Path of Least Resistance

2007-10-08T09:11:00.000-05:00

Across the 21st century American landscape, millions of families, middle class families, are enjoying fruits from seeds sown by past generations. Through imagination, hard work, perserverance, and faith, our American predecessors tilled, planted, and cultivated not only the soil beneath their feet, but the freedom-enriched terrains of manufacturing, business, finance, technology, and a myriad of other propitious fields. Today, although many of us work very hard, we are largely drinking in the pleasures of material blessing harvested from the investment of others.

And yet, despite our abundance, we Americans have generally become a lazy lot. It is not so much that we don't work hard, but rather that we don't invest our minds in understanding the ideological groundwork from which our benefits spring. Intellectually, many have chosen the path of least resistance.

Our mental idleness manifests itself most clearly in the arena of politics. As our nation finds itself bogged down in an unpopular Middle East war, anti-war opponents lower themselves to slogans and name calling, unable and unwilling to engage in meaningful dialog and offer viable solutions. How much easier it is to chant "peace," point fingers, and cast blame, than it is to work together towards a real plan.

For those supporting the so-called "rights" of illegal aliens, the best weapons they can muster to counter the position of those who believe that illegal means illegal, are defamatory labels such as "racist," "bigoted," and "xenophobic." Again, rather than engaging in grounded discussion, the path of least resistance, the slippery slope of slander, is their chosen course.

What of those who have illegally braved our southwestern deserts and eluded our border guards? Despite the difficulty of such a journey, it is still easier than staying home and fixing one's own country. It is simpler to harvest, or even glean the fields of others, than it is to plant and cultivate one's own. Illegal aliens, too, have chosen the path of least resistance.

Not one of us is immune to the temptation of choosing the path of least resistance. But a watercourse that follows easiest path, can only become a crooked stream.

Enter the Story

2007-10-02T21:04:00.001-05:00

The American story has captivated the world.

In 1831, Alexis deTocqueville, a French politician and historian, traveled to America in order to study our nation's prison system. But once here, he became so intrigued with our curious new nation that he decided to stay for a while. He traveled as far west as the wilds of Michigan, and as far south as New Orleans. He spent most of his time, however, in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Throughout his stay, he entertained and interviewed bankers, lawyers, and settlers, and even met with President Andrew Jackson and former President John Quincy Adams. In 1835, deTocqueville published his storied work, Democracy in America. Among countless memorable quotes, deTocqueville penned these thoughts:

"I confess that in America I saw more than America; I sought the image of democracy itself, with its inclinations, its character, its prejudices, and its passions, in order to learn what we have to fear or hope from its progress."

Another Frenchman, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi spearheaded the vision for France to give the gift of the Statue of Liberty to the United States in honor of our Centennial (1876). He even traveled to the U.S. and personally selected Liberty's resting place in the New York Harbor. Bartholdi's dream finally became reality ten years after he had planned (1886), but to this day, Liberty's torch still welcomes all who pass by her.

Six years after Bartholdi's elegant copper sculpture first graced Liberty Island, Ellis Island, right next door, became the port of entry for millions of immigrants seeking a better life in America. And every one of these hopeful immigrants had a unique, American story.

In 1917, and again in 1941, America reluctantly engaged with a world at war, and twice emerged victorious. Throughout Europe, Americans were loved and honored not only for their supreme sacrifice, but also for their way of life.

In his twilight years, when queried about what the future of British foreign policy should be, Winston Churchill is reported to have responded with these words: "Stay close to America." Churchill understood that Britain's offspring had become the world's leader.

The nations of this world once loved America. And they loved her for the right reasons. They loved our nation because here, a person could be free, could make of themselves whatever they wanted to be, and with hard work and tenacity, a person could carve out a rich future for themselves and their progeny.

Yes, ours has truly been an exceptional story. From our inauspicious beginnings at the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown in 1607, right up to this moment, America can be seen on the move, growing, changing, leading the way.

Though Jamestown rightfully boasts our nation's "first English settlement," the Pilgrims and the Puritans deserve much of the credit for laying the foundation stones of our unique, American culture. Their story actually began in the early 1600's, in England. The Pilgrims, also known as Separatists, broke away from the Church of England, pointing to the body's corruption and its falling away from the pure doctrines of the Bible. The Puritans, though essentially of the same mind as the Separatists, chose to remain with the Church of England and fight the corruption from within.

Both groups sent parties to North American shores, and both embedded themselves and their way of life into American soil. From those early seeds, and other seeds planted along the Atlantic coast, grew our self-governing, liberty-loving nation.

So plentiful were the Christians in our land, that America was dubbed "the Protestant Empire." Across the landscape we find numerous towns sporting Biblical names: Salem, Mt. Carmel, Zion, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Berea. Even my home town's name, Manassas, comes from one of Israel's wayward kings, Manasseh. And the state just north of mine is named for the woman who gave birth to the Savior—Maryland.

Sadly, African slaves too became a part of American life, and other seeds, the seeds of war, sprouted and grew. Two hundred and forty-one years after the first Pilgrim stepped off of the Mayflower, America divided, split North and South over the issues of states' rights and slavery. The American story had been interrupted by a bloody, sectional war.

When faced with challenges, our nation has always supplied just the right "everyday American" to enter the story and make the difference. Our War for Independence could not have been won without the citizen soldier. Nor could our victories in two world wars have come without the American Doughboy and GI Joe. In our land, the best solutions to our nation's problems have always come through the private entrepreneur, the inventor, the American self-starter.

American slavery ended with our Civil War. But well before Confederate cannons lobbed their fiery projectiles across Charleston Harbor and into the defenses of Fort Sumter in April of 1861, Americans had stood up and spoke out about the evils of slavery. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave who entered the American story, traveled throughout the Northern states lobbying for abolition. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, entered the American story by telling an American story. Upon meeting Stowe, President Lincoln remarked, "So you're the little lady who wrote the book that started this big war."

Does the name Molly Pitcher ring any bells? No, Molly was not a baseball player in the Major Leagues. The wife of a soldier serving in George Washington's Continental Army, Molly Pitcher (Mary Hays McCauly) brought pitcher after pitcher of cool water to parched soldiers during the battle of Monmouth in 1778. When her cannoneer husband fell wounded, Molly entered the story, plucked the cannon's rammer staff from her husband's hands, and manned his station. Later, General Washington awarded her the rank of a non-commissioned officer in his army.

When called up for duty in WWI, Alvin York filed for the status of conscientious objector. The Army rejected his application and York went on to become a war hero by single-handedly killing twenty-five Germans and capturing another 132. Everyday American York entered the American story, helped defeat Germany, and received the Medal of Honor for his bravery.

Big governments can never accomplish things as effectively and efficiently as individual people. In our land, it has always been the individual entering the story and finding a way to do things more efficiently, more economically, or to somehow improve a process. Do the names Edison, Bell, Westinghouse, or Morse mean anything to you? How about Goodyear, or Carver, or two brothers named Wright? Each of these people entered the American story and made significant contributions. Our national leaders played no role in their achievements.

Thomas Jefferson entered the American story and penned the Declaration of Independence. James Madison entered the American story and penned most of our nation's Constitution. Abraham Lincoln entered the American story and preserved the Union during a time of great national crisis. Franklin Roosevelt entered the American story and guided us through a Great Depression and a terrible war fought on three continents.

Today we have a number of courageous and outspoken people in America. But the "everyday American" seems to have surrendered. Have we been "bought off" by our material wealth? Do we no longer care to preserve for our children and grandchildren, the freedoms and blessings we have come to take for granted? Have we become a nation of watchers and listeners, just a dumbstruck audience for the clowns in Washington and Hollywood?

Just yesterday while perusing a popular local political blog, I stumbled across these words of defeat: "America is over. Anarchy is coming. Every man for himself. Prepare."

Yes, many of us have grown tired of the politically correct, multicultural, pluralistic direction our nation has taken these last forty years. It wears on the soul.

But we who love America, the America of our grandparents and their grandparents, and want to see that America restored, must make a decision.

Will we be led? Or will we lead? Will we let others ultimately determine our course for us? Or will we ourselves enter the American story and lead her back to that good and righteous nation she used to be?

When our federal government failed to do its job and enforce our southern border against illegals, an everyday American named Chris Simcox, and others like him, entered the American story and launched the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. Although not empowered to actually make arrests, they do their best to support our understaffed Border Patrol Agency to apprehend people crossing our border illegally.

I have spoken with a number of my friends, and Christian ones too, who appear to have given up, thrown up their hands and said, "It is too late."

Well, it is not.

I say that if God has not yet wiped America off the map—and who knows better than He that we deserve to be judged, with our government sanctioned, mass murdering of the unborn (forty-three million and counting), our sexual appetites, our concupiscent ways, our love of things material, our rejection of Him—He must still entertain a hope that more of us will awaken from our slumber, arise, repent of our wayward lives, call on Him for help, put on our battle armor, and enter the fight.

A remnant of fighters remains in the land. And sometimes a remnant is sufficient.

But how about you? Are you a part of the remnant? If not, will you become one? Will you pick up the cannon rammer, enter the American story, and join the fight?

Eyewitness to Deconstruction

2007-09-27T05:39:00.001-05:00

You and I are eyewitnesses to the systematic dismantling of our great nation. Piece by piece, the principles and precepts laid in place by our nation's founders are being removed. Consider these:

Power:
The nation’s Declaration of Independence clearly identifies our Creator as the One from whom all human rights extend. This same charter document also explains that among the powers granted to every human being are a “… separate and equal station to which the Laws of … Nature's God entitle them ...” In other words, no governmental entity exists on earth that possesses the power to take my rights away without the due process of law. It is God, not the state, who gives and guarantees our freedom.

As many work to remove God and His Word as the centerpiece of our culture, we propel ourselves towards disaster. When God is gone from our American community, from our marketplaces, and from our halls of government and education, tyranny can only be just around the corner. Without the knowledge that God is looking over their shoulder, men will never wield power justly.

Self-Government:
Government reveals itself everywhere. From planets making their routine orbits around the sun, to water hardening into ice at precisely thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit every time, our universe is governed by the laws of science. The material universe does not have freedom of choice. The planets cannot decide to change their orbits. Water cannot choose to freeze at a different temperature. We humans, on the other hand, must internally govern ourselves.

Established as a nation of self-governing individuals, America’s success depends upon every citizen effectively managing their own life. More and more, the fundamental responsibility of personal, self-government is being removed from the individual and turned over to the state. Our freedom is systematically being chipped away. For example, I no longer have the option of wearing my seat belt while driving (unless of course I am willing to suffer the consequences of receiving a ticket). Though safer with my seat belt on, that decision has been made for me by those who write the law. With each such governmental mandate, a little bit more of my personal freedom is supplanted.

Liberty of Conscience:
The First Amendment protects our freedom of worship, our freedom to speak our mind without fear of reprisal, our freedom to publish news, information, and even ideas, and the freedom to assemble and discuss politics or any other subject. This precious right can historically be traced, in large part, to the Protestant Reformation, and was created, not to keep God out of the public arena, but to keep the government from dictating to our citizenry what to believe, and what church to attend.

Today, these precious freedoms find themselves at great risk of being restricted and constrained. In academia especially, certain types of expressed ideas and thoughts, if out of sync with the lock step thinking of academicians, can result in harsh reprimands, lower test scores, and shunning. And “hate crime” legislation adds additional penalties to convicted offenders because of “politically incorrect” motives. We are increasingly seeing our culture being stripped of one of our most precious liberties—the "liberty of conscience."

Individuality:
God's creation sings with the theme of individuality. No two snowflakes are identical. No two trees, no two forests, no two creatures, no two nations, no two geographies, no two people share identical lives. Even identical twins lead different existences. In our nation, historically, civil government has existed to serve the individual, and not the other way around. In our land, the One takes precedent over the Many. Our republican form of government (small “r” see below) represents the high value placed on the individual by our nation’s founders.

Have you ever noticed that in countries where oppression is a way of life, the “people” are sometimes referred to as a collective entity (eg: The People’s Republic of China)? In such countries, those in power see “the masses” as something to be controlled, not served. If the rights of just one individual is trampled in the furtherance of the state’s goals, then freedom for all ceases to exist.

Moral Law:
For nearly two centuries, our nation’s citizenry understood and embraced the idea of family in the traditional sense—father, mother, and when so blessed, children. Along with such understanding, we likewise held up the ideal of fidelity—remaining true to our commitments—as essential to maintaining a strong and healthy nation. Family is God’s idea. When His design standards are honored, we find a much greater opportunity to live peaceable and productive lives.

Today, many have decided that the traditional idea of family is no longer important. Co-habitation and other forms of fornication are rampant. Homosexuality is promoted as an alternate and equivalent lifestyle to heterosexuality. The results of such moral turpitude have led not only to the destruction of families and individuals, but are carrying our entire nation towards the brink of ruin.

Cultural Covenantalism:
“ … One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.” So concludes our nation’s Pledge of Allegiance, a public and generally collective confession of loyalty to our nation and its ideals. Before departing the Mayflower, Pilgrims drafted an agreement for themselves, a covenant representing their individual commitments to self-government under the laws of God. Called the Mayflower Compact, their document launched the rich history of cultural covenantalism in America. Our Constitution is a compact, an agreement defining and detailing how we have collectively bound ourselves to live together in pursuit of a common cultural purpose. Some presidents, including Lyndon Baines Johnson, considered our Constitution to be a covenant.

Today, with the rise of multiculturalism, we find ourselves on the threshold of Balkanization, a quarrelsome, divided, factionalized composite of many diverse and contentious groupings. Americans no longer worship the same God as our ancestors once did. That Christian faith, now forsaken by so many, bound us fast together. Now we are little more than separate, disparate, warring subcultures, each striving for dominance in an increasingly fragmented nation, held together, not by common vision or purpose, but only by the rule of a sometimes lifeless and burdensome law.

Separation of Powers:
God alone possesses all power. Because humanity is inherently corrupt, God parcels out His power to us in limited quantities. Wise men, our founding fathers understood the pitfalls and hazards of concentrating power in one man or one small group of individuals. They determined that power had to be spread around. In forming our government, they purposely set power at odds with itself, creating a tension between governing spheres (ie: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government).

Today, our national leaders treat our founders’ beautifully crafted Constitution with gross disrespect. They say our Constitution is “living” and must bend with the times. Judges now make law. Congress treads on executive power. And our Chief Executives allow career bureaucrats to make weighty decisions that impact every one of us. Powers are ceasing to be separated. Congressmen listen more to the lobbyists that line their pockets, than they do to the constituents who voted them into office. More and more it seems, our nation is being controlled by a handful of super-wealthy elites.

Republicanism:
" … and to the Republic for which it stands …" Our nation is not a democracy, but a republic. In a republic, as in a democracy, the people hold the power. But the majority DOES NOT rule in a republic. Rather, we are a nation of set laws, laws with which all must comply. And, rather than everyone voting on everything, we elect representatives to make decisions on our behalf. A republican form of government protects us all from “the tyranny of the majority,” a genuine danger of pure democracy where political tides can quickly shift at a moment’s notice, and set an entire nation on a perilous and irrevocable course toward destruction.

Our Constitution is not easy to change. Nevertheless, activist judges have taken it upon themselves to reshape our Constitution by judicial fiat, or the making of new law by court rulings. Our Constitution gives the power to declare war to the Congress. Yet, over the last several decades, presidents have sent Americans to several wars without a formal declaration from Congress. A multitude of other examples could be provided which highlight the gradual breakdown of our Constitutional Republic.

Federalism:
Federalism is a complex idea, difficult to explain in one short paragraph. At its core, federalism is the principle of representation—the principle of many being bound by the decision(s) of one. In America, we elect people to represent us in the halls of power. When a decision is made, all are bound to the decision and its consequences. But federalism also includes the division of power between national and state governments. And according to our Constitution's primary author, James Madison, "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite." (Federalist No. 45) Madison and the other founders viewed the tension between the state and federal governments as a protection for the people.

