Some Liberals complain that the government under funds drug enforcement and wear buttons saying, "Make nails, not jails", but release criminals with revolving door justice. All too often the criminal is often back out on the street before a cop can finish wear the paper work. Others wear their politically "correct" ideas and bleeding hearts on and outlawing capitol punishment on their sleeves as a badge of honor. They are also "bleeding hearts" who oppose capitol punishment because they feel it is not a deterrent. Rarely will one say it prevents violent criminals from becoming repeat offenders.
"A society that does not hold people accountable for criminal behavior can be perceived as condoning, or even worse, endorsing such conduct. In the long run, a society that does obtains personal responsibility will lose it's moral status and it is the urban poor whose lives are being destroyed the most by this loss of a moral sense. This is not surprising, a system that does not hold people accountable for their violent acts treats them as less than full citizens and such a world where people are reduced to children, or even worse treated like animals without a soul. There may be a hard lesson here in the face of injustice on the part of society it is natural and easy to demand recompense and or dispensation from conventional norms. But all too often, doing so involves the individual accepting diminished responsibility for his future.
"The transformation of our criminal justice has had and will continue to have its greatest impact in our urban areas. It is there that modern excuses for criminal behavior are bound with sub-standard education, faltering families, unemployment, lack of respect for authority because of the deep feeling of oppression. I have no doubt that the Rice Revolution had a noble purpose, to prevent society from treating blacks, the poor and other minority groups that occupy the urban areas as if they were invisible to the warmth of attention. But the revolution missed a larger point by merely changing their status from invisible, to- victimized. Minorities and poor are human & capable of folly as well as success." (Clarence Thomas)
Liberalism’s ruining the country because it’s drifted from the traditional Judeo-Christian family values that made this nation great . Even Magic Johnson said, "The media only plays up the condom angle & doesn’t push abstinence as the only sure way to avoid contracting AIDS through sex..."
"A 10 year study by the David Barton Research Center took 15,000 quotes from our founding fathers and then boiled them down to the top 3,154 and then found that were all biblically inspired." (Dr. Jay Grimstead, Founder of The-Coalition On-Revival)
Certain Liberals often assume that because someone is a fundamentalist it is a bad thing and that if they are conservative they are automatically closed minded to all, even truth. Truth is universal. But the perception of it is not, because perception is subjective, not objective and people often infer what's not implied. It takes a constant, conscious effort to be an open minded, thinking conservative and not a knee jerk right wing fundamentalist, or allow oneself to become one dimensional, lacking insight for living, or have their intellect negated by anything. If we do not fight it our perceptions upon reality become altered and start viewing the Bible and God as a "Knight in shining armor come to our emotional rescue." (The Rolling Stones) Or a "cosmic Santa-Claus." (Al Pecora). Or the Bible as a crutch to lean upon, a written conformation of our actions and a mask to hide behind. Sadly, the end result is a person who says things such as I pray what clothes to wear in the morning. Neither God nor the Bible, were meant to be misused like this. "The Bible is a guide book for life." (Harvey Jablon) And-a dictionary for-living.
At the 40th Anniversary of Brown V. Board of Ed., President Clinton said, "...we have these problems, now what are we going to do about them? There are four things we can do about them & three are wrong: 1) We can attend dinners like this, preach & discuss how great Brown was till the day we die and do nothing about what's going on now. If so we will lose a whole generation of young people to other courses of action. Or, we can do what I said. Elaine mentioned that if you preach venom you get a talk show and if you preach love you get a yawn. Debroah Tanner, Georgetown U. Prof. has just written a book called You Just Don't Understand. She says we are caught up in a culture of critique where shouting matches shout out constructive conservation and where you only any status if you are slamming someone else & berating them." (B. Clinton)
At Madison Sq. Garden, on 7/16/92, President Clinton said "Frankly, I'm fed up with politicians in Washington lecturing the rest of us about family values. Our families have values, but our govt. doesn't."
In Memphis, Tennessee, on 11/13/93, referring to Martin King he added, "You did a good job he'd say of exalting people of color into the ranks of the U.S. armed forces and into the very top of our government. You did a very good job creating a black middle class of people who are really doing well and the middle class is growing more among blacks than others. You did a good job opening opportunity.
