Abraham Lincoln

Today is Abraham Lincoln's 200th Birthday.

I've just begun learning about him. He was a man of dedication and conviction.
He was also funny and could be stern; a principled man.

A letter from President Lincoln to Colonel Robert Allen. Dated June 21, 1836:

"Dear Colonel,
I am told that during my absence last week you passed thorough the place and stated publicly that you were in possession of a fact or facts which, if known to the public, would entirely destroy the prospects of N.W. Edwards and myself at the coming election, but that through favor to us you would forbear to divulge them. No one has needed favors more than I, and few, generally, have been less unwilling to accept them; but in this case favor to me would be injustice to the public, and therefore I must beg your pardon for declining it.
"That I once had the confidence of the people of Sangamon County is sufficiently evident; and if I have done anything, either by design or misadventure, which if known would subject me to a forfeiture of that confidence, he that knows of that thing and conceals it is a traitor to his country's interest.
"I find myself wholly unable to form any conjecture of what fact or facts, real or supposed, you spoke; but my opinion of your veracity will not permit me for a moment to doubt that you at least believed what you said. I am flattered with the personal regard you manifested for me; but I do hope that, on mature reflection, you will view the public interest as a paramount consideration and therefore determine to let the worst come..
"I assure you that the candid statement of facts on your part, however low it may sink me, shall never break the ties of personal friendship between us.
"I wish an answer to this, and you are at liberty to publish both if you choose.
"Very respectfully,
"A. Lincoln."

Now I don't know if Colonel Allen ever published his remarks, for this discussion I don't care. What I care about is Mr. Lincoln's integrity.
It was more important to him that the people judge him accurately, than to win an election; that the people have all the information they needed to make an informed choice.

I also read once recently that President Lincoln had prayed for help in securing the Union and that if God should help him succeed, then he would free the slaves. He was a man of his word. Something sorely missing in today's politicians.

Happy Birthday Mr. President.

Constitutional Restraint?

Here is a great article by Walter Williams today: The Hell With Our Constitution

Now, I'm not saying that I want John Doe to suffer; to lose everything. That's not what I desire for anyone. However, I can't see how making the rest of us PAY for Mr. Doe's mistakes helps anyone.

There is an old maxim that says "If you give a man a fish, he eats for today; if you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime." Now this is a general truth regarding welfare, but suppose you substitute a different word or phrase for 'fish'. Let's put in money: "If you give a man money, he eats for today; if you teach a man to use his money [properly], he eats for a lifetime." What about "If you [tell] a man [about the Constitution] he understands for today; if you TEACH a man to [understand the Constitution] he [understands] for a lifetime." I imagine you could substitute others with equal veracity.

If we aren't teaching people about the Constitution, can we expect them to understand it? If we are only playing lip service to it, how can we expect others to revere it? Nothing is going to change unless we begin to teach correct principles.

Way back in the 1930's people began to expect that the government would solve their problems. John Doe doesn't seem to know that the government isn't supposed to be involved in the minutiae of his daily life. He hasn't been TAUGHT properly about the Constitution. This is one of many problems with the public educational system we have today.

I would like to encourage you to go to The National Center for Constitutional Studies and see about ordering a hand full of pocket Constitutions. If you order in bulk, you can get a discount; share an order with a friend maybe. Start handing these out to people. We have to start getting these into the hands of friends and strangers. The message that our elected officials are circumventing the Constitution and trampling our standards has got to be spread.

Stimulation?

I'm amazed at the government. I really *shouldn't* be, but I am.
Our elected officials are making a mess of things; bigger than usual that is.
The bill that is pending is one of the worst pieces of legislation to come down the beltway.
Do you realize that the government is taking over? Do you realize that this is one of the things our Founders tried to guard against?
The money in this bill will not stimulate the economy. We've already given the Big 3 Automakers money, and one of them has said they will be "out of money" in mid March. Does that SOUND like it worked for them??? NO!!
The best thing to do is let the market work. If someone goes out of business, that's the market at work. It may be sad, yes. It may be ME, yes. But, if we let the market decide, it will all work out in the end.
The best way to "stimulate" the economy is to lower taxes. Let people use their OWN money to use it as they see fit. It's YOUR money, you should be able to spend it or NOT spend it as you see fit. In many cases, this bill is just redistribution of wealth. Forcing me to be charitable.

