Marriage Meaning Federal and/or State Issue
Folks,
Let us be crystal clear on this issue of defining Marriage. Most issues are properly decided at the State level and State by State. Far fewer issues are "federal & national" in scope and must be decided nationally. Most "Libertarians," and far too many "Conservatives" leap to the position that Marriage is a "State or State's Rights" issue. I believe that is incorrect and hope to lay out the defense of my position below.
"Federalism" is a concept defined by Merriam-Webster as "Political system that binds a group of states into a larger, non-centralized, superior state while allowing them to maintain their own political identities. Certain characteristics and principles are common to all successful federal systems: a written constitution or basic law stipulating the distribution of powers; diffusion of power among the constituent elements, which are substantially self-sustaining; and territorial divisions to ensure neutrality and equality in the representation of various groups and interests. Changes require the consent of those affected. Successful federal systems also have a sense of common nationality and direct lines of communication between the citizens and all the governments that serve them."
The United States of America is a constitutional, federal, republic. It is both a nation government and a collection of States with their own individual governments. Some powers are national only, either by the nature of the power or by delegation to the central [national] government by the State governments. Some powers reside only with the State's either by the nature of the power or by reservation by the States having never delegated said powers. Some powers are exercised by both the federal and the State governments. Where both the central or federal government and the State governments legitimately exercise power, and if that exercise conflicts, the federal exercise is "supreme."
Marriage may be both a religious and/or secular/legal matter. Prior to the war of revolution, the colonies lived under British law, common and constitutional. Marriage was universally a union of one male and one female, both of legal age and sound mind, and not to closely related. Following Independence, Marriage retained this same definition and same requirements. In general, the States each set their own "age of maturity or consent," relation restrictions, marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance laws. "Miscegenation," marriage or cohabitation among persons of mixed or differing ethnicity, and laws governing or prohibiting such marriages existed in various colonies and States prior to and following Independence. Even after Independence and adoption of our constitution, it was universally accepted that "Marriage," was a matter decided within individual States so long as the fundamental definition of one man and one woman was undisturbed. . Thirty-four [34] of our fifty [50] States either never had such laws or had repealed them by 1967. The final fourteen [14] States with such laws had them nullified by the Supreme Court decision in "Loving v Virginia" in 1967. The 14th and 15th amendments were intended to end Miscegenation laws but the Supreme Court failed to intervene until 1967. However, the first controversy in the United States pertaining to "Marriage," involving federal actions arose around 1850 when an application was submitted seeking admission for Statehood by the State of "Deseret."
In response to the Deseret application for Statehood [1849/50], Congress created the Utah Territory. Mormonism and its practice of polygamy were widespread in the Utah Territory and both were factors of concern to Congress and all existing states. The Civil War ended May/June 1865 and the thirteenth [13th], fourteenth [14th], and fifteenth [15th], amendments were ratified between Dec/1865 and Feb/1870. Despite the existence of our Constitution including the "Reconstruction" amendments, Congress passed the Edmunds Act of 1882, prohibiting and punishing polygamy, which was upheld by the supreme court in 1885 [here: http://openjurist.org/114/us/15 ]. This is commonly known as judicial precedent.
Utah sought Statehood for almost fifty [50] years and was only granted Statehood after abandoning polygamy. The same was true for Idaho. Let us be clear, homosexual behavior has existed for thousands of years. However, nothing in our Constitution, including adoption of the 14th amendment, was considered grounds for, or justification of, "homosexual, same-sex, "Marriage" or for polygamy, or for overturning State anti-miscegenation laws. It was only in 1967 when the Supreme Court finally struck down such State Laws. Regardless of the court's motives, the ethnic component [often called racial] was the main if not sole basis upon which the "feds" claimed authority to nullify such laws in sixteen [16] remaining States. It should be noted that both God and science identify humans as "one race," not several races.
Having addressed historical information and factors involving Marriage in the united States, let us move to the modern controversy involving what is called "same-sex marriage." Marriage in the united States, has only ever been defined as a union of one male and one female, both of legal age and sound mind, and not to closely related. "Same-sex [marriage]," involves a fundamentally new, different, and distinct union from that of Marriage. Initially, only courts, and few of those, equated same-sex unions with "Marriage". Congress, seeking to address concerns of the States, that Courts might continue assaults upon Marriage, passed overwhelmingly in both chambers the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] which President Bill Clinton signed into law. DOMA addressed the common sense issue that while "civil unions" could be a State issue, the core definition of marriage was national, if for no other reason than that our constitution requires each State to recognize and respect the laws of every other State. Some States than began enacting laws establishing "Civil Unions," between same-sex "couples." "Militant" homosexuals were unsatisfied with "civil unions," and formulated and implemented campaigns to challenge all restraints on homosexual unions and to seek equal status between homosexual unions and "Marriages." Clearly, if the legal and constitutional definition of Marriage is to be changed, it must be a national change requiring a constitutional amendment, not by act of congress, and certainly not by judicial fiat! Since federal and constitutional precedent from 1885, and history and tradition from antiquity, have declared the definition of marriage, and since no nation may avoid constitutional crisis were each state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories to enact differing core definitions, this question like slavery and abortion, are constitutional and national in scope and effect. The only rational method for changing such laws is a constitutional amendment, and the least constitutional method would be judicial activism, especially by the slimmest 5-4 margin.
Though it is now known what the Supreme Court has done; it has, by judicial fiat, forced homosexual "marriage" upon all the States similarly to when it imposed infanticide of children in the womb by its Roe v Wade decision. Now States MUST convene a Convention for Proposing Amendments [as proscribed in Article V of our constitution] and send to the States an amendment codifying Marriage as a union of one male and one female, both of legal age and sound mind, and not to closely related, allowing States to legalize same-sex unions as other than Marriages, and hopefully also an amendment ending abortion on demand. Until State's have time to use Article V to send an amendment to the States, our State's and people must refuse to obey this Supreme Court edict. Either our courts MUST obey our constitutions, or we must chasten or eliminate rogue courts. Congress has the power to limit judicial jurisdiction, and to eliminate any inferior court to the Supreme Court for repeated abuses. We the People, through constitutional amendment MUST end judicial and unconstitutional activism. It is our Duty!
Let us be crystal clear on this issue of defining Marriage. Most issues are properly decided at the State level and State by State. Far fewer issues are "federal & national" in scope and must be decided nationally. Most "Libertarians," and far too many "Conservatives" leap to the position that Marriage is a "State or State's Rights" issue. I believe that is incorrect and hope to lay out the defense of my position below.
"Federalism" is a concept defined by Merriam-Webster as "Political system that binds a group of states into a larger, non-centralized, superior state while allowing them to maintain their own political identities. Certain characteristics and principles are common to all successful federal systems: a written constitution or basic law stipulating the distribution of powers; diffusion of power among the constituent elements, which are substantially self-sustaining; and territorial divisions to ensure neutrality and equality in the representation of various groups and interests. Changes require the consent of those affected. Successful federal systems also have a sense of common nationality and direct lines of communication between the citizens and all the governments that serve them."
The United States of America is a constitutional, federal, republic. It is both a nation government and a collection of States with their own individual governments. Some powers are national only, either by the nature of the power or by delegation to the central [national] government by the State governments. Some powers reside only with the State's either by the nature of the power or by reservation by the States having never delegated said powers. Some powers are exercised by both the federal and the State governments. Where both the central or federal government and the State governments legitimately exercise power, and if that exercise conflicts, the federal exercise is "supreme."
Marriage may be both a religious and/or secular/legal matter. Prior to the war of revolution, the colonies lived under British law, common and constitutional. Marriage was universally a union of one male and one female, both of legal age and sound mind, and not to closely related. Following Independence, Marriage retained this same definition and same requirements. In general, the States each set their own "age of maturity or consent," relation restrictions, marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance laws. "Miscegenation," marriage or cohabitation among persons of mixed or differing ethnicity, and laws governing or prohibiting such marriages existed in various colonies and States prior to and following Independence. Even after Independence and adoption of our constitution, it was universally accepted that "Marriage," was a matter decided within individual States so long as the fundamental definition of one man and one woman was undisturbed. . Thirty-four [34] of our fifty [50] States either never had such laws or had repealed them by 1967. The final fourteen [14] States with such laws had them nullified by the Supreme Court decision in "Loving v Virginia" in 1967. The 14th and 15th amendments were intended to end Miscegenation laws but the Supreme Court failed to intervene until 1967. However, the first controversy in the United States pertaining to "Marriage," involving federal actions arose around 1850 when an application was submitted seeking admission for Statehood by the State of "Deseret."
In response to the Deseret application for Statehood [1849/50], Congress created the Utah Territory. Mormonism and its practice of polygamy were widespread in the Utah Territory and both were factors of concern to Congress and all existing states. The Civil War ended May/June 1865 and the thirteenth [13th], fourteenth [14th], and fifteenth [15th], amendments were ratified between Dec/1865 and Feb/1870. Despite the existence of our Constitution including the "Reconstruction" amendments, Congress passed the Edmunds Act of 1882, prohibiting and punishing polygamy, which was upheld by the supreme court in 1885 [here: http://openjurist.org/114/us/15 ]. This is commonly known as judicial precedent.
Utah sought Statehood for almost fifty [50] years and was only granted Statehood after abandoning polygamy. The same was true for Idaho. Let us be clear, homosexual behavior has existed for thousands of years. However, nothing in our Constitution, including adoption of the 14th amendment, was considered grounds for, or justification of, "homosexual, same-sex, "Marriage" or for polygamy, or for overturning State anti-miscegenation laws. It was only in 1967 when the Supreme Court finally struck down such State Laws. Regardless of the court's motives, the ethnic component [often called racial] was the main if not sole basis upon which the "feds" claimed authority to nullify such laws in sixteen [16] remaining States. It should be noted that both God and science identify humans as "one race," not several races.