"I did not live and die to see the American family die. I fought for freedom, but not for the freedom of people to kill each other with reckless abandonment, or for the freedom of kids to have kids. The fathers abandon them as if they do not amount to anything.
"When the American people have finally come to grips with the accumulated waste of crime & the increase in drugs and the decrease in jobs.
"I think finally that we need to do something about it and there is something for all of us to do. There are changes we can make from the outside in. That is the job of the president, Congress, governors, mayors and social service agencies to make. There is some changes we are going to start making from the inside out, or the others won't matter."
"Consider these cultural markers: The White House will host a conference this week on ways to teach character. Health & Human Services Secretary Donna Schalala now says Dan Quayle was right to condemn Murphy Brown's out-of-wedlock child. Dozens of TV stations are down-playing violence on their news broadcasts & emphasizing 'family sensitive' coverage. Next weekend about 50,000 members of a male Christian group called Promise Keepers will fill a Colorado football stadium to renew their commitment to family & parenthood. Under congressional prodding, the video game is preparing a rating system for concerned parents in time for the holidays. Public support is growing for teen curfews & school prayers. William Bennett's Book of Virtues-a collection of morality sales-is a national best-seller.
"All these signs point to a broad, powerful trend: Many Americans feel mired in a deep cultural recession and are struggling to escape by restoring old-fashioned values to a central place in their lives. It's Woodstock turned on its head 25 years later, a counterrevolution that esteems prayer over pot, self-discipline over self-indulgence, family love over free love. At a time when the economy is performing well, political analysts are stunned to find a cascading sense of public pessimism. After B. Clinton's inauguration in Jan., 1993, an NBC News/Wall St. Journal poll found that by almost 2 to 1, Americans said the country was headed 'in the right direction.' Today, the numbers are reversed. Says David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values: 'It ain't "the economy, stupid" anymore.'
"At the core of this pessimism is an increasingly frantic fear among Americans that the country is suffering a moral and spirit decline. 'Parents feel they are in a struggle to raise their own children,' says Senator Joseph Liebermann, a Connecticut Democrat. 'They're competing with powerful forces that are sending very different messages than the ones they want to send.'
"The search for values has always threaded through American life. From the battle against slavery to the one against alcohol, Americans have used politics to further their deepest spiritual yearnings. In recent elections, Democrats and Republicans have repeatedly wrestled over the banner of moral virtue. In 1980, Reagan struck a resonant cord with his promise to cherish 'work, home, family and neighborhood.' In 1992, Clinton seized the high ground, stressing issues like crime and welfare that had been long tenets of the Republican gospel.
"This low-intensity conflict has now erupted into a fire fight. Shock troops from the religious right have captured state Republican organizations from Texas to Minnesota and fueled a string of GOP election victories. Their game plan: brand Clinton's policies as immoral-from gays in the military to condoms in schools-and stress his ties to wanton image makers of Hollywood.
"Return fire. The success of the religious right has alarmed moderate Republicans, who fear the party will be dragged out of the mainstream. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, petrified that recent Republican triumphs foreshadow a ferocious counterattack. Clinton complained angrily to a radio station about R. Limbaugh, a frequent megaphone for Conservative Republican themes. And Rep. Vic Fazio, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, assailed the 'fire breathing Christian radical right' with this strategy in mind: aggravate the split between conservative and moderate Republicans while frightening liberals into action.
"Each party is trying to demonize the other. Republicans are making Surgeon Gen. J. Elders their poster child, arguing that her views favor sex education and her willingness to consider legalizing drugs is emblematic of the Democratic Party. Democrats are doing the same with TV evangelist Pat Robertson, claiming his hostility toward to gays, feminists, and abortion reflects the entire GOP. Republicans want voters to remember the 1972 Democratic convention, when the party conveyed a liberal elitism hostile to middle-America. Democrats focus on the 92 Republican convention, when advocates of a cultural war came across as smugly self-righteous.