Here is a proposal from Newt Gingrich:
American Solutions for Jobs and Prosperity

I'd also like you to take a look at Glenn Beck's ongoing theme:
We Surround them

Both of these are valuable, and necessary.
We have got to make these facists in Washington remember that We the People are in charge, and that we ALLOW them to speak for us.

A week or so back(can it really be "recently"?? This nightmare seems to be much more ongoing than ONLY three weeks!), Obama said that he had won, so the Republicans would have to get over it. For a man that claimed to want to be inclusive, this doesn't sound very inclusive.
In fact, they have NOT been inclusive at all, and when our Republican representatives have tried to fix this massive boondoggle, we hear that we need to hurry this along, people are suffering. That is railroading, and we can't stand for it! They're trying to shut down debate so that this bill gets through.

Now word comes that it's passed the Senate. There are three seditious Republicans who have supported this bill. They are : Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter. CONTACT them!
Write to them and tell them how disappointed you are in them. Tell them they are traitors to the Constitution and to the people.
It's as if our elected officials aren't even paying attention to us lighting up the switchboard! If you get 1000 calls about a bill, and lets say 750 of them say "No, do not support this bill", those are the people you listen to! I don't know the numbers, but I know the vast majority of the people don't support this. Have they even heard us? No, they need to be fired.

Make some more noise :)

Happy Birthday Mr. President

Today is Ronald Reagan's birthday. It's because of him that I became interested in politics.
His wit and warmth were the welcome mat of my political awakening.

I had registered to vote in High School, I think everyone did that spring. That was the end of it as far as I was concerned; I didn't pay any attention at all for the next year or so. I had gotten the extra credit, I was happy, because I NEEDED extra credit :)

Then, there was a vague knowledge that Iran was holding some Americans hostage, but I was 19, and that was literally a world away.

I don't even remember if I voted that November of 1980.

Then something happened. Ronald Reagan was sworn in, and the hostages were released.

It struck me as very important that the hostages were released when they were. It quickly became obvious that the terrorists knew President Reagan was not of the same mold as the previous president Jimmy Carter. No tip toeing around; no negotiating.

They were acutely aware that this new president was a man who meant what he said, and said what he meant. He would come after them; hunt them down and get our citizens back safe.

Mr. Reagan never backed down. I still get choked up when I hear a clip of him in West Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate: "Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall."

His voice clear and strong. The people in the East were inspired, and not long after, that wall did come down.

Ronald Reagan is one of my hero's. It's partly because of him that I am who I am today.

So, Happy Birthday Mr. President; we sure miss you. Wish you were here.

The Preamble to the Constitution

I was helping my son work on his "Citizenship in the Nation" merit badge for scouts today, and we read these words:

"WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

I was struck by how much they wanted this preliminary paragraph to tells us.
They spell out all the things that they planned for the Constitution to do. They want to secure all these blessings to their posterity--to you and I; then comes the interesting part to me, they "do ordain and establish this Constitution..."
Now ordain means to order, I understand that, but I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and in my faith, ordain has a different meaning, as I believe it does in many ecclesiastical circles; to ordain means to set apart for God, or for God's work.

It struck me that the Founders wanted us to know that THEY believed the Constitution was a Divine document; that they wanted this nation set apart for God.
We have a book of modern revelation called the Doctrine and Covenants. I know this book to be of Divine origin. In section 101 verse 80 the Lord says "And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood."
The Lord has told us straight forwardly that HE established the Constitution; He raised these men up for this purpose. The Constitution IS of Divine origin; the Founding Fathers KNEW this, and their wording suggests that they wanted US to know this; to remember this.

We have pushed God out of every arena in our so called modern society. We worship things instead of Him. We can allow condoms in school, but not Prayer. We have allowed the secular humanist movement to have a larger voice despite Christianities larger numbers. We Christians tend to take a pacifist attitude, and in so doing have let the minions of the Adversary walk all over us and force God out of the center of society. But that's another post.

