Increased Devotion to the Cause

Happy Memorial Day…
We can really celebrate this holiday by acting on President Abraham Lincoln’s admonition at the conclusion of his Gettysburg Address:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

I encourage you to take “increased devotion to that cause,” the cause of liberty.

…Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  — 2 Corinthians 3:17

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No Article V (Amendment) Convention

Liberals and some Conservatives alike, are on board a movement to amend our U.S. Constitution by a method never before tried since the original constitutional convention in 1787. Remember what happened then? The Articles of Confederation were ditched and a brand new constitution was created. All amendments to the Constitution since then (27 of them) have been formulated and passed by the same process: Congress passes a proposed amendment and it goes to the states for ratification. Article V does authorize another way, but as I understand it, it has never been tried….and in today’s political climate, should NOT be tried.

The only way an “Amendment Convention” would work is if the states were as free and autonomous as they were when the Constitution was established. The fact is, the states are not. Since Reconstruction and the Progressive Era, states have systematically been put under the U.S. government’s thumb and on the government dole. Federalism today is not even a shadow of its former self. (Federalism is the distribution of power both horizontally and vertically throughout our governmental system. It is a check on concentrated power within one branch or one level of government.) Genuine federalism has been stripped away, program by program, as “nationalism” has taken over. The Constitutional Amendment process (especially 13-17) has hatcheted away at state sovereignty. For all practical intents and purposes, today, federalism is all about Washington DC, and very little about our 50 states. One way or the other, DC partisanship power will control the amendment convention process. That is not the way the Framers designed it, but sadly, that is the way it works today. And don’t expect the Supreme Court to come to the rescue. Their view of the Constitution is not what the Framers had in mind.

It is a different world in DC, at all levels, in all branches, both public and private—political office holders as well as political party power brokers. As George Washington predicted, political parties and special interests will manipulate the process to protect their power and influence. In DC, history testifies that trying the untried has always ended badly for America—the states end up losing to ever-encroaching federal authority. With precious few exceptions, the entire Twentieth Century testifies to this reality. Washington DC just does not understand that the purpose of the Constitution was and is to LIMIT federal encroachment. (Frankly, that is why the plain sense of the Constitution is ignored today.) They will somehow control the process and the amendment convention will not end well. You can count on it.

 

April 19, 1775

From Lexington Green to the Old North Bridge,
that day, April 19, 1775, our Patriot Fathers
engaged the mightiest fighting force of the time,
the British Empire.
The War for American Independence had begun.
Emerson’s dedicatory poem, Concord Hymn,
immortalized the moment with his phrase,
“the shot heard round the world.”
Today, the battle for liberty continues,
but with ballots, not bullets.
America continues to depend
on her patriot minutemen sounding the cry
of protecting our God-given liberties.
We pray it may it never come to bullets again,
but that patriotic Americans would once again
be armed with the truth, and not afraid to use it.

How dear is liberty to you?

Just two days before Washington crossed the Delaware then went on to win the Battle of Trenton, these words (from a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine) were read to the Continental troops:

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

How dear is liberty to you?

Republicans blink: Congressional Games Continue

Congress again kicked the can down the road yesterday rather than face up to our smothering debt and tentacled Obamacare. Eighteen courageous Senators voted nay while the House Republicans ran home with tails-tucked. At least there is a voice of reason, clarity, and hope in the midst of yet another DC debacle – Senator Ted Cruz. Listen to his comments on this another frustrating day in DC politics:

America must be on its knees praying for real leadership during these trying days. Will God not raise up a champion against the Goliaths we face? God knows we need one.

America is Exceptional

Our beloved nation was founded not as an ethnic group, for we are indeed a melting pot of ethnicity, but as a philosophy upholding individual liberty as the prime objective. The Declaration of Independence (which Jefferson opined as “an expression of the American mind”) describes this philosophy. American exceptionalism is not based on size and might, but on a simple idea that the individual is created to be free and that government is created to protect that individual freedom.

President Putin does not understand this idea. In his open letter to the American people last week, he expressed in the final paragraph his total misunderstanding of the subject. Putin is not alone. Our own President Obama apparently has “grown” in his understanding of the concept, but, while American’s also “groan” at the president’s inept and insufficient experience in foreign policy. It is too little, too late.

Remember on his first overseas trip as president in 2009, he stated,  “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” (As you can see, a very steep learning curve has existed since then. We have had to put up with on-the-job-training since early in his first term, but that is another story.)

The designation of American exceptionalism was first attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville in his landmark work, Democracy in America. If you would like a good primer on the meaning of exceptionalism, may I suggest Matthew Spalding’s essay distributed by The Heritage Foundation, “Why is America Exceptional?” which I have shared with others over the past few years. Speaking of the Heritage Foundation, its new president, former Senator Jim DeMint, wrote a short and pithy letter to President Putin with a few barbs you may find interesting. This short letter is certainly worth your time.

America must recover its memory. We need to be reminded, over and over, of our history and heritage and the ideas that made her great. This is one reason why I spend most of my time teaching teenaged students at The Pillar Foundation. American exceptionalism is just one generation away from extinction. We must not let that happen, not only for our sake, but for the world’s. There is no other story like it.

