Think upon these:
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. -Theodore Roosevelt (quoted 100 years ago)
“For those who fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.” -unknown
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.- Albert Einstein
The engine of America’s freedom and prosperity (yes, they go hand-in-hand) is our system of free enterprise. It is under attack now more than ever in a steady march toward facism. No, I don’t think I’m being an extremist in stating that. That march has become a rush and it is fueled to a great extent by the so-called main stream media.
Want to find a source of credible information about attacks on our system of free enterprise? Here is a bit about the Business & Media Institute:
Before the Media Research Center (MRC) launched the Business & Media Institute (BMI) in 1992, there was no entity in America devoted solely to analyzing and exposing the anti-free enterprise culture of the media. With the BMI in operation, that void has been filled.
The mission of BMI is to audit the media’s coverage of the free enterprise system. It is our goal to bring balance to economic reporting and to promote fair portrayal of the business community in the media. Providing resources for journalists, such as connections to sources who can speak intelligently about the economy, is one way we pursue this end. BMI is the economics division of the Media Research Center, and it is the only organization in the world dedicated to the unique challenge of correcting misconceptions about free enterprise in the media.
BMI has produced numerous pieces of research, many of which received critical acclaim in the national media. BMI focuses on the culture of the free enterprise system. Analysts research and assess material concerning taxes, regulation, government spending, the environment, Social Security, and business.
via About BMI – The Business and Media Institute. http://www.businessandmedia.org/about/about.aspx (accessed 11/18/2009)
They have a nice newsletter to which you can subscribe here.
A battle for freedom is being fought half-way around the world in Iran, and on every communication medium in existence from cell phone videos on You Tube, to Twitter, to Facebook, and beyond. The rebellion for freedom and fair elections rages and blood flows in their streets. Highly visible personages risk their lives by openly opposing tyranny. The parallels to our own American Revolution are not lost … except here in America.
Where are our voices in support of the fight for freedom, in Iran and elsewhere? Is it not ironic that the American Revolution was bred, fostered, fought and won by “radicals” — by people whose social and political agenda was not unlike liberals of recent years? The liberal factions in the U.S. for decades have touted themselves as the real freedom-fighters. I don’t agree that they’ve had any exclusive right to claim that badge, indeed they have not (witness our civil rights legislation passed by the conservative party), but the liberal faction has indeed claimed it.
So where are “they” now? Where is our President’s voice? That of our usually-quite-vocal Secretary of State Clinton? Why do we (the corporate “we”) not learn the lessons of the past, the lesson that you can’t play footsie with regimes such as that in Iran and North Korea?
This morning on Bill Bennett’s show, he had a marvelous guest who spoke with great knowledge about the Middle East and the Obama administration’s lack of understanding of that part of the world and the utter failings of it to address the Iran crisis intelligently. Fouad Ajami is the Director of the Middle East Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University and he argued persuasively against the hedging approach of pretending to be with the current Iranian regime in case it prevails, and our failing to openly support the dissidents. Good reading includes the following piece by Professor Ajami in the Wall Street Journal online:
President Barack Obama did not “lose” Iran. This is not a Jimmy Carter moment. But the foreign-policy education of America’s 44th president has just begun. Hitherto, he had been cavalier about other lands, he had trusted in his own biography as a bridge to distant peoples, he had believed he could talk rogues and ideologues out of deeply held beliefs. His predecessor had drawn lines in the sand. He would look past them.
The article is a good education about Iran and the naïveté of our current diplomacy there. His most salient point is:
The president has to choose between the regime and the people in the streets.
I agree, do you? America stands for something — individual freedom. We need to speak out for freedom and liberty whereever the battle is being waged. Perhaps we need to start at home.
