"Great Quotes from General George Patton"

I know many people are despondent today over the condition of our country. Tremendous unemployment, a wrecked economy, enemy nations lining up against us, and a federal government intent on ruling outside the confines of the Constitution. But don't give in or give up. Think about these two comments from a great leader of the past--General George Patton:

"The test of a man's character is how high he bounces back after he's hit bottom."

And this one: "Attack rapidly. . . without rest, however tired and hungry you may be. The enemy will be more tired and more hungry. Keep punching."

Today, keep punching. Not physically, of course, but mentally and spiritually. Be encouraged today. You cannot give up. Remember, 60 million Americans did not vote for socialism in the last election. And another 50 million voters just sat out the election. There are still plenty of people left in this country who see the threat of the socialist agenda, and we are still quiet active in doing the right things, the right way, to bounce back and reverse the course.

Great Quotes from Samuel Adams"

In discouraging times, I like to look back at the lives of great leaders who endured far worse than anything I've ever experienced. I am encouraged and inspired when I read their words and know they backed up their words with their lives--and they prevailed over unbelievable odds. Read and enjoy these lines from Samuel Adams, one of our Founding Fathers:

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

"Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can."

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."

"No Rhyme or Reason?"

So Chrysler wants to shut down almost 800 dealorships across our land. Never mind that the vast majority of the dealorships are turning a profit and are beneficial to Chrysler. Never mind that they are no economic burden to the corporation. Never mind that in the state of Ohio, this shut down of dealorships violates state franchise laws. This breaking of contracts by the "mother corporation" under the direction of bankruptcy courts throws thousands of innocent people out of a job by June 6, and none of this makes any kind of legal or economic sense at all.

There seems to be no pattern to this indiscriminate closing of dealorships. Those who deal only in Chrysler are closed and some who deal with a variety of brand names are "spared." Those who endorse policies across a wide diversity of the political spectrum are indiscriminately closed or "spared." No rhyme or reason. Or is there? Remember the word "spared." What image does that conjure up? For me, I think of the "lord of the manor" who wants to instill fear and obedience in his serfs as they toil for him. He indiscriminately punishes his peasants. After the punishment is over, those who were spared all breathe a sigh of relief and say, "Thank God I was. . . spared." Then the serfs live the rest of their time on the manor in fear of the next round of punishment, intimidated and cowed into subjection--hoping to be spared the next time. They work hard to make sure that the lord of the manor is pleased with their performance.

This is the tactic used by all tyrants--whether the medieval lord of the manor, or the fascist or marxist regimes of the 20th century. Creating chaos, indiscriminte intimidation, and enforcing new "rules" of the game is the rhyme and reason of expansive government. What they will do today will be the standing operating procedure for all their "reforms."

"Pray for Congress"

I just got back from a meeting with some members of Congress. It was one of those "revelational" moments in life. You know what I mean: the curtain pulls back and you see a few things in a different light.

My view of certain political realities hasn't changed. I'm still conservative and committed to restoring a limited Constitutional republic. But I saw to a greater degree the humanity of the people who are elected to represent us. They were overwhelmed. "Well, we're all overwhelmed and exhausted, Jeff! At least they have a job, but they're not doing it!", I can hear some people saying. Yes, the vast majority of us are tired, and we have little sympathy for professional politicians who swore to uphold the Constitution, yet trample it at every turn.

But there are others. Other men and women who take their vow seriously, and are truly burdened and overwhelmed. They do walk the walk. Not perfectly (none of us do), and there are not enough of them, but they are there. Do you pray for them?

What about the Senators and Representatives with whom you strongly disagree? Do you pray for them? I mean, do you pray for them? I don't agree with them politically, but if you only pray for those you love, what good is that?

Look for your Representative or Senator on the internet. Find out their birthday and send them a card to their office. Genuinely pray for them. They have family problems and illnesses just like the rest of us. In the middle of the night, they probably have the same questions and fears we all do. Pray for them. You never know what can happen next. . .

"Swine Flu"

I remember as a kid in junior high in the 70's the threat of swine flu. Yes it made the headlines back then, and everybody was afraid, and no epidemic broke out. Here we go again.

So out of a nation of 310 million people, less than 100 cases of this strain of swine flu has erupted, with only one death. All I hear is panic at every turn, with the UN, our President, the Center for Disease Control, and the head of Health and Human Services all pledging to work hard on this case and help us through this "pandemic" as they call it.

What can government do? Stop and think for a minute. There is no vaccine for this. It is not airborne. But millions of people look to our government for wisdom and safety and they receive such sage advice as this: Wash your hands and don't cough in someone's face. I kid you not. This is the serious advice from our leadership? I thought I learned such hygiene tips from my mother when I was four!

Remember the bird flu that was supposed to wipe us out four years ago? Remember West Nile Virus (which the newscasters always bring out on a slow news day)? Forgive me if I am a bit cynical, but when our government continues to create its own crises only to offer itself as a solution, and when our government continues to politicize things such as the weather ("climate change"), I can't help but be a little skeptical. Cover your mouth when you sneeze, and go about your business, and ignore the professional politicians who can't let a good crisis go to waste.

"James Madison and Democracy"

I have heard several Presidents in my lifetime refer to our nation as a "democracy." In common parlance, most people take it to mean a free country as opposed to an authoritarian nation like Saudi Arabia or a totalitarian government like North Korea.

However, the word "democracy" does not exist in any of our founding documents: the Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Nortwest Ordinance of 1787, and the U.S. Constitution.

To find out more of what our Founders thought of democracy, read James Madison's comments in The Federalist Papers. If you don't have time to read the whole book, here's a quote from Mr. Madison, the "Father of the Constitution," to give you an idea as to where he stood. In Federalist 10 he states:

"Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

Madison, a very good student of history and human nature, understood that while no human government is perfect, the de-centralized, limited, constitutional republic is the best guarantor of freedom, not a democracy.

I hear some clergy expressing the notion that somehow their duties are confined only to things that are "spiritual." Just preach the Gospel. Just bring people into the Kingdom. Stay out of the secular governance of the nation. Politics are dirty. It's always been that way--always will be. And so on.

While I am personally committed to the proclamation of the Gospel, is the intersection of faith and life off limits when it comes to good government? John Witherspoon, the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence did not think so. Witherspoon, also the President of the College of New Jersey (later known as Princeton University) and the mentor of James Madison had this to say in May of 1776:

"I willingly embrace the opportunity of declaring my opinion without any hesitation, that the cause in which America is now in arms, is the cause of justice, of liberty, and of human nature. . . The knowledge of God and his truths have from the beginning of the world been chiefly, if not entirely confined to those parts of the earth where some degree of liberty and political justice were to be seen. . . There is not a single instance in history, in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage."

In other words, if people who believe in the biblical Revealer of Truth and Liberty shut their mouths, and confine themselves to the "ghetto" of speaking only about "safe" spiritual topics that will offend no one, then eventually the enemies of freedom will not stop. They will show no tolerance to those who are committed to the biblical revelation. They will not be satisfied until they ultimately remove freedom even to speak about the supposedly "safe" topics.

Let Witherspoon have the last say here: "A Republic once equally poised, must either preserve its virtue, or lose its liberty."