"The energy and emotions spanning this struggle flow from the real experiences of ordinary Americans. Many are baby boomers, now approaching middle age and discovering that the 'do your thing' ethic of their youth does not work as a guide for child rearing. Says Gary Bauer, head of the Family Research Council: 'Having a child is an incredibly conservatizing event.'
"Parents mourn the loss of familiar neighborhoods and extended families that once provided a safety net against danger. 'Wanting a benign environment for child raising-that's what this is all about,' says Blankenborn.
"But family structure is changing as well. The Census Bureau reported last week that the birthrate for unwed mothers has jumped 82% in the past 10 years, and the number of divorced Americans has quadrupled since 1970. That means more kids are being raised with less supervision and fewer resources, putting them at a greater risk of delinquency. Even in affluent homes, notes political scientist Thomas Mann, the divorce rate leads to 'new arrangements, multiple parents, kids shuffling around, and a lot of guilt.'
"End of optimism. Parents fear their children will not live as well as they do, and John K. White, author of The New Politics of Values, says: "Their- optimism and faith in the future are being called into question.' Many parents must work extra and odd jobs to survive, and a recent study of family values concludes: 'Lack of time together is the greatest threat to the American family.' The stress level in many families has been compounded by the loss of jobs in the defense industry and a general uneasiness caused by corporate downsizing and global competition. To some, this demonstrates a basic tension between free markets and family values.
"Even stable families feel besieged by hostile forces. For some it is public schools, seen by many conservatives as hotbeds of secular licentiousness. For others its movies and music, t.v. shows video games that sell casual sex and incessant violence. Bennet, a possible Republican presidential candidate, describes the reaction as a 'national head shaking.' He says parents are asking: 'What's going on?'
"President Clinton tried to answer with a series of government programs: family and medical leave, an earned income credit to boost poor families income and a welfare reform plan emphasizing work and responsibility. But there is a growing recognition among liberals that government can solve few of these core issues bothering Americans. Matt Freeman of People for the American Way, a liberal activist group, says: 'We're portrayed as lobbying money and programs at problems, but we do not address the anger and sense- of moral vacuum people are- feeling.'
"Clinton's ability to fill that vacuum has clearly been hampered by accusations of personal misconduct, but William Galston, his domestic policy adviser, says Clinton is determined to try. In Galston's view, the 'stability of the 50's was purchased at a great cost'-lack of opportunities for women, bias against minorities. While liberalism demolished those barriers it went too far the other way, undermining all authority and glorifying individual fulfillment over family obligations. The question now is whether or not politicians will seek common ground, a synthesis combining the great themes in American values: personal and social responsibility, individualism and community, freedom and sacrifice? If not, the cultural warfare will only worsen." (U.S. News & World Report, 8/1/94, p.26, America's New Crusade, Steve Roberts)
"The fraying of America's social fabric is fast becoming a national obsession. Three out of every four Americans think we are moral and spiritual decline. Two out of three think the country is seriously off track. Doubts about the president's character decreased his poll ratings 15 points. Social dysfunction haunts the land; crime and drug abuse, the breakup of the family, declining academic performance and graffiti. Senator Dan Monyihan calls it 'defining deviancy down'. We once found it repugnant, but it has now become an acceptable part of life.
"We seem to have lost the balance between societal rights and freedom. There are daily confrontations with authority figures: black v. white power structure, women v. patriarchy, feminists v. feminism, gays v. homophobia, children v. parents, mothers v. matrimony, fathers v. child support, churchgoers v. church, student v. universities. Instead of a cultural of common we have one of constant complaint. Everyone is a victim. The have-nots claim victimization by the haves. Crime is sanctioned by 'bleeding heart liberals' under the premise of an unhappy childhood, the validity is debatable. Industriousness, thrift, self-discipline and commitment are now fond memories of yesteryear.
"The combined effect of these sicknesses, rooted in phony doctrines of liberalism, has been to tax the nation's optimism and sap its confidence in the future. It is the young who are strikingly venerable. They are being deprived-like no previous generation -of the emotional comfort and moral nurturing provided by the traditional family. Instant gratification is the new order of the day. Personal impulses, especially sexual, are constantly stimulated by popular music and TV, with other mass media not media not far behind. TV and music often seem to honor everything a true American resents-violence, infidelity, drugs, drinking-and despises all that it embraces-religion, marriage, respect for authority. No wonder it is difficult to sustain parental values and continuity.
"Behind the popular culture lies a capitalist system whose development now also contributes to the erosion of family and community. The individual flourishes best in small neighborly communities based on the traditions and habits of the family, the church, township, where trust, intimacy and cooperation are prized. But the ideal of the individual in the community is constantly threatened by a market that seeks mobility of labor and capitol. We extol the virtues of self discipline, hard work, patience and personal responsibility, but market capitalism requires to- be -a consumer first, buy now, pay –later, and enjoy. Altruism's discouraged in a culture of acquisitive individualism.
"There is a great yearning in the country to provide our national life & institutions with a larger moral dimension: The success of the movie Forrest Gump lies in its appeal to American's decency. Redemption has to start with TV & education. Children spend more time before the TV then at school. Society must find a way for TV to have a bigger purpose than making money. Consistent with our nation's commitment to freedom of the press, the president should establish a national commission to review the impact of TV. and suggest how it might play a more constructive role in society. Education is an economic imperative since business requires greater skills and sophistication from its employees. But it is also a moral imperative. Everyone who could benefit should have the opportunity not just for learning how to find substance in knowledge.
"The nation's hunger for a public commitment to social and moral betterment is not a simple nostalgia for the greater simplicities of yesteryear; the clock cannot go back. It is a profound and anxious desire to arrest decay. But if the dysfunctional trends continue, that anxiety will turn to fear, and panic. And when fear comes t dominate social policy, reason and tolerance are at risk. This is our predicament." (U.S. News & World Report, 8/8/94, Where Have All Our Values Gone?, by Moriter Zuckerman, p. 88)
Liberalism forgot that decadence caused the Roman Empire & can happen here too if we let it. Conservatives must know "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing!" (Edmund Burke) And that "reason & experience both forbid us to expect the national morality to prevail to the exclusion of religious principles. There can be no national morality if there is no religious principle!" (G. Washington)
SEPARATION OF CHURCH & STATE
Many libs oppose prayer in public schools as a violation of the separation of church and state. If students hold Bible meetings after school and aren't infringing upon anyone else's rights shouldn't they be allowed to? I wish they were as determined to keep drugs and condoms out of schools as they are the Bible.
Many Liberals try to overturn laws opposing their agenda because they know that "the constitution is made of wax, so as it can be molded & shaped." (T.Jefferson) And that separation of church & state means freedom to worship individually & not have to follow a national religion or go to a state church as they did. In England. It was never intended to deny anyone the freedom to worship when, or where they pleased, so long as they did not impose upon anyone else's right not to. If prayer groups want to assemble after school in a classroom shouldn't they be allowed to? As long as there tests in school there will be prayer.
History shows what America was like before we lost sight of the values that we once held so high. Many people do not want to admit that hate is not a family value and counter productive. Sadly, few know that ".the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained." (G. Washington, first Inaugural Address of a U.S. President, 1789) Or that, "God who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed convictions that are a gift from God?" (T. Jefferson) These were the principles upon which our great nation was founded, now "even a kid can write to the Washington D.C. Dept. of Human Services, Commission of Public Health, Agency for HIV and AIDS to request a free booklet they publish on how to have oral sex with a man." (Jerry Farwell) This is what the tax dollars of decent Americans are paying for in a recession no less. Then we are told that we need to raise taxes. Programs like must be eliminated if we have any morals and values left. Not to mention getting our heads above water financially.
Liberals are often atheists who compensate/compound ignorance with arrogance by being atheists. We must remember that "man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants & our constitution was made for only a moral, religious people & is wholly inadequate for any other gov’t." (Ben Franklin) We mustn’t forget that civil laws are often based on religious laws, like the Sixth & Eighth Commandments prohibiting murder & stealing.
Many liberals oppose religion because they are atheists. Bill Bennet, of Empower America made a good point. He said, "I returned to Washington, D.C. the other day and read the front page of the Post: 'Mayor Kelly wants to call out the National Guard due to the city's exploding murder rate;' Senator Packwood is holding onto his diaries, which contain accounts of various sexual escapades on Capitol Hill; and I read about a sting on Montgomery County Liquor Stores, where the problem is underage drinking-- I still say there are people who believe that the greatest threat to the well being of the Republic is too much religion.
"We are in a race between civilization and catastrophe. We've recorded murder and violent crime rates; huge increases in births to unwed mothers; education decline; broken families; and a president who has established a record for broken promises.
"All of this, & we’re told the very religious are to be feared. Religion’s on the side of civilization; more people ought to begin to recognize it."
MARRIAGE, LOVE and MATERIALISM
A major problem with Liberalism today is that it devalues God, by devaluing His advice, love and ideologies like marriage. People should seek a best friend to share their life, not a maid, cook, or Santa Claus. When thinking of love and marriage I feel that "...love and marriage go together like the horse and carriage. Let me tell you brother, you can't have one without the other..." (Sinatra, Love and Marriage) Marriage should be designed like a house using friendship: (best friends are one soul in two bodies) and love as the foundation! Acceptance, appreciation, communication, compromise eliminates many irreconcilable differences, consideration, devotion, faithfulness, forgiveness, honesty, honor, loyalty, luck, patience, perseverance, reciprocation, respect, team work, trust, and understanding of ourselves & each other because it's like a bank: you exchange hate, indignation, anger, anxiety, frustration, resentment, etc. for compassion, pity, sympathy, empathy, forgiveness, etc. And the peace to accept the things you cannot change. It is also like a washing machine: you put in hate, anger, anxiety, frustration and resentment. You wash them away and have compassion, pity, sympathy and ---forgiveness. And the peace to accept the things you cannot change. These are the bricks. And the courage and determination to stand united despite anyone, or anything is the mortar combining it all. Couples should create a haven: "...come to me and I will give you shelter from the storm..." (Donna Summer, Come To Me) This is very difficult, but worth the effort. If we do not try things because they are hard we would not accomplish much. Nothing worthwhile is easy, if it were we would not appreciate it. Sadly, so many people are unwilling to work at their problems and do not realize that -divorce is the wrecking ball that destroys all too many lives!
Some of the major problems today, is- that we all too often forget the importance of family. We allow materialism to become so important that we forget important things like love and happiness are what life is all about. These are spiritual in nature. They should never be demeaned, measured, or replaced by money. People should not marry someone they feel they can live with. They should marry someone they feel that they cannot live without. A major cause of divorce today is "people date and are not really themselves: they are on their best behavior. Then they both fall in love with an illusion and when reality sets in they wonder what to the person they fell for." (Paul Broer) "On a first date people should wear a t-shirt and jeans and be themselves." (Joy Brown, Ph.D.)
Many Liberals know that we are not a theocracy and materialism helped make us an industrial giant. But sadly, society all too often uses money as the yardstick to measure happiness, love, people, security, and success. Materialism has replaced spiritualism. Like many cultural aspects it is reflected in music seriously and satirically: "Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive Porches. So, oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz? Oh Lord, won't you buy me a diamond ring? Oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV....?" (Janis Joplin) And "...love is quite continental; but diamonds are a girl's best friend..." (M. Monroe) But "money can't buy me love." (The Beatles) "What is it if a man gains the whole world, but loses- his-soul." (Jesus Christ)
Love should also be free & giving like sand, courage & determination are cement mix & water: combining them enables eternal endurance. But withdraw any element and the compound is incomplete; therefore inadequate and insufficient. The sand, like love slips through your fingers, blowing away in the wind while we watch helplessly, knowing nothing can be done to solidify the sand, or love.
Yet, despite this "many people are too independent, do not know what they want, and do not appreciate what they have, or had." (Peter Moreo and Howard Asinoff) Many men joke about love and marriage. One made up a poster: "WANTED: GOOD WOMAN...Must Be Able To Clean, Cook, Sew, Dig Worms And Clean Fish. Must Have Own Boat, With Motor. Please Send Picture Of Boat And Motor." (Office Humor II) While people have joked about it for years we should seek a Soul Mate to compliment, not complete us, as we should be independent adults before marriage & not need someone to bring us happiness, fulfillment, or purpose.
Love is also like a magnet: many functional people gravitate toward it, while many are repelled by it. The primary motivation is fear of abandonment, betrayal, commitment, failure, intimacy, rejection, success and the unknown. Love is also like a swimming pool: if you jump in you soon warm up. But many people become spectators and bystanders in life because they don’t realize that if you dip your toe & feel it is too cold today, you’ll return tomorrow, you’ll never go in. They also wonder "...who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken...?" (Tina Turner, What's love got to do with it?) Yet, many still delude themselves into thinking money is the key to happiness, compounding and compensating ignorance with arrogance.
Being in love is great because you are so happy "the tail wags the dog." Many of us fear being a fool for love and should feel that "it is everybody's God given right to make a fool of themselves for the person they love once! Most of us do it, we're not proud of it!! But we do it anyway!!! (Tom Barrecca) It is a part of life, and you do not fully comprehend it until you have loved and lost it at least once. One should also remember that "in a relationship one of the most important things is sharing the same values." (Connie Pizzero) And the best things in life really are free. Even the almighty dollar that people all too often worship, live, die and kill for says, "In God We Trust." Maybe we should consider seeking His aid to help attain one of our ultimate goals: a Soul Mate.
You can say much of the same about those who substitute sex for love. As sex and pregnancy can be a blessing, or a curse, meaningful, or meaningless. The choices are obvious. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to make wrong ones in life. "Sex without love satisfies our physical needs, but not our emotional ones!" (Dave Leifer) "...I love u are the three most beautiful words you'll ever hear..." (Stevie Wonder, I Just Called To Say I Love You) But it is a fairy tale to think that "...love will keep us together..." (Captain & Tenile)
Often relationships end and that is a natural part of life. During, and for sometime after a breakup, especially if she has someone new, rejection is often devastating, even if It is not necessarily anyone's fault! It often was not meant to be and things usually work out for the best, if we give them a chance! Unfortunately, hindsight is so much clearer than foresight. To know that she does not care to know you anymore, no longer loves you, may never have loved you, and is with someone else is very often harder to accept than death. Unfortunately, many people feel that substitution and denial are the solution. It is not! We need time to grieve and make peace over things. Being promiscuous often make things worse because when we make love casually we often leave a piece of our soul in a temporary place. "It is like losing a finger: you are unable to go on in life but there are scars." (Katy Carro) They can be permanent if we do not work them out. Sadly, "people all too often are willing to give their bodies, but not their hearts, and we can't wear condoms on our hearts." (Howard Asinoff, N.D.)
Unfortunately, one is often temporarily emotionally devastated & permanently scarred. You cross the fine line from love to hate & carry emotional baggage like denial, substitution, symbolism & transference (finding a scapegoat & sacrificial lamb to unload our hatred for woman, especially the one who left you on to) for years into new relationships seeking serenity & not knowing the deep sadness that compounds with it. It is hard to make peace because some spend a lifetime searching for love and never find it, to find it and discover that it does not count enough to conquer anything, much less anything is very hard to digest. Although- some -people say that "love helps you over the rough spots" (Arnita Finerson).
Fortunately many people find love more than once. Sex & love -are- a compound & must be fulfilled simultaneously. If they are not, the compound is inadequate, incomplete & insufficient. They always were, & always will be as human nature does not change because the soul is everlasting. Some people think a big marital problem is that "men should be loving leaders, not dictators .We- should be caretakers, & nurturers. So their wives will submit & follow them. All women want kind, gentle leadership. Some rebel against it, some admit it & some deny it. Lesbians & feminists are trying to become the man they're meant to marry." (Howard Asinoff) Lead is not a synonym for abuse, control, dictate, dominate, intimidate, rule, nor anything like that! Husbands must prove their sincerity, trustworthiness, righteousness, etc. so their wife will follow of her free will because she is convinced that he’s doing what is best for them. She’s his right hand. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that happiness is not always possessing, sometimes it being apart.