In “Democracy in America,” Alexis de Tocqueville anticipated people being governed by “an immense, tutelary power” determined to take “sole charge of assuring their enjoyment and of watching over their fate.” It would be a power “absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident and gentle,” aiming for our happiness but wanting “to be the only agent and the sole arbiter of that happiness.” It would, Tocqueville said, provide people security, anticipate their needs, direct their industries and divide their inheritances. It would envelop society in “a network of petty regulations — complicated, minute and uniform.” But softly: “It does not break wills; it softens them, bends them, and directs them” until people resemble “a herd of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.”
via DID THIS GUY GET IT RIGHT OR WHAT? – Nealz Nuze on boortz.com.
Wow. Prophetic? Read more. Not a partisan comment at all, but does any of this sound like what we hear from government circles today? I’m looking for my copy of Democracy in America now.
The preceding is an excerpt from a column by George Will,
“Upside-Down Economy” via George Will : Upside-Down Economy – Townhall.com.
And another view/description:
“Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others.”
Ayn Rand
All of the focus in the national discussion, outside of conservative talk shows, is about the national deficit and debt (a bit of discussion about those terms in another blog entry). The real discussion should be about the loss of liberty. Truly, our freedom is at stake in the current federal government trends, not just our pocket books — our fundamental freedom. That the government would be so attentive to our every need is … ludicrous … and quite dangerous. It would then “be the only agent and the sole arbiter of that happiness.” (Tocqueville as quoted above). Not you, because you have abdicated your personal responsibility and placed it in the hands of others.
On the evening of 27 October 1964, Ronald Reagan delivered a nation-wide paid political telecast on behalf of the presidential candidacy of Barry Goldwater. His presentation was so forceful and engaging that Reagan, hitherto little considered a political figure, became overnight a political force in the Republican party. Although Goldwater lost to Lyndon Johnson in an landslide and Richard Nixon captured the nomination – and the presidency – in 1968, Reagan’s reputation was firmly established and he recovered the fortunes of the Republican party with his victory in the presidential election of 1980.
Via: http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/reagan101964.html (accessed 3/31/2009)
The text is at this link. But you really need to listen to the audio which you can do by clicking here and either download or open the mp3 file for listening. OR, get the video by clicking here.
Reagan’s delivery of this speech is as powerful as any he ever gave, is full of facts, and makes it so very clear that socialist forces were at work as early as 1964 and before. He quotes many instances of government leaders, primarily in Congress and high Cabinet positions, extolling the virtues of what the government can do for (read as “to”) the “masses.” Lenin, Stalin and Hitler had “masses.” America has individual people who have the freedom, the right and the ability to succeed or fail on their own, subject only to some very basic regulation of society. I suggest that we should return to that notion, chuck all of the lawbooks, and just pay attention to the Ten Commandments.
Read or listen to the speech. It will chill you to the bone and it should remind all of us of how fragile is our individual freedom today. Whatever did happen to the notion of the government having only such power as is derived from the people — or have the people simply given up and determined to hand over their individual freedom? While it may be necessary for the government to take drastic steps to assist this country and the world out of the current economic mess and malaise, it is not necessary to abrogate our freedoms and the basic principles that made this country what it is today — still — the envy of the world.
Regardless of your opinion of Mitt Romney’s politics, his speech in bowing out of the 2008 presidential race is outstanding. All of America needs to sit up and pay attention.