A Reflection on the Election: America’s “New Society”

Society in America has changed. Where the foundations of truth and goodness once stood, now is a mixture of pragmatism and pluralistic ethics. Our educational system, once the envy of the world, has abandoned the philosophy of our founding forebears and fully embraced the progressive agenda of its nineteenth and twentieth century reformers. The system has reared several generations in a sociology of growing antagonism toward the traditional family and church, and the propagation of a revisionist, postmodern worldview. Truth has become relative and goodness lost.

The election of 2012 proves the point. In what appears to be a fair and judicious process, the numerical results show a majority of pragmatic voters who do not know their history or the principles upon which America was founded. We voted our pocketbooks over our principles, and our devalued values over the historic, God-honored and time-tested virtues of Biblical morality. We have rejected the timeless truth and exchanged it for the lie of temporary comfort and safety. Our new society has bought into the oldest lie in the book, “Yea, hath God said…?” (Genesis 3:1)

Now, the church is to be the “pillar and ground of truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), its guardian and support. Just as our nation’s chief executive, legislators, and judges are to preserve, protect, and defend the U.S. Constitution, so the church is to preserve, protect, and defend God’s truth. Goodness and rightness are lost when the truth is compromised. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3) Not much. History and God’s truth tell us that certain judgment is just around the corner.

We believers, who are the church, must remember who we are, we must repent, and must repeat the good works of the past, or God will remove our position as light bearers and leave us in cultural darkness (Revelation 2:5), to be tread upon like savorless salt (Matthew 5:13).

In the long term, our educational system must be recovered and reclaimed to once again teach the truth of the ages. In the short term, we must pray and act; pray fervently without ceasing, and act wisely and decisively without hesitation. The age-old foundations must be repaired and the old paths restored. (Isaiah 58:12; Jeremiah 6:16) If not the church, then whom?

Finney said the church must take “right ground” in politics. I believe he is right on this point:

The Church must take right ground in regard to politics…The time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics…God cannot sustain this free and blessed country which we love and pray for unless the Church will take right ground. Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. It seems sometimes as if the foundations of the nation were becoming rotten, and Christians seem to act as if they thought God did not see what they do in politics. But I tell you, he does see it, and God will bless or curse this nation according to the course they take.

                                     – Charles Finney, from Lecture XV, Lectures on Revivals of Religion

If there is no room for a third party in our current system and no time to change it, then the Republican party must be recovered, repopulated and reorganized before it is too late. Christians must enter the political arena with their message and a method to make America’s “new society” a renewed society.

Last Ounce of Courage

Here is my review of a fine traditional values film called “Last Ounce of Courage,” which I recommend heartily:

Lookout, your worldview is showing. The overwhelming negativity in the critic’s corner is a sure bet that there is something positive about traditional values in this flick. “Last Ounce of Courage” may not be a Hollywood-grade Oscar nominee, but it is far from the tripe that typically hails from Tinseltown. This movie reveals the content of an American’s heart–something that is either there or not there. That something is a faith-based patriotism, surely something that is unpopular inside and outside the Tinseltown city limits, and certainly not apparent in the critic’s corner. I look for the ring of truth in a movie. That ring cannot resonate in a vacuum. It needs something solid and of the same quality to reverberate off of. American exceptionalism and common sense are not dead. They just need a little stirring. I think “Last Ounce” does very well at stirring what hidden courage is still out there. I say, “bravo” to Rocky Mountain Pictures! Shout it from the mountaintops.

TODD AKIN, WE ARE LISTENING

Todd Akin is a courageous patriot. We are listening, Todd!

This is no lost cause…TODD AKIN FOR SENATE.

Why Akin Won

One word characterizes the MO Senate primary win – integrity. Todd Akin’s constituency has learned to trust and appreciate him.

Akin and grandsons at election night victory party

Why? Because he is an honest man of his word, by the grace of God. (The Congressman will be the first to admit that.) The Akin campaign staff and volunteers are not just in it for the money, the win, or anything else. They are in it for Todd and the conservative cause he characterizes. He is honest, trustworthy, and approachable. There’s no dirt or skeletons. He is a man of conviction and principle. That is why he can be trusted even if one may not always agree with a particular vote. You know he is voting wholesome, Godly, traditional values.

Some are uncomfortable with Akin’s frequent expression of his faith. I think there is absolutely nothing to fear. He knows his American history and that our founding fathers believed in personal faith and in public reliance on “Divine Providence,” yet without any establishment of a national religion. Acknowledgment and establishment are two completely different things. You will not see Todd Akin cross that line. Todd Akin is a proponent of everything that has made America great. He acknowledges our historic trust in God as well as the Divine endowment of our inalienable rights. He is a protector of the family, the cell of our civilization, as well as a defender of our personal, political, and economic liberties.

You cannot buy trust. You cannot purchase true loyalty. They are earned. And Todd Akin has earned this win with his life and service. May God multiply his tribe and may God continue to bless America!

