Sadly, Americans Did It

I have been thinking about the horribly destructive leaders in our Federal government and then I thought, How did they get their?

They were voted into office (except the appointed ones ex. Czars) by the people of the United States.  Well, maybe just by the ignorant people who either don't care about the Constitution or think that when you vote you choose the coolest looking candidate.  One thing is for sure the leaders of our republican form of government were placed their rightfully, at least in the aspect that they were placed their by the people.

 Not all of the people in United States treat elections like a popularity contest.  There are those who weigh the sides and figure out the best man for the job (not like there was one in this last presidential election).  I would hope that when I first vote that I select those candidates that will fill their positions with honor and integrity and in the end stand for what I believe in.

So why do leaders without honor and those that raise the power of government get placed in power by Americans?  Well, throughout history (Yes, history can be repeated) their have been examples of societies that have willingly given great power to their governments.  Take for example, from the Bible, the Israelites when they desired a King.  They asked the prophet who revealed the will of God and he said, No!  The people still wanted a King and finally the answer was, yes.  What happened to the Israelites because of their Kings? Ultimately what happened was destruction with the worst being the destruction of natural rights.  But the Israelites had wanted a King for the reason that they were basically too lazy to take care of their own and wanted someone to take care of it for them.

 Does this sound familiar?  Today as Americans we have become lazy.  We don't want to face responsibility for our actions and when we fail we want the government to fix our problems for us, but with that the government says sure we'll fix this but if we do you can't decide on this anymore and slowly (recently, very quickly) our rights and freedoms all but vanish.  America, be wise and take care of your own and quit wanting the government to solve your problems.  After all, Government, in almost all cases, is the problem.

Glenn Beck's American Revival Keynote Speach

I was at this and it was absolutely amazing.  I found a way to watch it and I thought I would share with those who may want to see it.  It was the best hour or so of Glenn that I have ever seen.  Enjoy (If you want of course).

Glenn Beck's American Revival in Salt Lake City

Well, I've been revived.  America may still have a chance.  Glenn Beck and his associates are doing a great job at getting truth about our countries founding out to those who will listen.  My dad and I left the hotel at 9:00 am and got back at 5:30 pm.  It was one of the funnest events I have ever been but there were 6,000 people there.

First of all, when we arrived we were faced with the voices of protesters, all six of them.  I would have thought they could have made a better appearance to protest such a hateful man.  The whole event was riddled with humor from Glenn's pals Pat Grey and Stu Burgurie who started of the event with some humor and could be found before the breaks asking questions from the audience to Glenn or the current speaker.

It was really cool the way we started.  Pat recognized Senator Orrin Hatch and Congressman Jason Chaffetz.  It was interesting to note that Congressman Chaffetz had a lot more applause than Senator Hatch.

The first speaker was David Barton who spoke on faith.  He gave evidence about all of our founders being religious.  He is an extremely knowlegable person when it comes to the begining of our country.  He showed a couple of really cool items he has in his posession.  He showed us all one of the first bibles printed in America.  It was printed by none other than the United States Congress.  He also had a letter written by John Adams to his wife.  He did a very good job proving our founders faith.

The second speaker was David Barton a proffesor at Columbia University and he spoke on hope.  He spoke about how in dept our country is and some of the things that give hope to climbing out of the economic pit.  It was a little bit glomie but towards the end it was pretty good.

The third speaker was Judge Andrew Napolitano who spoke on Charity.  He spoke a lot about rights that cannot be taken from people by the government.  Concerning charity he said that it is not charity for someone to give another's money like our government does.  He was a very good speaker.

After Judge Napolitano a previous American Idol contestant preformed (I don't know here name).

Last of all Glenn Beck gave the keynote speach.  The lights were down and all of a sudden someone was singing "Amazing Grace".  Guess who it was?  It was Glenn Beck sitting down right in the middle of the audience on the floor.  He spoke a lot about the goodness of God and told us that his doctor said he could go blind in the next year.  Very emotionally Glenn told everyone that he had "macular dystrophy".  He turned right around and turned it into a joke and he said, "Is that that Jerry Lewis thing?  I should have given more.  I said, 'Did you just charge me a thousand dollars for knowing what I already knew my whole life?' I knew that at 3! 'You might go blind someday. You might not".  I love how Glenn can change a very serious, emotional subject into a funny sarcastic moment.

At the end, Glenn and his wife came out for applause as well as David Barton and his wife and David Buckner.  Glenn had David Barton give a prayer (which was very interesting) and then they left the stage.  This event was awsome and hard to describe how cool it was.  Glenn Beck, in my young oppinion, is a very great man striving for truth.

Immigration: Where the feds have gone wrong once again

There are a few things on illegal immigration that I would like to address because of the recent events that have created quite a stir in our country.

First of all, I don't think it is right for the Department of Justice and the Obama Administration to be filing a lawsuit against Arizona when the border is not secure.  The border should be secured before any legislation is even debated about in congress.

Second and along the lines of border security, the main role of government in any nation is to "provide for the common defence".  I don't care that the federal government and Obama have had their egos bruised because a state government has taken matters into their own hands.  Arizona was having problems at the border and problems with illegals and so they got sick of the federal government not doing their job and they took matters into their own hands.  (I would bet that Arizona had asked the White House to do their job and protect the border long before they created their law on immigration.)  The Arizona law on illegal immigrants was made to enforce the same things that our federal legislation does.   Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona has said to the Obama Administration that border security should be higher on the list than a lawsuit against Arizona and that "border security is national security" to the excuse that federal resources can't be spared because of the threat of terrorism.

Third, it does not make sense that we would even want illegal immigrants in our country.  It does not seem like common sense to me to allow people with the mindset that they can get away with crime into our country.  Why would we want people allowed into the United States who have the moral character of a criminal?  I think we already have enough criminals in our country who are natural born citizens.

Forth, We should be ashamed that we even have put up with illegals in our country for so long.  Why has our government not taken care of the problem?  We surely must have enough resources and ingenuity to take care of it if we could do things like land on the moon or create the ipod.

Last of all, this is not one of the brighter moves of President Obama.  Much more than half the nation agrees with Arizona on this issue.  This may be one progressive move that Americans wont allow to happen.  I will guess that this case will most likely go to the Supreme Court and if the Department of Justice wins it is only through the corruption of the Judicial system.

Washington and Jefferson's Views on Faith

I have recently finished the book The Real Thomas Jefferson (American Classic Series) and I have begun to read the book George Washington's Sacred Fire.  Both of these books are good at explaining that these two Founding Fathers were not the Athiests or Diests that many historians have created them to be.  Don't take my word for it, here are a few quotes from Washington and Jefferson that explain their faith:

"My views of [the Christian religion] are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions.  To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself.  I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished anyone to be--sincerly attached to his doctrines in preference to all others."

"If the Freedom of religion guaranteed to us by law in theory can never rise in practice under the overbearing inquisition of public opinion, truth will prevail over fanaticism, and the geniune doctrines of Jesus, so long perverted by his psuedo-priests, will again be restored to their original purity.  This reformation will advance with the other improvements of the human mind, but too late for me to witness it."   -Thomas Jefferson, The Real Thomas Jefferson pg. 300-301

"On my honor and faith of a Christian..."

"No Man has a more perfect Reliance on the all-wise, and powerful dispensations of the Supreme Being than I have nor thinks his aid more necessary."

"The man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the American Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude towards the great Author of the Universe whose devine interposition was so frequently manifested in our behalf."    -George Washington, George Washington's Sacred Fire pg. 25, 31, 37

Well, if the very words of our First President and the Writer of the Declaration of Independance don't make the case that they were Christians and not Diests or Athiests I suppose nothing will.

Glenn Beck's Founding Friday Show About Black Founding Fathers

I found some great videos from youtube.com that Glenn Beck had for one of his Founding Fridays. This particular segment does a great job at showing how Blacks contributed to the founding of America. I also learned some very astounding things that I never knew about American history. Glenn Beck is doing a great job at reminding us of America's past.

What is your opinion on the lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against the State of Arizona on their immigration law?