Having addressed historical information and factors involving Marriage in the united States, let us move to the modern controversy involving what is called "same-sex marriage." Marriage in the united States, has only ever been defined as a union of one male and one female, both of legal age and sound mind, and not to closely related. "Same-sex [marriage]," involves a fundamentally new, different, and distinct union from that of Marriage. Initially, only courts, and few of those, equated same-sex unions with "Marriage". Congress, seeking to address concerns of the States, that Courts might continue assaults upon Marriage, passed overwhelmingly in both chambers the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] which President Bill Clinton signed into law. DOMA addressed the common sense issue that while "civil unions" could be a State issue, the core definition of marriage was national, if for no other reason than that our constitution requires each State to recognize and respect the laws of every other State. Some States than began enacting laws establishing "Civil Unions," between same-sex "couples." "Militant" homosexuals were unsatisfied with "civil unions," and formulated and implemented campaigns to challenge all restraints on homosexual unions and to seek equal status between homosexual unions and "Marriages." Clearly, if the legal and constitutional definition of Marriage is to be changed, it must be a national change requiring a constitutional amendment, not by act of congress, and certainly not by judicial fiat! Since federal and constitutional precedent from 1885, and history and tradition from antiquity, have declared the definition of marriage, and since no nation may avoid constitutional crisis were each state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories to enact differing core definitions, this question like slavery and abortion, are constitutional and national in scope and effect. The only rational method for changing such laws is a constitutional amendment, and the least constitutional method would be judicial activism, especially by the slimmest 5-4 margin.
Though it is now known what the Supreme Court has done; it has, by judicial fiat, forced homosexual "marriage" upon all the States similarly to when it imposed infanticide of children in the womb by its Roe v Wade decision. Now States MUST convene a Convention for Proposing Amendments [as proscribed in Article V of our constitution] and send to the States an amendment codifying Marriage as a union of one male and one female, both of legal age and sound mind, and not to closely related, allowing States to legalize same-sex unions as other than Marriages, and hopefully also an amendment ending abortion on demand. Until State's have time to use Article V to send an amendment to the States, our State's and people must refuse to obey this Supreme Court edict. Either our courts MUST obey our constitutions, or we must chasten or eliminate rogue courts. Congress has the power to limit judicial jurisdiction, and to eliminate any inferior court to the Supreme Court for repeated abuses. We the People, through constitutional amendment MUST end judicial and unconstitutional activism. It is our Duty!
What’s at the Core of Common Core
View this very short clip: Teacher Admits He Helped Write Common Core To End "White Privilege"
Teacher Admits He Helped Write Common Core To En...
A teacher told attendees at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics Monday night that he helped write the controversial Common Core educati...http://conservativevideos.com/teacher-admits-helped-write-common-core-end-white-privilege/
Teacher Admits He Helped Write Common Core To En...
A teacher told attendees at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics Monday night that he helped write the controversial Common Core educati...http://conservativevideos.com/teacher-admits-helped-write-common-core-end-white-privilege/
Please Dear Friends,
I would like to share the following:
I would like to share the following:
Apples...
A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago .. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush to catch the plane home and with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly-missed boarding...
ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping and no one to care for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $50 for the damage we did. Are you okay? "She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly. "As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?"
He stopped in mid-stride .... and he wondered. He gently went back and said, "No, I am nothing like Jesus - He is good, kind, caring, loving, and would never have bumped into your display in the first place.
"The girl gently nodded: "I only asked because I prayed for Jesus to help me gather the apples. He sent you to help me, Thank you for hearing Jesus, Mister."
Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"
Do people mistake you for Jesus?
That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye even though you, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked up you and me and paid in full for our damaged fruit.
Sometimes we just take things for granted, when we really need to be sharing what we know.
The nicest place to be is in someone's thoughts, the safest place to be is in someone's prayers, and the very best place to be is ...in the hands of God.
Author Unknown
From the 25th Chapter of Matthew:
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
May we see one another as Jesus sees us and treat one another accordingly.
Publius/cj
ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping and no one to care for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $50 for the damage we did. Are you okay? "She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly. "As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?"
He stopped in mid-stride .... and he wondered. He gently went back and said, "No, I am nothing like Jesus - He is good, kind, caring, loving, and would never have bumped into your display in the first place.
"The girl gently nodded: "I only asked because I prayed for Jesus to help me gather the apples. He sent you to help me, Thank you for hearing Jesus, Mister."
Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"
Do people mistake you for Jesus?
That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye even though you, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked up you and me and paid in full for our damaged fruit.
Sometimes we just take things for granted, when we really need to be sharing what we know.
The nicest place to be is in someone's thoughts, the safest place to be is in someone's prayers, and the very best place to be is ...in the hands of God.
Author Unknown
From the 25th Chapter of Matthew:
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
May we see one another as Jesus sees us and treat one another accordingly.
Publius/cj
Pedophilia Now a Sexual Orientation?
November 2, 2013 by Steve Eastman
The American Psychiatric Association has just redefined pedophilia, or sexual attraction to children, as another orientation. What’s next?
VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yUc5JwfX_0c
http://www.westernjournalism.com/pedophilia-now-a-sexual-orientation-2/
Pedophilia: Orientation or Crime?
By Patrick Ryan
Modern Western society views the expression of sexuality as a primary component of human identity. As each autonomous individual can form his own happiness and welfare, sex is an essential component of human flourishing.
As sex leads to the creation of life, it is indeed an essential human act. Yet the West is currently trying to isolate sex as a pleasurable, inconsequential form of recreation. The paradox rests in the very fact that it becomes banal, while also life-affirming and essential to our identities.
The issue rears its head in the latest definition of “pedophilia” in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V). In it:
the American Psychiatric Association (APA) drew a very distinct line between pedophilia and pedophilia disorder. Pedophilia refers to a sexual orientation or profession of sexual preference devoid of consummation, whereas pedophilia disorder is defined as a compulsion and is used in reference to individuals who act on their sexuality.
Now, “unconsummated pedophilia” is just an orientation. As Father Z clarifies, when a society changes the language, they are also affecting the definition. It is now imperative that we tolerate “pedophilia.”
The reason we must accept such perversion is that “people must be allowed to celebrate sex and sexuality, ‘one of the few freely-given pleasures in life,’” as spokesperson Paul Christiano of B4U-ACT said to NeonTommy.com, a university news site for the USC Annenberg School of Communications. The group advocates for “‘minor-attracted persons’ to be open about their sexual preferences in a supportive atmosphere.”
Christiano insisted that the group doesn’t advocate illegal activity. I’d certainly hope not.
Yet if being attracted toward minors is only an orientation now, how soon until we must accept the practice of pedophilia as a right to define oneself? After all, sex is one of the “few freely-given” pleasures in life.
For now, the law of the land stands. But how long until statutory rape becomes another form of institutional oppression by the majority against a vulnerable minority?
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/10/28/pedophilia-orientation-or-crim
The American Psychiatric Association has just redefined pedophilia, or sexual attraction to children, as another orientation. What’s next?
VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yUc5JwfX_0c
http://www.westernjournalism.com/pedophilia-now-a-sexual-orientation-2/
Pedophilia: Orientation or Crime?
By Patrick Ryan
Modern Western society views the expression of sexuality as a primary component of human identity. As each autonomous individual can form his own happiness and welfare, sex is an essential component of human flourishing.
As sex leads to the creation of life, it is indeed an essential human act. Yet the West is currently trying to isolate sex as a pleasurable, inconsequential form of recreation. The paradox rests in the very fact that it becomes banal, while also life-affirming and essential to our identities.
The issue rears its head in the latest definition of “pedophilia” in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V). In it:
the American Psychiatric Association (APA) drew a very distinct line between pedophilia and pedophilia disorder. Pedophilia refers to a sexual orientation or profession of sexual preference devoid of consummation, whereas pedophilia disorder is defined as a compulsion and is used in reference to individuals who act on their sexuality.
Now, “unconsummated pedophilia” is just an orientation. As Father Z clarifies, when a society changes the language, they are also affecting the definition. It is now imperative that we tolerate “pedophilia.”
The reason we must accept such perversion is that “people must be allowed to celebrate sex and sexuality, ‘one of the few freely-given pleasures in life,’” as spokesperson Paul Christiano of B4U-ACT said to NeonTommy.com, a university news site for the USC Annenberg School of Communications. The group advocates for “‘minor-attracted persons’ to be open about their sexual preferences in a supportive atmosphere.”
Christiano insisted that the group doesn’t advocate illegal activity. I’d certainly hope not.
Yet if being attracted toward minors is only an orientation now, how soon until we must accept the practice of pedophilia as a right to define oneself? After all, sex is one of the “few freely-given” pleasures in life.
For now, the law of the land stands. But how long until statutory rape becomes another form of institutional oppression by the majority against a vulnerable minority?
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/10/28/pedophilia-orientation-or-crim
Truth Pertaining to MLK and Modern Race Hucksters
Folks,
We need Truth and Honesty, in all things, but especially in discussing ethnic issues in our ethnically diverse society. Our republic was formed to be specific things. It was formed to be based upon the Precepts of The Holy Bible which ALL of our Founders and over 95% of our founding Citizens, accepted and embraced. It was formed based upon a "Rule of valid Law," where words and Laws had well defined and commonly understood principles. It was formed based upon the individual sovereignty Endowed upon humans by the Creator. It was formed to be a group of "societies" governed by minimal Laws to secure and provide maximum Liberty and freedom. It was formed to secure equality to all individuals when charged criminally or civilly.
It was not formed to secure an "all-powerful State." It was not formed to secure equality of outcome nor of income. It was not formed to enforce "fairness nor compassion" as judged by the government upon its Citizens. It was not formed to distribute nor "re-distribute," wealth.
