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Independence Day Reflections and Resources

July 4, 2020 by tornado Leave a Comment

On this day of America’s birth, in a time of fluxes both positive and deeply disturbing, I reflect upon the founding values of liberty and equal creation by our Creator, espoused explicitly in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution — the two greatest, most important documents of civilizational freedom ever prepared by mortal humanity. Liberty from tyranny led to momentous moments of 4 July 1776, the founding date of the beacon of the free world for over 200 years. Upholding liberty is not only the responsibility of our soldiers, sailors and aviators, but all of us, and each of us individually.

Majority rule with protection of minority rights is an essential American ideal. Who is the least of these, in need of the most protection from tyranny? There is no smaller nor less-powerful minority than the individual. As such, protection of individual liberty must stand supreme over tyranny of any sort, whether from a numerical majority, a shrill and disproportionately influential minority, the seductive delusion of collectivism, oppression via coerced compliance, the laziness of herd-mentality groupthink, and outsized influence of the loudest mob(s) of any given hour, day, week, or year.

With individual liberty comes a responsibility to uphold and preserve the freedoms for future generations to benefit, and not to squander freedom on foolish pleasures, nor selfish hedonism, nor lawless disregard for others. Instead, love your neighbor. That’s not a bureaucratic exercise, but an individual one: you and me. Jesus didn’t say, “Love thy neighbor — at governmental gunpoint”. Love can only be authentic if freely given, and compulsory “love” isn’t real. It has to come from within, to each as he or she is called by God to serve one another and this nation.

The American ideal, a fortification and refinement of the “ancient liberties of the English” that predated even the Magna Carta, inspired in no small manner by the Sinai Covenant of the Jewish Exodus, Constitutionally codified into Founding law of this land, was intended to transcend crises, inspire the endless struggle for freedom worldwide, and protect liberty throughout.

As I reflect on the concept of freedom today, and the founding ideals that birthed the greatest national beacon for freedom ever constructed, I offer glimpses of the American ethos in multiple forms in the comments below. As you consider where we have been, and where we may be going, 244 years into this great experiment, I invite you to be inspired and stimulated by these resources.

SHORT ESSAY: “Equality and the American Dream” by native Canadian C. Bradley Thompson

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/07/03/equality_and_the_american_dream_143606.html

LONG ESSAY: “The Origins of Freedom” by native Englishman Os Guinness

https://www.rzim.org/read/just-thinking-magazine/the-origins-of-freedom

SPEECH: “The Boys of Pointe du Hoc” by Ronald Reagan

From the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, Normandy, France, 6 Jun 1984

SONG: “Americana” performed by Moe Bandy

A song about the heart and soul of this nation: its people

PHOTOGRAPHY: “Flag of the United States of America”
from Image of the Week

Flag of the United States of America

PRAYER: “For America In A Time Of National Crisis“

Dear Father, there is much happening with our nation at the moment as we are facing a time of crises. The nation seems to be teetering on the edge of destruction and our government seems to have little ability or will to reverse what is coming upon our land and its citizens. Lord, there is increasing unrest and we ask that You guide our nation through this difficult period.

Lord, we pray for all in authority over our land and ask that You would lead and guide the decisions they are to make in this time of crises. We ask that those in leadership positions would be given the wisdom and ability to address all that is looming on the home-front at this present time. Give them grace to govern according to Your will, and may they not be motivated by self-interest, greed or party politics, but rather may they be led to guide our nation onto the path of peace and safety that only comes from You.

Protect all those that are in any way at risk or are suffering from lack or from fear of what is happening in this time of national crises. May we as a people unite together under Your banner of truth, to support and encourage each other, as we face this national crises together, as one nation under God.

Amen.

Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/prayer/for-america-in-a-time-of-national-crisis-423

DOCUMENTS: The Declaration of Independence and Constitution
I have seen several surveys indicating that the majority of Americans never have read these fully, word for word to completion. That’s unfortunate and troublesome. If you haven’t, here’s your chance to fix that problem. Read carefully and considerately, they still should take less than an hour of your time. This PDF can be printed and carried with you everywhere you travel for ready reference, self-reminder, and reflection.

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Office%20of%20Citizenship/Citizenship%20Resource%20Center%20Site/Publications/PDFs/M-654.pdf

Filed Under: Not weather Tagged With: Constitution of the United States, Declaration of Independence, equality, freedom, Jesus, Jesus and taxation, Jesus Christ, liberty, music, prayer, United States

Secular and Religious Implications of Government as Robin Hood

August 31, 2012 by tornado Leave a Comment

The idea of helping the poor among us is noble and correct–a grand calling of good. Of that, I know no practicing Christian (and few secularists) who disagree. The only dissension is in how that should be accomplished.