Today, the federal government holds the purse strings. State governments, who depend so heavily upon federal dollars, must comply with federal demands, or risk having their money-spigot shut off. The balance of power between state and federal governments has grown extremely lopsided. Today, states have become little more than branches of the federal government.

...........

Because our public education system has failed so miserably, most citizens in our nation today, especially the younger ones, live life almost completely oblivious to the gradual but intentional deconstruction of our great nation. With the passage of each decade, our Constitution and the principles and precepts behind it, is being minimalized. Our republic is being slowly dismantled, and our nation remade into something that we no longer recognize.

One very effective and essential antidote to this grotesque national calamity is an education in the nation's history and the mind of our nation's founders.

Retreat and Advance

2007-09-24T04:00:00.000-05:00

In the Gospels, we read of Jesus retreating into the mountains to pray and seek God—to listen for His voice. This past weekend, the men of my church retreated from our hectic Northern Virginia world, and spent two days in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Shenandoah National Park to do that very same thing. Each of us spent time alone seeking God and listening for His voice. And many men heard God speaking a personalized message into his heart.

Sometimes God will speak when we are not expecting to hear His voice. But when we quiet ourselves and prayerfully focus in on Him, wanting specifically to hear from Him, we quickly learn that such things are not automatic.

One session of the retreat focused on the power of the name. Leaders talked about Abram becoming Abraham, and that the name Jacob means supplanter (one who takes the identity of another through craftiness or deceit). Other examples were given. Following the session, retreat leaders instructed us to go up into the woods and listen for God to speak what name He had chosen for us, personally.

In the Scriptures, God Himself goes by any number of names: Righteous Judge, Holy One, Counselor, Prince of Peace, the Consolation of Israel, the Door, Lamb of God, Author and Finisher of our Faith, Rose of Sharon, the Good Shepherd …

My given name is Mark, which I learned long ago means “Warrior.” The name is fitting, as I am one prone to sometimes cut against the grain, and am often engaged in a crusade of one sort or another.

As I sat awkwardly that Saturday afternoon on a craggy rock protruding from the hillside, constantly adjusting my legs for comfort, I heard the words, “Bridge Builder.” My spirit energized, knowing that I had indeed heard God’s present name for me.

By Sunday afternoon, my heart had been so filled with God’s presence, that I knew I had entered a new phase of my walk with Him.

Seeds of this new phase had been planted many years ago. Beginning in 1980, and for the next three years, I had the privilege of sitting under the teaching of a very gifted man who began to open up to me the concept of a comprehensive Biblical worldview. We examined the Protestant Reformation and the idea of liberty of conscience. We explored the lives and convictions of our nation's Puritan founders. I began to grasp just how deeply our nation is rooted in Biblical precepts. In the fall of 1986 and the spring of 1987, I attended two six-week classes on America's Christian history. The roots grew deeper and my passion increased.

Then, in the summer of 1988, a man of God named Travis, hailing from Richmond Virginia, singled me out of a crowd one Sunday morning, and delivered a personalized, prophetic message to me. Among other things, Travis claimed that God had called me to be “a prophet to the nations,” and “a prophetic voice in the land.”

His word confirmed what I already knew in my heart.

I have long carried a burden for this nation, a burden to see her return to her Christian roots. I have learned that true freedom can only come from God, and that no governmental entity can ever take His place as the grantor of that precious gift.

Our weekend retreat produced wonderful results for every man. Personally, I found myself exiting a birth canal. On Sunday, God birthed me into His purpose, into the "one thing" He created me for. Yes, prior to that Sunday afternoon on a hillside in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I had spent twenty-seven years in the womb. But today I can say with a good measure of confidence that I have been born into a fuller understanding of my call and purpose from God, and a release from Him to move forward.

In the past I have been a “Warrior.” And that name still fits. But to that old name has been added a new one—“Bridge Builder.”

God has instructed me, as He did with His prophet Jeremiah, to “root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down. To build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:10)

Our nation sits at the brink of ruin. Those who laugh at God, or at best, have attempted to re-make Him into their own image, have slowly, methodically deconstructed our great Republic. And sadly, few of us possess the tools to defend and rebuild her.

For twenty-seven years in the womb of preparation, God has been instructing me. He has given me some understanding of how He views nations, and why a righteous, God fearing nation is so essential in a fallen world. He has shown me many of the Biblical precepts underlying our nation's Constitutional system, including the ideas of federalism and republic. He has taught me about Biblical covenant and its essential role in a self-governing society.

He has helped me to understand how slavery and the mistreatment of Native Americans created a breach in God's wall of protection, and how through that breach came the godless philosophies of Darwinism, Freudianism, Marxism, and many other vacant ideologies whose seeds have now grown into deadly fruit—the stinking, putrid fruit of self-worship.

And I have seen how gnosticism, dualism, and some forms of eschatology have rendered the Church nearly impotent.

God has instructed me so that I can instruct others. One of the steps I hope to take in the near future is to put together a series of classes which I plan to teach in my home. My calling is to equip and prepare others who wish to enjoin this battle, who want to fight but may not yet have all the weapons they need to engage the enemy.

We are in an ideological struggle for the future of our nation, and in some ways, for the future of the world. Our foes wield lofty-sounding, but ultimately empty ideas. Their ideas wreak with the odor of godlessness. When confronted with God's sound, logical, holy, and beautiful thinking, their ideas only shrink and wither.

As a "Bridge Builder" I intend to invest this next season of my life, for whatever amount of time God allows, to lay in, piece by piece, those ideological components that will construct a bridge. For all who wish to cross over from the despair and frustration of watching our once-Christian nation disinegrate into the dust, God is offering a new vision. And this new vision is really just the old vision, reconstituted once again for those with hearts that long for righteousness and justice, freedom and truth.

There remain some matters in my own personal life that need attending. Just as a newborn cannot immediately walk and talk, so am I in a place where I am not yet ready to launch into a steady gait. Please pray for me that God will continue to expunge from my soul those things that offend Him, and continue to give me wisdom on how and when to proceed. And thank you for indulging me in this very personalized posting.

In summary, after this weekend and after twenty-seven years of foundation, formation, and incubation, I am ready to publicly state that God has called me to a prophetic mission. He has apprehended me to summon God's people to a rediscovery of His work in our nation's founding, and to stand up and fight to save our nation from destruction, believing that hope for restoration, though seemingly improbable, is not unfounded.

I plan to spend several months prayerfully planning my next steps. I will periodically communicate as the design comes into focus.

With continuing preparations still in mind, I have learned from this pivotal RETREAT, that it is now time to ADVANCE forward.

The Jack Bull and the Imperative of Justice

2007-09-21T19:25:00.000-05:00

I just watched The Jack Bull starring John Cusack. It's rated "R" but there are very few bad words, no sex, minimal violence and no gratuitous gore.

The HBO movie (inspired by true events) is built around a Wyoming rancher named Myrl Redding who has been treated unjustly by one of his very wealthy neighbors, Henry Ballard. The story takes place in the days leading up to Wyoming statehood (1890), a time and a place where law enforcement was sparse and sometimes men had to take matters into their own hands.

Myrl lives near a town called Rawlins, and Rawlins' judge is in cahoots with Ballard. When Myrl brings his petition for redress of grievance to Wilkins, his petition is ignored.

Myrl is a man who believes in justice. When those in charge of upholding the law fail him, he decides to take matters into his own hands. He forms a posse and goes after Ballard. His bold move creates havoc in Myrl's region of the soon-to-be-state, so much havoc that the U.S. Army is sent out after him. In his quest for justice, people die and property gets destroyed. The story ends with a courtroom trial, and a law-loving, ethical judge named Tolliver, played deftly by John Goodman.

A great line delivered by Tolliver highlights the importance of law and order:

"What's relevant here is the law, I judge cases on law. Law's the king with me, because if it wasn't, this territory, even if it becomes a state, wouldn't be fit for a prairie dog."

While the story on the surface is about one man's quest for justice, on a deeper level it is an exploration of the need for law and order in community. The only reason that Myrl became a vigilante is because the law failed to show up when it should have.

The film also explores the consequences of corruption in government. Most people have an inward sense of fairness. And most are patient and tolerant to a point. But when everyday people are consistently mistreated by those charged with enforcing the law, when their concerns are pushed aside and ignored, and their voice, their rights, no longer matter, eventually bad things begin to happen.

Myrl speaks his mind:

"I took the law into my own hands; I did it because there was none in Rawlins. I wrote my own law, but I didn't create it. In my mind, that law was there before we were born."

As I look out across my community, both witnessing and participating in a grass roots movement to persuade our local government leaders to enforce the law regarding illegal aliens, I see a very clear parallel to the The Jack Bull story unfolding right before us in plain view. Americans feel much like Myrl Redding. Our leaders have ignored and neglected us, the everyday Joe. Many of them have lined their pockets with filthy lucre from big business. Many of them can think only of their own political power,their desire to hold on to it, and the next election.

I think of the "Minutemen," everyday Americans who have taken up posts along the southern border of our nation, trying to do what our government has failed to do. And then our president calls them "vigilantes!" In his mind, perhaps, but in reality they are actually doing his job.

Although right now on the surface, things are relatively calm, it is what is boiling just beneath the surface that can lead to real trouble. Our situation with hundreds of thousands illegally crossing our border every year and our federal government doing little or nothing about it has the potential of exploding at any moment because justice has failed us.

Here in Prince William and Manassas, we are no longer rolling over and playing dead. We have begun to organize, to speak, and to fight back. Our local leaders, with a few exceptions, have responded well. It is my hope that our state and national leaders will also begin to get the message.

If they don't, and I am by no means advocating this or even predicting it, vigilante justice could potentially break out before true justice finally triumphs.

Myrl also said:

"The law will take care of Ballard. And if the law doesn't take care of him, I'm gonna take care of him. One way or the other, there's gonna be justice. I WILL have it."

Myrl Redding was wronged. We too have been wronged. Like Myrl, our cries for justice have been ignored. Let us pray that justice truly begins to get done by the people we have elected on a national level, before we are tempted to even think about moving toward a Myrl Redding type of solution.

Enough Already!

2007-09-17T18:14:00.000-05:00

I cropped and clipped just a teeny part of my photo of the sign that went up this weekend. I think the message is clear. "They" want us to believe that we are racists.

But I don't think we are buying it anymore.

Sixty years ago, Americans celebrated. With the Great Depression behind us, Hitler and Hirohito defeated, and the American economy cranking up for a long, healthy run, times were indeed good. The post-war baby boom was but a year old. And the GI-Bill made it possible for millions of young families to afford their own home in the suburbs.

Yet beneath the surface, smoldering like a smoky, Pall Mall cigarette, an eruption of civil disobedience held itself at bay, waiting for just the right moment to break across our nation's front pages and into our national conscience. Racial prejudice, institutional discrimination, and "Jim Crow" thinking still held many white Americans in its ugly grasp, and it would take another fifteen years to bring that putrid, national sin out of its dark, subterranean cavern, and fully into the light of day.

Then television burst onto the American scene. Before TV, newsreels of current events could only be seen on big screens in movie theaters. But suddenly, news began to enter our living rooms instantaneously via the small screen. Within a ten year period, television had taken center stage in American culture.

America was changing, and changing rapidly. Television quickly shrunk our nation, bringing together east and west, north and south. And our attention soon focused on the real and serious scourge of racial inequity in our land.

We recoiled at the story of the hideous, bloody, racially motivated bludgeoning of fourteen-year-old Chicagoan Emmitt Till in 1955, murdered in cold blood in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman. Our ears perked up at the story of the brave Rosa Parks and her history-changing, 1957 bus ride. We grimaced as firehoses sprayed students and marchers protesting educational discrimination in Little Rock Arkansas in 1959. We applauded the CORE sponsored "Freedom Riders" program, transporting blacks on buses into the deep south in direct and defiant violation of the "Jim Crow" laws. We marvelled at the brave young black men and women, sitting boldly at lunch counters under signs reading "Whites Only." We wept with the families who lost their daughters in the First Baptist Church fire bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. And we cheered along with the throngs gathered in Washington, D.C. as the oratory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. held us all spellbound.

Yes, America indeed had a problem—a race problem. One hundred years after slavery had passed into history, black Americans still lived as second class citizens.

Soon, rapid-fire changes catapulted our nation into a new era. Cutting-edge laws altered the way we did business and education. Doors, shut for centuries to those with dark skin, began to open and open widely. The American cultural landscape took on unknown contours, fresh forms, and unfamiliar lines.

Those born during or before the 1950's bore witness to a radical shift in American life. For those born since, the acute change in direction is not nearly as striking. We white folks who lived through those pivotal years can say with a fair degree of both humility and confidence, that we changed—we truly changed. The new laws, the mandated affirmative action programs, and the opening of mainstream America to our black neighbors, spawned much personal soul searching. Many of us, indeed most of us, were changed on the inside. Our nation did a one-eighty. It is what theologians call a true repentance.

Television, once the theater of the white, middle class, has long since found itself populated with people of many colors and ethnicities. From early efforts such as The Jeffersons, Good Times, and Sandford and Sons, to the classy Huxtable family of The Cosby Show, we have come to better understand that skin color need not separate us.

Whether in entertainment, sports or music, America, though not yet fully color blind, has opened its arms wide to people of all hues and ethnic backgrounds. And even in the realm of business, African-Americans have made great strides. Oprah Winfrey, for one, is reportedly the world's most wealthy woman.

We Americans faced our shame in the '50's and '60's, hung our collective head in disgrace, and set out to correct the error of our ways. Our federally-mandated efforts to level the proverbial playing field have yielded mixed results, yet few will argue that America has taken huge steps to right wrongs, and to set things straight.

But not all Americans have sprinted to embrace an America that welcomes anyone regardless of race, creed, or color. In late August of this year, worshipers attending a service at the Kehilat Shalom synagogue in Montgomery County, Maryland, discovered that one of their banners had been defaced with obscene writing. Last year in Jena, Louisiana, three black high school students decided to sit under an oak tree where white students normally congregated. The next day, three nooses hung from a tree limb. The provocative action sparked increased racial tensions, and soon, a white student was attacked by six black students in an apparent retaliation. And earlier this month, following the boycott led by Mexicans Without Borders, Ku Klux Klan flyers showed up in a number of driveways right here in our own community.

Yes, racism still beats in the hearts of some.

And so, the work is not yet done. But on the whole, America has made tremendous progress since the "Jim Crow" days.

The vast majority of European Americans who have had a true change on the inside are no longer threatened by the word "racist." To us, that detestable label has grown old and tired. It has lost its sting. It bounces off of us and tumbles lifelessly to the ground. It no longer intimidates.

Furthermore, in the words of a very wise man, "illegal is not a race."

Revisionist History

2007-09-15T16:02:00.000-05:00

Early this afternoon, my daughter called me to report that she had spotted an eyesore of a handmade billboard just a few blocks from my home. I grabbed my camera, hopped in my car, and made my way up to the intersection of Prince William, Liberty, and West Streets. Sitting catty-corner from the train station in Old Town Manassas, the brazen message from our community of illegals shouted its ugly message to all who passed by. (Click on the image for a readable sized picture)

Not long ago, at this site, an old house had burned down. All that remained was a single, block wall upon which a crude, hand-made sign had now been stretched. I parked, got out of my car, made my way across the street, and took several photos.

Aside from the fact that the sign is no doubt illegal in itself, likely violating the city's zoning ordinance, there are several elements to the message that are blatantly incorrect.

Racism: The Prince William County resolution which spawned this sign, passed in July of this year, mentions nothing whatsoever about a particular race or ethnic group being singled out. The resolution is targeted only toward those people who have entered this country illegally, and who remain here under false pretenses. Forged and/or stolen identities further criminalize the illegals who, in order to survive, have turned to the criminal underworld of false document creators in an attempt to legitimize their presence. As a Letter to the Editor writer so deftly explained, "Illegal is not a race."