Martin Luther King, like ALL humans, had strengths and weaknesses. He held some excellent views and ideas, and some very misguided views and ideas. He possessed both Virtues and Vices, as we all do to varying degrees.
However, what MLK mainly sought for and demanded, was that every American be provided the "Blessings of Liberty" provided for in our constitutions, and an end to "state-sponsored" hatred, bigotry, and discrimination.
Martin Luther King did not demand that the government change the hearts of mankind. He understood completely that only God, in the Person of Jesus the Christ, could redeem and alter the nature of any Human Being.
I find it both interesting and equally tragic, that the "dreams" of Abraham Lincoln AND of Martin Luther King, were hijacked and disfigured AFTER each was assassinated. Lincoln advocated that the Union was perpetual and that "reconstruction" was merely repairing the Union's defects while binding up the "wounds of the nation." Martin Luther King advocated fulfillment of Lincoln's "Dream."
Sadly, tragically, Lincoln's "Dream" was hijacked by evil, bitter, haters and bigots, as well as vice and greed, and morphed into an "open festering wound," rather than a bound, healing wound that Lincoln sought. Martin Luther King's "Dream" of ending "government sanctioned" hatred, bigotry, and discrimination" was hijacked by evil, bitter, haters and bigots, as well as vice and greed, such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and many similar other individuals and organizations.
And in my personal view, the worst among those who have hijacked MLK's "Dream," are those claiming it included socialism, communism, and "punishment" of others as reparation. Those who hijacked MLK's "Dream,", or try to, need decried and denounced as the "snakes" they are, for they and "their Father" are liars and the "Father of all lies!"
Lincoln and Martin Luther King sought almost the same goals, the Blessings of Liberty, and the binding up of the Nation's wounds. Let us Remember and Celebrate that ... as we expose and defeat those who only seek to divide and destroy.
We need Truth and Honesty, in all things, but especially in discussing ethnic issues in our ethnically diverse society. Our republic was formed to be specific things. It was formed to be based upon the Precepts of The Holy Bible which ALL of our Founders and over 95% of our founding Citizens, accepted and embraced. It was formed based upon a "Rule of valid Law," where words and Laws had well defined and commonly understood principles. It was formed based upon the individual sovereignty Endowed upon humans by the Creator. It was formed to be a group of "societies" governed by minimal Laws to secure and provide maximum Liberty and freedom. It was formed to secure equality to all individuals when charged criminally or civilly.
It was not formed to secure an "all-powerful State." It was not formed to secure equality of outcome nor of income. It was not formed to enforce "fairness nor compassion" as judged by the government upon its Citizens. It was not formed to distribute nor "re-distribute," wealth.
Martin Luther King, like ALL humans, had strengths and weaknesses. He held some excellent views and ideas, and some very misguided views and ideas. He possessed both Virtues and Vices, as we all do to varying degrees.
However, what MLK mainly sought for and demanded, was that every American be provided the "Blessings of Liberty" provided for in our constitutions, and an end to "state-sponsored" hatred, bigotry, and discrimination.
Martin Luther King did not demand that the government change the hearts of mankind. He understood completely that only God, in the Person of Jesus the Christ, could redeem and alter the nature of any Human Being.
I find it both interesting and equally tragic, that the "dreams" of Abraham Lincoln AND of Martin Luther King, were hijacked and disfigured AFTER each was assassinated. Lincoln advocated that the Union was perpetual and that "reconstruction" was merely repairing the Union's defects while binding up the "wounds of the nation." Martin Luther King advocated fulfillment of Lincoln's "Dream."
Sadly, tragically, Lincoln's "Dream" was hijacked by evil, bitter, haters and bigots, as well as vice and greed, and morphed into an "open festering wound," rather than a bound, healing wound that Lincoln sought. Martin Luther King's "Dream" of ending "government sanctioned" hatred, bigotry, and discrimination" was hijacked by evil, bitter, haters and bigots, as well as vice and greed, such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and many similar other individuals and organizations.
And in my personal view, the worst among those who have hijacked MLK's "Dream," are those claiming it included socialism, communism, and "punishment" of others as reparation. Those who hijacked MLK's "Dream,", or try to, need decried and denounced as the "snakes" they are, for they and "their Father" are liars and the "Father of all lies!"
Lincoln and Martin Luther King sought almost the same goals, the Blessings of Liberty, and the binding up of the Nation's wounds. Let us Remember and Celebrate that ... as we expose and defeat those who only seek to divide and destroy.
Alter or Abolish
In this Essay I Shall explore the current condition of our federal government, and whether "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union," ought to alter or to abolish the current federal government.
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it," is Quoted from the Declaration of Independence [DOI]. The DOI was adopted and Declared by "We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States." There may be no question that our Founders, by the Blessing of God, and their Wisdom and Genius, gave us the most perfect form of government, our constitutional republic, possible to be formed in 1790.
However, in deciding whether to alter or to abolish it, we must objectively examine it as it is Today. Where Faith, Honor, Integrity, and other Virtues once dominated those elected and appointed to public office, lawlessness, dishonesty, avarice, pride and arrogance are now the most common attributes chosen by the People. We must, in my view, return to teaching and inculcating our youth in Christian Virtues and Morals to have any Hope of improving the character of the People generally.
Taxes are too high, too plentiful, and often redundant in Today's federal government and serve not the funding of valid government, but instead the transfer of wealth, rife with cronyism and corruption as well as funding every usurpation and encroachment prohibited by our Founding Charters. Also there is no equality in the levying of taxes. This Link is to an exceptional report on the need and methods for downsizing our federal government:
http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/downsizing-the-federal-government.pdf
Our Massive federal government demands a massive report on its failures and needed reforms. However, this Report, as dire as it is, only extends through 2005 and includes NONE of the ABUSES and Excesses under Obama. I encourage everyone to read or at least scan the report and consider its content. This Report focuses on the perspective of "Altering," rather than "Abolishing," our federal government. Yet even the author, while seeming optimistic for future improvements, admits that even modest reforms only occurred in rare moments of conservative and populist IRE at the federal leviathan. While I applaud and encourage every attempt at reducing federal size, scope, and cost ... I see no objective evidence that reversing the unconstitutional growth, waste, fraud, and corruption that has become our federal government is possible, let alone likely.
... or to abolish it! One must admit that if reforming i.e. reducing the size, scope, inefficiency, waste, fraud, and abuses of our current federal government is at best unlikely, then Abolishing our federal government may likely be impossible. However, I argue that even if unlikely, consideration of abolishing our federal government has merit, because it is somewhat likely that economic and/or currency collapse just may destroy what currently is ... and Wisdom and Prudence demands we consider what to replace what is now, following such a collapse.
Today the united States has 50 States with few if any additional States expected. It has the Territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and Philippines. Just as once before, the united States could again be reduced to "the several [50 now] States," and a "General Congress, Assembled," when called to meet and decide federal questions or take federal actions. I pose the Question: "Has the current federal government outlived its usefulness?"
To answer this Question, I believe we must consider the utter failure of the current federal government to obey its constitutional constraints, to abide by its constitutional limits, and to accomplish any of its primary functions ... "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." Our Union is far less "perfect," [stagnant economy, unprecedented debt, high taxation, and encroachment into every aspect of State's and Individuals lives], as well as the alienation of our federal government toward God, His Precepts, and the States and We the People!
This Essay shall be too brief to fully consider how best to "Abolish" our federal government. However, it is obvious our nation, be it republic or something else, shall require national defense. I personally would favor our gradual return to a "militia" of all able bodied men between the ages of 22 and 40 years of age. Imagine the fitness, discipline, and skills improvements if tens of millions of our Citizens were "militia" ready. All trained in use of firearms. Likely no standing army would be required. National currency and coinage or specie would still be required. I favor a return to only "silver or gold certificate" currency and specie also of precious metals [No Federal Reserve]. Suppose when called to General Congress, our 50 Governors represented the States, each with one vote. Called once per year to meet in an American Capital City for a brief time, then returning to their States. Subject to Call in emergency or crisis. We'd still need a national "Intelligence Agency." But seriously Folks, MOST of our current federal government is far more trouble and cost than its worth.
I hope this Essay proves thought-provoking and informative. We must either Alter or Abolish this current federal government, for it no longer serves its intended purposes. Let us research, consider, and debate our options, that We the People ... may prove ready when called upon to make the change, or ready to move forward if forced upon us.
I Thank You for your attention, consideration, and Patriotism!
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it," is Quoted from the Declaration of Independence [DOI]. The DOI was adopted and Declared by "We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States." There may be no question that our Founders, by the Blessing of God, and their Wisdom and Genius, gave us the most perfect form of government, our constitutional republic, possible to be formed in 1790.
However, in deciding whether to alter or to abolish it, we must objectively examine it as it is Today. Where Faith, Honor, Integrity, and other Virtues once dominated those elected and appointed to public office, lawlessness, dishonesty, avarice, pride and arrogance are now the most common attributes chosen by the People. We must, in my view, return to teaching and inculcating our youth in Christian Virtues and Morals to have any Hope of improving the character of the People generally.
Taxes are too high, too plentiful, and often redundant in Today's federal government and serve not the funding of valid government, but instead the transfer of wealth, rife with cronyism and corruption as well as funding every usurpation and encroachment prohibited by our Founding Charters. Also there is no equality in the levying of taxes. This Link is to an exceptional report on the need and methods for downsizing our federal government:
http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/downsizing-the-federal-government.pdf
Our Massive federal government demands a massive report on its failures and needed reforms. However, this Report, as dire as it is, only extends through 2005 and includes NONE of the ABUSES and Excesses under Obama. I encourage everyone to read or at least scan the report and consider its content. This Report focuses on the perspective of "Altering," rather than "Abolishing," our federal government. Yet even the author, while seeming optimistic for future improvements, admits that even modest reforms only occurred in rare moments of conservative and populist IRE at the federal leviathan. While I applaud and encourage every attempt at reducing federal size, scope, and cost ... I see no objective evidence that reversing the unconstitutional growth, waste, fraud, and corruption that has become our federal government is possible, let alone likely.