Experience Counts in Desperate Times

“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government,
our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.”
–Samuel Adams, Patriot (1780)

Now is that time, and the U.S. Senate race in Missouri is that battleground seat. Without proven and tested representation at the highest levels of leadership, it appears that the ruin of our republic is imminent. Let me make a few points:

• The U.S. Senate is not the place to start an untested, inexperienced person in office. We need solid, conservative experience in this high office. (Look what inexperience got us in the Oval Office.)
• Proven character is needed to avoid the landmines of indulgence, pride, and position.
• Experience is needed to maneuver around high powered lobbying inside and outside the D.C. beltway.
• A seasoned veteran is needed on “day one” to understand and use the convoluted rules of the legislative process.

TODD AKIN IS THE ONLY SENATE CANDIDATE WITH THIS EXPERIENCE.

Of the 435 Representatives in the House, Todd Akin is ranked 21st most conservative by a range of very conservative watchdog groups. (See Chart) Did you get that?? 21 out of 435! That’s in the top 5%–way above some of the most noted and popular conservatives.

Todd Akin is being maliciously maligned and mischaracterized by opponents who know he cannot be controlled by party, big money, establishment–anybody or anything other than bedrock Constitutional principle. They are twisting and misinterpreting his conservative record. They are impugning his motives and actions. They will do anything to win. But Todd will not go after them in the same manner. He will show respect even to the disrespectful. Todd Akin represents the values of God-fearing, Constitutional-loving patriots as one who will stand for faith, family, and freedom. Todd is a man of faith who loves God, who protects family, and who cherishes liberty. He will protect those values. His rhetoric and his record show this to be true. Todd does not simply aspire to high office, he aspires to serve his country, his constituents, and his Creator.

Todd Akin represents my values and he has my wholehearted endorsement and my vote.

TODD AKIN NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT AND YOUR VOTE ON AUGUST 7.

Real Leadership

Now this is real leadership…leadership for such a time as this. When opponents are out of ideas and things to say about themselves, they resort to personal and professional attacks. It is the publishing of those half-truths-turned-lies that show a genuine LACK of  leadership…a real character deficit–and certainly not U.S. Senate caliber. That is why I support Todd Akin for U.S. Senate from Missouri. He understands our times and knows what to do. He will represent Missouri well and help lead us through this present darkness back into the light. He represents my values and I am glad to unequivocally endorse him and lend my name wholeheartedly as his supporter. On August 7, please vote for Todd Akin for U.S. Senate. He has the full dimension of leadership we need. See for yourself:

Calling on Akin to take the high ground and leave the low ground to Brunner

Just got today’s mail…I tried to count to 10, but just got to 9 before I clicked “Post!”

I CONDEMN John Brunner for his negative attack ads and his misrepresentation and spinning of the facts.

Mr. Brunner, you cannot purchase this election with all your slick mailings and commercials. For being a self-proclaimed outsider and “citizen-senator,” you are cherry picking facts just like “career politicians” do. I don’t think you will find either Akin or Steelman doing what you have done. The truth will prevail, your support will evaporate, and your high-paid political promoters will be the only beneficiaries of your self-funded campaign. God forgive me if I am being harsh, but I have had enough of it. Truth can be stretched into lies and I think you have crossed over that line.

This has been airing the last couple of weeks. Combined with the mailing I received today, I have just one thing to say, “Shame on you John Brunner for misrepresenting the truth:”

Now here is a class act:

I call on Congressman Akin to rebut Brunner’s mischaracterizations with the truth of the matter, and do it in an appropriate way.

Two Historic Quotes on this Day

July 2, 1776 and 1912…Founding Father John Adams extolling the Declaration of Independence versus Progressivist Woodrow Wilson reinterpreting it.

Teaching my worldview class for the past seven years has afforded great opportunities to study our nation’s history and find some great quotations. One of those great historic quotes was John Adams glorying on that day’s events in a letter to his wife, Abigail:

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade with shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will triumph in that Days Transaction, even although We should rue it, with I trust in God We shall not.

July 2, 1776 was the day Congress declared independence from Great Britain; July 4, 1776 was the adoption of the document, The Declaration of Independence. John Adams’ sentiments were only a couple of days early, but his heart was certainly on the pulse beat of every American.

Just 136 years later, presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson would declare his extremely progressivistic views on this same document–a view that would change the landscape of American politics and chart a departing course from that of our founding fathers. Wilson’s view predominates the liberal agenda of today’s politics. Wilson could invoke the name of God with the best of them, but that did not mean his politics were blessed of that God whom he quoted. Read this insightful introduction from The Heritage Foundation, then following, read for yourself the words of Governor Wilson who would months later become our 28th President and leader/charter of the progressive movement.

http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/woodrow-wilson-asks-what-is-progress

Read it and weep for an America that has followed that course and that needs to repent and return to the course of John Adams and his contemporaries.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
“Righteousness exalts a nation…”
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Evangelical Version of Popular Vote Video

Pass this video around to all your friends who love freedom: