The right to liberty is the second God endowed right expressed in our Declaration of Independence. It is a right that most of the world's peoples have never enjoyed. From Nimrod's first empire 4500 years ago to the Marxist dictatorships of today, tyrants have enslaved, terrorized, and brutally smothered the desires and ambitions of people to be free.
Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord (Genesis 10:9-10). He was infamously a hunter of men. The ancient Egyptians, the Assyrians and Babylonians, the Persians and Romans, the Ottomans, the Mongolian Golden Horde, the kings of Europe, the Conquistadors, the Papacy, African tribes, Ayatollahs, the USSR and China, the communists of the 20th century all lived by one principle: the suppression of common people for the empowerment of despotic rulers.
Early Pilgrims led by John Winthrop envisioned America as a "shining city upon a hill." This was going to be a place where people could escape tyranny and enjoy the freedoms they had never known. America would be a place that opened its arms to the tired, the poor, the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free." And so it has become.
When the Founding Fathers framed the Constitution they gave us a form of government where "We the People" granted limited powers to the Federal government in order for that government to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." But the original document gave no guarantees to those liberties and many of the Founders refused to sign it without the promise of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Those amendments were designed to limit the power of the government so that our freedoms, as delineated in the Declaration of Independence, could not be denied.
The First Amendment, our bedrock of liberty, guarantees the freedom of Religion, of Speech, of the Press, of Assembly, and the freedom to challenge and influence the direction of our government by a "redress of grievances." The Second guarantees our right to own and bear arms. These and eight more were added to prevent the government from becoming a tyranny.
This is a government, however, that will only work, as John Adams said, for a moral and religious people. Without God and a moral base the system collapses, but as long as people police themselves by self-discipline and consideration of their fellow men, the system works. When men love God with all their hearts and their neighbors as themselves (Matthew 22:37-39), there is no need for excessive laws. This method worked well in America for over 170 years.
As the freest people in the world we became the mightiest and most prosperous nation in the world. We became the world's benefactor nation, first through missionaries and charitable societies, then by freeing the world from Nazi and communist tyrannies, and then by food aid and economic development programs designed to help struggling democracies.
But somewhere along the way we lost our focus. As we became affluent, we became apathetic. We turned our backs on the God of our Fathers, kicked Him out of our schools, and turned our compassion and our ambition over to the government. The more we turned over, the more the government took. The New Deal, the Great Society, the New World Order, stimulus packages, universal health-care, have all led to massive taxes and monstrous debt, and thousands of pages of new laws, new restrictions, and more government empowerment. When America forgot God and became secular, government stepped in and became god to many. And what happened to our liberty?
There is a direct correlation between government and freedom. The more power government takes, the less free people become. When the selfish clamor for rights goes beyond "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," the cry for government to give us more ultimately results in government taking away what we had. The more secular and materialistic people become the less discerning they become. Now, an undiscerning populace, backed by a non-objective and undiscerning press, has elected a socialist, Muslim, who may not even be an American citizen, president of the United States, and the right to liberty is under attack as it has never been before.
Our right to be a free, independent people, secure within our own borders is being denied by the president and his administration, the very people obligated to provide that security. "We are not defined by our borders," the president said some months ago. Neither are we any longer defined by the Faith of our Fathers. According to the president we are not and never have been a Christian nation, and now a 13 story mosque next to Ground Zero in New York City is being planned with the blessing of the president and Democrat leftists.
This is not government; this is revolution. It is the overturning of what America is, a free Christian nation, in favor of a secular anti-Christian socialist system which will take America to the "ash-heap of nations" if it continues unchecked.
The right to liberty requires a return to the God of our Fathers, the God the left does not know. It requires patriotism, a love of country which the left does not have. It requires discernment, which the masses following the president like unquestioning lemmings are lacking. It requires responsible, law-abiding citizens, which illegal aliens are not. The right to liberty requires a moral and religious people who love America and are willing to fight for our country, our heritage, and our God.
If we don't draw the line and stand now, our liberties, and our right to be free, will be gone forever and like the godless Soviet Union, America will fall without a shot being fired.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Right to Life
The first of the "certain unalienable rights" endowed by our Creator listed in the Declaration of Independence is the right to life. According to our Founding Fathers life is a God-given right.
Yet, today the most explosive and divisive issue in our culture is about life and who has a right to it. One would think that in a society gone crazy about rights, human rights, women's rights, children's rights, gay rights, animal rights, environmental rights, that the right of a child to live in a woman's womb until birth would be automatic. But not so fast. The "right to choose," which is nothing less than the right to abort, has trumped all arguments. A woman's "right" to be promiscuous and not have to bear the burden of the consequences of her life style drives our pleasure mad culture.
This works for the men involved too. Free sex, no responsibility. This attitude was given an immeasurable boost when former President Clinton argued about his dalliances in the White House that it was "just sex." Sex is just a natural thing, it makes no difference who or when. Just go out and have a good time. His argument had the support of a willing liberal press and every characterless leftist in the country.
But it doesn't just stop with our country. Ever since Hillary Clinton spoke at the United Nations Fourth Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995, there has been a concerted effort by Democrats in America to export the "right" of abortion world wide. Joe Biden recently visited Kenya to promote the proposed new Kenyan constitution which will open the door for abortion on demand in this country. It basically is a crusade to empower women, but empower them to what?
Any society that does not maintain a positive birth rate will eventually be unable to sustain itself. Since Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion in 1973, more than 50 million babies have been aborted in America and America's birth rate has dropped below the sustainable minimum. When the nation becomes top heavy with the elderly and the work force becomes too weak to care for them the only option will be bankruptcy or euthanasia. That's not far-fetched. A few years ago former Colorado governor, Dick Lamb, declared that old people had a responsibility to get out of the way. In other words, die. Legalizing physician assisted suicide is being debated in several states.
And where did this cycle of thinking start? With abortion. It was claimed by the defenders of "Jane Roe" that abortion had to be legalized in order to protect the life of the mother, and that legalization would actually lead to a decline in the total number of abortions. Instead, the rate of abortions grew from a few thousand every year to over 4.4 million per year, and there have been hundreds of botched abortions. It has also been discovered that "Jane Roe," whose real name is Norma McCorvey, was not even pregnant during the Roe vs. Wade legal battle, and that she is now a pro-life advocate.
In order to justify themselves pro-abortionists consistently throw out the archaic argument, "When does life start?" There are two answers to the question; one spiritual and one physical. The spiritual argument comes from Psalm 51:5: "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Theologically all men are born sinners (Romans 5:12) so if sin began at conception, so did life. The physical argument is much simpler. From the moment the sperm and the egg unite to form a zygote, the single cell begins to divide and grow. Dead things do not reproduce and grow. The fact is, the baby is a living being from the moment of conception.
Some will argue "viability," the child's ability to live outside the womb. That's a smoke screen. Viability isn't the question with partial birth abortions. These are performed into the ninth month of pregnancy right up to the moment before the baby is born. It is a hideous form of torture and murder. Now the Senate is considering a woman for the Supreme Court who intentionally manipulated information in the 90's in order to get the Supreme Court to overturn a partial birth abortion ban. And the president who nominated her believes that a baby that survives an abortion attempt (and there have been many) should be killed anyway. What does this say about the integrity of the leaders of our country? They have none!
With the invention of ultrasound the "when does life start" argument is no longer even intelligent, as if it ever was. Ultrasound technology has advanced from blurry images in the early 80's to reasonably clear pictures today and what it has shown is that what is developing in the womb is very much alive.
When my wife, Lhey, became pregnant with our second child, we had an ultrasound done to confirm the pregnancy. We saw very clearly the egg and the yolk sac. At about the sixth week Lhey had some bleeding so we went to see her gynecologist and we had another ultrasound. This time the baby was 1.8 centimeters long, just a blob with a head beginning to form and a black spot that we could both see and hear, the beating heart. Three days later my wife had a massive bleeding in the middle of the night. We rushed her to the hospital where the on-call emergency doctor examined her and said, "The pregnancy is over."
Our hearts were broken. Our first son, Jonathan, wept almost uncontrollably. I couldn't hold back the tears either. Lhey was stronger than both of us at that moment. I went to check her into the hospital and when I came back the doctor said, "What we're going to do now is called a D and C procedure." I said, "Wait a minute. I thought the baby had miscarried. Do you mean to tell me the baby is still there?"
He said, "There is evidence of fetal material, but it can't survive." I repeated my question, "Is the baby still there?" He gave me the same answer, "There is evidence of fetal material, but it can't survive." I told him in no uncertain terms he wasn't doing anything else until we had an ultrasound.
We had to wait five hours for the gynecologist and the ultrasound technician to arrive, and during that time we prayed and wondered and tried to comfort ourselves. Finally the procedure was done and we saw the baby, about an inch long with little stubs for hands and feet beginning to appear, and the heart still beating. He was alive!
What happened was the placenta had attached low in the birth canal and had torn loose. It was barely hanging on. Lhey had to be on absolute bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. She had other bleeding spells along the way and spent nearly two months of the next six in the hospital. Because of her condition we were having monthly ultrasounds to check the baby's progress and a more beautiful thing you will never see. At only three months, after a minor bleeding spell, we watched the baby lying on his back, raise his right hand and begin moving it back and forth as if he were waving at us.
In the eighth month Lhey began bleeding again and the doctor decided she had gone far enough and suggested we schedule the birth by cesarean section for three days later. That night in the hospital she had another massive bleeding so they moved the birthdate up a day sooner and on December 13, 2007, Ethan Lance Patterson was born. The doctor said he had never seen a case like ours where the child had survived, and called him a miracle baby and Lhey a champion mother. And so they are.
Lhey would have met the criteria for an abortion from any "humanitarian" point of view. She was 44 years old, suffered several bleeding spells, was in severe pain and discomfort, and had to be on bed rest for the entire pregnancy, and the baby was hanging on by a thread. We even had a doctor who had misdiagnosed the situation recommending it. It would have been an easy decision for a pro-abortionist, but what we would have missed if we had thought along those terms. Today we have a beautiful, healthy child, who is a precious blessing to us. He is so much fun to have around.