... or to abolish it! One must admit that if reforming i.e. reducing the size, scope, inefficiency, waste, fraud, and abuses of our current federal government is at best unlikely, then Abolishing our federal government may likely be impossible. However, I argue that even if unlikely, consideration of abolishing our federal government has merit, because it is somewhat likely that economic and/or currency collapse just may destroy what currently is ... and Wisdom and Prudence demands we consider what to replace what is now, following such a collapse.
Today the united States has 50 States with few if any additional States expected. It has the Territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and Philippines. Just as once before, the united States could again be reduced to "the several [50 now] States," and a "General Congress, Assembled," when called to meet and decide federal questions or take federal actions. I pose the Question: "Has the current federal government outlived its usefulness?"
To answer this Question, I believe we must consider the utter failure of the current federal government to obey its constitutional constraints, to abide by its constitutional limits, and to accomplish any of its primary functions ... "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." Our Union is far less "perfect," [stagnant economy, unprecedented debt, high taxation, and encroachment into every aspect of State's and Individuals lives], as well as the alienation of our federal government toward God, His Precepts, and the States and We the People!
This Essay shall be too brief to fully consider how best to "Abolish" our federal government. However, it is obvious our nation, be it republic or something else, shall require national defense. I personally would favor our gradual return to a "militia" of all able bodied men between the ages of 22 and 40 years of age. Imagine the fitness, discipline, and skills improvements if tens of millions of our Citizens were "militia" ready. All trained in use of firearms. Likely no standing army would be required. National currency and coinage or specie would still be required. I favor a return to only "silver or gold certificate" currency and specie also of precious metals [No Federal Reserve]. Suppose when called to General Congress, our 50 Governors represented the States, each with one vote. Called once per year to meet in an American Capital City for a brief time, then returning to their States. Subject to Call in emergency or crisis. We'd still need a national "Intelligence Agency." But seriously Folks, MOST of our current federal government is far more trouble and cost than its worth.
I hope this Essay proves thought-provoking and informative. We must either Alter or Abolish this current federal government, for it no longer serves its intended purposes. Let us research, consider, and debate our options, that We the People ... may prove ready when called upon to make the change, or ready to move forward if forced upon us.
I Thank You for your attention, consideration, and Patriotism!
Miracle, or Genius of Our Founder's, or BOTH?
In The Federalist Papers, Number 51, James Madison wrote the following: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions." Federalist 51 deals with the proper structure of government and the proper checks and balances in its different departments. I personally would have said it slightly differently by saying instead; "The People must first demonstrate the ability to control their own Reason and Passions, and then that they have a model to control officeholders in government." I know of no one today who believes the moral condition of our people has not substantially declined from its lofty level in 1788 when the constitution was ratified.
Another "gem" found within Federalist 51 is; "The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place." The "man" spoken of is the officeholder, and the "place" spoken of is the office. And also, " In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit." Does anyone believe the legislative authority predominates in today's federal government?
The Founders of our republic understood well the Christian nature and character of the vast majority of the colonists who became our first Citizens. They also had known firsthand the oppressions and usurpations of Monarchy, Parliament, and the English Judiciary, and the corruption these spawned. Our Declaration of Independence [DOI] articulated the Supremacy of the Creator and the unalienable Rights Bestowed by that Creator upon mankind. The Founders relied upon "Christian [including Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Congregationalist, Episcopal, Hebrew, Methodist, Presbetyrian, and others]" Virtues and Moral Laws as they debated first the Articles of Confederation and then our Constitution.
Our colonies, and our original thirteen States they became, held greatest respect for Legislative bodies, but had seen under colonial rule the perversion of both Governors and Judiciary under subservience to the Absolute Power of the Crown. Our Founders also comprehended and accepted the Biblical Truth of the sin nature of mankind. Forces, such as an Almighty God, and division and separation of governmental Power, were needed to constrain BOTH individuals ... and the offices they occupied ... from oppressing others.
Delegates of the States proposed a federal Congress, and divided its Legislative Powers between the House, whose members were elected by the People; and the Senate, whose members were chosen by the State Legislatures. The House, whose members were closest to the People were entrusted with the "power of the Purse," and the Power to Tax. The members of the Senate held primary duty to protect State interest and also to temper that legislation sent to it by the House. This "Congress" was then delegated enumerated and defined Powers which they might Lawfully and constitutionally wield.
The "Executive" Branch was next defined, and often referred to as wielding the "Power of the Sword," and also given civilian Power over Armed Forces whenever these were needed and called forth from among the People. From the earliest days of our republic, voices existed calling for creation of both a "standing army," and of a navy. Other voices agitated for reliance on militia called from the whole People as needed. Though a standing army eventually prevailed, to our present day no appropriation may extend beyond two years, the term of every Congress, which began as a "sunset" protection against perpetual armies. Sadly, Representative Joseph McDowell's prediction that standing armies always result in destruction of "militia," robbing our republic of its surest defence, proved true. The president, or chief executive, was to be chosen by "electors" in each of the several States.
Lastly, our Founders created and defined our federal "Judiciary." Deprived of BOTH "Power of Purse or Sword," it was expected that the federal Judiciary would pose the least threat of oppression, usurpation, or danger to the People's Liberty as its jurisdiction would include the fewest cases with most Laws issued by the several States and few federal laws applying to the People generally. State Legislatures would choose the senators who had sole Power to confirm appointments to the federal Judiciary. Congress, and especially the members of the House would control the funding of the Judiciary.
So the State's held the most numerous Powers, and even these were divided into Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches; and the federal Government held only enumerated and more fully defined Power, which again was divided among the three separate branches of Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary. Each federal branch was separately chosen or elected; the House directly by the People, the Senate by State legislatures, and the president by electors. Thus, our republic was formed, by sovereign States, into a perpetual Union under federalism.
While I shall address breakdowns and failures that eventually plagued this republic, this Miracle, or marvel of human Genius, in future Essays, I address one weakness present from its inception now. No such republic as ours had ever existed. And none of our "Citizen statesmen" had any practical experience in the differences expected of those elected to federal office from the abundance of experience which many possessed having served in colonial and State offices. This led the greater number of our earliest federal officeholders to behave in similar fashion as they did in colonial and State offices ... meaning they were familiar with wielding near infinite powers, and novices guided mainly by intellect in wielding enumerated and limited powers under federal constraints.
As I close this Essay, let me focus on the most Blessed features were it Miracle, or the most Brilliant features where it was Genius; our Creator and our Founders, created for us, their posterity, the finest model of self government ever to exist upon this earth. Ultimate Sovereignty declared to rest with our "Creator." Unalienable Rights as distinguished from civil rights. Limited sovereignty in separate spheres of federal and State, and the Powers in both federal and State divided in three branches of Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.
Where time and centuries, and alterations of mankind have revealed defects, let us resort to the Wisdom of Holy Scripture, and to that of our Founders, in repairing, restoring, and preserving this greatest of republics ever devised.
Another "gem" found within Federalist 51 is; "The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place." The "man" spoken of is the officeholder, and the "place" spoken of is the office. And also, " In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit." Does anyone believe the legislative authority predominates in today's federal government?
The Founders of our republic understood well the Christian nature and character of the vast majority of the colonists who became our first Citizens. They also had known firsthand the oppressions and usurpations of Monarchy, Parliament, and the English Judiciary, and the corruption these spawned. Our Declaration of Independence [DOI] articulated the Supremacy of the Creator and the unalienable Rights Bestowed by that Creator upon mankind. The Founders relied upon "Christian [including Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Congregationalist, Episcopal, Hebrew, Methodist, Presbetyrian, and others]" Virtues and Moral Laws as they debated first the Articles of Confederation and then our Constitution.
Our colonies, and our original thirteen States they became, held greatest respect for Legislative bodies, but had seen under colonial rule the perversion of both Governors and Judiciary under subservience to the Absolute Power of the Crown. Our Founders also comprehended and accepted the Biblical Truth of the sin nature of mankind. Forces, such as an Almighty God, and division and separation of governmental Power, were needed to constrain BOTH individuals ... and the offices they occupied ... from oppressing others.
Delegates of the States proposed a federal Congress, and divided its Legislative Powers between the House, whose members were elected by the People; and the Senate, whose members were chosen by the State Legislatures. The House, whose members were closest to the People were entrusted with the "power of the Purse," and the Power to Tax. The members of the Senate held primary duty to protect State interest and also to temper that legislation sent to it by the House. This "Congress" was then delegated enumerated and defined Powers which they might Lawfully and constitutionally wield.
The "Executive" Branch was next defined, and often referred to as wielding the "Power of the Sword," and also given civilian Power over Armed Forces whenever these were needed and called forth from among the People. From the earliest days of our republic, voices existed calling for creation of both a "standing army," and of a navy. Other voices agitated for reliance on militia called from the whole People as needed. Though a standing army eventually prevailed, to our present day no appropriation may extend beyond two years, the term of every Congress, which began as a "sunset" protection against perpetual armies. Sadly, Representative Joseph McDowell's prediction that standing armies always result in destruction of "militia," robbing our republic of its surest defence, proved true. The president, or chief executive, was to be chosen by "electors" in each of the several States.
Lastly, our Founders created and defined our federal "Judiciary." Deprived of BOTH "Power of Purse or Sword," it was expected that the federal Judiciary would pose the least threat of oppression, usurpation, or danger to the People's Liberty as its jurisdiction would include the fewest cases with most Laws issued by the several States and few federal laws applying to the People generally. State Legislatures would choose the senators who had sole Power to confirm appointments to the federal Judiciary. Congress, and especially the members of the House would control the funding of the Judiciary.