Pay Taxes: The sign falsely claims that illegals pay taxes. Granted, those who find work under a false Social Security number do have taxes withheld from their paychecks. But in most cases, the employees claim as many dependents as they can, thus minimizing the deductions from their pay. Furthermore, to "pay taxes" involves more than having money withheld, it also means filing an annual IRS 1040 form, and in Virginia a 760 form. It is doubtful that anyone hired under a false name and ID would risk filing such paperwork.

Jobs We Won't Do: As to doing jobs that we won't do ourselves, such an idea is sophomoric and silly. Of course Americans will do these jobs. We have been doing them for over two hundred years. How, I wonder, did the Empire State building ever get built without these illegals from south of the border? Who built our roads and bridges, our cities and towns before they came? Well we did, of course, and when they have moved on, we will step in and take these jobs again. We just won't do them for the pittance of pay that these illegal interlopers are willing to accept. In order to support a family in this part of the country, a much larger income is required. And while it may be normal in other parts of the world for several families or large groups of people to occupy a single dwelling, it is not normal in this part of the world. Nor, for argument sake, is it even psychologically healthy or safe.

No Slaves: The claim is made that "they" did not bring slaves. Well, "we" did not bring slaves either. Yes, some of our ancestors did, but the practice of "bringing" slaves into the U.S. ended in 1808, nearly 200 years ago. And slavery itself was abolished in 1863 with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The first slaves on the North American continent arrived in 1526. But they were not brought here by Englishmen or for Englishmen. It was the Spaniards who first brought African slaves to what is now South Carolina in 1526. Furthermore, that same year, the Spanish imported African slaves into Guatemala and Honduras. El Salvador and Costa Rica entered the slave market in the late 16th century. Slavery continues today in that part of the world with the traffic of young women, sold into prostitution. In the Southwest American desert, where thousands of people, seeking better lives, cross our border, it is not uncommon to see women's underwear hanging from a tree. Such a tree is called a "Rape Tree," on it hanging the "trophies" of a "coyote" guide or his helpers, whose livelihood is derived in trafficking people across the border. In most cases, the underwear belonged to a young girl, usually a teenager, who had begun this trip in the earnest hope of a better life. I have learned that in Mexico, the age of consensual sex is twelve. The charge of rape in that country is often very difficult to prove. Thus, in the minds of many men from this part of the world, teen girls are fair game. A handful of these young women are likely locked in a basement somewhere in our own community this very day. And instead of working at a McDonald's or the Wal-Mart up the street, they are somebody's sex slave.

No Killing of Indians: In the early 1500's, the Spanish Conquistadors, under the leadership of Don Hernando Cortez, entered the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, and slaughtered thousands of natives. Tenochtitlan lay in what is today, central Mexico. To say "we did not kill Indians" is simply revisionist history, perhaps similar to the historical revisionists in our own American colleges and universities who seek to re-write the past to their own liking. Cortez's bloodbath was of course merely one of hundreds of native slaughterings at the hands of the Spanish and the Portuguese. Who are these people who have illegally entered our community today? They call themselves Hispanics and Latinos. They speak Spanish. Their culture, although distinct from their European Spanish forebears, is yet flavored with some of that Old World seasoning. Still, one cannot deny that their lineage can also be traced back to the ancient native peoples of this continent as well. Like many of us, they are a mixed breed of people, springing both from the conquered, and the conqueror.

The time has come for every one of us get off of our self-righteous "high horse." Let us deal accurately with history, and fairly with those who are a part of it. Ancestral guilt, though often felt, is not even real. It is the guilt of others, previous generations now departed from this world. Their guilt is not ours to own. It is they who will answer to their Creator for their own sins, their own crimes. We each have plenty of our own personal sins to answer for. Let us not burden ourselves with the guilt of other generations.

Racism is not unique to white Americans. Shreds of racism, or xenophobia, seek a foothold in EVERY human heart. The above sign demonstrates no less racism than the targets of its misguided accusations.

In order to live in an orderly, functional society, one that provides opportunity for all, we must have rules. And as members of such a society, we must be willing to voluntarily follow those rules. We are a nation of laws. We do our best to make certain that every law applies to everyone the same way. The Fourteenth Amendment to our Constitution, as troublesome as it is in some ways, makes our collective intent clear. It reads in part:

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Read "citizens."

In a society where so many religions and races and cultural histories collide, the law is our best chance of insuring that all have equal opportunity for success in their individual pursuit of happiness. The law is not perfect. But it does what we ourselves cannot do. In theory, if not always in practice, the law transcends our personal prejudices, residing above those xenophobic feelings that sometimes try to wedge their way into our sinful human hearts. The law is separate from us, and strives to guarantee that the right thing will be done regardless of personal feelings.

It is the best we have. And for over two-hundred years, with some adjustments along the way, the law has done a fairly decent job. Let us not abandon it now, just because some who cannot rationally defend their indefensible positions have chosen the path of least resistance, and labeled us as racists.

The Courtroom of Public Opinion

2007-09-03T07:25:00.000-05:00

This past July, the Prince William Virginia Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) took a major step to stem the tide of public abuse by illegal aliens. A wave of regional counties followed in their wake. Loudoun County passed a similar resolution. Stafford County announced that it would begin taking steps to implement the 287g program. The Stafford BOCS also voted 4-1 to make English the official language of their county. The Spotsylvania BOCS recently set in motion a study to determine the impact of illegal aliens in their community. Other Virginia counties moving in the same direction include Chesterfield, Shenandoah, and Culpeper. The City of Manassas is also taking steps to deal with these issues. And the Town of Herndon, in Fairfax County, is where the battle truly began last year.

Each of these jurisdictions is using the law, the legal process, to take measured steps to combat abuse by illegals on as many fronts as the law allows. The city of Hazelton, Pennsylvania recently lost a court battle in this arena after being sued by the ACLU. But Hazelton Mayor, Lou Barletta, vows to continue the fight.

There is another courtroom where this battle is being fought as well. It is the courtroom of public opinion.

In late June of this year, Americans from all over the country rose up with a single voice and scared fifty-three U.S. Senators into rejecting their "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill," a piece of legislation that would have granted amnesty to millions of illegal alien lawbreakers. This time, the public prevailed.

The courtroom of public opinion must not be discounted in this war. In fact, the war cannot be won without it.

History provides several strong examples of the power of the public voice. In the late 1950's and early 1960's, voices in the Civil Rights Movement grew so loud that Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a sweeping piece of legislation with the tools to dismantle decades of Jim Crow abuse. Black Americans, under the law, would no longer be second class citizens.

Earlier in the century, women suffragettes in America spoke loudly and persistently. On August 26th, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment became law, and women in America finally obtained the right to vote. Loud voices, beating the drums of truth, had finally prevailed.

Exactly two hundred years ago, in 1807, one man's crusade ended in victory when Great Britain's parlaiment voted to end the slave trade. Despite overwhelming odds, William Wilberforce never surrendered in his quest to bring death to that dastardly national vice. Over time, his tireless efforts swayed public opinion and won the battle.

Our arenas of battle in the fight against the scourge of illegal alien lawbreakers are no different. We engage the enemy in three courtrooms: the judges' benches across our land, the voting booth, and the courtroom of public opinion.

In the courtroom of public opinion, our most powerful weapon is truth. Our opponents do not have truth on their side, they have only slander, innuendo, the guilt trip, and the race card. Those who fight with these anemic swords cast truth to the ground and trample upon it.

We must hold up their vain arguments to the light of day, and demolish their feeble ideas with our superior principles. In so doing, we instruct, we lead, and we defend our sovereign nation.

Hail Britannia

2007-08-31T19:01:00.000-05:00

This morning, driving to work, I pressed anxiously through my radio's preset buttons as I often do. The Thanksgiving Service honoring the memory of Princess Diana caught my ear. I stopped my nervous ritual, relaxed, and listened to a beautiful hymn performed by chorus and orchestra.

I did not recognize the hymn but it didn't seem to matter. The resonant intonations provoked memories and stories of Britain's splendor. I thought of Churchill and the Battle of Britain, of Mel Gibson's rendering of William Wallace in Braveheart, of Queens Elizabeth and Victoria, and of William Shakespeare.

Earlier, while readying for work, I had caught some of the service televised live on Fox News. Held in the chapel of Prince Harry's military unit, the setting did not possess near the majesty and grace of other British high-church events that I have seen through the years. Nevertheless, the pomp and circumstance of British culture, even in its simplest form, still stirs my blood. And in my view, no church has captured the beauty component of the "goodness, truth and beauty" triad quite like the Anglican Church.

The Church of England's controvertible beginning clouded its future. King Henry VIII's chicanery and corruption led to his break with the Roman Church and his installation as the supreme head of his newly-founded Church of England. His quest for a male heir and his lustful ways led Henry down a path that took him through six different wives. He even ordered the execution of two of them.

Despite the turpitude surrounding its birth, the Church of England not only survived, but went on to flourish. Its Book of Common Prayer remains the source for much of early Protestantism's liturgical underpinnings. In my view, the grace and beauty of Anglican services remain unsurpassed in Christendom.

On the heels of Britain's break with Rome, several luminaries emerged, establishing the ideological groundwork for the birth of our own nation. John Knox, the Scottish reformer whose sermons and writings are the cornerstones of Scottish Presbyterianism, also influenced the early Puritans, who, along with the Separatists (Pilgrims), established a strong beachead of Christianity in the new world of New England.

The Scottish Presbyterian scholar, Samuel Rutherford, penned Lex Rex: the Law and the Prince which espoused the idea of "the rule of law" as superior to "the divine right of kings." From Lex Rex we derive the more common phrase, "the law is king," the antithesis of "the king is law."

Rutherford's ideas influenced John Locke, an English philosopher whose writings nurtured the social contract theory, a precursor to the idea of national self-government under a mutually agreed-upon contract or constitution. The concept of the right to personal property sits at the core of Locke's ideas. He identified the human conscience as "the most sacred of all property," a possession that no individual should be forced to surrender. His ideas and writings influenced America's founders, particularly Jefferson's penning of our Declaration of Independence.

Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Law of England likewise sowed seeds which sprouted in American soil. A Puritan, Blackstone influenced the thinking of our nation's founders, particularly in the realm of God's gift of unalienable rights to every person. His writings became instrumental in shaping both English and American law.

For several hundred years, Britain spread her culture throughout the globe. British world dominance, both militarily and culturally, is widely characterized as imperialistic in nature. At one time, Britain boasted colonies on every continent except for Antartica.

British influence can still be seen in places like India, which now boasts the world's largest democratically governed nation with over a billion people. Among a myriad of other countries, the Brits occupied Egypt (1882-1954), Afghanistan (1878-1880), Iraq (1918-1945), South Africa (1910-1961), and Kenya (1888-1963).

English has become the dominant language in business, science, communications, aviation, and diplomacy throughout the world. So wide is Britain's remaining influence, that the nations which still employ English as their primary language are considered part of the "Anglosphere." Great Britain is also the home of the "Commonwealth of Nations," a voluntary association of fifty-three sovereign countries, most former colonial outposts of the British Empire. Australia, Canada, and India are the largest among them. These three, along with Kenya, Nigeria, New Zealand, and forty-six others, together count almost two billion people, or one third of the world's population, allied with, and still influenced to some degree, by Great Britain.

Though not a member of the "Commonwealth of Nations, our own nation, the U.S.A., is also Britain's offspring. Great Britain remains our closest ally. Despite our split in 1776, the subsequent Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812 in which the Brits burned down the Whitehouse, we are today best of friends.

We have joined forces in a number of wars including WWI and WWII. Brits and Americans worked hand-in-hand, planning and plotting for the invasion on Normandy. Our leaders and diplomats, as well as our top-level security people, work together, sharing information and intellegence.

Sadly today, with the swell of immigrants flooding into Britain, the face and shape of this great nation is shifting quickly. Melanie Phillips, author of Londonistan, documents the dominance of Islamic influence and power in various sectors of this great city, once the hub of Western, Christian culture. Because of political correctness, and the fear of confronting and offending, these pockets of anti-Western communities are growing stronger and stronger by the year.

Outwardly, Britain still reflects much of the majesty of her former glory. But inwardly, Britain is struggling to find its way through the morass of multiculturalism. Where British culture once dominated the world scene, it is now, itself, under threat of domination by those who seek to destroy her.

Western, Christian culture, led chiefly by Britian and the U.S., has given much to the world. Britain's seeds of self-government, and their offspring of political freedom and economic prosperity, have delivered billions of people from the curse of poverty and oppression.

When I hear the strains of the great British hymns, and see their people, their queen, and all that attend them, celebrating British life and culture, a sadness often comes over me. I cannot help but wonder how many more years it will be before this sickness which has stricken her, will bring about her last breath.

But I also harbor a hope that Great Britain, and to a lesser degree, our own America, will soon awake from the curse of multiculturalism and political correctness, those enfeebling afflictions, and rise to retake their place once more as respected leaders of the world.

Hail Britannia!

When Truth Stumbles

2007-08-24T20:49:00.000-05:00

So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.
(Isaiah 59: 14 NIV)

Truth stumbles when those without sound arguments for their untenable positions use derogatory labels to denigrate their opposition.

City of Manassas Park: In an official statement by the Manassas Park Governing Board, those who are working within the law to oppose illegal aliens are labeled as "vigilantes." Here is part of their official statement: "This group’s false representation of the City’s position serves only to support a vigilante agenda that the City believes is irresponsible and offensive to everyone who productively serves the community in volunteer, elected and paid positions." The American Heritage Dictionary defines vigilante as "one who takes or advocates the taking of law enforcement into one's own hands." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 26, 2007, from Dictionary.com website:
President Bush: On March 24, 2005, following a meeting of SPP members Vincente Fox and Paul Martin, our president, George W. Bush, had this to say regarding the volunteer Minutemen group aiding in the protection of our border with Mexico: "I am against vigilantes in the United States of America." (see above for definition of "vigilante")
Senator Lindsay Graham: Senator Graham of South Carolina, speaking to the National Council of LaRaza (NCLR), had this to say regarding those of us opposed to the Senate Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill: "We're gonna tell the bigots to shut up."

Truth stumbles when officials ignore the law, or apply the rules unequally to avoid confrontation with those who don’t meet the accepted standard.

Prince William Co. Schools: School officials are talking out of two sides of their mouths. On the one hand they say officially that they are "committed to providing an education for all students every day, regardless of their immigration status." On the other hand, they say that "A certified copy of the child’s birth certificate is required at the time of registration, along with proof of residence, a social security number, and a valid immunization record signed by a healthcare professional." Sounds like double-talk to me. Read the official news release for yourself.
Many jurisdictions throughout the Northern Virginia region: Zoning ordinances pertaining both to overcrowding and condition of property are being ignored in some cases, and enforced in others. Building permit requirements, and business licensing laws have not been enforced evenly either. Some are allowed to violate them, while others are penalized.
State governments: Some state governments offer “in-state” tuition rates to illegal aliens attending publicly funded state colleges and universities, while denying the lower rates to everyday American citizens.

Truth stumbles when people present themselves as something they are not.

Fraudulent documentation: Illegal aliens forge or steal identities in order to present themselves as legal to obtain employment, as well as government services and benefits.
Outright lying: Hospital patients have been observed saying “no pay” at the payment window and then being picked up by family or friends in a shiny, new Lexus or other expensive vehicle.