My point here is to help us all to remember that God ordained this country by the raising up of wise men to establish the Constitution of the United States of America. We have an obligation as the beneficiaries of these blessings and liberties to learn, teach and uphold the Constitution.
We have to speak up, write letters, and get involved in even the smallest way. We can no longer sit back and be silent.

Salary Caps

So our illustrious president has now set wage caps on those who have received our tax dollars.
In some ways, this is a good thing. They have my dollars, they should slow down a bit.
BUT, what if the guy making that $500,000 is the guy who can pull the company out of the toilet?
What if he's WORTH that half a million dollars? I think I would rather the guy get the money, and continue to work for the company, than say "ciao" because they can't meet his salary requirements.

Now some would argue that he doesn't have the right to make $500,000. Guess what? This is AMERICA! He has the right to make whatever the company he works for is willing to pay him. Whatever product his company makes, his salary is built into the purchase price of the product. If I'm willing to pay the price for their product, then why should there be a problem with him getting the salary his company has already built into their bottom line, and wants to pay him?
We have GOT to get away from worrying about the other guy; about keeping up with the Jones'; and the "it's not fair" mentality.
No one except your boss has the right to say that you don't have the right to make whatever salary you make.
It's no one's business, but the liberals are railing against Capitalism, and they think that you are greedy if you make more than they think you should.

To the guys who's salaries were just capped by the president:
If you make a deal with the devil, you have to play by his rules.

Sad Day for America

Today our elected officials have robbed us, and our posterity of their future financial security and numerous freedoms as well.
The great French political economist Fredric Bastiat, in his work "The Law," calls taxation "legalized plunder". After today I know fully what he means. The Stimulus Package was passed in all it's bloody glory.
This will not be a good thing for this country. This will not be a good thing for the rest of the world. Socialism marches forward.

Two good things may come from this however: When it fails, no Republicans will be culpable, and therefore able to remind them they asked for a better way, and it will be a lightning rod for the Democarts, their constituents will hopefully complain in droves.
This indeed could bode well for Conservatives everywhere.

NO Republicans voted for this egregious trampling of our Liberties, and eleven of the Democrats also saw reason.

Please write to them. 177 Republicans voted no; it may be too hard to write to EACH of them, but write to YOURS, or better yet, CALL them. The White House Switchboard number is 202-224- 3121. Then, Please, call ALL of the Democrats as well!! We have to let them know they did the right thing. It can be a form letter, a call, whatever, but THANK THEM! They did good, and need to be reminded.

Obama thinks because he won the election that it means everyone is ready to play his game.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
He won the election because: 1.) It was a vote against Bush, and 2.) He's Black.

If you take the very large percentage of blacks and Hispanics who voted FOR Proposition 8 in California, it will give you some idea of the magnitude of the problem. Blacks and Hispanics came out in overwhelming numbers to vote FOR Obama. They also vote in overwhelming numbers to uphold the sanctity of Marriage between a man and a woman. This leads me to the conclusion that just because they wanted a black man in the Oval Office, it doesn't mean they agree with him. So, Obamas supposition that because he won everyone else needs to do it his way is the biggest fallacy on the planet at present--aside of course from Al Gore's scare tactics, but that's another post, for another day :)

So my request to everyone is to please write. Write to every Democrat who voted no. Write to your Republican representative. Thank them for their common sense and ask them to stay the course.
The eleven Democrats are listed below. These should be hot links to their own pages.
Allen Boyd, Bobby Bright, Jim Cooper, Brad Ellsworth, Parker Griffith, Paul Kanjorski, Frank, Kratovil, Walt Minnick, Collin Peterson, Heath Shuler, Gene Taylor

Make the Call

I just got off of the phone with DC! I have never actually CALLED one of my representatives before, but that changed today.

Today the Senate will vote on Tim Geithner’s nomination for Secretary of the Treasury.
Putting partisanship aside, the man should not be confirmed. He has shown a blatant disregard for the law by not paying $34,000 in taxes. That's a LOT of money.

One could argue that the current tax system is not only unfair but also unConstitutional. Let's put that aside; paying taxes is a current law, and we are bound by that law. The man is a cheat, and if confirmed will show people everywhere that:
1.)if you are rich, you can get away with more;
2.) you only have to obey laws you agree with;
3.) that favoritism in Washington has not died
with the current "change."