So the State's held the most numerous Powers, and even these were divided into Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches; and the federal Government held only enumerated and more fully defined Power, which again was divided among the three separate branches of Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary. Each federal branch was separately chosen or elected; the House directly by the People, the Senate by State legislatures, and the president by electors. Thus, our republic was formed, by sovereign States, into a perpetual Union under federalism.
While I shall address breakdowns and failures that eventually plagued this republic, this Miracle, or marvel of human Genius, in future Essays, I address one weakness present from its inception now. No such republic as ours had ever existed. And none of our "Citizen statesmen" had any practical experience in the differences expected of those elected to federal office from the abundance of experience which many possessed having served in colonial and State offices. This led the greater number of our earliest federal officeholders to behave in similar fashion as they did in colonial and State offices ... meaning they were familiar with wielding near infinite powers, and novices guided mainly by intellect in wielding enumerated and limited powers under federal constraints.
As I close this Essay, let me focus on the most Blessed features were it Miracle, or the most Brilliant features where it was Genius; our Creator and our Founders, created for us, their posterity, the finest model of self government ever to exist upon this earth. Ultimate Sovereignty declared to rest with our "Creator." Unalienable Rights as distinguished from civil rights. Limited sovereignty in separate spheres of federal and State, and the Powers in both federal and State divided in three branches of Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.
Where time and centuries, and alterations of mankind have revealed defects, let us resort to the Wisdom of Holy Scripture, and to that of our Founders, in repairing, restoring, and preserving this greatest of republics ever devised.
What Do I Believe and Why?
I Boldly and Freely Identify Myself as a Christian and a Conservative. In this Essay I shall declare my views upon the Essentials of Christianity and Conservatism ... as I understand them. I offer these comments in hopes of narrowing two terms which often have become ambiguously broad in our modern times.
A Christian, as I define the term, is someone who has "accepted" Jesus Christ as their LORD and Savior by Grace and through Faith, both of which are Gifts from God. This acceptance comes from admitting to God that I am a sinner, worthy of Divine Judgment and Punishment, for sin which I inherit from my fore bearer’s back to Adam and Eve, and for sin which I have committed personally; From my Pledge to repent of those sins and to strive as best as is humanly possible to sin no more for the remainder of my life; From asking Jesus to Forgive my sin and to Forever be Lord of my life, in this world and in the next.
Having accepted Christ as Savior and LORD, though my human, or sin, nature with which I was born remains, I immediately inherit a New, 2nd, Spiritual Nature from my 2nd "birth" which is then present with my original physical nature. Just as physical food and water are necessary to sustain and prolong my physical life and growth, Spiritual "food and water" become necessary to sustain my spiritual life and growth. John Chapter 4, and elsewhere, teaches us of the "Living Water." Matthew Chapter 4, Verse 4, and elsewhere, teaches us that God's WORD is to be our "Spiritual food."
Having "Accepted Christ," Christians are taught to publicly demonstrate this fact by "Believers Baptism," in Acts Chapter 8, Verses 34-40 and elsewhere. Christians are also taught, in Hebrews Chapter 10 and Verse 25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching;" and in Acts Chapter 2 and Verse 47, "Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
These then are the basic requirements and demonstrations for those I call Christians. They have Accepted Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as Savior and LORD; they have submitted to public Baptism, by water physically and by the "Fire" of the Holy Ghost Spiritually; they are fed and watered by God's WORD and His Indwelling Holy Spirit, and seek out and join local churches.
Conservatism may be a far more difficult subject to expound ... than Christianity. For conservatism has no deity, nor scripture, nor savior. However, like Christianity, conservatism has also many denominations. Just as I neither seek nor attempt to explain Catholicism nor the many Protestant denominations, but instead adhere to what unites them all, God, His WORD, and His only Begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, ... so to shall I seek to avoid the many "denominations" of conservatism and focus instead upon what I believe ought to unite them all.
President Calvin Coolidge gave a speech pertaining to the 150th Anniversary of our Declaration of Independence to which I here link its complete text: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/speech-on-the-occasion-of-the-one-hundred-and-fiftieth-anniversary-of-the-declaration-of-independence/ .
While I may find a sentence here and there with which to quibble, the conservatism which Calvin Coolidge embraced and ascribed to our "Founding Fathers," and those whom they borrowed it from in greater antiquity, is also my conservatism. One favorite passage of mine from the Coolidge speech is this: "About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning cannot be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers."
Coolidge equates the foundation upon which our republic rests with God, Faith, Virtue and Morality, Honor and Integrity, AND the Rule of Valid Law, before and under which we are all equal! Again, I quote Coolidge for his words exceed any I may otherwise choose: "If this apprehension of the facts is correct, and the documentary evidence would appear to verify it, then certain conclusions are bound to follow. A spring will cease to flow if its source be dried up; a tree will wither if its roots be destroyed. In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but of spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause."
Creator-Endowed Inalienable Rights; Equality under Valid Law; popular sovereignty; and the consent of the governed. Limited government! This is the conservatism found in Holy Scripture into which our Founding Father's grafted our legal and political birth. The primary attacks ... of Satan AND of "Progressive Liberals," are targeted at separating our people and our institutions from BOTH GOD and Valid Law.
We must "resurrect" the Christianity and Conservatism which not only birthed this republic, but once resided almost universally in the hearts and minds of our Citizens, and stood as an example and Beacon of Hope to people throughout the world.
A Christian, as I define the term, is someone who has "accepted" Jesus Christ as their LORD and Savior by Grace and through Faith, both of which are Gifts from God. This acceptance comes from admitting to God that I am a sinner, worthy of Divine Judgment and Punishment, for sin which I inherit from my fore bearer’s back to Adam and Eve, and for sin which I have committed personally; From my Pledge to repent of those sins and to strive as best as is humanly possible to sin no more for the remainder of my life; From asking Jesus to Forgive my sin and to Forever be Lord of my life, in this world and in the next.
Having accepted Christ as Savior and LORD, though my human, or sin, nature with which I was born remains, I immediately inherit a New, 2nd, Spiritual Nature from my 2nd "birth" which is then present with my original physical nature. Just as physical food and water are necessary to sustain and prolong my physical life and growth, Spiritual "food and water" become necessary to sustain my spiritual life and growth. John Chapter 4, and elsewhere, teaches us of the "Living Water." Matthew Chapter 4, Verse 4, and elsewhere, teaches us that God's WORD is to be our "Spiritual food."
Having "Accepted Christ," Christians are taught to publicly demonstrate this fact by "Believers Baptism," in Acts Chapter 8, Verses 34-40 and elsewhere. Christians are also taught, in Hebrews Chapter 10 and Verse 25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching;" and in Acts Chapter 2 and Verse 47, "Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
These then are the basic requirements and demonstrations for those I call Christians. They have Accepted Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as Savior and LORD; they have submitted to public Baptism, by water physically and by the "Fire" of the Holy Ghost Spiritually; they are fed and watered by God's WORD and His Indwelling Holy Spirit, and seek out and join local churches.
Conservatism may be a far more difficult subject to expound ... than Christianity. For conservatism has no deity, nor scripture, nor savior. However, like Christianity, conservatism has also many denominations. Just as I neither seek nor attempt to explain Catholicism nor the many Protestant denominations, but instead adhere to what unites them all, God, His WORD, and His only Begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, ... so to shall I seek to avoid the many "denominations" of conservatism and focus instead upon what I believe ought to unite them all.
President Calvin Coolidge gave a speech pertaining to the 150th Anniversary of our Declaration of Independence to which I here link its complete text: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/speech-on-the-occasion-of-the-one-hundred-and-fiftieth-anniversary-of-the-declaration-of-independence/ .
While I may find a sentence here and there with which to quibble, the conservatism which Calvin Coolidge embraced and ascribed to our "Founding Fathers," and those whom they borrowed it from in greater antiquity, is also my conservatism. One favorite passage of mine from the Coolidge speech is this: "About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning cannot be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers."
Coolidge equates the foundation upon which our republic rests with God, Faith, Virtue and Morality, Honor and Integrity, AND the Rule of Valid Law, before and under which we are all equal! Again, I quote Coolidge for his words exceed any I may otherwise choose: "If this apprehension of the facts is correct, and the documentary evidence would appear to verify it, then certain conclusions are bound to follow. A spring will cease to flow if its source be dried up; a tree will wither if its roots be destroyed. In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but of spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause."
Creator-Endowed Inalienable Rights; Equality under Valid Law; popular sovereignty; and the consent of the governed. Limited government! This is the conservatism found in Holy Scripture into which our Founding Father's grafted our legal and political birth. The primary attacks ... of Satan AND of "Progressive Liberals," are targeted at separating our people and our institutions from BOTH GOD and Valid Law.
We must "resurrect" the Christianity and Conservatism which not only birthed this republic, but once resided almost universally in the hearts and minds of our Citizens, and stood as an example and Beacon of Hope to people throughout the world.
Ours and Other Republics, Is There Hope?
Allow me to declare my central argument and then to attempt its defense.
While many republics have existed and preceded our own, ours is unique in its declared reliance on Divine Intervention and the supremacy of the Individual. It is this very uniqueness which offers us Hope. For all prior republics have come, declined, and gone. However, since none of them closely resembled our own, their fate need not be ours.
I went in search of prior republics which once entering decline, some may say decay, reversed course toward restoration and continued ascendency. I found none. While such history might lead to despair, or might lead us to seek the least objectionable descent from republic to something else: I hope to show that our republic is not predestined to repeat past failures.