Truth stumbles when people make excuses for not doing their jobs.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff: The secretary told reporters on June 17, 2007, that "We’re living in a world in which lettuce and fruit is not being picked because we are enforcing the law." In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Chertoff said this: "... we have 12 million people who aren't going to be deported. They aren't going anywhere." And on July 1st, 2007, Chertoff had this to report on FOX News Sunday: "We're going to continue to enforce the law. It's going to be tough. We don't really have the ability to enforce the law with respect to illegal work in this country in a way that's truly effective." Mr. Chertoff, isn't it your job to enforce the law? How can a country that defeated both Germany and Japan in WWII, won the Cold War, and put men on the moon, not be able to enforce the law within its own borders?
Manassas Park Virginia Governing Board: Defending the Park's inaction on their growing illegal alien problem, Councilwoman Fran Kassinger made these remarks about those challenging city leaders to begin taking the necessary steps to remedy this pressing issue: "There are those that are working off an emotional base, combining the two groups [illegal and legal immigrants] into one and saying that, basically, we need some ethnic cleansing in this area ... And I think that is unjust, I don't think that's the American way." Ms. Kassinger is making unsubstantiated claims to avoid her responsibility.

When truth stumbles, as it is in our nation today, then what is right and fair is turned back at the city gates, and cannot find its way in. And goodness keeps its distance from us as well, reluctant to taint itself with the colors of betrayal. We are living in an age where falsehood and deception, even from our elected and appointed officials, have cast a foreboding shadow over our land.

These spineless and defectively motivated leaders of ours remind me of a crooked stream, which is formed by following the path of least resistance.

The One, Two Punch: Punch Number Two

2007-08-18T11:14:00.001-05:00

"Be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves."
Jesus (Matthew 10:16)

Have we Americans been had? We have been going about our everyday business, trusting our elected leaders to run our country. Have they been doing some things behind in secret, behind our backs?

If you have not done so, please read about Punch Number One.

What follows is a collection of information. I lay out a few things that I have learned about recently, things going on under our noses. Although I will begin with a broad overview, the information provided below will eventually lead to an exposé about what is happening in my own backyard of Northern Virginia. However, if you are from some other part of the country, please continue to read. This same war is likely being fought on an American battlefield near you.

Please track with me as I attempt to build as clear of a picture as I can:

1) AZTLAN:
I will begin by introducing an idea known as Aztlan. Technically, it is still only an idea, not yet a finished product. On June 27th of this year, I posted on this blog, a youtube movie clip titled The Nation of Aztlan. If you have not seen it, you will be shocked by what you see and hear. Here's a bit of text from a speech by Jose Angel Gutierrez, Professor, University of Texas, Arlington:

"...We have an aging, white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. It's a matter of time ..."

Here are some words of Art Torres, former Chairman, California Democratic Party:

"... people say to me on the Senate floor ... 'Why do you fight so hard for affirmative action programs?' And I tell my white colleagues, 'Because you're going to need them' ..."

Hal Netkin, a community activist in Los Angeles, penned the following two paragraphs which describe Aztlan quite effectively:

"The myth of Aztlan can best be explained by California's Santa Barbara School District's Chicano Studies textbook, "The Mexican American Heritage" by East Los Angeles high school teacher Carlos Jimenez. On page 84 there is a redrawn map of Mexico and the United States, showing Mexico with a full one-third more territory, all of it taken back from the United States. On page 107, it says "Latinos are now realizing that the power to control Aztlan may once again be in their hands."

Shown are the "repatriated" eight or nine states including Colorado, California, Arizona, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Oregon and parts of Washington. According to the school text, Mexico is supposed to regain these territories as they rightly belong to the "mythical" homeland of Aztlan. On page 86, it says "...a free-trade agreement...promises...if Mexico is to allow the U.S. to invest in Mexico...then Mexico should...be allowed to freely export...Mexican labor. Obviously this would mean a re-evaluation of the border between the two countries as we know it today." Jimenez's Aztlan myth is further amplified at MEChA club meetings held at Santa Barbara Public Schools."

Mike Austin is a Christian writer and teacher in Latin America. He deftly writes about Aztlan here.

In summary, Aztlan represents all of Mexico, and the American southwest from Texas to California. Believers in this mythical piece of real estate see it now as unconnected, but hope to one day reconnect it into one large country. They believe that this land is rightfully theirs, and that their uninvited presence in our country does not make them illegal because they see it as their homeland.

2) The ZAPATISTA ARMY:
Next, please be patient with me as I provide a brief overview of Mexican history. I do this to demonstrate just how unstable the country south of our border truly is, and how a small band of revolutionaries are behind much of the illegal alien flood into our country in recent years.

Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, and in 1823, set up a new government. In 1845, the Republic of Texas became the 28th state in the U.S. War with Mexico ensued. In 1848 the U.S. prevailed and Utah, Nevada, California, New Mexico, and most of Colorado came under American control.

Despite its independence from Spain, and its initial attempt as a self-governing republic, Mexico has suffered a long history of political turmoil spawned by poverty.

Porfio Diaz seized power in 1876, and for the next thirty years ruled Mexico with an iron fist. Then, in 1910, Francisco Madero championed a revolt against the Diaz government but was quickly overthrown by General Victoriano Huerta.

But Huerta, too, was unpopular, and the revolution and turmoil continued. Two peasants named Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata raised armies and waged geurilla warfare on the Huerta government. Villa's armies fought in the north, and Zapata's armies fought in the south.

Huerta's government soon collapsed and Venustiano Carranza, a wealthy landowner and friend of Fransisco Madero, took control. Villa and Zapata's uprising was finally crushed in 1920.

After decades of struggle, many poverty stricken residents began to place their hopes in a resistance movement. In 1994, following the creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the resistance was reborn in Mexico's most southern state, Chiapas. Naming themselves after Emiliano Zapata, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, or EZLN) took control of several cities in Chiapas. Their website is in Spanish, and is currently under revision. I have made numerous attempts to find some real solid, verifiable information, but have come up with little. Here are some secondary sources to look at on your own:

And I am not real confident in the integrity of Wikipedia, but here is a link to their site.

The EZLN is led by a man who calls himself Subcommandante Marcos, known to have Marxist leanings. No one has seen Marcos' face. He covers it with a ski mask, as do many of his followers.

3) MEXICANOS SIN FRONTERAS:
I provided some detail on the Zapitista Army (above) because of its local connection to Mexicanos Sin Fronteras (Mexicans Without Borders), a group with local influence here in Northern Virginia.

Mexicanos Sin Fronteras has an office in Washington, D.C., and as you will see from the pictures on their website, they have connections to the Zapatistas. Here is a Google translation of text from a page on their website:

"To be anti-capitalist anti-imperialist in the capital of the most terrorist country of world-wide history and not to question the commitments or challenges, to us would free the critics and outside the play. Our movement takes to the other campaign. From our campaign it has been yesterday against racism, the persecution and the discrimination of most unprotected across of the country. We recognize our obligations like migrants and our rights so pisoteados in, we think there that a glance to those of here is necessary being wanted to go for there and to those of there being wanted to return. We are thankful to the zapatismo by the lesson.

We appreciate the attention to our word and we authenticated our solidarity and our commitment to them with the mother country."

4) THE WOODBRIDGE WORKERS COMMITTEE:
As you will see on header of the Mexicanos Sin Fronteras website, there is a link to a group called The Woodbridge Workers Committee (WWC). Now we are getting really close to home.

On their website we find these comments:

"Members of the Committee travel on a regular basis to various organizational meetings and cultural events in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Delaware and Pennsylvania to help form coalitions and educate around immigrant issues. We speak regularly to area churches and community groups about the importance of showing solidarity with the new immigrants and about the difference between charity and solidarity work."

Just the two words "Workers Committee" do more than hint at leftist/Marxist ideology, which is clearly where these people are coming from. As you read the very first paragraph of this article, you will see a direct connection between the Zapatistas, Mexicanos Sin Fronteras, and the WWC. The second paragraph explains that the event described took place in Zapatista controlled territory in Mexico, and occured on New Years Eve/New Years Day 2006/2007.

I guess these innocent "Woodbridge workers" actually do more than travel in the states, huh?

In summation, "Punch Number Two" is the insidious civil war going on right beneath our noses, the war to reclaim American territory for Mexico. The war is bolstered by the idea of Aztlan, a country that does not exist but in the minds of millions of Latinos and their Marxist ideologue helpers in the United States.

........

Meanwhile, as many of us stand up to defend American sovereignty, our president and our Congress do nothing. Those of us working to restore our communities are slandered as racists, bigots, and latest "label du jour," xenophobes.

We Americans have been way too trusting of our leaders. Rather than taking ownership of our own country, we have become far too dependent upon Washington.

"Be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves."

The One, Two Punch: Punch Number One

2007-08-12T16:02:00.000-05:00

"Be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves."
Jesus (Matthew 10:16)

We Americans are a generally trusting lot. Perhaps too trusting these days.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2004, American citizens of voting age numbered 215 million. Of that 215 million, only 147 million, or 68 percent, were registered to vote. And of the 147 million registered to vote, only 126 million actually voted. That's 86% of registered voters, but only 59% of those eligible to vote, actually voting.

Less than 60 percent of us care enough about what's going on to even participate. And for those of us who do, we often vote and then pay little attention until the next election.

There are at least three reasons for this non-participation:

we frankly just don't care
we are so disgusted we have simply given up
we are too trusting of the people that we elect to run our country

For years now, most of us have not really been watching what goes on in Washington. And while we have been going about our business, trusting others to run our country, some seriously questionable things have been happening. More questionable than usual.

These last few years, the American people have been hit hard with an unexpected one, two, sucker punch. Sucker punches characteristically come without warning, while one is not prepared.

Here are some questions I have been asking myself:

Why does our president refuse to secure our border with Mexico?
Why does he seem so disinterested in enforcing the immigration laws?
What is really behind the arrests and convictions of Border Agents Ramos and Compean and their unspeakable treatment by U.S. District Attorney Johnny Sutton and his cohorts?
Why was our president so anxious for Congress to pass the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill and do it quickly, with little debate, and under such a cloud of secrecy?

I must be honest and say that these unexplainable actions and non-actions cause me to seriously question our president's commitment to the Constitution.

Have you by chance heard of the North American Union (NAU)? The phrase is being kicked around more and more these days.

What is it, you ask? Well, many believe that there is a secret conspiracy to merge our country with Mexico and Canada, much like the European Union. Here are some things I have read and heard are happening in the shadows:

the elimination of borders between these three nations
a massive superhighway (the NAFTA Highway) running from from the Texas/Mexican border to the American/Canadian border
the setting up of an inland port in Kansas City (under the sovereign governance of Mexico) which will, in essence, serve as the North American Union (NAU) customs center
the opening up of American roads to Mexican freight haulers (already happening)
the delivery of Chinese goods to Mexican ports, and their subsequent transport via the NAFTA Highway, eliminating the need for West Coast, American longshormen
the issuance of NAU ID cards which will replace American passports
the merging of our three, national currencies into a common currency known as the "Amero"

These are certainly outlandish claims. But there is so much noise about them, that one seriously wonders if they are true. Is this a sucker punch to trusting Americans? Does it originate with our own president? Could these radical conspiratorial ideas explain why the man many of us worked hard to elect, and then re-elect, refuses to secure our border with Mexico? The more I read of the NAU and the NAFTA Highway, and another mysterious agreement called the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), the more I think I maybe understand the twisted logic behind the strange policies of the man in our Whitehouse.

Many believe that the push for these radical changes in national policy has been spearheaded by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an organization in which our president's father, Bush 41, has played a significant role. Many are saying that the CFR, along with the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Society, have been quietly building a "shadow government" behind the scenes, and under the cover of darkness.

I do remember hearing about the CFR way back in 1980. Ronald Reagan had just accepted the Republican nomination for his party's candidacy. And his chief opponent in that race was George H.W. Bush (41). Reagan had stated that he would not create a role for the vanquished Bush in his adminstration. But then, without explanation, Bush suddenly became the vice presidential candidate on the Reagan ticket.

A year or two later, in the early 1980's, I read a book titled The Unseen Hand, by Ralph Epperson. Epperson's claims, though well documented, seemed too fantastic to believe. He essentially reported that a consipracy had been set into motion with the goal of bringing together a one-world order, built around an economic model, and controlled by elites through business, trade, and banking.

Shocked and stunned, I could not quite bring myself to embrace Epperson's theories. I set the book, and my thoughts about it, aside, and went on about my business.

Though entertaining a teeny, tiny question in my mind about the Bushes' role in this fantastic story, I voted for both candidates in all four elections, the only loss coming to Bush 41 with his defeat at the hand of Bill Clinton. But now, as I am seeing first hand, right here in my own community, the direct impact of these illogical policies of the man I supported, this conspiracy theory actually seems to have some real legs to it. Within the past six months, more and more of this story is coming into the public eye, and as it does, the dots are beginning to get connected.

If this is true, if our sovereign, self-governing nation is about to be taken over by power hungry, money grubbing elitists, America will soon cease to be the world's singular beacon of freedom. Instead, we will be reduced to a bland, run-of-the-mill country that places us on par with many of the world's other nations.

The love of money, or mammon as the Scriptures label it, has been the corrupting power in so many fallen nations. Has the love of mammon, the pursuit of wealth, and consumerism itself replaced the once treasured American ideal of liberty?

America's greatness emerged in large part from the individual entrepreneur, set free to dream and tinker with ideas and possibilities. Think of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, both untethered from from big-brother government regulators nosing around in their laboratories. Consider George Washington Carver, born a slave yet liberated to explore the world of the peanut, eventually uncovering nearly three-hundred uses for that dwarfling of shelled, dry fruit. Ponder Benjamin Franklin flying his key-laden kite string into an electrical storm, an experiment that led to his invention of the lightning rod. Or what about Elisha Graves Otis, the inventor of the modern elevator?

Those named above are but a smattering of American individuals operating in an environment of freedom and self-government that liberated and set into motion ideas that represent the best of the human race. America leapt way out in front of all other nations of the world only because of our unique culture of freedom, personal responsibility, individuality, and opportunity for success. In America, everyday people have been free to pursue their own dreams.

If what I have noted above is true, and if those purportedly behind it are not soon stopped, the fires of freedom which once burned so brightly in this land will be extinguished. Our exceptional country, made great by the idea of "government by the people," will be subsumed into a larger conglomerate where "government by the corporate and bureaucratically elite" will rob us of freedom's gifts. Are we now on the threshold of trading in our treasured freedoms for a tame, tasteless, and tedious system which will sap us of our national vigor?

Part of me wants to believe that this story is true. Another part of me does not want to believe it.

Don't take my word for this, investigate this story for yourself. Buy Epperson's The Unseen Hand, and read it for yourself. Read Jerome Corsi's book, The Late Great USA.

And here are some online resources and places to start your pursuit of this troubling topic right now:

1) Videos from Lou Dobbs of CNN (who would have thought that I would be promoting something produced by CNN?)

Lou Dobbs Slams CFR & North American Union
North American Union Orwellian Brave New World
Lou Dobbs CFR Treason, NAU
Lou Dobbs Interviews Elitist Robert Pastor
CNN Lou Dobbs NAU Means Paying for Mexico

2) Christian activist Phyllis Schlafly, founder and president of Eagle Forum, has been vigorously researching and writing about this "shadow government" for quite a while now. Here are links to a couple of audio interviews with Ms. Schlafly:

Crosstalk Interviews Phyllis Schlafly on the North American Union
Worldview Weekend Interviews Phyllis Schlafly on the North American Union

3) Journalist Jerome Corsi has been doggedly pursuing this topic for a good while. Here are links to several of his articles on World Net Daily:

World Net Daily reviews Corsi's new book The Late Great USA
A Seamless "North American" Air Traffic Control System?
Local Leaders Plotting in Secret to Undermine US Sovereignty

Also, read these provocative articles on how businesses are taking over the role of government in international relations:

Businesses to Run the North American Union for Profit?
Dark Moon Rising: Surrendering Sovereignty
The Nafta Highway

And I strongly urge every reader of this blog to listen to at least one of these audio presentations:
Worldview Weekend Interviews John Loeffler on the North American Union
Chuck Baldwin interview with Jerome Corsi

Oh yeah, Canadians are up in arms about this, too: ViveleCanada

Here's a photo of Mexico's former president, Vincente Fox, our president, George W. Bush, and Canada's former Prime Minister, Paul Martin (l to r), shaking hands in Waco, Texas on March 23, 2005. Note the SPP logo on the wall behind them. Are they secretly plotting to destroy their nations' respective sovereignties?