Some might say that, "life is a paradox because people are complex creatures. Yet we all have simple needs & it often takes so little to satisfy them. We're like snowflakes: we are all a bit different, but we come from and go to the same place & all have the same basic needs." (Scott Chaiet)
Not that they would ever admit it, but some liberals care only about money to fund their agendas and not the country. I feel that "if we love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude, better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your council, or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands of those who feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you. May prosperity forget you were ever our- countrymen." (Samuel Adams) And that even a Liberal like R.F.K. said, "We will find neither national purpose nor personal satisfaction in a mere continuation of economic progress, in an endless amassing of worldly goods. We cannot measure national spirit by the Dow Jones average, nor national achievement by the Gross National Product..." (R.F.K., To Seek A Never World, Garden City, New York, Doubleday, 1967, p. 264).
Few Liberals do not realize that religion must not be confused with spirituality. As some have one, the other, both, or neither. "A part of man's nature is a void in his soul which cannot be filled with anything, but spirituality." (St. Augustine) A big problem today is people try to fill it with materialism and are unaware that it becomes a vacuum and the more you try fulfilling it that way, the more it grows. They then find themselves unable to exit a vicious, self perpetuating cycle. Sadly, few realize this, no matter how intelligent and of those who do, few posses the courage and wisdom to escape. They eventually retrospect upon a empty and unhappy life.
IGNORANCE
Some conservatives have become cynical and apathetic today. They must get involved in issues. Many do not even vote. They do not feel it counts issues do, or affect them. Hopefully, before it is too late, people will see that "one of the penalties of refusing to partake in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." (Plato) "In 1988 an election study was conducted by the University of Michigan. A random sample was asked to identify the political office held by some of the most prominent American and world leaders. The results were 71% knew Gorbachev was President of the Soviet U. Only 69% knew Kennedy was a U.S. Senator, 60 knew M. Thatcher was Prime Minister of England, 39 knew George Schultz was Secretary of State, 37 knew Yassar Arafat was leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, 14 knew Jim Wright was Speaker of the House, four knew William Rehnquist was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court." (American Government textbook, 6:220) "A major problem with Americans today is ignorance, as they are 'dumbing down'" (Sen. Dan Monihan). If people are not motivated, and our system is not simplified to be more like England's: a five week campaign for prime minister, nothing can be done to "stop the powers of few from ruling on the labor of the many." (T. Jefferson)
I write this because I, like so many others, have talent, on loan, from God. It is not easy and lonely at the top, but someone has to do it, so I figured it might as well be me. Besides, I get to intellectually stimulate, amuse and challenge myself and my readers and get to gore a lot of oxen all in one story. Not to mention raising Liberal people's blood pressure when they read this. The Jew, New Yorker and Republican in me just cannot resist such a bargain. We all must denounce wrongs, for those who "sin by silence when they should protest...and make cowards out of men." (A. Lincoln)
Lincoln was a Republican a party Liberalism says is for the rich, apathetic toward civil rights and minorities. Anyone thinking that should remember that it was Lincoln who freed the slaves. If not for Republicans, would we have had a Civil War, and would slavery have been abolished? Up until F.D.R. was elected in 1932, most blacks were Republicans because Lincoln freed the slaves and was a Republican.
PEACE V. FREEDOM
Many Liberals since the 1960's speak of peace. But have no response when asked "what is peace without freedom, is it truly peace? And do we have the freedom to be different? I work hard to be different from most people & consider myself a maverick & a patriot for having the temerity & perseverance to stand by my convictions, especially these days. I know that America is the best country, but still want to improve it. But I am well aware that "in the beginning of change, the patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated & scorned. But, when his cause succeeds, then the timid join him, for then it cost nothing to be a patriot." (Mark Twain) Still I choose to do so anyway, because these are my beliefs & "above all else to thine own self one must be true!" (Shakespeare) For if we do not overcome the fear to do so we will be encircled & encompassed by fear. It then becomes entrenched within, enveloping & engulfing us. We wind up a slave it to it with the chains in our head like "the elephant, who as- a baby had a rope tied to her foot to keep her from running away. When she grows up she doesn’t realize that she cannot break the rope therefore it’s now in her head, not on her foot." (Howard Asinoff) We must chose between a "fierce enemy always ruling, or a formidable enemy about to retreat." (Jim Dobson) We must face them! If we do not, we end up seeking peace at any price, even freedom & the pursuit of happiness. We must never allow the fear of loss to outweigh the desire for gain.