Ethan had as much right to life as every man or woman ever conceived, and we are proud to have given him that right. I pity those, I say again, I pity those who are so selfish, cold-hearted and ignorant as to think the right to life does not extend to the life in the womb.
Yet, today the most explosive and divisive issue in our culture is about life and who has a right to it. One would think that in a society gone crazy about rights, human rights, women's rights, children's rights, gay rights, animal rights, environmental rights, that the right of a child to live in a woman's womb until birth would be automatic. But not so fast. The "right to choose," which is nothing less than the right to abort, has trumped all arguments. A woman's "right" to be promiscuous and not have to bear the burden of the consequences of her life style drives our pleasure mad culture.
This works for the men involved too. Free sex, no responsibility. This attitude was given an immeasurable boost when former President Clinton argued about his dalliances in the White House that it was "just sex." Sex is just a natural thing, it makes no difference who or when. Just go out and have a good time. His argument had the support of a willing liberal press and every characterless leftist in the country.
But it doesn't just stop with our country. Ever since Hillary Clinton spoke at the United Nations Fourth Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995, there has been a concerted effort by Democrats in America to export the "right" of abortion world wide. Joe Biden recently visited Kenya to promote the proposed new Kenyan constitution which will open the door for abortion on demand in this country. It basically is a crusade to empower women, but empower them to what?
Any society that does not maintain a positive birth rate will eventually be unable to sustain itself. Since Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion in 1973, more than 50 million babies have been aborted in America and America's birth rate has dropped below the sustainable minimum. When the nation becomes top heavy with the elderly and the work force becomes too weak to care for them the only option will be bankruptcy or euthanasia. That's not far-fetched. A few years ago former Colorado governor, Dick Lamb, declared that old people had a responsibility to get out of the way. In other words, die. Legalizing physician assisted suicide is being debated in several states.
And where did this cycle of thinking start? With abortion. It was claimed by the defenders of "Jane Roe" that abortion had to be legalized in order to protect the life of the mother, and that legalization would actually lead to a decline in the total number of abortions. Instead, the rate of abortions grew from a few thousand every year to over 4.4 million per year, and there have been hundreds of botched abortions. It has also been discovered that "Jane Roe," whose real name is Norma McCorvey, was not even pregnant during the Roe vs. Wade legal battle, and that she is now a pro-life advocate.
In order to justify themselves pro-abortionists consistently throw out the archaic argument, "When does life start?" There are two answers to the question; one spiritual and one physical. The spiritual argument comes from Psalm 51:5: "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Theologically all men are born sinners (Romans 5:12) so if sin began at conception, so did life. The physical argument is much simpler. From the moment the sperm and the egg unite to form a zygote, the single cell begins to divide and grow. Dead things do not reproduce and grow. The fact is, the baby is a living being from the moment of conception.
Some will argue "viability," the child's ability to live outside the womb. That's a smoke screen. Viability isn't the question with partial birth abortions. These are performed into the ninth month of pregnancy right up to the moment before the baby is born. It is a hideous form of torture and murder. Now the Senate is considering a woman for the Supreme Court who intentionally manipulated information in the 90's in order to get the Supreme Court to overturn a partial birth abortion ban. And the president who nominated her believes that a baby that survives an abortion attempt (and there have been many) should be killed anyway. What does this say about the integrity of the leaders of our country? They have none!
With the invention of ultrasound the "when does life start" argument is no longer even intelligent, as if it ever was. Ultrasound technology has advanced from blurry images in the early 80's to reasonably clear pictures today and what it has shown is that what is developing in the womb is very much alive.
When my wife, Lhey, became pregnant with our second child, we had an ultrasound done to confirm the pregnancy. We saw very clearly the egg and the yolk sac. At about the sixth week Lhey had some bleeding so we went to see her gynecologist and we had another ultrasound. This time the baby was 1.8 centimeters long, just a blob with a head beginning to form and a black spot that we could both see and hear, the beating heart. Three days later my wife had a massive bleeding in the middle of the night. We rushed her to the hospital where the on-call emergency doctor examined her and said, "The pregnancy is over."
Our hearts were broken. Our first son, Jonathan, wept almost uncontrollably. I couldn't hold back the tears either. Lhey was stronger than both of us at that moment. I went to check her into the hospital and when I came back the doctor said, "What we're going to do now is called a D and C procedure." I said, "Wait a minute. I thought the baby had miscarried. Do you mean to tell me the baby is still there?"
He said, "There is evidence of fetal material, but it can't survive." I repeated my question, "Is the baby still there?" He gave me the same answer, "There is evidence of fetal material, but it can't survive." I told him in no uncertain terms he wasn't doing anything else until we had an ultrasound.
We had to wait five hours for the gynecologist and the ultrasound technician to arrive, and during that time we prayed and wondered and tried to comfort ourselves. Finally the procedure was done and we saw the baby, about an inch long with little stubs for hands and feet beginning to appear, and the heart still beating. He was alive!
What happened was the placenta had attached low in the birth canal and had torn loose. It was barely hanging on. Lhey had to be on absolute bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. She had other bleeding spells along the way and spent nearly two months of the next six in the hospital. Because of her condition we were having monthly ultrasounds to check the baby's progress and a more beautiful thing you will never see. At only three months, after a minor bleeding spell, we watched the baby lying on his back, raise his right hand and begin moving it back and forth as if he were waving at us.
In the eighth month Lhey began bleeding again and the doctor decided she had gone far enough and suggested we schedule the birth by cesarean section for three days later. That night in the hospital she had another massive bleeding so they moved the birthdate up a day sooner and on December 13, 2007, Ethan Lance Patterson was born. The doctor said he had never seen a case like ours where the child had survived, and called him a miracle baby and Lhey a champion mother. And so they are.
Lhey would have met the criteria for an abortion from any "humanitarian" point of view. She was 44 years old, suffered several bleeding spells, was in severe pain and discomfort, and had to be on bed rest for the entire pregnancy, and the baby was hanging on by a thread. We even had a doctor who had misdiagnosed the situation recommending it. It would have been an easy decision for a pro-abortionist, but what we would have missed if we had thought along those terms. Today we have a beautiful, healthy child, who is a precious blessing to us. He is so much fun to have around.
Ethan had as much right to life as every man or woman ever conceived, and we are proud to have given him that right. I pity those, I say again, I pity those who are so selfish, cold-hearted and ignorant as to think the right to life does not extend to the life in the womb.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Are All Men Created Equal?
The Declaration of Independence finds it a self-evident truth that all men are created equal. Yet all men are not equal. In fact, many of the signers of the document owned slaves even as they agreed to the proposition of equality. This has become one of the great controversies in American politics and culture. The Founding Fathers are accused of hypocrisy for not freeing the slaves outright in the Constitution, and of being racist for counting slaves as only three-fifths of a person. Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice on the United States Supreme Court, considered the Constitution to be one of the worst documents ever written, yet it was only because of that Constitution and the fundamental proposition of equality that he was able to become a justice on the highest court in the land.
Obviously all men are not born equal. Some are born to wealth and luxury while others are born to poverty. Some are born in good health, some are not. Certainly Jefferson and the signers understood that. The proposition was that God endowed them "with certain unalienable rights." It was to these God-given rights that all men are created equal. Those rights include, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." So why, if all men deserve these rights equally, did Washington and Jefferson still own slaves? Why was slavery not abolished in the beginning?
The answer is found in an understanding of our history. Washington inherited his slaves, he treated them well, and never sold a slave if it would break up a family, and both men freed their slaves in their wills when they died. They could do no better because a Virginia law at the time prohibited the freeing of slaves in Virginia. They were stuck with their slaves until they died.
Slavery was brought to America's shores not by the colonists, but by the British Crown. The Founding Fathers blamed the king for introducing and forcing the institution on them. By the time of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the institution had become so ingrained in southern life that slave owners argued that it had become a necessity. The cotton industry had become so dependent on slaves that it could not be changed overnight with the stroke of a pen. Instead the Founders left it alone in order to unite all the colonies under one government, but put a moratorium on the African slave trade for twenty years believing that by that time the slave institution would be dying out on its own. They left it up to the individual states to end the practice when they felt ready, but they went on to prohibit slavery in the Northwest Territories.
The Northern States, where cotton and tobacco do not grow, were the first to outlaw slavery. The Southern States were expected to take a little longer, but then in 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. His machine revolutionized the separating of seeds and dirt from the cotton and suddenly made slave labor a greater necessity than ever before. As cotton became king, slave owners, in order to justify themselves, began to view ownership as a moral right, even using Scripture to defend their position, and it was here that the nation began its slippery slide toward the "Irrepressible Conflict."
But what about slaves being considered as only three-fifths of a person? Again the answer is found in understanding the purpose of that arrangement. Fully a third of the population of the Southern States were slaves. Slaves were not citizens, yet southerners wanted to count every slave in the census as a citizen for the apportionment of congressional seats. The more slaves they could count the more voting power they would gain in Congress. The Northern States objected but agreed to the three-fifths rule as a compromise to give the southerners some votes, but to prevent them from getting all the votes they could if slaves were counted as a whole number. In the end this was not a racist decision declaring black people inferior, but a compromise designed to lessen the pro-slavery voting block and bring a quicker end to the practice.
By 1860 the issue had become slavery in the western territories. The Republican Party, with Abraham Lincoln as its candidate for president said,"No." Slavery could not be allowed to spread, although it would not be interfered with where it already existed. This was unsatisfactory to the people of the South and what followed was the bloodiest war in American history.
The argument today is that the war was not over slavery, but over State's Rights. The problem with that argument is that the only right that the states could not reconcile through ordinary legislative means was the right to slavery. In the last weeks of 1860, Southerners led by William Yancey and a group of 52 men calling themselves "Secession Commissioners," stirred up the South to fight for the very right of owning slaves. In the end over 660,000 men died, around 400,000 of them from the North fighting to preserve the Union which resulted in the destruction of the institution of slavery.
Blacks and other minorities were still not treated equal in many parts of the country, but the Civil Rights Act of 1964 put an end to Jim Crow laws and segregation. As a nation we have bent over backward in the last fifty years to ensure equality for all people. And now, in spite of his playing the race card when he announced his candidacy, we have even elected a black president.