I prefer that charity toward the less-fortunate be done on the individual level, as each person’s conscience and/or personal duty to the Lord shall compel, through either direct aid or through reputable charities. I also prefer charity that helps the poor to help themselves–rather than the equivalent of dumping money into enabling of destructive personal addictions and dependencies (including dependency on government).

Any of us who are not sufficiently charitable in this life (even if that includes me) will have to answer for it in the next. And for those who don’t believe in a next life, you had better hope you’re right…and even then, there’s still your own conscience (if any) to which you are nominally accountable.

By contrast, some leftist Christians (including our President, apparently), indicate that it is the believer’s duty to make sure government will take from one to give to another, sanctimoniously supposing they or the government best knows the needs of poor and rich private individuals, as well as how best to spend hard-earned money of others once it has been taken from them.

[Odd how it’s others’ money the left wants, isn’t it?]

Just because we are supposed to “render to Caesar” doesn’t mean we encourage Caesar to steal more. And by the way, Caesar is dead, and so is the Roman Empire. This entertaining gentleman puts it another plain-spoken way, which I certainly can appreciate. To his reasonable rant, let me add more food for thought…

Forcible or coercive taking of resources, money or time from a person, in any form, is called theft. Ever heard of “thou shalt not steal”? Does it say, “Thou shalt not steal except to give to the poor via government bureaucracies”? No. Question answered.

Governmental extortion via taxation has proved for decades not to solve poverty anyway, by virtue of the simple fact that poverty still exists. Making an idol out of big government isn’t the answer. Charity–especially small, locally-based charity, is.

Every dollar taken from us in taxes is one dollar less we have for charity. This is mathematically unavoidable fact–not opinion. Now, for some experience-based opinion: indeed, private charity and philanthropy are much, much, much better equipped, in terms of compassion, familiarity and efficiency, to handle solutions to poverty than distant Washington bureaucrats with their bloated overhead, wastefulness and policy inertia. Maybe there’s a good reason that conservatives are more charitable as a group (individual exceptions being averaged into the general trend)–whether with money, time or blood.

Far be it for liberal Christians to assume that there is something inherently, socially noble about using government as a vector to commit Robin Hood style theft. Again, read the Eighth Commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.” That commandment applies equally to governments as to individuals; for governments are composed of…you guessed it, people! This means that all the criminal ills that afflict society at large also are present within government–including extortion, embezzlement, bribery, kickbacks, favoritism, cronyism, and assorted anti-whomever prejudices.

Those who work in some form of government, including me, are bound by our ethics (and faith, if religious) to check any such inclinations at the door. Even if only a tiny percentage of government fails to do so, that’s still many tens of thousands of people on a national scale. Do you trust they won’t get their grimy paws involved? Do you trust them to deliver the goods with your money more efficiently and effectively than, say, a local charity that is more directly accountable to the giver than some distant, faceless, nameless Washington bureaucrats? If so, I’ve got some land between Key West and Havana to sell you.

For all who claim, “Taxes are a moral issue!”, I agree–they are–just not in the way you might think. And for all those who advocate higher taxes (again, typically for others): for years, I have offered one simple challenge that no higher-tax advocate–I mean not one single person–has had the moral wherewithal or courage of conviction to take up! That says something about those who push for higher taxes, their willingness to stop bellowing hollow ideology and instead put money in place of mouth.

For the very few who might include themselves in the request for more taxation: do you believe you’re being generous and charitable by paying more taxes? If you’re part of the Christian left, do you think that somehow will get you deeper into Heaven, or earn brownie points with the Big Man that somehow aren’t available to those anti-intellectual, heathen, backward-thinking right-wingers–the folks whom you look down upon while claiming some high-horse position of pseudo-egalitarian social-justice advocacy?

Or if you’re secular, answer this: how is forced altruism (i.e., you can’t back out or change your mind!) not an innately self-contradictory idea? The Soviets could tell you: “It is, and so what. We take, regardless.” If you get your wish, that’s your fate, and that of everyone else too. I suppose then we’re all equal, all right…equally screwed!

————–

For more on poverty problems and straight-talk solutions, see my four-part series on poverty in America: (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4). Part 3 is especially pertinent to this topic, and contains the taxation challenge.

Filed Under: Not weather Tagged With: altruism, Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Obama, charity, Christian left, Chrstianity, donation, extortion, generosity, Jesus and taxation, Julius Caesar, left-wing, left-wing dogma, Obama, right-wing, secularism, Soviet, taxation, theft

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