The following is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s address to the Conservative Political Action Committee, Feb. 7, 2008:
“I want to begin by saying thank you. It’s great to be with you again. And
I look forward to joining with you many more times in the future.Last year, CPAC gave me the sendoff I needed. I was in single digits in the
polls and I was facing household Republican names. As of today, more
than 4 million people have given me their vote for president, less than
Senator McCain’s 4.7 million, but quite a statement nonetheless. 11
states have given me their nod, compared to his 13. Of course, because
size does matter, he’s doing quite a bit better with his number of
delegates.To all of you, thank you for caring enough about
the future of America to show up, stand up and speak up for
conservative principles.As I said to you last year, conservative principles are needed now more than ever. We face a new generation of challenges, challenges which threaten our prosperity, our
security and our future. I am convinced that unless America changes
course, we will become the France of the 21st century—still a great
nation, but no longer the leader of the world, no longer the
superpower. And to me, that is unthinkable. Simon Peres, in a visit to
Boston, was asked what he thought about the war in Iraq. “First,” he
said, “I must put something in context. America is unique in the
history of the world. In the history of the world, whenever there has
been conflict, the nation that wins takes land from the nation that
loses. One nation in history, and this during the last century, laid
down hundreds of thousands of lives and took no land. No land from
Germany, no land from Japan, no land from Korea. America is unique in
the sacrifice it has made for liberty, for itself and for freedom
loving people around the world.” The best ally peace has ever known,
and will ever know, is a strong America!And that is why we must rise to the occasion, as we have always done before, to confront
the challenges ahead. Perhaps the most fundamental of these is the
attack on the American culture.Over the years, my business has taken me to many countries. I have been struck by the enormous differences in the wealth and well-being of people of different
nations. I have read a number of scholarly explanations for the
disparities. I found the most convincing was that written by David
Landes, a professor emeritus from Harvard University. I presume he’s a
liberal–I guess that’s redundant. His work traces the coming and going
of great civilizations throughout history. After hundreds of pages of
analysis, he concludes with this:
If we learn anything from the history of economic development, it is that culture makes all the
difference. Culture makes all the difference.What is it about American culture that has led us to become the most powerful
nation in the history of the world? We believe in hard work and
education. We love opportunity: almost all of us are immigrants or
descendants of immigrants who came here for opportunity—opportunity is
in our DNA. Americans love God, and those who don’t have faith,
typically believe in something greater than themselves—a “Purpose
Driven Life.” And we sacrifice everything we have, even our lives, for
our families, our freedoms and our country. The values and beliefs of
the free American people are the source of our nation’s strength and
they always will be!
The threat to our culture comes from within. The 1960’s welfare programs created a culture of poverty. Some think we won that battle when we reformed welfare, but the liberals
haven’t given up. At every turn, they try to substitute government
largesse for individual responsibility. They fight to strip work
requirements from welfare, to put more people on Medicaid, and to
remove more and more people from having to pay any income tax
whatsoever. Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and
opportunity. Dependency is a culture-killing drug—we have got to fight
it like the poison it is!The attack on faith and religion is no less relentless. And tolerance for pornography—even celebration of it—and sexual promiscuity, combined with the twisted incentives of
government welfare programs have led to today’s grim realities: 68% of
African American children are born out-of-wedlock, 45% of Hispanic
children, and 25% of White children. How much harder it is for these
children to succeed in school—and in life. A nation built on the
principles of the founding fathers cannot long stand when its children
are raised without fathers in the home.The development of a child is enhanced by having a mother and father. Such a family is the
ideal for the future of the child and for the strength of a nation. I
wonder how it is that unelected judges, like some in my state of
Massachusetts, are so unaware of this reality, so oblivious to the
millennia of recorded history. It is time for the people of America to
fortify marriage through constitutional amendment, so that liberal
judges cannot continue to attack it!Europe is facing a demographic disaster. That is the inevitable product of weakened faith
in the Creator, failed families, disrespect for the sanctity of human
life and eroded morality. Some reason that culture is merely an
accessory to America’s vitality; we know that it is the source of our
strength. And we are not dissuaded by the snickers and knowing glances
when we stand up for family values, and morality, and culture. We will
always be honored to stand on principle and to stand for principle.The attack on our culture is not our sole challenge. We face economic
competition unlike anything we have ever known before. China and Asia
are emerging from centuries of poverty. Their people are plentiful,
innovative, and ambitious. If we do not change course, Asia or China
will pass us by as the economic superpower, just as we passed England
and France during the last century. The prosperity and security of our
children and grandchildren depend on us.Our prosperity and security also depend on finally acting to become energy secure. Oil
producing states like Russia and Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran are
siphoning over $400 billion per year from our economy—that’s almost
what we spend annually for defense. It is past time for us to invest in
energy technology, nuclear power, clean coal, liquid coal, renewable
sources and energy efficiency. America must never be held hostage by
the likes of Putin, Chavez, and Ahmendinejad.And our economy is also burdened by the inexorable ramping of government
spending. Don’t focus on the pork alone—even though it is indeed
irritating and shameful. Look at the entitlements. `They make up 60% of
federal spending today. By the end of the next President’s second term,
they will total 70%. Any conservative plan for the future has to
include entitlement reform that solves the problem, not just
acknowledges it.Most politicians don’t seem to understand the connection between our ability to compete and our national wealth, and the wealth of our families. They act as if money just happens–that
it’s just there. But every dollar represents a good or service produced
in the private sector. Depress the private sector and you depress the
well-being of Americans.That’s exactly what happens with high taxes, over-regulation, tort windfalls, mandates, and overfed, over-spending government. Did you see that today, government workers
make more money than people who work in the private sector. Can you
imagine what happens to an economy where the best opportunities are for
bureaucrats?It’s high time to lower taxes, including corporate taxes, to take a weed-whacker to government regulations, to reform entitlements, and to stand up to the increasingly voracious appetite of the unions in our government!