America is not perfect because, in spite of our Christian heritage, we are a nation governed by men and women. We are flawed and imperfect. Our history proves it. Our present government really proves it. Yet in the history of the world there has never been a nation like the United States of America. Lincoln said, "Most governments have been based, practically, on the denial of equal rights of men.... Ours began by affirming those rights." There is not a nation in the world where the people are as free and equal as the people of the United States.
Obviously all men are not born equal. Some are born to wealth and luxury while others are born to poverty. Some are born in good health, some are not. Certainly Jefferson and the signers understood that. The proposition was that God endowed them "with certain unalienable rights." It was to these God-given rights that all men are created equal. Those rights include, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." So why, if all men deserve these rights equally, did Washington and Jefferson still own slaves? Why was slavery not abolished in the beginning?
The answer is found in an understanding of our history. Washington inherited his slaves, he treated them well, and never sold a slave if it would break up a family, and both men freed their slaves in their wills when they died. They could do no better because a Virginia law at the time prohibited the freeing of slaves in Virginia. They were stuck with their slaves until they died.
Slavery was brought to America's shores not by the colonists, but by the British Crown. The Founding Fathers blamed the king for introducing and forcing the institution on them. By the time of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the institution had become so ingrained in southern life that slave owners argued that it had become a necessity. The cotton industry had become so dependent on slaves that it could not be changed overnight with the stroke of a pen. Instead the Founders left it alone in order to unite all the colonies under one government, but put a moratorium on the African slave trade for twenty years believing that by that time the slave institution would be dying out on its own. They left it up to the individual states to end the practice when they felt ready, but they went on to prohibit slavery in the Northwest Territories.
The Northern States, where cotton and tobacco do not grow, were the first to outlaw slavery. The Southern States were expected to take a little longer, but then in 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. His machine revolutionized the separating of seeds and dirt from the cotton and suddenly made slave labor a greater necessity than ever before. As cotton became king, slave owners, in order to justify themselves, began to view ownership as a moral right, even using Scripture to defend their position, and it was here that the nation began its slippery slide toward the "Irrepressible Conflict."
But what about slaves being considered as only three-fifths of a person? Again the answer is found in understanding the purpose of that arrangement. Fully a third of the population of the Southern States were slaves. Slaves were not citizens, yet southerners wanted to count every slave in the census as a citizen for the apportionment of congressional seats. The more slaves they could count the more voting power they would gain in Congress. The Northern States objected but agreed to the three-fifths rule as a compromise to give the southerners some votes, but to prevent them from getting all the votes they could if slaves were counted as a whole number. In the end this was not a racist decision declaring black people inferior, but a compromise designed to lessen the pro-slavery voting block and bring a quicker end to the practice.
By 1860 the issue had become slavery in the western territories. The Republican Party, with Abraham Lincoln as its candidate for president said,"No." Slavery could not be allowed to spread, although it would not be interfered with where it already existed. This was unsatisfactory to the people of the South and what followed was the bloodiest war in American history.
The argument today is that the war was not over slavery, but over State's Rights. The problem with that argument is that the only right that the states could not reconcile through ordinary legislative means was the right to slavery. In the last weeks of 1860, Southerners led by William Yancey and a group of 52 men calling themselves "Secession Commissioners," stirred up the South to fight for the very right of owning slaves. In the end over 660,000 men died, around 400,000 of them from the North fighting to preserve the Union which resulted in the destruction of the institution of slavery.
Blacks and other minorities were still not treated equal in many parts of the country, but the Civil Rights Act of 1964 put an end to Jim Crow laws and segregation. As a nation we have bent over backward in the last fifty years to ensure equality for all people. And now, in spite of his playing the race card when he announced his candidacy, we have even elected a black president.
America is not perfect because, in spite of our Christian heritage, we are a nation governed by men and women. We are flawed and imperfect. Our history proves it. Our present government really proves it. Yet in the history of the world there has never been a nation like the United States of America. Lincoln said, "Most governments have been based, practically, on the denial of equal rights of men.... Ours began by affirming those rights." There is not a nation in the world where the people are as free and equal as the people of the United States.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Self Evident Truths
Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “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.”
“We,” were the fifty-six delegates who represented the thirteen colonies in the Continental Congress. They were all agreed that there are self-evident truths, that is, things that are so natural and obviously known that no one disputes them. The first obvious self-evident truth is that they all believed they were created by an intelligent Creator with a purpose to give them certain rights.
The second obvious self-evident truth is that the author, Jefferson, believed in the same Creator and the same rights. The proof is in the fact that he wrote the document. A third obvious truth is that a deist would never have written such a statement because deism believes in an eternal source that started it all, but not a personal God who cares to give anything to His creation.
Still, liberal educators with the help of anti-American publishing companies, the ACLU, and other historically blind revisionists, insist that Jefferson could not have been a Christian. They cite his edited “version“ of the Bible saying he cut out all the parts he didn’t like leaving only a fraction of the Scriptures intact.
Once again, without studying the history of the “Jefferson Bible” it is easy to misunderstand or slander his intent. In 1803, the United States government had made a treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians. Jefferson, wanting to open the door for missionaries to take the Gospel to the Indians, edited the Bible to include only the words of Jesus in order to make translation easier and quicker so the Word of God could be read and understood by the various Indian tribes.
What Jefferson did was no different than a Bible society publishing just the New Testament, or just a Gospel of John or a Book of Romans. In this case it was just the words of Christ for the purpose of enhancing evangelistic efforts. It is also significant that in every annual budget during Jefferson’s presidency there were funds designated for the evangelization of Indians with the Christian religion. You wouldn’t really expect a non-Christian to do something like that.
Jefferson’s theology was more ecumenical in nature than orthodox, but he was a strong proponent of religious liberty. He didn’t believe in the ascendency of any particular sect over another, yet his writings show a clear aversion to the Catholic Church. In a letter to Mrs. M. Harrison Smith in 1816, he wrote, “I have ever thought religion a concern purely between our God and our consciences, for which we were accountable to Him, and not to the priests.”
To a Mr. Samuel Kercheval he wrote in 1810, “But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State.”
The Great Reformer of the Jewish religion is an obvious reference to Christ, and the special servants enslaving mankind by use of Church and State the papacy. These thoughts would have been consistent with colonial and early American theology in general as the early Pilgrims and settlers came to America to escape Romanism or its English equivalent, Anglicanism. There were very few Catholics in America until after the Civil War.
Again, the self-evident truth about any religious discussion by our Founding Fathers is that it is the Christian religion they are talking about. In 1801, Jefferson wrote to Moses Robinson, “The Christian religion . . . brought to the original purity and simplicity of it’s benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.”
The problem in trying to pinpoint Jefferson’s Christianity is that he left no clear testimony of faith in Jesus Christ. He was an adherent of no particular denomination but was in favor of religious liberty for faiths of all kinds, including Hinduism and Islam. However, his writings about God in general are all focused on Christ and the Christian religion.
In his Notes on the State of Virginia, 1794, he wrote, ““And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we have lost the only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?”
A deist god does not give gifts, neither is it just. A deist god could care less about slavery or gratitude for favors. A deist god would not endow its creation with unalienable rights. Whether or not Jefferson was a true believer in Christ might be questionable, but there is no doubt that his religious beliefs, his character, and his insistence on the Bill of Rights to include religious freedom were influenced by Christianity and the Gospels, not by any other philosophy.
“We,” were the fifty-six delegates who represented the thirteen colonies in the Continental Congress. They were all agreed that there are self-evident truths, that is, things that are so natural and obviously known that no one disputes them. The first obvious self-evident truth is that they all believed they were created by an intelligent Creator with a purpose to give them certain rights.
The second obvious self-evident truth is that the author, Jefferson, believed in the same Creator and the same rights. The proof is in the fact that he wrote the document. A third obvious truth is that a deist would never have written such a statement because deism believes in an eternal source that started it all, but not a personal God who cares to give anything to His creation.
Still, liberal educators with the help of anti-American publishing companies, the ACLU, and other historically blind revisionists, insist that Jefferson could not have been a Christian. They cite his edited “version“ of the Bible saying he cut out all the parts he didn’t like leaving only a fraction of the Scriptures intact.
Once again, without studying the history of the “Jefferson Bible” it is easy to misunderstand or slander his intent. In 1803, the United States government had made a treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians. Jefferson, wanting to open the door for missionaries to take the Gospel to the Indians, edited the Bible to include only the words of Jesus in order to make translation easier and quicker so the Word of God could be read and understood by the various Indian tribes.
What Jefferson did was no different than a Bible society publishing just the New Testament, or just a Gospel of John or a Book of Romans. In this case it was just the words of Christ for the purpose of enhancing evangelistic efforts. It is also significant that in every annual budget during Jefferson’s presidency there were funds designated for the evangelization of Indians with the Christian religion. You wouldn’t really expect a non-Christian to do something like that.
Jefferson’s theology was more ecumenical in nature than orthodox, but he was a strong proponent of religious liberty. He didn’t believe in the ascendency of any particular sect over another, yet his writings show a clear aversion to the Catholic Church. In a letter to Mrs. M. Harrison Smith in 1816, he wrote, “I have ever thought religion a concern purely between our God and our consciences, for which we were accountable to Him, and not to the priests.”
To a Mr. Samuel Kercheval he wrote in 1810, “But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State.”
The Great Reformer of the Jewish religion is an obvious reference to Christ, and the special servants enslaving mankind by use of Church and State the papacy. These thoughts would have been consistent with colonial and early American theology in general as the early Pilgrims and settlers came to America to escape Romanism or its English equivalent, Anglicanism. There were very few Catholics in America until after the Civil War.
Again, the self-evident truth about any religious discussion by our Founding Fathers is that it is the Christian religion they are talking about. In 1801, Jefferson wrote to Moses Robinson, “The Christian religion . . . brought to the original purity and simplicity of it’s benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.”
The problem in trying to pinpoint Jefferson’s Christianity is that he left no clear testimony of faith in Jesus Christ. He was an adherent of no particular denomination but was in favor of religious liberty for faiths of all kinds, including Hinduism and Islam. However, his writings about God in general are all focused on Christ and the Christian religion.
In his Notes on the State of Virginia, 1794, he wrote, ““And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we have lost the only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?”
A deist god does not give gifts, neither is it just. A deist god could care less about slavery or gratitude for favors. A deist god would not endow its creation with unalienable rights. Whether or not Jefferson was a true believer in Christ might be questionable, but there is no doubt that his religious beliefs, his character, and his insistence on the Bill of Rights to include religious freedom were influenced by Christianity and the Gospels, not by any other philosophy.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
A War for America's Identity
This week the Justice Department officially filed a law suit against Arizona over the immigration law Arizona passed in April. The Justice Department's argument is that "enforcing immigration law is a Federal responsibility." Well, duh! Wake up Eric Holder. The reason Arizona acted is because the Federal government has reneged on its responsibility. By the way, have you read the Arizona law yet?
Step up former Arizona governor and now head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. This week she self-righteously claimed that she had walked the border, driven the border and she can assure everyone that the border is as secure as it has ever been. As former Congressman James Traficant would say, "Beam me up, Scotty." What universe is Napolitano living in? People are dying. Gun battles are taking place and a "hit" has been ordered by Mexican drug lords on an Arizona sheriff.
Up steps the president in typical "cut-the-throat-of-your-ally" fashion and says the border is too long to secure, and a fence wouldn't solve the problem anyway. But if 18 million illegal immigrants are given amnesty then he'll be able to build the fence. Wait a minute, Mr. President. Your Homeland Security wonk just said there wasn't a problem! So what are you talking about, or does Napolitano really need to get on a space ship and go somewhere else?
This immigration problem has been brewing for decades. Ronald Reagan wanted to close the border but couldn't get the funding out of the Democrat controlled House to do it. He finally agreed to a Ted Kennedy compromise. Give amnesty to 300,000 illegal immigrants and they'll secure the border. The 300,000 turned into three million and no fence was ever built. Bush 1 and Clinton ignored the border, and when Bush 2 with a Republican controlled Congress was pressured to act he refused until Congress overwhelmingly passed a law in 2006 to build the fence. But by the time the law went into affect the Democrats had won back control of both Houses and refused to appropriate the funds to carry out the law.
Now we have what amounts to an invasion of our sovereign soil, not just by illegal migrant workers looking for jobs, but by drug running criminals with assault rifles and machine guns, as well as Muslim terrorists from other countries. About one in ten of those captured are non-Mexican. The Border Patrol, sadly lacking in personnel and resources, is doing a great job in trying to fight this battle, but what is needed is an Army division with tanks to stop the flow until the double security fence can be built.
We are literally in a war for our identity as a nation and immigration is only one battle in that war. The leftists in charge are constantly attacking our First and Second Amendment rights, particularly our Christian values. U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro just ruled a 1996 Massachusetts law defining marriage as one man and one woman unconstitutional. The "don't ask don't tell" policy on gays in the military has been declared unconstitutional. Hillary Clinton has promised the United Nations that the U.S. will sign its international gun ownership ban. The news media is being prohibited by the government from broadcasting about the Gulf oil spill on location. Christian values are denied on college campuses.
All the while plans for a 13-story mosque two blocks from ground zero in New York City is being defended as an example of religious freedom and separation of church and state. That mosque is an insult to all those who died on 9/11 and an affront to every patriotic American citizen. It is part of a subtle plot by Islamists to invade and change the culture of our country as a step toward turning us into an Islamic state, and President Barack Hussein Obama is in lock step with that plot.
The president said this week that the reason he has trouble with Israeli relations is because the Jews fear his middle name. No, Mr. President, that's not it. It's because of your Muslim loving, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish policies that are changing the greatest nation on earth into the laughing stock of the world while you subvert our free enterprise system in favor of a bankrupt socialist one world state with no borders.
If We the People don't have enough sense to vote these anti-American leftists out in November and the president out in 2012, there may not be an America left to have free elections in 2016. You think I'm kidding? I warned about this two years ago but never in my wildest imagination did I see anything happening as fast as it is happening. If we want to remain a free America with the true values of our Christian past, we Christians need to get on our knees and start begging God to intervene. Last Sunday Baptist pastor Charles Stanley asked his audience to commit to praying specifically for our country everyday for the next 140 days. I committed to join him, I hope you will too, and by all means, when elections come around, get out and vote.
Step up former Arizona governor and now head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. This week she self-righteously claimed that she had walked the border, driven the border and she can assure everyone that the border is as secure as it has ever been. As former Congressman James Traficant would say, "Beam me up, Scotty." What universe is Napolitano living in? People are dying. Gun battles are taking place and a "hit" has been ordered by Mexican drug lords on an Arizona sheriff.
Up steps the president in typical "cut-the-throat-of-your-ally" fashion and says the border is too long to secure, and a fence wouldn't solve the problem anyway. But if 18 million illegal immigrants are given amnesty then he'll be able to build the fence. Wait a minute, Mr. President. Your Homeland Security wonk just said there wasn't a problem! So what are you talking about, or does Napolitano really need to get on a space ship and go somewhere else?
This immigration problem has been brewing for decades. Ronald Reagan wanted to close the border but couldn't get the funding out of the Democrat controlled House to do it. He finally agreed to a Ted Kennedy compromise. Give amnesty to 300,000 illegal immigrants and they'll secure the border. The 300,000 turned into three million and no fence was ever built. Bush 1 and Clinton ignored the border, and when Bush 2 with a Republican controlled Congress was pressured to act he refused until Congress overwhelmingly passed a law in 2006 to build the fence. But by the time the law went into affect the Democrats had won back control of both Houses and refused to appropriate the funds to carry out the law.
Now we have what amounts to an invasion of our sovereign soil, not just by illegal migrant workers looking for jobs, but by drug running criminals with assault rifles and machine guns, as well as Muslim terrorists from other countries. About one in ten of those captured are non-Mexican. The Border Patrol, sadly lacking in personnel and resources, is doing a great job in trying to fight this battle, but what is needed is an Army division with tanks to stop the flow until the double security fence can be built.
We are literally in a war for our identity as a nation and immigration is only one battle in that war. The leftists in charge are constantly attacking our First and Second Amendment rights, particularly our Christian values. U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro just ruled a 1996 Massachusetts law defining marriage as one man and one woman unconstitutional. The "don't ask don't tell" policy on gays in the military has been declared unconstitutional. Hillary Clinton has promised the United Nations that the U.S. will sign its international gun ownership ban. The news media is being prohibited by the government from broadcasting about the Gulf oil spill on location. Christian values are denied on college campuses.
All the while plans for a 13-story mosque two blocks from ground zero in New York City is being defended as an example of religious freedom and separation of church and state. That mosque is an insult to all those who died on 9/11 and an affront to every patriotic American citizen. It is part of a subtle plot by Islamists to invade and change the culture of our country as a step toward turning us into an Islamic state, and President Barack Hussein Obama is in lock step with that plot.
The president said this week that the reason he has trouble with Israeli relations is because the Jews fear his middle name. No, Mr. President, that's not it. It's because of your Muslim loving, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish policies that are changing the greatest nation on earth into the laughing stock of the world while you subvert our free enterprise system in favor of a bankrupt socialist one world state with no borders.
If We the People don't have enough sense to vote these anti-American leftists out in November and the president out in 2012, there may not be an America left to have free elections in 2016. You think I'm kidding? I warned about this two years ago but never in my wildest imagination did I see anything happening as fast as it is happening. If we want to remain a free America with the true values of our Christian past, we Christians need to get on our knees and start begging God to intervene. Last Sunday Baptist pastor Charles Stanley asked his audience to commit to praying specifically for our country everyday for the next 140 days. I committed to join him, I hope you will too, and by all means, when elections come around, get out and vote.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
A Re-Information of Our Greatness
There is a YouTube video circulating of a former Marine singing the last verse of the National Anthem. A comment with the video says the audience was shocked that he knew the last verse. It didn’t shock me. My fourth grade music teacher, Mrs. Lewis, taught the anthem, both verses, to our class. I’ve remembered it ever since. What dismays me, however, is how few people actually do know it.
In the remarks section below on one of the e-mails sent to me were several critical comments including one that was almost a joke. Some liberal, left wing, anti-Christian wrote, “We are not a Christian nation. Read the Founders, they were all deists.” Read the Founders! What a novel idea. Obviously that person had never read the Founders or he would have known his own statement was untrue.
What America needs today is what Ronald Reagan suggested almost thirty years ago when he said, “There is a need in America today for a … re-information of our greatness.”
We need to start with a “re-information” of who we are. Obama says we were never a Christian nation. Liberals notoriously deny our Christian heritage. The Supreme Court continues to rule against Christianity and the Bible in the public square even though the Ten Commandments are written in stone above the Justices’ bench in the Supreme Court chambers. So, what is our heritage? What did our Founders really believe? Who was George Washington praying to at Valley Forge, or was he praying at all?
Isaac Potts, a Valley Forge resident, told of riding through the woods in the harsh winter of 1778 when he heard a voice as of a man in prayer. He went quietly toward the sound and found Washington alone on his knees begging God for aid in the cause of the country. Potts had never believed a man could be a soldier and a Christian, “but if there is one in the world, it is Washington,” he said.
In his 1796 Farewell Address to the nation Washington said that “religion and morality are indispensable supports” to political prosperity. He also wrote, “Do not let anyone claim to be a true American if they ever attempt to remove religion from politics.” That statement is enough to indict the United States Supreme Court, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and every other anti-Christian organization or individual that seeks to remove God from our politics for being un-American. No doubt Washington thought we were and needed to be a Christian nation.
Consider what some of our other Founders wrote.
Patrick Henry, who stirred the passions of the colonists when he said, “Give me liberty, or give me death,” closed his Last Will and Testament with the following: “This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.” Henry was a Presbyterian and a devout student of the Scripture.
Our second president, John Adams, in his last speech in office, dedicated the newly created District of Columbia and capitol building by offering a benediction. “It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to assemble for the first time in this solemn temple without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and imploring His blessing.... Here, and throughout our country, may simple manners, pure morals, and true religion flourish forever!” Obviously John Adams believed religion was a necessary part of American life and government.
To be clear, the only religion the Founders were talking about was Protestant or Baptist Christianity. Adams also had this to say, “I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
And then there are these:
“Only one adequate plan has ever appeared in the world, and that is the Christian dispensation.” - John Jay, First Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.