"The Enlightenment," known generally as the period from 1650 to 1800 A.D. was a time when mankind expanded inquisitiveness and greatly expanded collective knowledge, especially concerning the Natural world. In the American Colonies, Faith, Religion, and "Christianity," were extending "root and Tree," and both Institutions and Individuals of Faith and Reason were seeking to either reconcile Faith and Reason or to explain their roles and significance.
At least Three "Great Awakening's" are identified in the Colonies and subsequent United States between the early 1700's and mid 1900's. These Awakening's are spiritual and often were related to various "preachers and evangelists" such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, and Dwight L. Moody. "Billy" Sunday and Billy Graham carried these evangelist mantles into and throughout the Twentieth Century.
While some sought to equate Faith with superstition, and to supplant Faith with Reason, others argued that "Reason and Science" were only now coming to "understand" Truth's and Facts Revealed in Holy Scripture thousands of years earlier. Our republic's Founders clearly included both men of Faith and Reason and most of them strongly demanded that Christianity was a requirement for both a moral and virtuous Citizenry, and an educated and literate People. All understood that Liberty and Freedom in our new republic required devout Citizens and officeholders to "legislate well and freely obey" valid Law.
Just as our republic was founded upon Faith, specifically the Christian Faith, it was equally founded upon the Rule of Valid Law and "religious tolerance." From the moment of Lucifer's rebellion and expulsion from Heaven, Satan has opposed God and His Divine Plan. Also, from the moment of the founding of our republic, opponents have worked tirelessly to undo that which our Founders wrought, and have fought to defy and violate Valid Law. Opponents seek to denigrate Valid Law, and to redefine Valid Law to which the People cling to the strongest.
Just as we needed "Great Awakenings" to birth and grow our republic, today we need both a Spiritual and Legal "Awakening," if we are to restore and preserve our republic. As one who publicly declares my Salvation in Christ, I am aware of the possibility that we are nearing, if not in, Scriptural "End Times." It is unclear to me what role, if any, our republic may play in God's Unfolding Plan. However, that uncertainty allows for BOTH possibilities ... our decline and possible extinction, as well as our possible Revival and Preservation.
Just as I believe that we are "One Nation Under God, Indivisible ..." I also believe that our potential victory must include BOTH a Spiritual and Legal Revival. We must carry God, His WORD and Precepts, and His Son to our People. And as God increases His Flock, and calls both new and existing Followers by His WORD and Good Pleasure ... those Christians must Know and Comprehend and return to that Valid constitutional Law bequeathed to us by our Founders.
I encourage each of us to Immerse ourselves in Prayer and in Holy Scripture. Share our Faith in Christ and our Fidelity to Valid Law with everyone who will listen. We know well our opponents, both Spiritual and Temporal, and we know well our Challenges. Let us Clearly and Concisely form our arguments and defense, and let us seek simultaneously to edify and inform everyone we meet to join us In Christ and In the restoration of our constitutions and Valid Law ... our surest supports for Liberty and Freedom.
We must be fervent and unceasing in exhorting our officeholders to reject Lawlessness having recognized it, and we must Plead with God for His Continued Help. It is God's intervention in world affairs which I believe Birthed our Republic. We MUST appeal to Him and to the Reason and Logic of Valid Law, and Trust Him, whatever the outcome. Just as God's involvement in our Founding made us a unique Republic in world History ... His continued Favor and Blessing may herald an unprecedented Restoration in the History of world Republics.
I personally believe His Intervention is our only True Hope of success. If we are to Rise and Endure ... let it be by His Hand ... AND, if we must fall under oppression and persecution, let it be under His Care and Eternal Security!
While many republics have existed and preceded our own, ours is unique in its declared reliance on Divine Intervention and the supremacy of the Individual. It is this very uniqueness which offers us Hope. For all prior republics have come, declined, and gone. However, since none of them closely resembled our own, their fate need not be ours.
I went in search of prior republics which once entering decline, some may say decay, reversed course toward restoration and continued ascendency. I found none. While such history might lead to despair, or might lead us to seek the least objectionable descent from republic to something else: I hope to show that our republic is not predestined to repeat past failures.
"The Enlightenment," known generally as the period from 1650 to 1800 A.D. was a time when mankind expanded inquisitiveness and greatly expanded collective knowledge, especially concerning the Natural world. In the American Colonies, Faith, Religion, and "Christianity," were extending "root and Tree," and both Institutions and Individuals of Faith and Reason were seeking to either reconcile Faith and Reason or to explain their roles and significance.
At least Three "Great Awakening's" are identified in the Colonies and subsequent United States between the early 1700's and mid 1900's. These Awakening's are spiritual and often were related to various "preachers and evangelists" such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, and Dwight L. Moody. "Billy" Sunday and Billy Graham carried these evangelist mantles into and throughout the Twentieth Century.
While some sought to equate Faith with superstition, and to supplant Faith with Reason, others argued that "Reason and Science" were only now coming to "understand" Truth's and Facts Revealed in Holy Scripture thousands of years earlier. Our republic's Founders clearly included both men of Faith and Reason and most of them strongly demanded that Christianity was a requirement for both a moral and virtuous Citizenry, and an educated and literate People. All understood that Liberty and Freedom in our new republic required devout Citizens and officeholders to "legislate well and freely obey" valid Law.
Just as our republic was founded upon Faith, specifically the Christian Faith, it was equally founded upon the Rule of Valid Law and "religious tolerance." From the moment of Lucifer's rebellion and expulsion from Heaven, Satan has opposed God and His Divine Plan. Also, from the moment of the founding of our republic, opponents have worked tirelessly to undo that which our Founders wrought, and have fought to defy and violate Valid Law. Opponents seek to denigrate Valid Law, and to redefine Valid Law to which the People cling to the strongest.
Just as we needed "Great Awakenings" to birth and grow our republic, today we need both a Spiritual and Legal "Awakening," if we are to restore and preserve our republic. As one who publicly declares my Salvation in Christ, I am aware of the possibility that we are nearing, if not in, Scriptural "End Times." It is unclear to me what role, if any, our republic may play in God's Unfolding Plan. However, that uncertainty allows for BOTH possibilities ... our decline and possible extinction, as well as our possible Revival and Preservation.
Just as I believe that we are "One Nation Under God, Indivisible ..." I also believe that our potential victory must include BOTH a Spiritual and Legal Revival. We must carry God, His WORD and Precepts, and His Son to our People. And as God increases His Flock, and calls both new and existing Followers by His WORD and Good Pleasure ... those Christians must Know and Comprehend and return to that Valid constitutional Law bequeathed to us by our Founders.
I encourage each of us to Immerse ourselves in Prayer and in Holy Scripture. Share our Faith in Christ and our Fidelity to Valid Law with everyone who will listen. We know well our opponents, both Spiritual and Temporal, and we know well our Challenges. Let us Clearly and Concisely form our arguments and defense, and let us seek simultaneously to edify and inform everyone we meet to join us In Christ and In the restoration of our constitutions and Valid Law ... our surest supports for Liberty and Freedom.
We must be fervent and unceasing in exhorting our officeholders to reject Lawlessness having recognized it, and we must Plead with God for His Continued Help. It is God's intervention in world affairs which I believe Birthed our Republic. We MUST appeal to Him and to the Reason and Logic of Valid Law, and Trust Him, whatever the outcome. Just as God's involvement in our Founding made us a unique Republic in world History ... His continued Favor and Blessing may herald an unprecedented Restoration in the History of world Republics.
I personally believe His Intervention is our only True Hope of success. If we are to Rise and Endure ... let it be by His Hand ... AND, if we must fall under oppression and persecution, let it be under His Care and Eternal Security!
Ours and Other Republics, Is There Hope?
Allow me to declare my central argument and then to attempt its defense.
While many republics have existed and preceded our own, ours is unique in its declared reliance on Divine Intervention and the supremacy of the Individual. It is this very uniqueness which offers us Hope. For all prior republics have come, declined, and gone. However, since none of them closely resembled our own, their fate need not be ours.
I went in search of prior republics which once entering decline, some may say decay, reversed course toward restoration and continued ascendency. I found none. While such history might lead to despair, or might lead us to seek the least objectionable descent from republic to something else: I hope to show that our republic is not predestined to repeat past failures.
"The Enlightenment," known generally as the period from 1650 to 1800 A.D. was a time when mankind expanded inquisitiveness and greatly expanded collective knowledge, especially concerning the Natural world. In the American Colonies, Faith, Religion, and "Christianity," were extending "root and Tree," and both Institutions and Individuals of Faith and Reason were seeking to either reconcile Faith and Reason or to explain their roles and significance.
At least Three "Great Awakening's" are identified in the Colonies and subsequent United States between the early 1700's and mid 1900's. These Awakening's are spiritual and often were related to various "preachers and evangelists" such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, and Dwight L. Moody. "Billy" Sunday and Billy Graham carried these evangelist mantles into and throughout the Twentieth Century.
While some sought to equate Faith with superstition, and to supplant Faith with Reason, others argued that "Reason and Science" were only now coming to "understand" Truth's and Facts Revealed in Holy Scripture thousands of years earlier. Our republic's Founders clearly included both men of Faith and Reason and most of them strongly demanded that Christianity was a requirement for both a moral and virtuous Citizenry, and an educated and literate People. All understood that Liberty and Freedom in our new republic required devout Citizens and officeholders to "legislate well and freely obey" valid Law.
Just as our republic was founded upon Faith, specifically the Christian Faith, it was equally founded upon the Rule of Valid Law and "religious tolerance." From the moment of Lucifer's rebellion and expulsion from Heaven, Satan has opposed God and His Divine Plan. Also, from the moment of the founding of our republic, opponents have worked tirelessly to undo that which our Founders wrought, and have fought to defy and violate Valid Law. Opponents seek to denigrate Valid Law, and to redefine Valid Law to which the People cling to the strongest.