The Declaration of Independence

Two-hundred and thirty-four years ago on July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed.  However, unknown to most is the fact that only two individuals signed this most sacred document on the fourth day of July in 1776.  Those two people were John Hancock, who at the time was the president of the Continental Congress, and the Secretary of the congress who was Charles Thomson.  The rest of this sacred document was signed on August 2, 1776 and a few signatures came even later.  

The debate on whether to become independent states went on for a while before that July of 1776.  The vote took place on the second of July in which all of the colonies agreed upon independance.  John Adams wrote the following about that day in a letter to his wife:

"The second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.... It ought to be comemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solomnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other, from this Time forward forever more."

He was right, well, except for the July second part.  Americans all over the nation have celebrated Independence Day for years with: great fireworks shows, barbeques, parades, and other festivities. The Declaration of Independence is notably one of America's most sacred documents. So, do we as Americans know what it truly meant?

The Declaration of Independance was written by one of our most essential founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson.  Along with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, Jefferson was commisioned by congress to draw up a declaration of independence.

Thomas Jefferson, as Chairman, wrote the Declaration of Independence with only slight revisions by members of the committee.  Jefferson was a man of study and great knowledge.  He had studied the works of some of the most famous philosophers of his time (John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, etc).  Calling on these ideas, his own knowledge, and most notably Divine Guidance, the Declaration of Independence was penned.

Included in the Declaration are four sections: The Preamble, A Declaration of Rights, A List of Grievances, and the Statement of Independence.  The Preamble is the introduction of this heavenly document and it states the reasoning behind the document.  The Declaration of Rights, as the title says, declares the rights given by God.  The List of Grievances lists the reasons for Independence from Great Britan as it states the atrosities commited by King George.  Last of all, the Statement of Independence states that, "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 the authority of the good people of these colonies, solomly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states.

The Declaration of Independence contains many basic governing principles.  As Thomas Jefferson wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that amoung these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  The idea of unalienable rights was written about by John Locke and it explains the simple fact that we are born with God given rights.  These rights are those given to us by God and it is only through tyranny and oppression that they are taken.  Jefferson also wrote about the fact that, "whenever any form of government becomes destructive... it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government." That is exactly what our founders planned to do and that is exactly what they did and we now enjoy the blessings of it.  Also, when Jefferson penned the words, "[G]overnments are instituted amoung men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed", he established the basic principle of rule by the people that is an essential to success in our Republican form of government.

In the end, the words penned by Thomas Jefferson in The Declaration of Independence were not of man, but came from that "Supreme Judge", our God.  May we as Americans stay true to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of our great country as well as continuing to place our trust in God.

Jefferson vs. Hamilton and the Start of Political Parties in the United States

Thomas Jefferson wrote the following about Alexander Hamilton while he was Secratary of State to President George Washington:

"He succeeded in doing this, not only beyond their reach, but so that he at length he could unravel it himself.  He gave to the dept in the first instance, in funding it, the most artificial and mysterious form he could devise... until the whole system was involved in impenatrable fog; and while he was giving himself the airs of providing for the payment of the dept, he left himself free to add to it continually, as he did in fact, instead of paying for it." (The Real Thomas Jefferson pg. 167-168)

In this instance Jefferson attributes Hamilton with wanting to grant more control to the federal government and, as Jefferson belived, adding more to the United States' national dept. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were bitter rivals in the cabinet of our county's first president.  Jefferson, who was the author of the Decleration of Independance, was a very wise Philosopher who also tended to favor smaller federal government influence while Hamilton, who was at one time an aid to General Washington during the Revolutionary War, was a businessman who believed in a larger federal government. Alexander Hamilton believed that the rich and well born members of America's society should make most of the decisions while Thomas Jefferson had more respect for state's rights and wanted the everyday citizen to be involved in decisions through, for example, voting. Jefferson beleived that the United States should be friendlier with France than with Great Britan as Hamilton believed. Oftentimes Thomas Jefferson would sometimes have to excuse himself from cabinet meetings in the first executive administration because plain and simply Hamilton drove him up the wall.  The fued between Jefferson and Hamilton led to the begining of two-party politics in America with the Republican party forming around the ideals of the Secretary of State and the Federalist party forming their views to coincide with the Secretary of the Treasury.