“Principally and first of all, I recommend my soul to that Almighty Being who gave it and my body to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.” – Samuel Adams’ Last Will and Testament.
“I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance equal in power and glory.” – Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
“History will also afford frequent opportunities of showing the necessity of a public religion … and the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern.” – Benjamin Franklin, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
This is but a small sampling of what all the Founders and early leaders of America wrote, but if we were to quote all of them we would find nearly all of them in agreement. There is not a deist among them, and that includes Franklin and Jefferson. This is the truth about America’s founding. We were definitely founded as a Christian nation.
Today we are in a war for the heart and soul of America. It is more than just a question of a socialist system versus a free enterprise system. It is about our national identity, about who we are, about whether we are a free or an enslaved people, about whether our culture will continue to honor the God of our Founders or drop into the abyss of atheistic impiety.
Actually, our culture as a whole has not really honored God for a long time. Ronald Reagan declared 1983 to be the Year of the Bible, yet the Bible was not even allowed in our public schools. Just this last week the US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision in Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez, upheld a California law school’s banning of a Christian student group because it would not allow non-Christians to be voting members. The assault on our First Amendment religious liberties has been so relentless in recent years that the Christian Law Association has represented thousands of cases defending religious freedom. And now we have a president who is not just trying to push another failed high tax welfare system on the country, but who, with leftist, liberal help, is trying to undo our Constitution and turn us into a socialist, anti-Christian state.
This year as we celebrate the independence of our great nation, we need more than ever before to join together as Christians and conservatives to fast and pray for God’s mercy on America. It was Thomas Jefferson who wrote, “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
The issue in Jefferson’s day was slavery. The issue in our day is also slavery. We have two choices. Either we turn back to the God of our Fathers and constitutional government, and continue to be free, or we will finally turn our backs on God completely to be enslaved by pagans, atheists, and Islamists, and lose our liberties forever.
Would you join me in praying for our country? God Bless America.
In the remarks section below on one of the e-mails sent to me were several critical comments including one that was almost a joke. Some liberal, left wing, anti-Christian wrote, “We are not a Christian nation. Read the Founders, they were all deists.” Read the Founders! What a novel idea. Obviously that person had never read the Founders or he would have known his own statement was untrue.
What America needs today is what Ronald Reagan suggested almost thirty years ago when he said, “There is a need in America today for a … re-information of our greatness.”
We need to start with a “re-information” of who we are. Obama says we were never a Christian nation. Liberals notoriously deny our Christian heritage. The Supreme Court continues to rule against Christianity and the Bible in the public square even though the Ten Commandments are written in stone above the Justices’ bench in the Supreme Court chambers. So, what is our heritage? What did our Founders really believe? Who was George Washington praying to at Valley Forge, or was he praying at all?
Isaac Potts, a Valley Forge resident, told of riding through the woods in the harsh winter of 1778 when he heard a voice as of a man in prayer. He went quietly toward the sound and found Washington alone on his knees begging God for aid in the cause of the country. Potts had never believed a man could be a soldier and a Christian, “but if there is one in the world, it is Washington,” he said.
In his 1796 Farewell Address to the nation Washington said that “religion and morality are indispensable supports” to political prosperity. He also wrote, “Do not let anyone claim to be a true American if they ever attempt to remove religion from politics.” That statement is enough to indict the United States Supreme Court, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and every other anti-Christian organization or individual that seeks to remove God from our politics for being un-American. No doubt Washington thought we were and needed to be a Christian nation.
Consider what some of our other Founders wrote.
Patrick Henry, who stirred the passions of the colonists when he said, “Give me liberty, or give me death,” closed his Last Will and Testament with the following: “This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.” Henry was a Presbyterian and a devout student of the Scripture.
Our second president, John Adams, in his last speech in office, dedicated the newly created District of Columbia and capitol building by offering a benediction. “It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to assemble for the first time in this solemn temple without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and imploring His blessing.... Here, and throughout our country, may simple manners, pure morals, and true religion flourish forever!” Obviously John Adams believed religion was a necessary part of American life and government.
To be clear, the only religion the Founders were talking about was Protestant or Baptist Christianity. Adams also had this to say, “I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
And then there are these:
“Only one adequate plan has ever appeared in the world, and that is the Christian dispensation.” - John Jay, First Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.
“Principally and first of all, I recommend my soul to that Almighty Being who gave it and my body to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.” – Samuel Adams’ Last Will and Testament.
“I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance equal in power and glory.” – Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
“History will also afford frequent opportunities of showing the necessity of a public religion … and the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern.” – Benjamin Franklin, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
This is but a small sampling of what all the Founders and early leaders of America wrote, but if we were to quote all of them we would find nearly all of them in agreement. There is not a deist among them, and that includes Franklin and Jefferson. This is the truth about America’s founding. We were definitely founded as a Christian nation.
Today we are in a war for the heart and soul of America. It is more than just a question of a socialist system versus a free enterprise system. It is about our national identity, about who we are, about whether we are a free or an enslaved people, about whether our culture will continue to honor the God of our Founders or drop into the abyss of atheistic impiety.
Actually, our culture as a whole has not really honored God for a long time. Ronald Reagan declared 1983 to be the Year of the Bible, yet the Bible was not even allowed in our public schools. Just this last week the US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision in Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez, upheld a California law school’s banning of a Christian student group because it would not allow non-Christians to be voting members. The assault on our First Amendment religious liberties has been so relentless in recent years that the Christian Law Association has represented thousands of cases defending religious freedom. And now we have a president who is not just trying to push another failed high tax welfare system on the country, but who, with leftist, liberal help, is trying to undo our Constitution and turn us into a socialist, anti-Christian state.
This year as we celebrate the independence of our great nation, we need more than ever before to join together as Christians and conservatives to fast and pray for God’s mercy on America. It was Thomas Jefferson who wrote, “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
The issue in Jefferson’s day was slavery. The issue in our day is also slavery. We have two choices. Either we turn back to the God of our Fathers and constitutional government, and continue to be free, or we will finally turn our backs on God completely to be enslaved by pagans, atheists, and Islamists, and lose our liberties forever.
Would you join me in praying for our country? God Bless America.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Presidential Leadership
For over two hundred years US presidents have faced the challenge of upholding the Constitution, securing the borders, and protecting American citizens. Some have been more successful than others, but it could be said of most of our presidents that they at least tried to do what was right for our country. That has changed.
Now we have a president who, by appointing unelected and unconstitutional “czars,” by the use of Executive fiat, and by the appointment to the Supreme Court of anti-American jurists, is trying to overturn the Constitution. He disdains the sovereignty of the country he was elected to lead and protect by refusing to secure our border with Mexico, and he could care less about the security of American citizens. While drug warlords in Mexico have spilled their war into Arizona, the president is holding border security hostage to his plan of comprehensive immigration reform. Give 12-18 million illegal aliens amnesty and he’ll build the border fence is essentially what he told Arizona Senator John Kyl in a private White House meeting.
Can the president really be believed? He promised 1200 National Guard troops to help the Border Patrol police Arizona’s border. To date the troops have received no orders. He promised 500 million to build the fence. To date nothing has been appropriated. The only thing the Obama administration has done is put up signs warning people as far as 80 miles north of the Mexican border that it is dangerous to travel any farther south, but it has done nothing to alleviate the problem. Moreover, the Justice Department is filing suit against Arizona for taking measures to protect its citizens into its own hands because of the dereliction of the president.
Even if the president got his immigration reform he still wouldn’t build the fence. The track record has proven him to be a consummate liar. He doesn’t want the fence no matter what he says about it. In fact, it is now being alleged that since he apparently doesn’t have the votes in Congress to pass his reform bill he is going to grant amnesty to illegal aliens by executive order.
Obama is showing himself to be an absolute failure as a leader. His community activism was obviously not sufficient to prepare him for the demands of office or the decision making needed in times of crisis. Even MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, the one who gets tingles up his leg when Obama speaks, declared he is lacking in leadership after his address to the nation on the Gulf oil crisis.
The only thing he has done lately that even looks presidential is removing General Stanley McChrystal from leading NATO forces in Afghanistan. McChrystal, much like MacArthur sixty years ago, took his criticism of the president to the public. That was something the president could not abide and still maintain the dignity of his position as Commander-in-Chief. Truman had to relieve MacArthur, and Obama had to relieve McChrystal.
What was most disappointing, however, was that McChrystal didn’t stand by his criticisms when he was called to the White House. He should have known at that point his career was over, so why apologize? Rules of engagement under Obama are so similar to the ROE of Vietnam that one has to wonder if the president really wants to win that war. Our troops cannot shoot first, and when fired upon they have to wait an hour in order to determine the intent of the enemy before defending themselves.
Irony of ironies, the man Obama has chosen to replace McChrystal is General David Petraeus, the one liberal Democrats including Obama were calling “Betray us” in 2007 when he truthfully told them the surge in Iraq was working. For the ordinary right thinking person it would be humiliating to rely on Petraeus now, and for the Democrats in Congress it ought to be a slap in the face. But Democrats have no shame and now, without even an apology for his previous unjustified criticism, Obama anoints General Petraeus as the hero we must have to win. I am all in favor of this choice, but Obama needs to take the handcuffs off the soldiers and let them fight to win or the late Senator Kennedy’s prediction that this will become another Vietnam quagmire will come true.
We are suffering, and have been suffering for a long time, from a real lack of firm leadership in the presidency. JFK betrayed the Cuban freedom fighters at the Bay of Pigs while he dallied in the White House with Marilyn Monroe. LBJ took us deep into Southeast Asia with trumped up charges against North Vietnam, and then refused to let military commanders on the ground win the war. Richard Nixon could have been a great president but protecting crooked cronies on his cabinet became more important to him than the truth and it cost him everything. Gerald Ford failed to understand the mood of the country and suggesting we send troops to fight the communists in Angola caused the country to fear another Vietnam and cost him the presidency.
Jimmy Carter didn’t understand Economics 101 and led the country into a malaise (his own word). Bush 1 started out well but lost his chance at reelection when he broke his promise and raised taxes leading to a recession he denied was happening. Bill Clinton was a philandering playboy who put his own selfish lusts ahead of the interests of the country. Bush 2 also started out well but he turned out to be a globalist with no will power to keep spending under control, and no plan to see the War on Terror through to a positive conclusion.