Check out the Fire Society column on the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

I cannot say for certain that this story is true. I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist. And yet, so much seems to be pointing to its validity, that it is hard for me to ignore.

Is any of this (or all of it) true? Has America been sucker punched?

I am just asking ...

"Be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves."

Go to Punch Number Two

Preserving Home: Part V

2007-08-04T09:43:00.001-05:00

You are reading Part V in my series of articles about how I came to love America, and why I have joined the fight to stop the madness of lawbreaking illegals in our community (by the way, every illegal alien in America is a lawbreaker simply by virtue of being here without permission).

Read Parts I-IV here:

The summer prior to my entering the seventh grade, my parents purchased a home in the quaint, Ohio town of Berea. Berea's name came by the flip of a coin in 1836. Town founders could not decide between the names of two Biblically referenced towns, the other name being Tabor. Reverend Henry O. Sheldon, a ministering circuit rider, flipped a coin. John Baldwin, a town founder, called heads. Berea won.

Berea was a city in Greece during apostolic times. Today the once ancient city is known as Veria. Biblical Bereans are known for their daily examination of the Scriptures to confirm the veracity of Paul's messages to them.

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11)

It would take a number of years after I moved away from Berea before I made the connection between those early Christian Biblical scrutineers, and the town where I grew from boy to man. But today, I can only smile as I consider the irony. For it was in that town that I met my Lord one March evening in 1968, and began to understand that the Bible would forever be the most important book in my life.

Once again, our home did not sit at the top of the rise on the grade of our street. But it did sit angled on a corner lot, occupying almost a half an acre. Built in 1948, our Cape Cod style home included a full basement, an attached garage, and a half-story finished attic with two shed-roofed dormers off the back. This large room with a half bath at one end served as a shared bedroom between my younger brother and myself.

My view from our front porch brought into focus little more than the homes and yards of a few neighbors. But over time, my view from that home expanded geometrically, as I lived through not only the most tumultuous decade of my life, but also through the most tumultuous decade of my generation.

My clearest memory of that first year in Berea is from November 22nd, 1963. That afternoon, sitting in Mrs. Snodgrass' sixth period, seventh grade English class, we heard the chilling announcement by our Junior High School Principal, that our President, John F. Kennedy, had been shot in Dallas. The principal's voice came unexpectedly over the small speaker mounted on the classroom wall above the door. The news not only interrupted our lesson for that day, but irrationally disordered our world for a good while.

Mrs. Snodgrass held herself together until the bell rang, signalling the end of the period. As the last student exited the classroom, Mrs. Snodgrass burst through the doorway, a handkerchief held to her face. Darting past students and other teachers, she cried unashamedly as she ran down the hall toward what I can only assume was the comfort of a fellow teacher or friend. I still choke up today as I replay that scene in my mind. I saw then, perhaps for the first time, that the adults I looked up to for guidance and leadership, were, in moments like this, almost as weak and as vulnerable as any young child. The seemingly insurmountable gulf between me and my adult mentors shrunk a bit that afternoon. My march toward manhood had begun.

That weekend our family sat huddled around our small, black and white television, and watched everything we could of that horrible episode as it unfolded in real time. My innocence shattered. Little did I realize how Kennedy's murder would set the stage for a massive, cultural upheaval that would forever change American culture.

On my fourteenth birthday, my parents gifted me with a guitar. Bob Dylan had entered my life, and his songs had begun to take me to distant places, places of the imagination. His A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall grabbed hold of me, shook me, and pierced me through the heart.

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?

Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?

The "blued-eyed son" is perhaps the Anglo-Saxon American, sheltered from the horrors of life in the dark corners of the world, or perhaps even the dark corners of his own country. Dylan takes us through this story in several stages. First he asks the "blued-eyed son" where he has been. Among other places, the son replies:

I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard

Dylan then asks what the "blued-eyed son" has seen. Among other things, the son replies:

I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin'

"What have you heard?" he asks:

Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'

"Who did you meet?"

I met a white man who walked a black dog,

"What'll you do now?" he asks:

I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',

That song, and others like it, opened a doorway for me into a world I knew existed, but which I could not see first hand. Tucked away in my cozy, suburban home, television images and lyrics from Bob Dylan carried me beyond my insulated existence in baby boomer America. Yes, I had seen the "Whites Only" signs in Huntsville, Alabama, a stunning reminder that all was not right in America. But twice now, I had attended an integrated school, once in Cincinnati, and now, here, in Berea, where the neighbors behind us and across our street were black. But this was suburban Cleveland, not the inner city, and not the deep South. I partially grasped the reality around me. But still, I understood very little.

Yet Dylan began to take me there. With his songs "Oxford Town," "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," "The Ballad of Emmitt Till," and later, "Hurricane," Dylan painted a portrait of an America that few of us "blue-eyed sons" really knew. His lyrical renderings brushed fresh imagery into my imagination, and beckoned me into a world of deeper understanding.

Dylan's work is so complex, so rich with linguistic artistry and intimation. He is clearly the poet of my generation. Sadly, many are put off by his gravelly voice. Seeking a more soothing and produced sound, they have missed out on this prophetic troubador's poetically powerful message.

This song, along with similar tunes, laid the groundwork for my teen years. I had begun, at fourteen, to hear the call. I did not yet recognize its source. Nor was I able to articulate its meaning or its purpose. But resonating with a profound echo in the caverns of my soul, a transcendent voice began to speak my name.

Preserving Home: Part IV

2007-08-04T07:34:00.000-05:00

Over the last fews years, illegal aliens have flooded my community in droves. Everywhere I turn I see Hispanics on foot, on bicycles, in SUVs, and sometimes piled into the beds of pick up trucks. Internally, I am constantly raising the question: legal or illegal?

Some estimates put the illegal population of my community at 11%. If true, that means that more than one in ten people living here has no legal right to be here. It means that more than one in ten living here have crashed the border, broken the rules, and entered without invitation.

In March of this year, I entered the fight to rid my community of those who have come without permission, by joining Help Save Manassas, a non-partisan group of citizens who have begun to speak out and demand action from our local government leaders. To date, our voice is being heard and our leaders are being responsive.

I have been telling the story of how I have come to love my country. My love of country is behind my desire to defend it from invasion. You are reading Part IV of a series. If you have not done so, please read Part I, Part II, and Part III before proceeding any further.

Our ten months in San Antonio zipped by. Before I even had time to think much about it, we once again piled into our Chevy Nomad, and headed up the road and back to Ohio.

Our route home took a slightly different course. We stopped in Dallas and spent a day at the Six Flags Over Texas theme park. While there I learned of the six flags that have flown over Texas. They are: Spain, France, Mexico, The Republic of Texas, The Confederate States of America, The United States of America. Texas was actually its own country from 1836 to 1845.

Heading north out of Dallas, we reached Tulsa, Oklahoma. There, our Nomad took us onto the famed U.S. Route 66. Known as America's Mother Road, old Route 66 connected Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California. Work began on Route 66 in 1927. Eleven years later, in 1938, the paving was finally completed.

By the time our Nomad's wheels touched the Mother Road, almost half of her life-span had already occurred. In 1985, the US Department of Transportation decommissioned Route 66 because the Interstate system had superceded her usefulness. Today, a few sections of the road in Illinois, New Mexico, and Arizona are considered "Historic U.S. Route 66." In November of 2005, I traveled a brief stretch of the old historic route near Seligman, Arizona, the setting of the Disney/Pixar film Cars.

Legend and lore surround Route 66. During the Dust Bowl era of the 1930's, thousands of Okies (that's short for Oklahomans) traveled the road west to California's Sunshine state, seeking opportunity for work and simple survival. John Steinbeck's classic American story, The Grapes of Wrath, is set in this time period, and along this road. Immortalized by Bobby Troup's jazz composition, (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66, and later by a television series of the same name, the legendary road boasts many stories and tales.

Route 66

by Bobby Troup

Now you go through Saint looey

Joplin, Missouri,

And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty.

You see Amarillo,

Gallup, New Mexico,

Flagstaff, Arizona.

Don’t forget Winona,

Kingman, Barstow, San Bernandino.

I remember passing through eastern Oklahoma and the endless collection of fields and farms. As our Nomad slipped quietly along the dark ribbon of highway between canyons of wheat and corn, I received a new, fresh sense of this land called America, breadbasket to the world. I had not yet heard the Biblical phrase "beat their swords into plowshares," but as I grew older, I would come to understand that here, in America, it had really happened.

In my life, I, a Protestant Christian, have dined with Catholics and Orthdox Christians, as well as Muslims. I have become friends or made aquaintance with first generation Vietnamese, Polish, Pakistani, eastern Indian, Nigerian, South African, El Salvadoran, Venezualan, Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Romanian, Belarusian, Norwegian, Peruvian, Kurdish Iraqi, Iranian, Korean, Serbian, and Afghani immigrants. And I am certain I have overlooked a few.

Recently, at a committee meeting for Help Save Manassas, I sat a table with two Catholic men as we brainstormed some ideas for a project we had been brought together to work on. It occurred to me that just a few hundred years ago, such a meeting would not likely have taken place. For in those days, one or the other of us would have been labeled a heretic and burned at the stake by the other.

But not here. Not in America where people of good will from all corners of the earth have learned to respect and honor one another despite the differences. We men sat at that table together, focused on a common purpose, not even thinking about how our ancestors had already beat their swords into plowshares, and determined to make "war no more." We, the blessed beneficiaries of those decisions made long ago, often take for granted the shared peace we enjoy as Americans.

Sadly, there are forces today committed to disrupting that peace, joined in a battle to destroy what our parents, grandparents, and their parents and grandparents built in generations past. Sometimes we have to temporarily beat our plowshares back into swords to defend ourselves against invaders and interlopers of various stripes.

For four diificult years, America's peace was disrupted as we fought amongst ourselves. Our plowshares became swords employed against our fellow Americans. But those swords were beaten back into plowshares once that conflict ceased. We have since beaten our plowshares into swords only to defend ourselves from foreign invasion, or what we saw as that potential.

The invaders who have recently and illegally crossed our borders and taken up residence in our communities, have not come with swords. Instead they come with false identification papers, and a claim to the same rights as native-born and naturalized Americans. On the whole, they show little respect for, and even less understanding of, the "swords into plowshares" idea.

Others who seek to do us harm are holed up in caves, halfway around the globe. They plot our demise, and conspire to destroy us with stolen and ill-approriated technology that their feeble cultures could have never produced on their own.

But our greatest enemies are those here rightfully by birth. These are Americans who have forsaken the original vision of our forefathers, and seek to rewrite not only our history, but our future as well. Such are those infected with a putrid philosophy that reaches back to Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and the like. They weaken us.

All of these people, at their core, hate liberty. But they love license, as long as they are the ones holding the license, controlling the purse strings, and sitting smugly in the seats of power.

Yes, we are temporarily beating our plowshares back into swords. And we are beginning to mass ourselves along the wall, taking up our posts in defense of our city, our state, our nation.

Oh beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

We reached Cincinnati in three days. My sister, brother and I stayed with my aunt and uncle, while Dad and Mom continued on to Cleveland to get themselves oriented, and find us a place to live.

They found a home for rent in the Cleveland suburb of Parma. Our two weeks with our cousins passed quickly as Dad and Mom returned to collect us and take us north.

Our rented brick rambler did not sit at the top of the rise on the grade of our street. It sat about halfway between the top of the hill and the bottom of the hill. I could only see a few houses in each direction.

But across the street, and up several houses, a wooded, vacant lot called my name. On that lot a tall tree beckoned me. In Cincinnati I had spent three years with a massive forest as my own, private backyard. In Texas we barely had a single tree. I had to climb.

From the top of that tree, which swayed precariously under my weight, I spied the Cleveland skyline some twelve miles away. I had never seen anything quite so fascinating. Yes, I had seen pictures of the New York City skyline. But seeing one with my own eyes, my own personal skyline, now that was something else.

My America took another giant leap forward.

We stayed in that house but one short year. A Polish family lived next door. The kids had been born in America. But their parents had just recently immigrated here from Poland. What a lovely family.

Parma was a true blue-collar town. Though boasting an Italian name, Parma's residents were primarily Polish. I would later learn that much of Cleveland's West Side consisted of immigrants from eastern Europe who had come to America to make a better life. Most were first or second generation families.

The Cleveland winter of '62-'63 brought much snow and cold. One night our neighbor's car stalled down the hill, and Dad and I went down to help. Snow whipped at our faces. Wind tore at our parkas and hoods. The next day I learned that the tempature that night had dropped to 19 degrees below zero. This frigid reading came before weathermen employed adjustments for the wind chill factor.

With a wind speed of twenty-five mph (not at all unbelievable considering the gusts), I calculate that the wind chill dropped the temperature to an equivalent of 70 degrees below zero that night. I will never forget that dark, frigid, frozen episode. And miraculously, my Dad got our friend's car running, and he was able to get it back up into his driveway.

That winter dumped tons of snow on Cleveland. Sitting on Lake Erie, we often suffered winter's most brutal wrath. School closed for a week, an unprecendented move in northern Ohio. Drifts of snow reached up to our roofline, engulfing gutters, and completely covering windows. We had to shovel ourselves out the front door.

We built snowmen and snow forts and tunnels. Our Flexible Flyers quickly whisked us down the icy street to the bottom of the hill. Laden with boots, scarves, gloves, and hooded parkas, we trudged back up, sleds in tow, and shot down again and again.

Good times indeed. And what a contrast to the previous winter in San Antonio, where we ran barefoot through the grass in January.

Summer came, school ended, and Dad and Mom purchased a home ten miles to the west in a quaint little town named Berea. There I would spend my teen years, and grow through youth and into a man.

Four and a half years later, in Berea, Ohio, a quiet suburb of that dirty, bustling, rust-belt city of Cleveland, I would encounter the living God face to face for the first time, and say "Yes, Lord, yes."

Part V

Preserving Home: Part III

2007-08-04T07:33:00.000-05:00

You are reading Part III of a story I have been telling. My purpose is to provide a bit of background history, and some reasons behind my decision to become engaged in an effort to defend my community, and my country, from illegal aliens. Illegals now reportedly make up 11% of our Prince William County, Virginia population.

I recently joined Help Save Manassas, a non-partisan group of citizens who have begun to speak out and demand action from our local government leaders. If you have not done so, please read Part I and Part II before proceeding any further.

Most everyone has a place they call home. Of course in our day, with so many, constantly on the move to new jobs in new cities, "home" is not always so easy to identify. One of the weaknesses of our present-day, American culture is our sometimes disconnectedness from a place we call "home."

God built into every human heart the need for "home." Home can be a physical place, a strong, bonded relationship, a city or a state, or even a country. And it can be all of the above.

Virginia has been my home since 1971. I moved here from Ohio with my parents on the threshhold of my adulthood, and have lived here ever since. For a while, I wanted to return to Ohio, but after a few years, I began to consider myself an adopted son of Virginia. I cultivate a healthy pride in my adoption by this historically rich commonwealth.

But I also cultivate a pride in my native-born home, Ohio. Nineteen years of my first twenty took place in Ohio, half in Cincinnati, and the other half in Cleveland. And in between, ten months in San Antonio, Texas almost equally split the two halves of my childhood and youth.

Shortly before I turned nine, my father learned that his position at the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) would soon be eliminated. He set out on a quest for a new employer, often flying to other cities for job interviews. One of several opportunities for employment presented itself in Hunstville, Alabama.