Just as we needed "Great Awakenings" to birth and grow our republic, today we need both a Spiritual and Legal "Awakening," if we are to restore and preserve our republic. As one who publicly declares my Salvation in Christ, I am aware of the possibility that we are nearing, if not in, Scriptural "End Times." It is unclear to me what role, if any, our republic may play in God's Unfolding Plan. However, that uncertainty allows for BOTH possibilities ... our decline and possible extinction, as well as our possible Revival and Preservation.
Just as I believe that we are "One Nation Under God, Indivisible ..." I also believe that our potential victory must include BOTH a Spiritual and Legal Revival. We must carry God, His WORD and Precepts, and His Son to our People. And as God increases His Flock, and calls both new and existing Followers by His WORD and Good Pleasure ... those Christians must Know and Comprehend and return to that Valid constitutional Law bequeathed to us by our Founders.
I encourage each of us to Immerse ourselves in Prayer and in Holy Scripture. Share our Faith in Christ and our Fidelity to Valid Law with everyone who will listen. We know well our opponents, both Spiritual and Temporal, and we know well our Challenges. Let us Clearly and Concisely form our arguments and defense, and let us seek simultaneously to edify and inform everyone we meet to join us In Christ and In the restoration of our constitutions and Valid Law ... our surest supports for Liberty and Freedom.
We must be fervent and unceasing in exhorting our officeholders to reject Lawlessness having recognized it, and we must Plead with God for His Continued Help. It is God's intervention in world affairs which I believe Birthed our Republic. We MUST appeal to Him and to the Reason and Logic of Valid Law, and Trust Him, whatever the outcome. Just as God's involvement in our Founding made us a unique Republic in world History ... His continued Favor and Blessing may herald an unprecedented Restoration in the History of world Republics.
I personally believe His Intervention is our only True Hope of success. If we are to Rise and Endure ... let it be by His Hand ... AND, if we must fall under oppression and persecution, let it be under His Care and Eternal Security!
While many republics have existed and preceded our own, ours is unique in its declared reliance on Divine Intervention and the supremacy of the Individual. It is this very uniqueness which offers us Hope. For all prior republics have come, declined, and gone. However, since none of them closely resembled our own, their fate need not be ours.
I went in search of prior republics which once entering decline, some may say decay, reversed course toward restoration and continued ascendency. I found none. While such history might lead to despair, or might lead us to seek the least objectionable descent from republic to something else: I hope to show that our republic is not predestined to repeat past failures.
"The Enlightenment," known generally as the period from 1650 to 1800 A.D. was a time when mankind expanded inquisitiveness and greatly expanded collective knowledge, especially concerning the Natural world. In the American Colonies, Faith, Religion, and "Christianity," were extending "root and Tree," and both Institutions and Individuals of Faith and Reason were seeking to either reconcile Faith and Reason or to explain their roles and significance.
At least Three "Great Awakening's" are identified in the Colonies and subsequent United States between the early 1700's and mid 1900's. These Awakening's are spiritual and often were related to various "preachers and evangelists" such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, and Dwight L. Moody. "Billy" Sunday and Billy Graham carried these evangelist mantles into and throughout the Twentieth Century.
While some sought to equate Faith with superstition, and to supplant Faith with Reason, others argued that "Reason and Science" were only now coming to "understand" Truth's and Facts Revealed in Holy Scripture thousands of years earlier. Our republic's Founders clearly included both men of Faith and Reason and most of them strongly demanded that Christianity was a requirement for both a moral and virtuous Citizenry, and an educated and literate People. All understood that Liberty and Freedom in our new republic required devout Citizens and officeholders to "legislate well and freely obey" valid Law.
Just as our republic was founded upon Faith, specifically the Christian Faith, it was equally founded upon the Rule of Valid Law and "religious tolerance." From the moment of Lucifer's rebellion and expulsion from Heaven, Satan has opposed God and His Divine Plan. Also, from the moment of the founding of our republic, opponents have worked tirelessly to undo that which our Founders wrought, and have fought to defy and violate Valid Law. Opponents seek to denigrate Valid Law, and to redefine Valid Law to which the People cling to the strongest.
Just as we needed "Great Awakenings" to birth and grow our republic, today we need both a Spiritual and Legal "Awakening," if we are to restore and preserve our republic. As one who publicly declares my Salvation in Christ, I am aware of the possibility that we are nearing, if not in, Scriptural "End Times." It is unclear to me what role, if any, our republic may play in God's Unfolding Plan. However, that uncertainty allows for BOTH possibilities ... our decline and possible extinction, as well as our possible Revival and Preservation.
Just as I believe that we are "One Nation Under God, Indivisible ..." I also believe that our potential victory must include BOTH a Spiritual and Legal Revival. We must carry God, His WORD and Precepts, and His Son to our People. And as God increases His Flock, and calls both new and existing Followers by His WORD and Good Pleasure ... those Christians must Know and Comprehend and return to that Valid constitutional Law bequeathed to us by our Founders.
I encourage each of us to Immerse ourselves in Prayer and in Holy Scripture. Share our Faith in Christ and our Fidelity to Valid Law with everyone who will listen. We know well our opponents, both Spiritual and Temporal, and we know well our Challenges. Let us Clearly and Concisely form our arguments and defense, and let us seek simultaneously to edify and inform everyone we meet to join us In Christ and In the restoration of our constitutions and Valid Law ... our surest supports for Liberty and Freedom.
We must be fervent and unceasing in exhorting our officeholders to reject Lawlessness having recognized it, and we must Plead with God for His Continued Help. It is God's intervention in world affairs which I believe Birthed our Republic. We MUST appeal to Him and to the Reason and Logic of Valid Law, and Trust Him, whatever the outcome. Just as God's involvement in our Founding made us a unique Republic in world History ... His continued Favor and Blessing may herald an unprecedented Restoration in the History of world Republics.
I personally believe His Intervention is our only True Hope of success. If we are to Rise and Endure ... let it be by His Hand ... AND, if we must fall under oppression and persecution, let it be under His Care and Eternal Security!
I Too Have a Dream
One of Martin Luther King's [MLK] greatest and most admired speeches was his "I Have a Dream" speech. It was delivered at a time when post-war America was experiencing rapid economic growth, and in the century long shadow of the Civil War and our 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to our constitution. Many governmental entities, especially within but not restricted to "southern States," continued to discriminate against blacks, in violation of the clear spirit of the Law, and often in open Lawlessness against the Letter of the Law. In the intervening 50 years since this speech was delivered, all such governmental discrimination upon blacks has been either eradicated, or universally condemned, forcing it where it still exists, into hiding.
However, Martin Luther King was a man of Faith, as much or more than he was a civil rights leader. Below and Following, I offer my hypothetical version of a similar MLK speech [http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm] he might give were he alive today. I offer this with no disrespect to his memory, or to his family, or to his loved ones or followers.
What Might Martin Luther King Dream of Today?
I am happy to speak with you today in what may go down in history as the greatest demonstration for RELIGIOUS freedom in the history of our REPUBLIC.
Eleven score and seventeen years ago, Our Founding Fathers, brought forth to this continent, a new republic, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the securing of self-evident Unalienable Rights. That among these are Life, Liberty, Property, and Religious Freedom.
But two hundred and thirty seven years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Christian is still not free. Two hundred and thirty seven years later, the life of the Christian is still sadly crippled by the manacles of secular humanism and the chains of atheistic discrimination and intolerance. Two hundred and thirty seven years later, the Christian lives on a lonely island of separation and disdain. Two hundred and thirty seven years later, the Christian has been pushed to the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her Christian citizens are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Christian people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of religious Liberty in this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the freedom and the free exercise of religion guaranteed to us in our sacred charters. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of atheism and secular humanism to the sunlit path of religious freedom and justice. Now is the time to open the doors of religious Liberty to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of atheism and secular humanism to the solid rock of Jesus Christ and Christian brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Christian. This sweltering summer of the Christian's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of religious freedom and equality. Twenty Thirteen is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Christian needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Christian is granted his Creator-Endowed citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of religious Liberty emerges.
But there is something that I must say to God's people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for religious freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of Christ's Teachings and Example. We must not allow our Christian protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Christian community must not lead us to distrust of all atheists and secular humanists, for many of them, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of Christian Liberty, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our God is expelled from our schools and banned from our public squares. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Christian's mission field is restricted to our own churches and homes. We can never be satisfied as long as a Christian in Mississippi cannot pray where and how they please and a Christian in New York is threatened with arrest for preaching God's WORD. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to California, go back to Delaware, go back to New York, go back to Louisiana, go back to the religious slums and ghettos of our cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of Christians and the sons of atheists and secular humanists will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of California, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of atheism and secular humanism, will be transformed into an oasis of Christian freedom and religious Liberty.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be jailed for the content of their Creed, but rather judged by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the city of San Francisco, whose mayor's lips are presently dripping with the words of religious intolerance and deviancy, will be transformed into a city where little Christian boys and girls will be able to join hands with little secular boys and girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to my church. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation once again this must become true. So let religious freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let religious freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let religious freedom ring from the heightening golden gates of San Francisco's great bridge!
Let religious freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let religious freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let religious freedom ring from New York's Time Square!
Let religious freedom ring from Chicago to Philadelphia!
Let religious freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Massachusetts. From every mountainside, let religious freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow religious freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, men and women of all colors, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
However, Martin Luther King was a man of Faith, as much or more than he was a civil rights leader. Below and Following, I offer my hypothetical version of a similar MLK speech [http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm] he might give were he alive today. I offer this with no disrespect to his memory, or to his family, or to his loved ones or followers.
What Might Martin Luther King Dream of Today?
I am happy to speak with you today in what may go down in history as the greatest demonstration for RELIGIOUS freedom in the history of our REPUBLIC.