And now we have Obama. If all we could say was “1.5 trillion dollar deficits,” it would be enough. But we can also say “Gulf oil crisis,” “Arizona border,” “Illegal immigration,” “health care,” “cap and trade,” “unemployment,” “failed stimulus package,” “attempts to buy off Congressmen,” “union payoffs,” “ACORN,” “denial of Second Amendment rights and selling our sovereignty to the United Nations,” “no understanding or appreciation of America’s history,” “disrespect abroad,” and on and on it goes. His approval rating according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is at 45% and dropping.
What we lack in American politics is leadership that puts America first; that loves our country more than life; that is proud to be called American, proud of America’s Christian heritage, and proud of the United States Constitution, the greatest government document ever written; that is proud of America and its accomplishments rather than apologetic for its greatness; that has a vision for the future of a free people unrestrained by excessive government regulation and socialist programs designed to make everyone equally poor; leadership that does not fear special interest groups and political correctness, but has the common sense to do and say what is right for America.
What America needs today is a statesman, a patriot in the White House. We need someone who believes the following:
“There is, in America, a greatness and a tremendous heritage of idealism, which is a reservoir of strength and goodness. It is ours if we will but tap it. And because of this – because that greatness is there – there is need in America today for a reaffirmation of that goodness and a re-information of our greatness.”
These words were spoken at a Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., March 20, 1981, by the only president in the last fifty years to have seen America as the ultimate moral good in the world, and who used that standing and influence to bring to its knees the ultimate immoral evil in the world, the Soviet Union. His name was Ronald Reagan.
What America needs today is a leader with the positive vision, the morality, the humility, and the love of country that Ronald Reagan had. Reagan was the last true statesman we have seen in American politics. The answer to our leadership problem is someone like him, but where on the horizon can we find one?
Now we have a president who, by appointing unelected and unconstitutional “czars,” by the use of Executive fiat, and by the appointment to the Supreme Court of anti-American jurists, is trying to overturn the Constitution. He disdains the sovereignty of the country he was elected to lead and protect by refusing to secure our border with Mexico, and he could care less about the security of American citizens. While drug warlords in Mexico have spilled their war into Arizona, the president is holding border security hostage to his plan of comprehensive immigration reform. Give 12-18 million illegal aliens amnesty and he’ll build the border fence is essentially what he told Arizona Senator John Kyl in a private White House meeting.
Can the president really be believed? He promised 1200 National Guard troops to help the Border Patrol police Arizona’s border. To date the troops have received no orders. He promised 500 million to build the fence. To date nothing has been appropriated. The only thing the Obama administration has done is put up signs warning people as far as 80 miles north of the Mexican border that it is dangerous to travel any farther south, but it has done nothing to alleviate the problem. Moreover, the Justice Department is filing suit against Arizona for taking measures to protect its citizens into its own hands because of the dereliction of the president.
Even if the president got his immigration reform he still wouldn’t build the fence. The track record has proven him to be a consummate liar. He doesn’t want the fence no matter what he says about it. In fact, it is now being alleged that since he apparently doesn’t have the votes in Congress to pass his reform bill he is going to grant amnesty to illegal aliens by executive order.
Obama is showing himself to be an absolute failure as a leader. His community activism was obviously not sufficient to prepare him for the demands of office or the decision making needed in times of crisis. Even MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, the one who gets tingles up his leg when Obama speaks, declared he is lacking in leadership after his address to the nation on the Gulf oil crisis.
The only thing he has done lately that even looks presidential is removing General Stanley McChrystal from leading NATO forces in Afghanistan. McChrystal, much like MacArthur sixty years ago, took his criticism of the president to the public. That was something the president could not abide and still maintain the dignity of his position as Commander-in-Chief. Truman had to relieve MacArthur, and Obama had to relieve McChrystal.
What was most disappointing, however, was that McChrystal didn’t stand by his criticisms when he was called to the White House. He should have known at that point his career was over, so why apologize? Rules of engagement under Obama are so similar to the ROE of Vietnam that one has to wonder if the president really wants to win that war. Our troops cannot shoot first, and when fired upon they have to wait an hour in order to determine the intent of the enemy before defending themselves.
Irony of ironies, the man Obama has chosen to replace McChrystal is General David Petraeus, the one liberal Democrats including Obama were calling “Betray us” in 2007 when he truthfully told them the surge in Iraq was working. For the ordinary right thinking person it would be humiliating to rely on Petraeus now, and for the Democrats in Congress it ought to be a slap in the face. But Democrats have no shame and now, without even an apology for his previous unjustified criticism, Obama anoints General Petraeus as the hero we must have to win. I am all in favor of this choice, but Obama needs to take the handcuffs off the soldiers and let them fight to win or the late Senator Kennedy’s prediction that this will become another Vietnam quagmire will come true.
We are suffering, and have been suffering for a long time, from a real lack of firm leadership in the presidency. JFK betrayed the Cuban freedom fighters at the Bay of Pigs while he dallied in the White House with Marilyn Monroe. LBJ took us deep into Southeast Asia with trumped up charges against North Vietnam, and then refused to let military commanders on the ground win the war. Richard Nixon could have been a great president but protecting crooked cronies on his cabinet became more important to him than the truth and it cost him everything. Gerald Ford failed to understand the mood of the country and suggesting we send troops to fight the communists in Angola caused the country to fear another Vietnam and cost him the presidency.
Jimmy Carter didn’t understand Economics 101 and led the country into a malaise (his own word). Bush 1 started out well but lost his chance at reelection when he broke his promise and raised taxes leading to a recession he denied was happening. Bill Clinton was a philandering playboy who put his own selfish lusts ahead of the interests of the country. Bush 2 also started out well but he turned out to be a globalist with no will power to keep spending under control, and no plan to see the War on Terror through to a positive conclusion.
And now we have Obama. If all we could say was “1.5 trillion dollar deficits,” it would be enough. But we can also say “Gulf oil crisis,” “Arizona border,” “Illegal immigration,” “health care,” “cap and trade,” “unemployment,” “failed stimulus package,” “attempts to buy off Congressmen,” “union payoffs,” “ACORN,” “denial of Second Amendment rights and selling our sovereignty to the United Nations,” “no understanding or appreciation of America’s history,” “disrespect abroad,” and on and on it goes. His approval rating according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is at 45% and dropping.
What we lack in American politics is leadership that puts America first; that loves our country more than life; that is proud to be called American, proud of America’s Christian heritage, and proud of the United States Constitution, the greatest government document ever written; that is proud of America and its accomplishments rather than apologetic for its greatness; that has a vision for the future of a free people unrestrained by excessive government regulation and socialist programs designed to make everyone equally poor; leadership that does not fear special interest groups and political correctness, but has the common sense to do and say what is right for America.
What America needs today is a statesman, a patriot in the White House. We need someone who believes the following:
“There is, in America, a greatness and a tremendous heritage of idealism, which is a reservoir of strength and goodness. It is ours if we will but tap it. And because of this – because that greatness is there – there is need in America today for a reaffirmation of that goodness and a re-information of our greatness.”
These words were spoken at a Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., March 20, 1981, by the only president in the last fifty years to have seen America as the ultimate moral good in the world, and who used that standing and influence to bring to its knees the ultimate immoral evil in the world, the Soviet Union. His name was Ronald Reagan.
What America needs today is a leader with the positive vision, the morality, the humility, and the love of country that Ronald Reagan had. Reagan was the last true statesman we have seen in American politics. The answer to our leadership problem is someone like him, but where on the horizon can we find one?
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Meddling in Foreign Affairs
Sunday evening, June 13, a peaceful demonstration at Uhuru Park in downtown Nairobi was broken up by two explosions 15 minutes apart that left five dead and 75 wounded. The meeting was led by Christian ministers and politicians who oppose the new draft constitution because, among other things, it will legalize abortion. The assembly was mostly over, the politicians had left, but many were still around joining a prayer vigil and thousands were still in the park when the bombs went off.
Critics of the new draft constitution, called the "No Team," are many. Along with abortion they also object to the establishment of a Muslim court to handle all marriage and inheritance issues for Muslims. People see this as the first step toward a Muslim push for an autonomous zone similar to what they've done in Mindanao in the Philippines. The fear is that Muslims will claim Mombasa and much of the coastline as their inheritance and drive all land owners not of the Muslim faith out. This could set the stage for a civil war.
Another clause that may affect missionaries allows the government to reclaim all "lease-hold" land when their 99 year leases expire. Lease-hold land is rented on a 99 year lease which has to be renewed with the government at the end of the lease. Under the new constitution these 99 year leases will not be renewed. Renters of lease-hold land stand to lose everything. This would primarily affect whites, mostly British, whose forbears settled here in Kenya's infancy, developed the land, built homes, businesses and basically the entire infrastructure. In the long run it would also affect missionaries who have purchased land for churches and schools. It sounds a whole lot like what is going on in Zimbabwe right now.
Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the first president, Jomo Kenyatta, and a former member of an outlawed blood cult called the Mungiki, who is now the Minister of Finance, is campaigning vigorously for the passage of the constitution. He was quoted by the Daily Nation as saying on Saturday June 12, "It is true that there are some issues in the law, and which Kenyans have pointed out, but this should not deter us from getting a new constitution. The opponents are using these contentious clauses to woo Kenyans to vote against it while they can be amended later."
This movement for a new constitution has been going on for over a decade. When President Kibaki was elected in 2002, he ran on a platform promising a new constitution. His administration dilly-dallied, however, and nothing was done until his first term was almost over. Then in a last minute bid to restore people's confidence a new draft constitution was hurriedly put together and rushed to a vote. It was soundly defeated.
Now, three years later, another draft constitution has been submitted to be voted on August 4. Both the president and Prime Minister Raila Odinga support the new draft. However, it does not appear to have popular support among the people. Then this peaceful "NO" demonstration was violently ended by the bombing.