It is a fact that by nature people are either, fighters, flighters, or floaters. We’re a lot like genes: dominant & recessive. Those in the middle are floaters. One cannot go through life being a flighter, waiting & hoping for our desires. We must be prepared to fight for our needs, as life is Social Darwinism.
There is an old Russian poem that discusses being apathetic for peace, instead of being strong and caring enough to speak out for freedom: "Do not fear your enemies; for they can only destroy you. Do not fear your friends; they can only betray you. Fear the apathetic; for their silence condones all the atrocities in the world." (Unknown) In W.W. 2 Pastor Nemoi referring to the Nazis said, "When they came for the Jews I did not say anything because I was not a Jew. When they came for the Communists I did not say anything because I was not a Communist. When they came for me there was no one left to say anything."
We must not choose peace for fear of failure as "failure can be a back door to success." (Howard Asinoff) If at first you do not succeed, try, try, again. There are other consequences we must endure in life no matter what we do. But one of the worst is a missed opportunity. People are haunted for years by their past because they lack "the Serenity to accept the thing they cannot change." (St. Francis) And now realize that they are walking down the road of missed opportunities would, could and should have, maybe had I done this, or that, things might have been different. They now know that the serenity of knowing that you did all you could is "the rod and staff and that comfort you as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death." (Plasms, 23:4)
Also that peace without the freedom to pursue happiness is worthless because it is not a true peace. Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" The U.S.A. was born because heroes like him choose to die standing for freedom rather than live groveling for peace at any price! They knew that "...every form of refuge has its price..." (The Eagles) And that peace for freedom was too high a price to pay and "...sometimes freedom is just a word for nothing left to lose: cause baby without freedom you ain't got nothing..." (K. Kristofferson, Me and My Bobby McGee) And that it is "better to die on your feet than live on your knees." (Albert Camus, The Rebel) They made the freedom to pursue happiness a guaranteed and inalienable human right under the U.S. Constitution. One, like many, that Americans all too-often- take- for granted because they do not realize that "if there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet renowned the controversy, are people who want crops without plowing the ground." (Sir Fred Douglas) Many strong people find the servitude that accompanies peace at any price so repugnant that they feel it is "better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven." (John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1)
CENSORSHIP and ACCEPTANCE
When discussing politics with a liberal they can't believe I'm serious, they laugh. When I ask what's so funny? They say, "I don't believe you. You can't be serious? You should be a comedian, not a writer!" They are often shocked to hear that I don't want to censor them. And that I accept them, despite our differences. I know that acceptance is a two way street: we must give it to get it! I also have enough faith in the truth and righteousness of my beliefs that I don't need to censor. If we dare censor anyone we not only violate the first Amendment, but once we start, where do we draw a line? We become the tyrants so many died defeating. Then it is only a small step before the "thought police" knock down our doors to take us away, never to be seen, or heard from again. Many liberals claim to be enlightened, open minded, accepting and tolerant of opposing views. Unfortunately, "all too often when you scratch beneath the surface of a Liberal you find a Fascist!" (Norm Brookes) "It's like trying to fight city hall!" (Mike Petrizzo) Ironically, "beneath it all we are all human and that's scary!"(Tom Hodgson)
LEGALIZING- DRUGS
Many liberals believe in the legalizing drugs as a means of eliminating the "black market" & therefore all related crime & save a fortune on law enforcement. While this sounds good, there’ll be a "black market" for kids. The gov’t will not sell drugs to minors & no decent parent will buy it for them.
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