And finally, let’s consider the greatest challenge facing America—and facing the entire
civilized world: the threat of violent, radical Jihad. In one wing of
the world of Islam, there is a conviction that all governments should
be destroyed and replaced by a religious caliphate. These Jihadists
will battle any form of democracy—to them, democracy is blasphemous for
it says that citizens, not God shape the law. They find the idea of
human equality to be offensive. They hate everything we believe about
freedom just as we hate everything they believe about radical Jihad.To battle this threat, we have sent the most courageous and brave soldiers
in the world. But their numbers have been depleted by the Clinton years
when troops were reduced by 500,000, when 80 ships were retired from
the Navy, and when our human intelligence was slashed by 25%. We were
told that we were getting a peace dividend. We got the dividend, but we
didn’t get the peace. In the face of evil in radical Jihad and given
the inevitable military ambitions of China, we must act to rebuild our
military might. Raise military spending to 4% of our GDP, purchase the
most modern armament, re-shape our fighting forces for the asymmetric
demands we now face, and give the veterans the care they deserve!Soon, the face of liberalism in America will have a new name. Whether it is
Barack or Hillary, the result would be the same if they were to win the
Presidency. The opponents of American culture would push the throttle,
devising new justifications for judges to depart from the constitution.
Economic neophytes would layer heavier and heavier burdens on employers
and families, slowing our economy and opening the way for foreign
competition to further erode our lead.Even though we face an uphill fight, I know that many in this room are fully behind my
campaign.” You are with me all the way to the convention. Fight on,
just like Ronald Reagan did in 1976. But there is an important
difference from 1976: today… we are a nation at war.And Barack and Hillary have made their intentions clear regarding Iraq and
the war on terror. They would retreat and declare defeat. And the
consequence of that would be devastating. It would mean attacks on
America, launched from safe havens that make Afghanistan under the
Taliban look like child’s play. About this, I have no doubt.I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I
agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on
finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and
terror. If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I
would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more
likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of
war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender
to terror.This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters… many of you right here in this room… have given a great deal to get me where I have a
shot at becoming President. If this were only about me, I would go on.
But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love
America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our
country.I will continue to stand for conservative
principles; I will fight alongside you for all the things we believe
in. And one of those things is that we cannot allow the next President
of the United States to retreat in the face evil extremism!!It is the common task of each generation—and the burden of liberty—to
preserve this country, expand its freedoms and renew its spirit so that
its noble past is prologue to its glorious future.To this task… accepting this burden… we are all dedicated, and I firmly
believe, by the providence of the Almighty, that we will succeed beyond
our fondest hope. America must remain, as it has always been, the hope
of the earth.Thank you, and God bless America.” (emphasis added)
Accessed on the internet 2/8/2008 at http://thepage.time.com/transcript-of-romneys-speech-withdrawing-from-the-race/
See video at http://www.freedomslighthouse.com/2008/02/mitt-romney-withdrawal-speech-at-cpac.html
This is from an email recently forwarded to me and I thought it worthy enough to preserve on this site. The lesson here is that there are many ways to demonstrate to young people what freedom, and the sacrifices that preserve our freedom, is all about. It takes moral courage and the strength of your convictions to speak up and speak out as this teacher and the superindentent did. I would hope that our school authorities would do similarly, not cowering to the forces that speak falsely against such endeavors.