Dad decided that it would be a great time for a short, family vacation. So we all piled in our car, a 1957 Chevy Nomad, and headed South.

Several things still reside in my active memory from that trip. As we drove south, the boldly painted words "See Rock City" kept appearing on barns along our route. More than 900 such barns can be found in nineteen different states, all painted by one man, Clark Byers.

Whether planned or spontaneous, we did see Rock City, an iconic tourist trap in northern Georgia, not far from Chatanooga, Tennessee. Among the legends and lore of this interesting roadside attraction is a spot known as "Lover's Leap," where a young American Indian is said to have fallen to his death after his love for a girl from a neighboring tribe was disallowed by her father. The legendary story is strangely reminiscent of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet tale.

From Rock City's Lookout Mountain, we stood and gazed at what the attraction's promoters boldly claim are seven different states: Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia. The claim has never been authenticated, but I recall the view as being quite spectacular.

From Rock City, we continued south into Hunstsville. While Dad interviewed with his prospective employer, Mom, myself, my sister, and my baby brother went sightseeing around the town. No longer in Ohio, we now stood in the deep south. The civil rights movement had just begun in earnest, but the Jim Crow mentality remained very much in play.

In town, I gazed quizically at the odd signage. "Whites Only." "Colored Only." The most shocking sight of my young life to date, I could not easily grasp its meaning.

In school, I had several "colored friends." Although different in skin tone and hair texture, these friends were as American as me. We spoke the same language, sat in the same classroom, ate lunch together, and played on the same playground. At Crosley Field, where I had been to see the Cincinnati Reds, colored people sat in the same areas as us white folks. No signage separated us.

Mom did her best to explain the odd and unsettling signs. Nonetheless, they stabbed at my heart. Was I still in America?

Of course I was. One hundred years earlier, men from Ohio and other Northern states had joined arms in an effort to restore our broken country to wholeness. Men from Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and other Southern states had met men from our side on battlefields all across the southeastern U.S. Even Gettysburg, Pennsylvania had seen a gross amount of bloodshed in that horrible conflict.

But it would not be until much, much later in life that I would come to grasp that men from the South did not see themselves as fighting to preserve slavery, but rather to protect their homes from invasion. This War Between the States came to pass for reasons much too complex for a nine year-old to understand.

Dad's job in Hunstsville did not materialize. Instead, he took a position in San Antonio, Texas, another state that, as I would come to learn, had also raised armies under the Confederate flag.

We piled into the Nomad once more. But this was not to be a vacation. We were leaving our Ohio home, our family, our friends, and beginning a new adventure.

Our journey took us west, along Route 50 to St. Louis, Missouri where we spent our first night in a shabby, flea bag motel. The next morning our trip continued and by our the third morning, we had reached the Texas border. Along a new stretch of four lane divided highway, my little brother threw my mother's straw hat out the car window. It bounced along the grassy median until it disappeared from sight, just like our life in Cincinnati.

We found a small, brick rambler to rent in a suburban community just outside of San Antonio. Like our previous two homes, our Texas home likewise sat at the top of the rise on the grade of our street. We could look out and see not only a good part of our neighborhood, but the heavily travelled intersection of our local community, where all four street corners hosted gas stations who constantly battled for business. Locals called them "gas wars," and the price per gallon often dropped as low as 17 cents. Looming beyond that bustling intersection, stood a tall, netted batting cage. Dad took me there on occasion to hone my skills.

Mom registered my sister and I for school. Instead of negroes, our classes were lightly peppered with Hispanic children. Our school lunches consisted of tamales and enchiladas. My palate had not been prepared. But we still pledged our allegiance to the same flag and to the same nation. And we still sang patriotic songs. Though far away from home, these familiar practices united my past with my present in my two disparate yet common American experiences.

Winter never came. January found us playing barefoot in the front yard. My baseball career continued, though. I played first base on the Kiwanis team. And Dad coached first base while our team was at bat. I hit a grand slam home run in our championship game that season, and our team won both the game, and the league's first prize. My small trophy from those days is still tucked away somewhere in storage, waiting to be freshly discovered.

Texas' wildlife differed dramatically from Ohio's. Instead of tadpoles, salamanders, and crawdads, I picked up horny toads and scaly lizards.

We visited the Alamo at least eight times. And we enjoyed the San Antonio River Walk more than once. We made a trip out to Bracketville where John Wayne (Davy Crockett), Richard Widmark (Jim Bowie), and Laurence Harvey (Col. William Travis), had recreated the tragic events of 1836 in the film epic aptly named The Alamo. Old San Antonio had been reborn for the making of that film, and we all got a little taste of what the early days of Texas were like. On the way home, we stopped at the Lone Star Brewery where Dad sampled some Texas beer.

During our short time in Texas, we shuttled out to the Gulf of Mexico, visiting Corpus Christi and Aransas Pass. We doused our toes in the warm gulf waters, dug for seashells, and ran along the sandy beach.

A day trip took us to Laredo, a Texas border town on the Rio Grande. We crossed that river for a few hours to taste and see the sights of Mexico's state of Tamaulipas, and its counterpart border town of Nuevo Laredo. We visited shops, spoke with a few locals, and saw the city square. And I will not forget the smiling face of the young boy who tried to sell me Chicklets chewing gum, as our family wandered among the many street vendors.

In just a few short months, my vision of America had expanded well beyond that small circle of familiar sights and surroundings in my home town. It now encompassed some of the Old South, the vast Texas prairies, and the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and of course, the Lone Star state.

America no longer existed solely in an imagination fed by books and stories and photographs and maps on the wall. America had become a real place for me, an idea embodied in flesh and blood and forests and meadows and mountains and valleys and rivers and streams and bridges and tunnels and histories and borders.

When opportunity arose for Dad to return to work in Ohio as a U.S. government employee, he could not reject the offer. Dad would be resuming his government career, and we would be living, once again, close to family.

Mary Fahl's Going Home:

And when I pass by

Don't lead me astray

Don't try to stop me

Don't stand in my way

I'm bound for the hills

Where cool waters flow

On this road that will take me home

Part IV

Preserving: Home Part II

2007-08-04T06:25:00.001-05:00

Recently, I made the very difficult decision to join an organization whose mission is to compel our local, elected officials to deal more effectively with the affliction of illegal aliens in our community. Having already chosen this course, I am now setting out to better understand my own choices and actions. In these blog entries, I am examining my priorities, and the underlying motivations for my chosen course.

As a Christian, my actions are in conflict with the actions of some of my Christian brothers and sisters on the other side of this controversial issue. Some feel compelled to assist those here illegally, and do so because they believe that is what Christ would have them do. My theological construct leads me in a different direction. However, I absolutely respect these folks for their deep convictions, even though we think differently.

In 1957, our young family moved from our home in the city to a brand new house in the suburbs. We purchased a three bedroom, one bath, brick rambler with a full, unfinished basement. Our new home sat at the top of the rise on the grade of our street, and we could look out from our front porch and see much of our neighborhood and beyond.

Our new place occupied a lot that backed to a huge forest. And for the next three years, my buddies and I made that woods our home. Our treehouse served as our base of operations as we launched out to explore the primeval wonders of those woods.

We found buckeyes, tadpoles, and vines for swinging. From the creek and surrounding hills, we harvested Indian arrowheads, and fossils of ancient creatures who once occupied those grounds. Again, my imagination fired as I contemplated life in a Shawnee village before we white men came.

Our community not only abutted a lush forest, it also abutted a black neighborhood. Back in those days, we referred to people of African descent as Negroes. And sometimes we called them colored people. In second grade, my best friend was a Negro. By moving us to this community, whether intentionally or not, Mom and Dad had greatly broadened my experience as an American.

My first "crush" came early. In that second grade class, our lovely young teacher, Mrs. Rice, told us of the Pilgrims, the first Thanksgiving, and of Squanto, the Indian who aided them in their first, difficult years. I fell in love with Mrs. Rice.

The map of America on the wall danced with color this time, and I began to orient myself with respect to other parts of the country. The wonderful Mrs. Rice began to introduce us to our rich American history. I learned of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. She taught us about the pioneers who had crossed the Appalachian Mountains, and rafted down the mighty Ohio River, in search of a new home to raise their families. I also heard the story of Johnny Appleseed, who decades earlier, had come through those parts, scattering seed on the fertile, Ohio soil.

The beautiful Mrs. Rice also introduced us to our Ohio history. And in later years, I would learn even more of Tecumseh, the brave, Shawnee warrior, who had made his home not too far from mine, and about "Mad" Anthony Wayne and William Henry Harrison, also known as "Tippecanoe." Eight presidents claimed Ohio as their home. Harrison was one, as well as William Howard Taft, and the very popular Ulysses S. Grant, the Civil War General who finally won Mr. Lincoln his long sought victory.

We daily pledged allegiance to our flag and to our nation. And we often sang patriotic songs.

Harriet Beecher Stowe had lived in Cincinnati for a while. She wrote the novel that some say changed the course of American history. Her Uncle Tom's Cabin set the nation talking about the scourge of slavery, and the need for change. Her family, heavily involved in the Underground Railroad, became iconic in their abolitionist stance.

Like most Ohio born youngsters, I learned to look down on the South. Associated with the North, I came to believe that Southerners were either ignorant or evil, especially the ones who lived before the Civil War. The very idea of one person owning another seemed beyond humanity.

As I matured, and later as I moved to Virginia, my strong opinions softened. And even later, as I studied more of history, I came to realize that every evil done by one American could not only be offset with the good done by another, but that in the balance, despite the failures and mistakes, America was essentially good.

For every slaveowner in the South who grossly mistreated his slaves, one can find more slaveowners who treated their slaves with a measure of kindness. Of course it is still slavery, no matter how you slice it. But the abolitionist, or the operator on the Underground Railroad, should not be overlooked. In the end, the good found in America far outweighs the bad.

I had not yet connected the dots of course. But something had happened long ago in my home known as America, something that split and set us at war with one another for four years. By grieving over slavery, a sin neither I nor my home state of Ohio could claim as personal vices, I had begun to identify myself as an American on a much broader scale.

On Saturday mornings, my dad often took me with him to my grandmother's house. In her shabby little kitchen, with the floor that sloped downward toward the room's back corner, she regularly cooked us up breakfasts of biscuits and gravy, sometimes supplemented with bacon and eggs. If we came in the afternoon or evening, she filled our bellies with navy beans and cornbread, both staples in her household.

My grandfather and uncles dabbled in auto mechanics. Engines on blocks littered their backyard which sloped upward toward an alley that ran behind their house. Parked in front, on the narrow street, big, black, Buick Eights stretched along the curb, their shiny chrome glistening in the afternoon sun.

Grandpa had moved his growing family here, to this very house, in the early 1930's. Coming out of a "holler" in south central Kentucky, Grandpa came to find work in desperate, depression times. From that point forward, he worked in a paper mill not far from their home until the day he retired.

Grandpa and Grandma raised eight children in that tiny, rickety house. My dad, the oldest, had been born in a Kentucky log cabin in 1926. Most of his seven siblings didn't arrive until after the family had resettled to that dirty, factory town.

In the summers, we often gathered at Grandpa and Grandma's house on Sunday afternoons with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. While the cousins played outside, and the aunts collected themselves in the kitchen to swap stories and tell of their ongoing trials, the uncles pulled up chairs in the living room around the tiny, black and white television, and enjoyed Reds baseball while downing a few beers. Those were great times.

During this season of my life in our new home that backed to the woods, my father began to involve me in baseball. He had played baseball in highschool and beyond, and wanted me to continue the tradition. Like him, I loved that game. I signed up for a local Knothole League team as a first baseman, and began to really learn the fundamentals of baseball.

My buddies and I collected baseball cards. We organized them, we traded them, and we clothespinned them to the frames of our bicycles so they would flap in the spokes of our turning wheels. We pretended our bicycles were big, loud, fast motorcycles.

Dad occasionally took me to Crosley Field to watch the Reds play. Crosley Field seated only 30,000. Even in those days, it was, I think, the smallest stadium in the league. At my first professional game, gazing out onto that wonderful field, I saw my heroes, Vada Pinson, Frank Robinson, and Gordy Coleman. The rich, green, beautifully manicured outfield, contrasted with the sandy, lime-striped baselines. In the center, again offset by the rich, green, manicured infield, the pitcher's mound rose ever so slightly. The stadium lights, the large advertisements on the outfield fence, the scoreboard, the crowd, the smells, the hot dogs, the raucous cheering, captured my young imagination.

In my childhood and youth, most considered baseball to be America's pastime. Football, though popular, had not yet eclipsed baseball in America's sporting heart.

Baseball is referred to as a "gentleman's game." I suspect the reasons for this are its orderliness, its strict adherence to rules, and the fact that it is, with a few exceptions, a no contact sport.

I think baseball as I knew it in the past—a more gentlemanly game than it is today—was much like America as it used to be—gentlemanly, orderly, a nation of laws, and with a few exceptions, a nation where everyone respected the space of others.

Today we are a nation that looks more like the highly popular NFL game. Everyone it seems, is pushing, striving for that next piece of ground that belongs to someone else. We will stop at almost nothing to gain or protect that ground—blocking, tackling, name calling, trickery, brute force, and piling on. We, as a nation, are far less civil today, than in the years I grew up.

It saddens me, as I am sure it saddens you.

In those early second- through fourth-grade years, the boundaries of my home continued to expand. Slowly, and almost methodically, America became less of a crude map on the wall behind Dave Garroway and J. Fred Muggs, and more of a real place. A real and wonderful place.

And soon, my vision of America, my home, would take a dramatic leap forward.

More from Mary Fahl's Going Home:

I know in my bones
I've been here before
The ground feels the same
Though the land's been torn
I've a long way to go
The stars tell me so
On this road that will take me home

Part III

Preserving: Home Part I

2007-08-03T10:09:00.001-05:00

I am a Christian. I began the process of relinquishing my life to Christ in March of 1968. Thirty-nine years later, the difficult, yet joyful struggle to yield everything to Him, continues.

Recently, I made the decision to join an organization whose mission is to compel our local, elected officials to deal more effectively with the affliction of illegal aliens in our community. Because of my Christianity, my decision to move in this particular direction is not without some controversy. Christ, after all, did teach us to care for the poor and less fortunate. In this posting, and several that will follow, I will attempt to lay out some background history, and some specific reasons behind this difficult choice.

Before I became a Christian, I was an American. I have not always been a Christian. But I have always been an American.

In my heart, Christ is first. My allegiance is to Him.

But I also love my country. I cannot remember any moment when I did not love my country.

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending an event launching the campaign of Virginia House Delegate, Jackson Miller. I like Mr. Miller and plan to support him in the fall. But he is not the reason I went. Ron Maxwell, the film director and producer of both Gettysburg and Gods and Generals, gave the keynote address. I was there because of him.

I penned an entire blog posting dedicated to my experience that evening. I mention Mr. Maxwell here, because he spoke some profound words that night. And a significant component of his message focused on the importance of "home." Here is an excerpt:

"When we are aware of the past, it means we respect the past,
respect our parents, our grandparents, our great grandparents,
and the generations all the way back to the beginning of
recorded history. It means we read with exhilaration,
the historical works of Thucydides, or the artistic works
of Aristophanes and Sophocles, reaching back
over the millennia - which informs us, which makes us
who and what we are, and which enlivens us and
which broadens our small world into a world
of infinite space, an infinite space of thinking,
of contemplation, and of realizing our kinship
with the many generations that have gone before us.

"It means as well that we cherish the place where we grew up
and we regard, as you may recall from the
opening credits of Gods and Generals, astronomy;
as belonging to that little lot of stars that we see
hanging over our backyards every night; if we are fortunate enough
to live in a place that is not dulled by light pollution
all night long. It means that we cherish that homeland,
that home place,where we first realized there was such a thing
as trees and grass and wilderness and wildlife, open sky.
We all started off our lives in a place. We are connected
to those places; we are rooted to those places.
They are what make us who we are.
It is what we call home."