Eleven score and seventeen years ago, Our Founding Fathers, brought forth to this continent, a new republic, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the securing of self-evident Unalienable Rights. That among these are Life, Liberty, Property, and Religious Freedom.
But two hundred and thirty seven years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Christian is still not free. Two hundred and thirty seven years later, the life of the Christian is still sadly crippled by the manacles of secular humanism and the chains of atheistic discrimination and intolerance. Two hundred and thirty seven years later, the Christian lives on a lonely island of separation and disdain. Two hundred and thirty seven years later, the Christian has been pushed to the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her Christian citizens are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Christian people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of religious Liberty in this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the freedom and the free exercise of religion guaranteed to us in our sacred charters. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of atheism and secular humanism to the sunlit path of religious freedom and justice. Now is the time to open the doors of religious Liberty to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of atheism and secular humanism to the solid rock of Jesus Christ and Christian brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Christian. This sweltering summer of the Christian's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of religious freedom and equality. Twenty Thirteen is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Christian needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Christian is granted his Creator-Endowed citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of religious Liberty emerges.
But there is something that I must say to God's people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for religious freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of Christ's Teachings and Example. We must not allow our Christian protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Christian community must not lead us to distrust of all atheists and secular humanists, for many of them, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of Christian Liberty, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our God is expelled from our schools and banned from our public squares. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Christian's mission field is restricted to our own churches and homes. We can never be satisfied as long as a Christian in Mississippi cannot pray where and how they please and a Christian in New York is threatened with arrest for preaching God's WORD. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to California, go back to Delaware, go back to New York, go back to Louisiana, go back to the religious slums and ghettos of our cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of Christians and the sons of atheists and secular humanists will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of California, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of atheism and secular humanism, will be transformed into an oasis of Christian freedom and religious Liberty.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be jailed for the content of their Creed, but rather judged by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the city of San Francisco, whose mayor's lips are presently dripping with the words of religious intolerance and deviancy, will be transformed into a city where little Christian boys and girls will be able to join hands with little secular boys and girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to my church. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation once again this must become true. So let religious freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let religious freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let religious freedom ring from the heightening golden gates of San Francisco's great bridge!
Let religious freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let religious freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let religious freedom ring from New York's Time Square!
Let religious freedom ring from Chicago to Philadelphia!
Let religious freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Massachusetts. From every mountainside, let religious freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow religious freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, men and women of all colors, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
First Principles
In discussing American First Principles, I believe it is helpful to revisit our History. Britain, France and Spain were the primary countries that established colonies in North America [what became Canada, the united States, and Mexico]. By 1763 and the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Britain and Spain were the two remaining "European" players upon the north American continent. Thirteen short years later, thirteen colonies of Great Britain would declare their Independence.
Faith and Religion were enormously important in nations and peoples and England, France, and Spain were no exceptions. Most of Europe had been dominated by Catholicism for more than millennia, until the Protestant Reformation and King Henry's split with Rome and the creation of the Anglican Church. France and Spain remained mostly adherents of Catholicism. The most widely circulated book in the thirteen colonies was the Geneva Bible.
Colonies and towns almost universally adopted representative government with majority rule setting public policy. Churches were often among the first and largest buildings erected, and often served not only as houses of Worship, but also as schools and town halls. Upon Declaring Independence in 1776, each colony adopted their own constitution, and also formed a "national" Congress to manage national questions and matters.
One new and unique concept which the men and women who helped found our republic declared to be self-evident was that of "Creator Endowed Inalienable Rights [unalienable also used interchangeably]. Life, Liberty, and the "pursuit of Happiness" [originally property and freedom of association became condensed to pursuit of happiness] were declared to be among our inalienable Rights but were often also declared to not be an all-inclusive list of such Rights. These Inalienable Rights are only revocable or removable by God and may be neither transferred nor interrupted by other human beings without angering the Creator.
Additionally, our "Founders," declared that the so called "divine right of kings" or the "State," flowed from God to the individual and then to the government by consent of individuals. Here then is the first duty and obligation of government ... to secure for individuals these Creator Endowed Inalienable Rights.
Regardless of form, oligarchy, monarchy, or democracy, or any combinations thereof, government had always held supremacy and sovereignty ... over the People. Upon separation from Great Britain, our "Founding Fathers" attempted to enshrine a new nation "conceived in Liberty," where Sovereignty rested with the Creator, or God, and limited sovereignty passed from God to mankind and from mankind to States and from States in our case, to the federal or central power i.e. the federal government. Ideally, the People would choose men and women of impeccable Morality, Virtue, Integrity, and Honor to represent them in government “of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Many Preachers and Theologians of the colonial era, as well as many "Founding Fathers," Hailed Moses, and likened the new American nation to Israel following its 400 years of captivity. The 10 Commandments were universally revered throughout colonial years and into the 1st century of the United States of America. Several "Founding Fathers" were ministers and preachers and others declared openly that the form of federal government they were framing was intended for a moral and virtuous People, and unworkable for any other sort of People.
The "Rule of Law" and "Equality before and under the Law," joined Faith, Morality, Virtue, and Integrity as the supports upon which our federal government is constructed. It was universally understood that our Laws flowed from God's Laws handed down through Moses, the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles. Inalienable Rights and the privileges and immunities of Citizens, especially of those in a minority, are accorded protections from simple majorities in our supreme federal Law, our constitution.
Having separated from Great Britain following years of usurpations of their Rights and endless oppressions, the 13 United States were adamant about never again allowing tyrannical government to trample upon their Rights and Liberty. Power, rightly belonging to the People, may only flow upward from the people through the consent and delegation of the people to towns, counties, States, and lastly to the federal government. Power is divided among legislative, executive, and judicial branches and then further divided between the States and the federal government. This form of "limited" government, called federalism, further protects our Inalienable Rights and Liberty from unlawful encroachments.
These then are among our "First Principles" upon which our republic is built; Creator Endowed Inalienable Rights, the Rule of Law, equality before and under that Law, and limited government. Today our government, especially our federal government, has moved far away from these First Principles. Unless we reverse course, and soon, all Lawful and peaceful means of restoring and preserving our Union and our Rights and Liberty will be lost to us just as they were once lost to our Founding Fathers. Let us learn from them and from our History, and act now before it is too late!
Faith and Religion were enormously important in nations and peoples and England, France, and Spain were no exceptions. Most of Europe had been dominated by Catholicism for more than millennia, until the Protestant Reformation and King Henry's split with Rome and the creation of the Anglican Church. France and Spain remained mostly adherents of Catholicism. The most widely circulated book in the thirteen colonies was the Geneva Bible.
Colonies and towns almost universally adopted representative government with majority rule setting public policy. Churches were often among the first and largest buildings erected, and often served not only as houses of Worship, but also as schools and town halls. Upon Declaring Independence in 1776, each colony adopted their own constitution, and also formed a "national" Congress to manage national questions and matters.
One new and unique concept which the men and women who helped found our republic declared to be self-evident was that of "Creator Endowed Inalienable Rights [unalienable also used interchangeably]. Life, Liberty, and the "pursuit of Happiness" [originally property and freedom of association became condensed to pursuit of happiness] were declared to be among our inalienable Rights but were often also declared to not be an all-inclusive list of such Rights. These Inalienable Rights are only revocable or removable by God and may be neither transferred nor interrupted by other human beings without angering the Creator.
Additionally, our "Founders," declared that the so called "divine right of kings" or the "State," flowed from God to the individual and then to the government by consent of individuals. Here then is the first duty and obligation of government ... to secure for individuals these Creator Endowed Inalienable Rights.
Regardless of form, oligarchy, monarchy, or democracy, or any combinations thereof, government had always held supremacy and sovereignty ... over the People. Upon separation from Great Britain, our "Founding Fathers" attempted to enshrine a new nation "conceived in Liberty," where Sovereignty rested with the Creator, or God, and limited sovereignty passed from God to mankind and from mankind to States and from States in our case, to the federal or central power i.e. the federal government. Ideally, the People would choose men and women of impeccable Morality, Virtue, Integrity, and Honor to represent them in government “of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Many Preachers and Theologians of the colonial era, as well as many "Founding Fathers," Hailed Moses, and likened the new American nation to Israel following its 400 years of captivity. The 10 Commandments were universally revered throughout colonial years and into the 1st century of the United States of America. Several "Founding Fathers" were ministers and preachers and others declared openly that the form of federal government they were framing was intended for a moral and virtuous People, and unworkable for any other sort of People.
The "Rule of Law" and "Equality before and under the Law," joined Faith, Morality, Virtue, and Integrity as the supports upon which our federal government is constructed. It was universally understood that our Laws flowed from God's Laws handed down through Moses, the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles. Inalienable Rights and the privileges and immunities of Citizens, especially of those in a minority, are accorded protections from simple majorities in our supreme federal Law, our constitution.
Having separated from Great Britain following years of usurpations of their Rights and endless oppressions, the 13 United States were adamant about never again allowing tyrannical government to trample upon their Rights and Liberty. Power, rightly belonging to the People, may only flow upward from the people through the consent and delegation of the people to towns, counties, States, and lastly to the federal government. Power is divided among legislative, executive, and judicial branches and then further divided between the States and the federal government. This form of "limited" government, called federalism, further protects our Inalienable Rights and Liberty from unlawful encroachments.
These then are among our "First Principles" upon which our republic is built; Creator Endowed Inalienable Rights, the Rule of Law, equality before and under that Law, and limited government. Today our government, especially our federal government, has moved far away from these First Principles. Unless we reverse course, and soon, all Lawful and peaceful means of restoring and preserving our Union and our Rights and Liberty will be lost to us just as they were once lost to our Founding Fathers. Let us learn from them and from our History, and act now before it is too late!