You almost can't help but think somebody in favor of the constitution is behind this, and that would probably mean somebody high up in the government. Odinga was quick to ask the NO team not to accuse the YES team, and in all fairness, Odinga is right. A panic rush to judgment before an investigation is carried out would probably lead to more violence. At a June 15 reception to honor Philippine Independence Day, Kenyan Minister for Tourism, Najib Mohamed Balala affirmed that this was a criminal act, not a political one, that tourists are not being targeted, and that the government is investigating the incident.
Kenyatta's appeal to amend the problems later sounded very similar to something we heard in the States a few months ago about health care. Last week Vice President Joe Biden (pronounced "Bee-den" by many Kenyans) was here promising big bucks if Kenya passes this new constitution. One has to wonder if he didn't tell Kenyatta what to say, but more importantly, what is America's interest in getting this new constitution passed anyway? You don't suppose the most pro-abortion president in US history is trying to influence the abortion movement here do you? What business is it of ours anyway, and for heaven's sake, where does Biden think we're going to get the money to give to Kenya? And what makes anybody think that a new constitution is going to change Kenya's status as one of the most corrupt governments in the world? The same corrupt people will be in it with a new constitution that are in it now.
With the failing economy, 10% unemployment, the Gulf oil spill, the illegal alien war on the Arizona border, the threat of war with North Korea, the Sestak bribe, and all the other problems he's got at home, Obama needs to be careful what diplomatic missions he gets involved with. He's been a total failure at foreign policy so far. Now my workers are telling me that Biden's visit and this bombing are going to do more to turn people against this constitution than anyone can imagine. Come August 4, we'll find out. If the new draft constitution goes down to defeat it will just be more evidence that Obama is out of his league in foreign diplomacy, and another stain on his already soiled administration.
Critics of the new draft constitution, called the "No Team," are many. Along with abortion they also object to the establishment of a Muslim court to handle all marriage and inheritance issues for Muslims. People see this as the first step toward a Muslim push for an autonomous zone similar to what they've done in Mindanao in the Philippines. The fear is that Muslims will claim Mombasa and much of the coastline as their inheritance and drive all land owners not of the Muslim faith out. This could set the stage for a civil war.
Another clause that may affect missionaries allows the government to reclaim all "lease-hold" land when their 99 year leases expire. Lease-hold land is rented on a 99 year lease which has to be renewed with the government at the end of the lease. Under the new constitution these 99 year leases will not be renewed. Renters of lease-hold land stand to lose everything. This would primarily affect whites, mostly British, whose forbears settled here in Kenya's infancy, developed the land, built homes, businesses and basically the entire infrastructure. In the long run it would also affect missionaries who have purchased land for churches and schools. It sounds a whole lot like what is going on in Zimbabwe right now.
Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the first president, Jomo Kenyatta, and a former member of an outlawed blood cult called the Mungiki, who is now the Minister of Finance, is campaigning vigorously for the passage of the constitution. He was quoted by the Daily Nation as saying on Saturday June 12, "It is true that there are some issues in the law, and which Kenyans have pointed out, but this should not deter us from getting a new constitution. The opponents are using these contentious clauses to woo Kenyans to vote against it while they can be amended later."
This movement for a new constitution has been going on for over a decade. When President Kibaki was elected in 2002, he ran on a platform promising a new constitution. His administration dilly-dallied, however, and nothing was done until his first term was almost over. Then in a last minute bid to restore people's confidence a new draft constitution was hurriedly put together and rushed to a vote. It was soundly defeated.
Now, three years later, another draft constitution has been submitted to be voted on August 4. Both the president and Prime Minister Raila Odinga support the new draft. However, it does not appear to have popular support among the people. Then this peaceful "NO" demonstration was violently ended by the bombing.
You almost can't help but think somebody in favor of the constitution is behind this, and that would probably mean somebody high up in the government. Odinga was quick to ask the NO team not to accuse the YES team, and in all fairness, Odinga is right. A panic rush to judgment before an investigation is carried out would probably lead to more violence. At a June 15 reception to honor Philippine Independence Day, Kenyan Minister for Tourism, Najib Mohamed Balala affirmed that this was a criminal act, not a political one, that tourists are not being targeted, and that the government is investigating the incident.
Kenyatta's appeal to amend the problems later sounded very similar to something we heard in the States a few months ago about health care. Last week Vice President Joe Biden (pronounced "Bee-den" by many Kenyans) was here promising big bucks if Kenya passes this new constitution. One has to wonder if he didn't tell Kenyatta what to say, but more importantly, what is America's interest in getting this new constitution passed anyway? You don't suppose the most pro-abortion president in US history is trying to influence the abortion movement here do you? What business is it of ours anyway, and for heaven's sake, where does Biden think we're going to get the money to give to Kenya? And what makes anybody think that a new constitution is going to change Kenya's status as one of the most corrupt governments in the world? The same corrupt people will be in it with a new constitution that are in it now.
With the failing economy, 10% unemployment, the Gulf oil spill, the illegal alien war on the Arizona border, the threat of war with North Korea, the Sestak bribe, and all the other problems he's got at home, Obama needs to be careful what diplomatic missions he gets involved with. He's been a total failure at foreign policy so far. Now my workers are telling me that Biden's visit and this bombing are going to do more to turn people against this constitution than anyone can imagine. Come August 4, we'll find out. If the new draft constitution goes down to defeat it will just be more evidence that Obama is out of his league in foreign diplomacy, and another stain on his already soiled administration.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Remembering Two Great Americans
Six years ago today the greatest president of the 20th century, Ronald Reagan, was laid to rest at his presidential library in Simi Valley, California. Lest we forget, Reaganomics turned the Carter recession of 1980 around and gave us six years of the greatest expansion of the US economy in history. It was Reagan's hard hand, moral high ground and military build up that forced Gorbachev to start Perestroika and Glasnost in the USSR. Let us also not forget that those programs were not designed to dismantle the Soviet Union as Time magazine so piously announced when they named Gorbachev man of the decade in 1990. Those programs were designed to try and rescue the Soviet Union from its impending economic collapse, and they did not work.
The Soviet Union came apart in 1991 and ceased to exist on Christmas Day of that year. What a fitting day that was, and a fitting gift from God to all the world that the atheist USSR disappeared from history. But it happened as Reagan predicted it would. Reagan always had a positive vision for the future of America, and if we can get the conservative movement in America and the Republican Party back to Reagan's policies, maybe "there will always be a brighter day ahead." I miss Ronald Reagan and all that he stood for in America.
The other one I miss passed off the scene thirty-one years ago today. Known as "Duke," he became the number one conservative in Hollywood at a time when communists were trying to take over the industry. He stood for the American value of liberty and was very loudly outspoken about his beliefs. He became an institution, a living legend, and a symbol of all that was great about America. Mostly through western films, John Wayne became America's quintessential hero.
Duke Wayne has received a lot of criticism, particularly by leftists, because he never served in the armed forces, and while other movie stars had enlisted he was still making movies and money in Hollywood. There is a very interesting story behind all that and I recommend a book to you called, "John Wayne; the Man Behind the Myth," by Michael Munn.
Munn is a British author who has no agenda in American politics, but had several personal interviews with John Wayne and many other Hollywood figures who knew him well. The truth of John Wayne's military service is this. He applied for the Naval Academy out of high school but didn't get an appointment. He then went to USC on a football scholarship but a shoulder injury ended his football career and disqualified him from the draft. He was also deferred from the draft because he was 34 years old and had four children. Still, the criticism goes, other movie stars enlisted and served even though they had large families. The fact of that is, most of them wound up serving in rear echelon service areas and not on the front lines. Only Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable of already established movie stars at the time actually went into combat. John Wayne did try to enlist, but he was an up and coming star at Republic studios and he had a long term contract from which the studio would not allow him to get out.
Everything seemed to be against him trying to serve so he became the number one cheer leader for the American effort in the war through his movies. He went on a USO tour in 1943 to the South Pacific. I have a book called, The Bushmasters, about a special forces unit that went behind Japanese lines. They were surprised one day to see the Duke visiting them. The author claims John Wayne begged their commander to let him go with them on a mission, but he was denied.
John Wayne became such a huge rallying figure for America, that both Joseph Stalin in 1950, and later Mao Tse-Tung put contracts out on his life. In a very interesting real life story, John Wayne helped FBI agents capture his intended assassins from the USSR. On another occasion, Yakima Canutt, the greatest of all movie stunt men, put his stable of stunt men on the prowl looking for more agents and caught two of them at Durango, Mexico, where John Wayne was making a movie. It was Nikita Krushchev who finally called off the contract after he met John Wayne and the Duke told him what he thought of communism.
The stories are verified by interviews with Yakima Canutt, Peter Cushing, and other notable movie stars including Orson Welles, who was as far left a liberal as anybody and no friend of John Wayne. But there were many in Hollywood who knew the stories. John Wayne kept it all a secret so that his family wouldn't be worried!
Don't let anybody fool you. John Wayne deserves to have his face on Mt. Rushmore along with Ronald Reagan. I hope they are both resting in peace.
The Soviet Union came apart in 1991 and ceased to exist on Christmas Day of that year. What a fitting day that was, and a fitting gift from God to all the world that the atheist USSR disappeared from history. But it happened as Reagan predicted it would. Reagan always had a positive vision for the future of America, and if we can get the conservative movement in America and the Republican Party back to Reagan's policies, maybe "there will always be a brighter day ahead." I miss Ronald Reagan and all that he stood for in America.
The other one I miss passed off the scene thirty-one years ago today. Known as "Duke," he became the number one conservative in Hollywood at a time when communists were trying to take over the industry. He stood for the American value of liberty and was very loudly outspoken about his beliefs. He became an institution, a living legend, and a symbol of all that was great about America. Mostly through western films, John Wayne became America's quintessential hero.
Duke Wayne has received a lot of criticism, particularly by leftists, because he never served in the armed forces, and while other movie stars had enlisted he was still making movies and money in Hollywood. There is a very interesting story behind all that and I recommend a book to you called, "John Wayne; the Man Behind the Myth," by Michael Munn.
Munn is a British author who has no agenda in American politics, but had several personal interviews with John Wayne and many other Hollywood figures who knew him well. The truth of John Wayne's military service is this. He applied for the Naval Academy out of high school but didn't get an appointment. He then went to USC on a football scholarship but a shoulder injury ended his football career and disqualified him from the draft. He was also deferred from the draft because he was 34 years old and had four children. Still, the criticism goes, other movie stars enlisted and served even though they had large families. The fact of that is, most of them wound up serving in rear echelon service areas and not on the front lines. Only Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable of already established movie stars at the time actually went into combat. John Wayne did try to enlist, but he was an up and coming star at Republic studios and he had a long term contract from which the studio would not allow him to get out.