Hooray for this Teacher! We need more like her!
In September 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social
studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, AR, did
something not to be forgotten.
On the first day of school, with permission of the school
superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she took all
of the desks out of the classroom.
The kids came into first period and there were no desks. They obviously
looked around and said, “Ms. Cothren, where’s our desk?” And she said,
“You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn them.”
They thought, “Well, maybe it’s our grades.”
“No,” she said.
“Maybe it’s our behavior.”
And she told them, “No, it’s not even your behavior.”
And so they came and went in the first period, still no desks in the
classroom. Second period, same thing, third period too. By early
afternoon television news crews had gathered in Ms. Cothren’s class to
find out about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of
the classroom.
The last period of the day, Martha Cothren gathered her class. They
were at this time sitting on the floor around the sides of the room.
And she says, “Throughout the day no one has really understood how you
earn the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily.” She said, “Now
I’m going to tell you.”
Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it,
and as she did 27 U.S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into
that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. And they placed those
school desks in rows, and then they stood along the wall. And by the
time they had finished placing those desks, th ose kids, for the first
time I think perhaps in their lives, understood how they earned those
desks.
Martha said, “You don’t have to earn those desks. These guys did it for
you. They put them out there for you, but it’s up to you to sit here
responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because
they paid a price for you to have that desk, and don’t ever forget it.”Friends, I think sometimes we forget that the freedoms that we have are
freedoms not because of celebrities. The freedoms are because of
ordinary people who did extraordinary things, who loved this country
more than life itself, and who not only earned a school desk for a kid
at the Robinson High School in Little Rock, but who earned a seat for
you and me to enjoy this great land we call home, this wonderful nation
that we better love enough to protect and preserve with the kind of
conservative, solid values and principles that made us a great nation.
“We live in the Land of the Free because of the brave.”
According to www.truthorfiction.com this is a true story first related by candidate Mike Huckabee during a speech in 2007. See http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/school-desks.htm for details.
Freedom isn’t free. Not now, never in the past, and never in the future. I grow increasingly weary of an ungrateful vocal minority hogging the media landscape in this time of our nation’s unique war against a faceless and stateless enemy that is already spread throughout the world and within our own borders and institutions. I tire of those who have never fought criticizing the fighter, and the disingenuous politicians with their pompous speeches, speaking of that about which they know nothing. I tire of the irrelevant factions of society — notably those self-aggrandizing parasites in Hollywood — attempting to seem relevant with their diatribes against those who gave them the right to be irrelevant, yet to speak.
How many of these — the ungrateful minority — have done anything but be takers? When have they been givers? For how much longer will the givers outnumber the takers within our society?
Freedom isn’t free and the ungrateful should not take it for granted. Disagreement is one thing, and a good thing, but the debate in America has turned uncivil on almost every front of the national discourse. Statesmanship has departed Washington and is waning in Austin. Civility among neighbors is strained to the breaking point and our leadership is letting/causing it to happen by example. And yet, those within those groups who have the freedom not only to dissent but to do so disagreeably, forget. They forget that freedom isn’t free.
Thank God there are people still, in large but largely silent numbers, who know from whence freedom comes and are willing to fight for it and to support those who do.
Enjoy the video on the Gathering of Eagles website (“American Soldier” by Toby Keith) and this poem which I repeat here lest it one day be lost in cyberspace:
REMEMBER
I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He’d stand out in any crowd.I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers’ tears?How many pilots’ planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
No, freedom isn’t free.I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant “Amen,”
When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn’t free.From http://www.gatheringofeagles.org/ (accessed March 6, 2007). Attributed to http://www.operationmom.org/remember.html.
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