My life began in Cincinnati, Ohio. My first breath was of Cincinnati air. And though I have not lived there since 1960, I still consider Cincinnati my home. I visit there less frequently these days, but a piece of my heart still resides in that Queen City on the Ohio River.

Born in 1951, I entered early childhood in the era of Howdy Doody, Roy Rogers, and Rin Tin Tin. Back in those days, Today Show viewers had not yet heard of Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera, Katie Couric, Bryant Gumble, or Jane Pauley. Our Today Show was hosted by a fellow named Dave Garroway, and his chimpanzee sidekick, J. Fred Muggs.

I think the crude weather map hanging on the wall behind Mr. Garroway first clued me in to the idea of America. Sitting there in front of our tiny, black and white television set, I tried to grasp hold of America, wanting to know more.

Sometime in the late '50's, my parents bought me a book. Trails of Adventure, The Friendly Hour published in 1936, soon took hold of my imagination. I loved that book of short stories, illustrated just enough to make me want more. Reading it took me to places I never knew existed, but wanted to see. My heart swelled with wonder. I began to fall in love with America.

We lived on a heavily travelled street, right in front of a very dangerous curve. Accidents occurred frequently. Our house sat at the top of the rise on the grade of our street. Looking out from our front porch I could see a factories and a myriad of industrial smokestacks.

Half a block west, down the hill and across the road, a footbridge carried us over a busy, four-lane expressway. Standing mesmerized on that bridge with my mother, dirty old trucks belching diesel exhaust rolled noisily beneath me. I still love the smell of diesel exhaust.

On the other side of that bridge sat a different town, with more factories and the county fairgrounds. Between the end of the footbridge and that next town, several glistening ribbons of steel tracks guided black, behemoth, steam locomotives. Their trains of freight cars rolled along slowly in their wake, clanking and clacking as their engines ground to a slow stop on the various sidings. Sometimes, their lonely steam whistles split the air with a sound that seemed to pierce my very soul.

Where had those trains been? And where were they headed next? I wanted to know.

By the time I came along at mid-century, the brightly painted diesel locomotive had already delivered a huge, though not-yet-deadly blow to the black, steam-powered giants that built America. For a hundred years those coal-fed monsters had plied the rails as our nation spread west, hauling people and goods to far away places.

The railroads did play an absolutely vital role in the development of our country. The joining of Central Pacific and Union Pacific rails in Promontory, Utah in 1869, greatly eased the long, arduous, overland trip west. Soon, hundreds of thousands would make their way to the Golden State and other west coast Edens.

But the railroad industry has grown less significant in the fifty years since my days on that bridge. No longer is it the cog in our nation's economic machine. Passenger travel is all but gone save the government subsidized Amtrak system. Travel by car and plane have nearly crushed that once, thriving industry. And freight by rail has dwindled as well with the development of our Interstate Highway network, and the big, diesel-guzzling eight-wheelers carrying their loads up, down, and across our great nation.

As a four year-old boy standing on that bridge and watching those noisy steam goliaths riding on iron rails, and those filthy, malodorous configurations of steel supported by rubber rolling on asphalt, I could not visualize the vastness of the rails and roads they traversed. Nor could I even begin to comprehend that our exceptionally great system of free enterprise had set these two giants of industry at odds with one another in a battle for dominance.

The idea of America was still but a tiny seed, freshly planted in my childlike mind.

Traveling east up our street, in the other direction, we passed our local tavern and drugstore. Beyond those familiar landmarks lay a commerical area with shops and stores. We would often travel that road by car, heading to my grandmother's house. I especially loved driving at night along that busy, commercial stretch.

Back in the 1950's, neon washed the night sky with amazing color. Nothing like it exists today. Nothing. Brightly colored flashing lights crafted to look like bowling balls rolling, and pins falling down; Moving arrows pointing the way to a hotel or restaurant; A ferris wheel made of colored neon lights that flashed on and off and moved in a circle; And my favorite was the large, feather-headdressed, neon Indian, his flashing, moving finger pointing the way into a car dealership.

Beyond these sights, even further away from home, we would sometimes drive past an old junkyard. I eyed it as we negotiated a curve in the road, and began to travel down a grade. Off to the right sat acres and acres of old, battered car bodies, mostly black, piled on top of one another. That lot seemed to stretch for miles.

At my young age, I had seen so little. And yet with books, television, and the occasional travels outside of my little world, my yearning to see more deepened every day.

America!

Our house on the curve at the top of the grade still occupied the center of my life. Trains and trucks, neon lights and a vast field of abandoned cars, defined America for me. But with each passing year, the repeat of every familiar sight, and the occasional introduction to something new for my eyes to behold, the boundaries of my world, and of my home, pushed ever outward.

At that tender age, I could not yet grasp the concept of "the way things are" vs. "the way things ought to be." It would be years before that construct would begin to grip me, and later still before it would begin to demand a response.

At the beginning of Ron Maxwell's film, Gods and Generals, folk artist Mary Fahl sings a most beautiful song touching on the love of home. On the screen, as she sings, state flags flap and flutter in the wind, one at a time, setting the stage for the dramatic story that follows. Here are the words to the first stanza of Going Home:

They say there's a place
Where dreams have all gone
They never said where
But I think I know
It's miles through the night
Just over the dawn
On the road that will take me home

Read Part II ...

Inheritance

2007-07-30T17:46:00.001-05:00

When my wife's father passed away several years ago, we came into some inheritance money. With funds split among the four surviving children, we became the beneficiaries of this man's years of hard work and wise management.

As an heir to her father's estate, my wife received a portion of property that once belonged to him. He created the wealth, and by right of succession and the devising of his will, she reaped some of the fruit of his efforts.

Like all fathers passing their plenty to their progeny, my wife's father expected each of his four children to steward their inheritance well. No parent wishes the fruits of his life's labor to be squandered away foolishly.

As 21st Century Americans, we often forget that this wonderful country of ours is also an inheritance. We benefit greatly from the brilliance and wisdom of our nation's forefathers. But our inheritance is much more than this bountiful land of plenty. Characterized by our "amber waves of grain" and our gleaming "alabaster cities," this land of plenty is merely the fruit of their difficult labor to birth a governmental system that would not only serve them, but serve the generations which would follow.

Thus we are heirs, inheritors of a nation created by their "liberating strife." They loved their country more than they loved themselves. Their passion for liberty and justice is to be emulated.

Their illustrious, ideological legacy is seen in every American born into poverty that rises to one day live in comfort through hard work and persistence. Blossoming all around us are souls who, through liberty inherited, found ways to better their lives, and the lives of others. But these are merely the fruits, the offspring of the seeds our forefathers planted long ago.

And it is those seeds above all, that we must learn to treasure. They possess far greater value than the fruits they produce.

When our nation's forefathers labored to establish a system of self-government, they planted a garden with a core set of ideas and principles. The fruit will continue to grow as long as that garden is properly tended.

In our Declaration of Independence, a document that many consider to be our nation's charter, we find the following claim:

"... all men are created equal, ... they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

What a magnificent statement of a fundamental truth! Planted and tended, this marvelous idea gave birth to a nation. Four score and seven years later, Abraham Lincoln would echo this truth, proclaiming that our nation was "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

Though penned by an American, and claimed as core American ideology, the beauty of this wonderful idea, is its universality. The five words, "all men are created equal," are the great democratizer. They are the birthright of every human ever born.

But though a universal truth, it was OUR forefathers who first put it to work in a lasting and practical way. Thus we, the American people, by birthright, are the only ones who can lay rightful claim to the fruit it has produced in THIS land.

A few nations have, in various forms, implemented this idea in their own, unique way. But the founders of most nations have failed to plant this marvelous seed in their own native soil. Thus their progeny have not benefitted as have we.

Those who crash our borders without permission, claiming to have rights to the same benefits as American citizens and those who reside among us with our permission, are thus thieves. They seek to lay claim to an inheritance that their own forefathers could not provide to them. So they want ours.

The failure of their fathers to plan well does not, even under the guise of high-sounding political rhetoric, entitle them to what we have received as a gift from our own fathers. If we choose to share our plenty with others, which we certainly have done, then that is our choice. It is our plenty to share, not theirs to take.

America does not own the seed. Everyone who has ever lived enjoys the same birthright-seed of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But Americans do still hold the patent on our particular method of planting the seed and growing its fruit. Our unique formula of just the right mixture of soil and nutrients, and our special method of cultivation, is our mark of ownership on the process and its produce. We have inherited this garden from our our nation's founders, our ideological fathers. And only we have the right to harvest our garden's fruit, and the privilege of determining how both our fruit and our gardening process will be passed to our children, and if we so choose, to others outside of our American family.

Press One For English

2007-07-09T21:18:00.001-05:00

Multiculturalism sounds good on paper. In real life, it just doesn't work. Language is the glue that holds a nation together.

Permutations of a Dream

2007-07-08T07:03:00.000-05:00

Every great, historic nation has had, at its core, an idea or a principle with which its people identify. One might even call such a thing a nation's prime characteristic or theme. Ancient Israel had the Law of Moses; ancient Greece its philosophies and its love of beauty; ancient Rome had its army, its roads, and its very effective government; Great Britain, at its zenith, had its culture spread across the globe.

At the outset, our nation, the United States of America, had, at its core, the fundamental ideas of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These three lofty ideas formed the bedrock of our national identity. And for generations, we moved forward with a common understanding of these ideals.

Sadly, within the last two generations, we have traded in these high, majestic ideals for inferior substitutes. America today is characterized by ideas such as tolerance, equality, diversity, inclusion, multiculturalism, fairness, and so forth.

While each of these words represent worthy goals, they do not, by any standard, measure up to our nation's original, core precepts. Preached and oftimes mandated from well meaning but misguided leaders, America's newly adopted values and identity, sap our people of liberty. And liberty has historically been the fuel which has fired the engine of America's greatness.

As more and more of us conform to these new, inferior ideas, whether through peer pressure or outright brainwashing, we become weaker as a nation. We do not fly our flag with the same sense of pride as did our fathers and grandfathers. We labor under a false guilt for our national wealth and prosperity. Some Americans even believe that we are somehow responsible for the world's misery.

In their misguided efforts to reshape our culture, our teachers, politicians, and social engineers have denuded our nation of the ideas and ideals that once made America The New Colossus. Millions of immigrants from earlier centuries came to our shores not for tolerance, equality, diversity, inclusion, and fairness. Nor did they expect us to embrace their culture. They came to assimilate into our culture, to learn our language, to work hard, and to enter into the fullness of being an American. And we, as a nation, were strong because of it.

Today we are weak. We no longer value liberty. We have somehow come to expect a risk-free existence. We want to be cared for. We want lives of minimal risk, of guarantees. Toward those ends, we have slowly and methodically surrendered, bit by bit, our liberty. So gradual has this slide been, that we scarcely recognize it.

Our world is riddled with sin and its after-effects. With sin comes the potential for personal failure, catastrophe, poverty, premature death, and all sorts of other hazards. Our Creator granted us life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But he did not guarantee to us a happy, or even positive outcome, in this earthly life.

No government, no amount of education, no indoctrination or reprogramming of the mind, will ever make the world tolerant, equal, accepting of diversity, inclusive of all. Nor can any amount of government edicts ever make life fair. Such thinking is foolish utopianism, a pitiful, second-rate permutation of the original, American dream.

The Myth of Equality

2007-07-07T13:43:00.000-05:00

One of the greatest deceptions being perpetrated upon the American people today, is the myth of equality.

Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Declaration of Independence, and our nation's third president, penned these most powerful words:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

What is Jefferson really saying here? Is it not that in "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," all are equal? Note he did not say that all had a right to BE happy, only a right to PURSUE happiness.

Universal equality is a seemingly noble idea, but it is an idea not rooted in truth. Here are some indisputable truths:

All people are created by God.
All people are loved by God.
God does not accept/reject a man (woman) on the basis of race or ethnicity.
In America, all people are equal under the law. (We are looking here, not at the advantage that wealth can and does sometimes bring to those who are guilty of crimes—eg: O.J. Simpson and others like him who sometimes succeed in purchasing their exoneration. We are looking strictly at what the law says, and what the law attempts to achieve.)

Here are some of my beliefs about equality, submitted for your consideration:

The Constitution guarantees equality of opportunity, but not equality of outcome.
Not all people are equal in looks, talents, abilities, skills, or giftings.
Not all people are born into an equal station in life.
Religions are not equal.
Ideas about God and man are not equal.
Cultures are not equal.
Jobs are not equal.
Some families are better than others.
Some geographic regions of the earth are more inhabitable than others.
Some nations enjoy better governments than others.

This list could go on. Hopefully, I have communicated the basic idea.

Let's look at some ideas from Scripture:

"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." (Romans 9:13 NIV). Wait, I thought God loved everybody? But here God is saying that he HATED Esau. In this passage, the Greek word for "hate" is misevw, meaning "to hate, pursue with hatred, detest to be hated, detested."1. It is used numerous other places in the New Testament, and means "hate" in each case.

"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory." (1 Cor. 15:41 KJV).

Why are some trees large, and others small? Why do some insects only live for a day, and other creatures live well past 100 years? Why are some men bald, and others, not?

Did God not choose Abraham? Why didn't he choose someone from another part of the world—a Chinese man, maybe?

Did God not choose the ground of Israel to be the place where his people would dwell? Why didn't he choose Russia, or Africa, or some other part of the globe?

All things are not equal.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will." (Ephesians 1:3-5)

Why are some chosen, and others, not?

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." (John 15:16 KJV)

We live in a culture that has foolishly cast off the idea of winners and losers. While sports programs at the college and professional level still allow for losers, many of the local, community-based, youth athletic programs have set aside the idea.

When I was ten, my youth baseball team won the championship game. I received a trophy. A generation later, my daughters' youth softball team regularly placed second, third, or fourth. They never won. Yet they have trophies. And their second, third, and fourth place trophies are much bigger than my championship trophy from a generation earlier.

Fred Rogers, the PBS icon who taught and entertained millions of children for many, many years, is known for telling his young viewers, "you are special." But if everyone is "special," then what becomes of "ordinary?"

Because of America's tarnished history with slavery and the mistreatment of American Indians, we labor still under a burden of guilt. Because in generations past, some were deprived of opportunity for reasons of race, creed, or color, all now are somehow expected to be equal, not only in opportunity, but in outcome. But it simply cannot be.

Jesus instructed us (his people, not the civil government by the way) to care for the poor. But he also made it clear, that there would always be poor among us.

We do not, nor will we ever live in a utopian society, a place where all is fair, where everybody wins, and no one does without. Some will always have more than you, others will always have less. Some will be better looking, and others uglier. Some countries will always be better to live in than others. Why even in heaven, there will be a portioning out of rewards based upon God's reward system.

Our role, as God's people, is to do the best we can to help our fellow man along the way. It is NOT our job to make everything equal.

1. from the online KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon

America: Land of Enablers

2007-07-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

The term "enabler" has become a familiar one in our culture today. An "enabler" is one who, by not laying out firm boundaries in a relationship, makes it easy for another to continue in an addiction or some form of self-destructive behavior. The most recognizable form of enablement is spousal alcoholism. An alcoholic spouse is enabled to continue their drinking because their partner fails to draw a firm line and say, "no more." The behavior is permitted to continue unchallenged because confrontation appears more costly than the continuation of the bad behavior. Thus one spouse becomes an "enabler" of the other.

Sometimes parents "enable" their children, stifling their entry into adulthood. Think of Paris Hilton.

Both parties caught in the enablement web are called "codependents." HealthAtoZ defines codependency as follows:

"A set of maladaptive, compulsive behaviors learned by family members to survive in an emotionally painful and stressful environment. These behaviors are passed on from generation to generation whether alcoholism is present or not."