Everything seemed to be against him trying to serve so he became the number one cheer leader for the American effort in the war through his movies. He went on a USO tour in 1943 to the South Pacific. I have a book called, The Bushmasters, about a special forces unit that went behind Japanese lines. They were surprised one day to see the Duke visiting them. The author claims John Wayne begged their commander to let him go with them on a mission, but he was denied.
John Wayne became such a huge rallying figure for America, that both Joseph Stalin in 1950, and later Mao Tse-Tung put contracts out on his life. In a very interesting real life story, John Wayne helped FBI agents capture his intended assassins from the USSR. On another occasion, Yakima Canutt, the greatest of all movie stunt men, put his stable of stunt men on the prowl looking for more agents and caught two of them at Durango, Mexico, where John Wayne was making a movie. It was Nikita Krushchev who finally called off the contract after he met John Wayne and the Duke told him what he thought of communism.
The stories are verified by interviews with Yakima Canutt, Peter Cushing, and other notable movie stars including Orson Welles, who was as far left a liberal as anybody and no friend of John Wayne. But there were many in Hollywood who knew the stories. John Wayne kept it all a secret so that his family wouldn't be worried!
Don't let anybody fool you. John Wayne deserves to have his face on Mt. Rushmore along with Ronald Reagan. I hope they are both resting in peace.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Memorial Day
One of the finer things the medium of television has ever produced is the Turner Pictures 1993 movie, Gettysburg. Based on the Michael Shaara book, The Killer Angels, it is a slightly fictionalized but extremely accurate depiction of the three-day battle July 1-3, 1863, that became the “ebb tide” of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. The climax of the movie is Pickett’s charge performed by over 3,000 Civil War re-enactors.
The first time I watched it I was so overwhelmed by the awe of the charge I almost cried. Looking across that field at the 3,000, I tried to imagine what the actual attack with five times that many soldiers coming must have looked like. And then the carnage; half of them, 7,500, dead or wounded when it was over.
There is a very tender scene in the movie on the evening of the second day. Confederate General Lewis Armistead, played by Richard Jordan, is at the headquarters of General James Longstreet, played by Tom Berenger. In the background a Rebel crooner is singing Kathleen Mavourneen, the mournful Irish tune about lovers saying good-bye, while the generals reminisce about their days in California before the war. Armistead remarks that they had sung that same song at dinner the night before he, Longstreet, and General Richard Garnett left to join the Confederate army.
Also at the dinner was Armistead’s best friend, Winfield Scott Hancock, who now commanded the Union II Corps on the opposite side of the field. Tears well in Armistead’s eyes as he wonders what fate had brought them to this hour. The next day at the height of the charge his brigade pierced the Union line briefly, and both he and Hancock were wounded.
The performance by Richard Jordan was touching, but it is even more moving if you know the history and the events that followed. For Richard Jordan it may have been his finest performance. It was also his last. He died of a brain tumor less than a year later before the movie was released. His character, “Lo” Armistead, was a tragic figure as well. Armistead had been married twice, but both wives died, one of fever and one of cholera, and two of his three children had also died. His wounds in the battle were only minor in one arm and one leg, neither requiring amputation and neither considered to have been life threatening. But two days later he suddenly died for unknown reasons at the age of 46. It has been suggested that he simply had no more will to live.
One of the sad tragedies of the Civil War was that it divided families and friends. Brothers fought against brothers, fathers against sons, and friends turned against each other. Some developed bitter, life-long hatreds that no peace or reconstruction could heal. It seemed to be, as William Seward called it, an “irrepressible conflict” fought so fanatically that more American fighting men lost their lives in that war than all other wars America has been involved in combined.
One thing the Civil War illustrates clearly is that when the American soldier has been called to duty, no matter what reason or where, no matter how daring or deadly, he has gone to war with energy and resolve, loving country more than even his own life.
From the freezing winters at Valley Forge to Yorktown, from Ft. McHenry to New Orleans, to Chapultepec in Mexico; to Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the river of death called Chickamauga, and a quiet church in the wilderness known as Shiloh; to San Juan Hill in Cuba and Manila Bay; the trenches in France and the break through at Belleau Wood; from Pearl Harbor to a thousand locations across the Pacific and throughout Europe, to the frozen Chosin Reservoir on the Korean peninsula, the steaming jungles of Southeast Asia, Hue and Khe Sanh, the Balkans and Africa; and today in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, American servicemen and women have done their duty in the harshest conditions and loneliest places on earth. They have endured and risen victorious because of the great love they have for their country.
Another popular song during the Civil War was Tenting on the Old Campground. It speaks of lonely soldiers far from home, wishing for the war to end, of their wives’ prayerful vigils and of their comrades already gone. Not well known today, it is a poignant, reminisceful tune that gets to the heart of the serviceman’s feelings on distant battlefields.
We are tenting tonight on the old campground,
Thinking of days gone by,
Of the loved ones at home that gave us the hand,
And the tear that said, “Good-bye!”
Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,
Wishing for the war to cease;
Many are the hearts that are looking for the right
To see the dawn of peace.
Tenting tonight, tenting tonight,
Tenting on the old campground.
This Memorial Day as we celebrate with cookouts and family outings, watch the “Memorial Day Classic” Indy 500, or the NASCAR 600 mile race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, go to church, watch or play baseball, let us not forget our fighting men and women who are in harm’s way. They are the ones this holiday is about. They are serving to preserve for us the freedom to have our picnics and our celebrations. They are serving to preserve freedom for liberals who loathe them, and for a president who wants to cut their pay and make them buy their own medical insurance. They are far from home, often lonely, thinking of family and loved ones. When you pray this Memorial Day, don’t forget to remember our men and women in uniform and ask that they’ll be brought safely home, and that those who will give “the last full measure of devotion,” may be safely carried to an eternal home in peace.
God Bless the American serviceman.
The first time I watched it I was so overwhelmed by the awe of the charge I almost cried. Looking across that field at the 3,000, I tried to imagine what the actual attack with five times that many soldiers coming must have looked like. And then the carnage; half of them, 7,500, dead or wounded when it was over.
There is a very tender scene in the movie on the evening of the second day. Confederate General Lewis Armistead, played by Richard Jordan, is at the headquarters of General James Longstreet, played by Tom Berenger. In the background a Rebel crooner is singing Kathleen Mavourneen, the mournful Irish tune about lovers saying good-bye, while the generals reminisce about their days in California before the war. Armistead remarks that they had sung that same song at dinner the night before he, Longstreet, and General Richard Garnett left to join the Confederate army.
Also at the dinner was Armistead’s best friend, Winfield Scott Hancock, who now commanded the Union II Corps on the opposite side of the field. Tears well in Armistead’s eyes as he wonders what fate had brought them to this hour. The next day at the height of the charge his brigade pierced the Union line briefly, and both he and Hancock were wounded.
The performance by Richard Jordan was touching, but it is even more moving if you know the history and the events that followed. For Richard Jordan it may have been his finest performance. It was also his last. He died of a brain tumor less than a year later before the movie was released. His character, “Lo” Armistead, was a tragic figure as well. Armistead had been married twice, but both wives died, one of fever and one of cholera, and two of his three children had also died. His wounds in the battle were only minor in one arm and one leg, neither requiring amputation and neither considered to have been life threatening. But two days later he suddenly died for unknown reasons at the age of 46. It has been suggested that he simply had no more will to live.
One of the sad tragedies of the Civil War was that it divided families and friends. Brothers fought against brothers, fathers against sons, and friends turned against each other. Some developed bitter, life-long hatreds that no peace or reconstruction could heal. It seemed to be, as William Seward called it, an “irrepressible conflict” fought so fanatically that more American fighting men lost their lives in that war than all other wars America has been involved in combined.
One thing the Civil War illustrates clearly is that when the American soldier has been called to duty, no matter what reason or where, no matter how daring or deadly, he has gone to war with energy and resolve, loving country more than even his own life.
From the freezing winters at Valley Forge to Yorktown, from Ft. McHenry to New Orleans, to Chapultepec in Mexico; to Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the river of death called Chickamauga, and a quiet church in the wilderness known as Shiloh; to San Juan Hill in Cuba and Manila Bay; the trenches in France and the break through at Belleau Wood; from Pearl Harbor to a thousand locations across the Pacific and throughout Europe, to the frozen Chosin Reservoir on the Korean peninsula, the steaming jungles of Southeast Asia, Hue and Khe Sanh, the Balkans and Africa; and today in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, American servicemen and women have done their duty in the harshest conditions and loneliest places on earth. They have endured and risen victorious because of the great love they have for their country.
Another popular song during the Civil War was Tenting on the Old Campground. It speaks of lonely soldiers far from home, wishing for the war to end, of their wives’ prayerful vigils and of their comrades already gone. Not well known today, it is a poignant, reminisceful tune that gets to the heart of the serviceman’s feelings on distant battlefields.
We are tenting tonight on the old campground,
Thinking of days gone by,
Of the loved ones at home that gave us the hand,
And the tear that said, “Good-bye!”
Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,
Wishing for the war to cease;
Many are the hearts that are looking for the right
To see the dawn of peace.
Tenting tonight, tenting tonight,
Tenting on the old campground.
This Memorial Day as we celebrate with cookouts and family outings, watch the “Memorial Day Classic” Indy 500, or the NASCAR 600 mile race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, go to church, watch or play baseball, let us not forget our fighting men and women who are in harm’s way. They are the ones this holiday is about. They are serving to preserve for us the freedom to have our picnics and our celebrations. They are serving to preserve freedom for liberals who loathe them, and for a president who wants to cut their pay and make them buy their own medical insurance. They are far from home, often lonely, thinking of family and loved ones. When you pray this Memorial Day, don’t forget to remember our men and women in uniform and ask that they’ll be brought safely home, and that those who will give “the last full measure of devotion,” may be safely carried to an eternal home in peace.
God Bless the American serviceman.
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