I urge you to oppose Geithner, and call your senator today, NOW.
To reach the Capitol, call 202-224-3121. Ask the switchboard operator to transfer you to your representative. It really was "so easy."

Day of Mourning

It's done. He's in.

I've been in mourning all day. This feels like the death of the Republic, and I'll keep saying it--the man is a socialist.

I read a snippet this evening of a blog on Fox News. Obama said in a speech Sunday that he "is as hopeful as ever the United States will endure." What exactly did he mean by endure? We we on our way out? Were we thinking of becoming part of Canada? If he has his way though, it will no longer be the Republic we know and love. "Endure" will have a new meaning.

We will have a Socialist Democracy; a strong-arming central government that metes out praise or punishment for a variety of circumstances, enacts laws designed to further the governments agenda, and tax us until we bleed.

It's not supposed to BE this way. We are supposed to have a Federal government, not a National government.


A Federal government means the majority of power is vested in the States; more precisely "We the People." The State makes it's own laws; the people vote on decisions that reflect their values in their state. The people of the State vote on the laws that decide how the State will govern it's people. If you don't like the governance, you are free to leave; but it is about the People.


A National government is the opposite. The central government makes the decisions via executive order, congressional law or Supreme Court ruling.

In the book I recently finished, "Who Killed the Constitution", it was made very clear that numerous times in our Republic, the Constitution has been whittled away by any combination of the above. It's happened time and again. The downward spiral started some time ago. The difference this time is, that this man will be doing it openly; flagrantly shredding the Constitution. No more "Secret Combinations"; he has appointed several very liberal people for cabinet posts, and they will cram their very liberal agenda on the American people.


I implore everyone reading this to get a copy of the Constitution. READ it. Know what's supposed to be happening. Don't take this coup sitting down. It is up to "We the People" to speak up; to draw as much attention to the plight of the Constitution as we can. I don't know if it can fully be saved, short of throwing all elected officials out and starting over, but something has to change. Something has to wake the American public up.

It's past time to hold our elected officials accountable. They swear to uphold the Constitution. See that they do.

What is a Conservative?

First go and read this article:

The Loft > GOP Chairman’s Race Enters Home Stretch

It occurred to me after I read this, that if we want the GOP to get back to actually BEING the "Grand Old Party" that we need to have a true conservative running the party. Someone who can rein in the left wing of the conservative party; someone who really, IS a conservative.

So what IS a Conservative? Here is my list, and it is not comprehensive.

A Conservative is someone who:

*Values life.
*Values morality.
*Champions small government.
*Promotes free trade.
*Believes in lower taxes.
*Believes in upholding the Constitution; that, in fact, the Constitution is infallible.
*Believes you and I are the ones to decide what's best for us.
*Knows that you and I should keep our money and spend it as we see fit.
*Knows that a handout is not the way to solve problems.
*Knows keeping the military strong keeps us safe.
*Freedom of speech is critical to a free republic.
*Gun ownership is expressly provided for, and also critical for a free republic.
*Believes that most government programs do more harm than good.

Now there are more I could add, but the point is we haven't had one around in awhile. They are an endangered species.

I firmly believe that there are two reasons we lost the election.
First and foremost, John McCain was NOT a true Conservative: McCain-Feingold is a glaring example. He also said that Obama and Clinton were nice, and we would be OK if one of them won the election. Bless his heart, but I think he lost all his "fight" fighting his gaolers. He couldn't articulate how he was better than Obama and it cost us.
Second, if the differences are minor, then why not vote for the guy who could make history. I know some of you don't believe me, but I heard with my own ears people who wanted to vote for Obama because he "looks like me", because he was black. I heard them say it. Now I would like to believe that this was a small segment of the population, but I doubt it very much. And, honestly, I don't fault them for that too much. If the conservative had been black, I would have been so excited to throw my vote in his corner.

Now the point of all this was to exhort you all to pray for a true conservative to be elected to lead the GOP in the coming socialist storm, and it IS coming. Pray for the best candidate to win, it is critical that the roots of conservatism be nourished, and that the flower bloom again.