In codependency, the chief motivation is the need to be needed. Sometimes this behavior is referred to as a "Messiah complex," a situation where the codependent sees himself as the only one who knows, understands, and is capable of helping the other person through his/her addiction.

In the last forty years, we Americans have created millions of addicts simply by opening the public treasury and funding a myriad of programs to "help" people. The most egregious is the federal program known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) (1935-1997). This program actually encouraged out-of-wedlock births by increasing financial aid to mothers for every child born without a father in the home. During the years when this program was active, out-of-wedlock births skyrocketed. Women were actually being rewarded for getting pregnant and giving birth, resulting in the catastrophic destruction of the family unit in lower income communities.

Thus, our federal government became the classic enabler. By funding out-of-wedlock births, our wise leaders in Washington took away the incentive for the unwed mother to improve her lot in life. Generations became trapped in an endless cycle of helplessness and addiction to government largesse. Such a dependency binds the addict to their enabler. And the enabler feels good about themselves because without them, the addict would be without hope.

Government largesse leads to socialism. There are different kinds of socialists. Some are actually Marxists, lusting for power and control over the masses. They are kingdom builders, where they are king, and everyone else is a subject. These kinds of socialists are essentially evil. They mask their evil in nice sounding words and phrases like "universal health care." In this example, all the Marxist is really after is the complete control of the health industry. Substitute any industry you want. The result is the same.

Other socialists are genuine and sincere, actually believing that the best way for a country to be run is for the civil government to control the economy's means of production and distribution. These socialists naïvely believe that things are actually run better from the top down, rather than from the bottom up. One needs only look at the federal and state response to Hurricane Katrina to realize what an absolutely fallacious concept such thinking represents.

So we come to our current day. Millions of illegals have entered our country. And many of our leaders see them purely as opportunities, not as people. Allow me to explain.

The defeat of the immigration bill created some strange bedfellows. Conservatives (and libertarians) on the right, who thought the bill too wide open, were joined in opposition by liberals on the left (sincere socialists) who thought the bill not open enough. Meanwhile those in favor of the bill consisted of country club Republicans funded by the global business community in a quest for cheap labor, and Democrats (Marxists seeking to strengthen their political power) who saw the mass of illegals as future Democratic voters.

I believe that I can say with a good measure of confidence that the only healthy thinking people out of these four groups, are the conservatives (and libertarians), who want power and control returned to the people. We seek an environment and an economy where every person is both responsible and accountable for their own actions and behaviors. In other words, we treasure freedom above all other political virtues.

The other three groups are codependent enablers. They would sacrifice our freedom on their own respective altars.

The sincere socialists would sacrifice our American freedom at the altar of their own "Messiah complex." Their self worth and reason for being is found through seeing themselves as the savior of the underprivileged and oppressed. They are codependent upon the oppressed for their existence. Think Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
The country club Republicans and globalist business leaders would sacrifice our American freedom at the altar of the bottom line. All that matters to them is wealth. They are codependent upon cheap labor, much like Southern plantation owners and their Northern, business counterparts, depended upon slave labor for picking cotton and tobacco. Think of Microsoft and other American technology companies.
The Marxists would sacrifice our American freedom at the altar of their own grab for selfish power and control. They are codependent upon the masses. Think of Venezuala's Hugo Chavez.

A final word on the "Messiah complex." Emma Lazarus is known for her powerful words, engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The most well known phrases are as follows:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

But earlier in her epic poem, Colossus, Lazarus employs the phrase, "Mother of Exiles." Throughout the generations, America has been a "Mother of Exiles." Consider the primary role of a "mother." Is it not to raise her children into adulthood, to train and prepare them to stand on their own, and make their own way in the world?

Since our gates first opened, America has generally been a good "mother" to her immigrant children. But not so anymore. In the last forty years, with the massive growth of our federal government and its commensurate programs, America has become a bloated, overbearing, controlling, b**** of a woman. She longs to keep us at her breast, and in the cradle, until we go to the grave. Many of us have already become selfish, spoiled little Paris Hiltons, living under a mindset of entitlement, never growing up.

Today, America suffers from its own form of the "Messiah complex." The flood of illegals into our country, and the various, selfish reasons for not shutting off the spigot noted above, speaks of a gross misinterpretation of our role in the world.

Puritan John Winthrop saw the first settlement of his followers in New England as a "city on a hill." Ronald Reagan and others through the years, have referred to Winthrop's words, actually originating with Christ, as an axiom defining America's part on the world scene.

No city can absorb all of the world's "wretched refuse." Nor can any nation. Our job as Americans is not to become enablers, not to open wide the gates to our city, but rather to shine the light of freedom as an inspiration to others.

There are six billion people in the world. We have no obligation to adopt them. Nor do we have an obligation to adopt the millions from just south of our border. Their governments are more dysfunctional than ours—much more. And they bring with them little understanding of the principles of freedom and self-government.

America is not the world's savior. That role belongs only to Jesus Christ.

Leadership? NOT!

2007-07-04T08:48:00.000-05:00

According to the Whitehouse website, the mission of the Department of Homeland Security is as follows:

"The primary mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is to secure the homeland and protect it against conventional and unconventional attacks in the United States. DHS also leads response efforts to natural disasters, administers our Nation’s immigration system, ensures the safety of America’s waterways, and helps stop illegal drugs from crossing our borders. Effectively performing these functions requires coordination and a focused effort across all levels of government and throughout our country."

Michael Chertoff, the president's man charged with leadership over the DHS, the individual assigned to protect our nation from foreign invaders, is a tremendous disappointment in my opinion.

Following the defeat of Senate Bill S. 1639 (A bill to provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes.), Mr. Chertoff, speaking on Fox News Sunday, essentially scolded the Senate for failure to pass this bill. He said, "We're going to continue to enforce the law. It's going to be tough.We don't really have the ability to enforce the law with respect to illegal work in this country in a way that's truly effective."

Wait a minute here. I am confused. Don't we already have laws on the books authorizing him to deal with this problem? Uh ... yes ... we do!

There are three, very comprehensive Federal laws already on the books dealing with the issue of illegal aliens.

1952—the McCarran-Walter Act:

Outlined deportation procedures
Established a quota system and politically based criteria for entry if legal immigrants

1986—The Simpson Mazzoli Act of 1986:

Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan
Criminalized the act of knowingly hiring illegals
Established fines and penalties for those employing illegals

1996—The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996:

Established increased criminal penalties for immigration-related offenses
Enhanced border enforcement and the expediting of deportations
Laid out requirements for legal immigrants to have at least three employment authorization verifications
Restricted non-citizens from acquiring public benefits
Imposed new requirements on sponsors of relatives for immigration
Eliminated the "suspension of deportation" practice, which had allowed illegal aliens without a criminal history protection from deportation
Imposed new rules for immigrants choosing “voluntary departure” as a means to avoid deportation and being barred forever from returning to the United States

In addition, the U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section IV, clearly defines the role of our Federal government:

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence."

When a president takes the oath of office, he swears to uphold the Constitution (Article II, Section I):

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Michael Chertoff works for the president. His job is to help the president defend the Constitution.

So just what is the problem here, Mr. Chertoff? It sure looks to me that you already have plenty of weapons in your arsenal. Are you telling us that we need a NEW law to help us enforce the old laws?

I just don't get it.

Exceptional Oratory

2007-06-30T09:33:00.000-05:00

America has enjoyed its share of exceptional orators. From Jonathan Edwards, the fiery mid-18th century, New England pulpiteer, to Martin Luther King, Jr. the civil rights leader of the 1960's, Americans have been inspired and moved to action by those most gifted in the delivery of words and ideas.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, though only 278 words, far surpassed the two hour oratory of Edward Everett, the most renowned speechmaker of the Civil War era. William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), a three-time candidate for President of the United States who never won, often mesmerized his listeners with his stirring elocutions.

As we have moved into the electronic age, speechmaking has morphed into over-produced political ads, and short sound bites. Rarely do we gather as a community for the sole purpose of hearing a public address.

This past Thursday, I attended a kick-off event for the campaign of Jackson Miller, delegate for Virginia's 50th district. Although I support Jackson, I did not go primarily to hear him. Rather, the draw for me, and I suspect many others, was film producer and director, Ron Maxwell, of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals fame.

I cannot recall, in my fifty-five years, ever hearing a message so eloquent, so inspiring, so moving. And in saying this, I intend no disrespect to the many pastors and preachers I have heard through the years. Most of them have been quite gifted.

This night, electricity filled the air. The Fire Department hall overflowed with Jackson's supporters. Earlier that day, Americans had triumphed, compelling the U.S. Senate to cast aside their ill-conceived and grossly expensive "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill." A good and hopeful feeling filled the room as we waited for Mr. Maxwell to take the podium.

Mr. Maxwell is a strong and vocal advocate for securing our nation's borders, and enforcing the current laws regarding illegal aliens in our midst. And we attendees anticipated that he would address this theme.

He did not disappoint.

Beginning with a prosaic portrait of the concept of "home," Mr. Maxwell explained the importance of "place" in our lives. He talked about roots, generations, and the very natural and normal human connection to specific pieces of real estate.

He spoke of two types of people: one dimensional, and three dimensional.

One dimensional people, he explained, think of life only in the present tense. All that matters to these folks is getting the most out of life today. This generally means acquiring things and power with little regard for the past, or for the future. To one dimensional people, "home" or "place" mean very little. Those in this group are primarily consumers, building their stash of money and things.

Three dimensional people on the other hand, think of life as past, present, and future. These folks have a regard for history, tradition, and the ongoing story of life in a particular place. They also consider the future, and how things they do today will impact the generations that follow. People in this group are less consumed with the material, and more concerned with character, integrity, sacrifice, and leaving the world a better place than it was when they arrived.

One of the many factors contributing to America's historic exceptionalism, is our commitment to both the past and the future. Sadly, in our day, there is less of this kind of feeling or understanding than ever before in our land. We have, in many respects, deteriorated into a "live for the moment" kind of culture. Though certainly not completely consumed by this inferior approach to living, the malady is widespread.

Mr. Maxwell then went on to elaborate to us how and why we have come to this point in our nation's history. He laid out how America has slowly been taken over by globalist corporations, and the greedy politicians in their pockets. For these globalist business people, all that really matters is the bottom line. If producing a product with foreign workers proves cheaper than production with American workers, then outsourcing is done. If Bangladesh workers can do it cheaper than Guatemalan workers, then the work goes to Bangladesh.

I guess it is to be expected that corporations think of profit first. That is after all, their primary reason for existing. (For another perspective on this, see my blog posting on business.) But our elected leaders on the other hand, have been put into their positions to look out for the constituents who voted them in. Sadly, our leaders in Washington have become little more than lap dogs for their corporate and special interest benefactors. Globalist business people, and greedy/power hungry politicians are one dimensional people.

The recent uproar, outrage really, over the Senate immigration bill, awakened many Americans to the reality that those who represent them care little for them. As the drama surrounding this bill unfolded, we came to understand more clearly the utter disconnect between the everyday American, and their representatives in Washington. It angered us.

Mr. Maxwell also explained how the millions who have crossed the border illegally are often doing so because their own countries do not even want them. He tied this element of the story back to his original thoughts of "home" and "place," explaining how many illegals in our country really don't even want to be here. America is not their home.

It became evident, that although an outspoken advocate of a secure border and enforcing the laws regarding illegals, Mr. Maxwell clearly harbored no ill-will toward the new, interloping inhabitants of our communities. He pinned the blame squarely upon our own selfish, one dimensional politicians and business leaders, and their counterparts south of the border.

Throughout the presentation, the crowd responded with applause and even cheering. Mr. Maxwell's address was interrupted numerous times.

Scottish theologian, George Campbell (1719-1796), once penned these thoughts regarding public discourse: "The four ends of discourse are to enlighten the understanding, please the imagination, move the passion, and influence the will." Mr. Maxwell certainly succeeded on all four points.

He concluded his speech by laying out three essential steps that must be taken to restore order out of the chaos we have invited upon ourselves:

Secure the border.
Enforce the existing laws, especially by punishing the greedy American businesses that knowingly use the illegal's cheap labor. He even recommended jail time for those who are the most egregious violators.
Love the illegal foreigners among us, and lovingly help them to find their way back home.

Of his last point, I must say I was quite surprised. His exhortation to love seemed oddly out of place for a political event. So unexpected was it, that I imagine he planned it just that way. For those of us engaged in the struggle to preserve and restore our historic, Christian, American culture, it is indeed important to regularly be reminded that the illegals among us, whether we like it or not, are, for now anyway, our neighbors. And although they have broken the law, and although some are not as well behaved as we would like, and although many take advantage of our national largesse, and although they are not entitled to the same rights and privileges as we American citizens, we do owe them basic respect on a person-to-person basis. We are all fellow members of the human family after all.

I have failed in many ways to capture the feeling and power of that night. Unfortunately, the message was not recorded. However, a text version of the speech can be found here.

The Nation of Aztlan

2007-06-27T22:59:00.001-05:00

If you think the battle against illegal aliens is ill-advised or misdirected, think again.

Preserving Freedom

2007-06-26T20:42:00.000-05:00

I had a brief visit this evening from a very passionate and pleasant young lady named Nina (sp?), who works for an organization known as PIRG (Public Interest Research Group). Nina's commitment to her cause really impressed me. Those of you who know me know that I can sometimes be pretty curt with people who promote things that I'm not particularly enthused about. But God, in His mercy, gave me a tender heart I think, and we had what I thought was a very pleasant conversation.

PIRG's stated mission is "to deliver persistent, result-oriented public interest activism that protects our environment, encourages a fair, sustainable economy, and fosters responsive, democratic government."

Nina's primary focus in our discussion was the environment. PIRG promotes alternative, renewable energy sources such as windmills, solar power, and fuel made from carbon absorbing crops such as corn. Like Nina, I believe that our nation needs to become less dependent on fossil fuels, particularly oil from foreign nations. We are held hostage by nations like Saudi Arabia.

But how do we get there?

My primary concern with interest groups such as this (at least my perception) is their tendency to look to our federal government to solve problems. I explained to Nina that government comes in a fixed or finite quantity, and that the more we as individuals fail to do things for ourselves, the more power we surrender to someone else.

Our massive bureaucracy in Washington testifies to the failure of many to manage life effectively. Civil rights, for example, had to be mandated by law (the Civil Rights Act of 1964). Why couldn't everyone just treat all people, regardless of color, with respect in the first place? If we had, our federal government would not be so oppressive today.

I don't want Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, or even President Bush to tell me what kind of car to drive. And as much as I detest smoking, I am even more upset at the growing trend toward outlawing smoking in restaurants and other public places. I would rather be occasionally assaulted by the gross and uninvited invasion of cigarette smoke, than surrender one more ounce of my freedom to some bureaucrat.

Nina's smile went south when I told her that I thought Al Gore was a clown. Daggone it, I forgot to say "circus clown," because that is really what he is.

But yes, the environment is very important, and we need to do all we can to take care of it and find better and cleaner ways to supply our energy needs. I just think that, given time, the marketplace can correct many of these ills, and do so much more effectively and efficiently than the federal government.

In fairness, some of the other parts of PIRG's mission sound good to me: "we stand up to powerful special interests on issues to ... protect open space, stop identity theft, fight political corruption, provide safe and affordable prescription drugs, and strengthen voting rights."

Great goals!

But let's be careful to preserve our freedoms first. I am reminded of C.S. Lewis' thoughts on tyranny:

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

The Real Numbers on Immigration

2007-06-25T13:57:00.001-05:00

If left unchecked, the current path of immigrant population growth in this country, will lead us to destruction. We cannot save the whole world!

Fake Job Ads Defraud Americans

2007-06-24T21:09:00.001-05:00

A lawyer instructs business leaders how to run classified employment ads that will not get results so that businesses can bring in immigrants at a lower wage.