As Barack Hussein Obama kicked off his presidential campaign with a State of the Union message.  The Prevaricator in Chief tried to sound much more mainstream than his actions have shown him to be.  We shall look at any proposals that may actually have both merit and potential for execution at a later date, however for now, let’s look at what American patriot, Thomas Paine might tell him.

However, we need to consider what these actions really mean… and what they do not mean. These actions are simply a reflection of the predominant thinking of a small segment of our society seeking to impose their values on the rest of us. It is not any indication of the right or wrong of the such a position. It does, however, expose the citizens to the consequences of this corporate tolerance of behavior that our Creator rejects in no uncertain terms.

As early as the third book of the Bible, Leviticus, chapter 18, we see, “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.” Some say that is an Old Testament concept, that the New Testament preaches a concept of freedom. Yet Romans 1 says, “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

Those who tell us something other than that are preaching another gospel. They may have the ability to force their view upon our country for a time, but be assured, it is only their wishful opinion and it does not come from above. It is at this time that we need to look at something the founders of this great country knew. Our Declaration of Independence contains these words:

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 among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

What we see here is that the founders were setting up a government that recognized the rights we, as human beings, not just Americans, have and where they come from. It says we have them as an endowment from our creator. He created us to be free. This founding document is only recognizing them, not granting them.

It is when governments put themselves in the business of creating and granting new, discovered, rights, like the right to kill your offspring, or the right to things that others have worked for, or the right to practices that led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, that trouble arises.

What is our response to such an over stepping of the authority by those who have been entrusted with our leadership and safety? We may have to regard some of the legalities, but we do not have to accept their definition of right and wrong. We do not have to live our lives according to their distorted world view.

Among other things, we need to understand the difference between legal vs. illegal and right vs. wrong. We would love to live in a world where there was there was a correspondence between right and legal. Unfortunately, such is not the case. Our betters would want us to adjust our values to align with what they have determined to be the standards of the days.

For the Christian, this is not an option. We can only hold true to the things we know to be right. We must stand for these things, even if it brings us into conflict with our government. We have to consider the long term consequences of such a decision, even if it brings about short term hardship. We know in our hearts that there is a power greater than Washington DC, and it is not China. We need to know that there is someone who cares about us more than the President, and it isn’t one of the writers at the New York Times.

The issue of marriage is only one of the many points of conflict. Ultimately there is only right and wrong. Our future depends on which side we are on.

To answer the second part of the ostrich argument first: no, America is not the freest nation on earth. According to the Index of Economic Freedom, which is produced by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, the United States just barely makes it in the top ten, ranked at number nine in the world.

According to Deroy Murdock, “Among the 179 countries examined in the Index, Hong Kong is ranked first, followed by Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Ireland, and Denmark. These nations all outscored the U.S. across ten categories, including taxes, free trade, regulation, monetary policy, and corruption.

“America barely made the top ten. Bahrain was tenth, with 77.7 points, one decimal point behind America’s 77.8 score. Chile reached No. 11 with 77.4, just 0.4 points behind the United States.

“Even worse, with a score below 80, the U.S. is spending its second year as a ‘mostly free’ economy. As it departed the family of ‘free’ nations in 2010, it led the ‘mostly free’ category. Even within this less-than-illustrious group, America now lags behind Ireland and Denmark.”

See Murdock’s report.

Just ask any small businessman how free the United States is! The regulations, restrictions, prohibitions, assessments, fees, taxes, surcharges, permits, licenses, etc., are worse than almost any industrialized nation in the world. Remember the CEO of Coca Cola recently saying that it was easier doing business in China than in America? Well, he was telling the truth!

Thanks to political correctness, environmental wackoism, and socialistic/fascist ideology running rampant in Washington, D.C., and even many State capitols, “the land of the free” has become “the land of the oppressed.” Being able to drive a car, have a job, shop at a mall, watch sports on television, or even vote, is NOT the mark of a free people. Folks in China and other oppressed nations routinely do all of the above.

Virtually every activity once considered a “right” is now regulated or prohibited by either the federal or State and local government. Few states (thankfully, my home State of Montana is one of them) recognize the right of people to marry without getting a State marriage license. And can anyone imagine Paul Revere riding throughout Boston with a license plate and registration on his horse? And can anyone further imagine Sam Adams or those militiamen at Lexington and Concord registering a gun or being asked to get a concealed carry permit? Yeah, right!

In most urban settings, one cannot build a shed on their own property, add a room on their house, or even pour a driveway without asking a variety of government bureaucrats for permission–and paying them hundreds of dollars in fees, of course. And did you know that the federal government even tells your local plumbing contractor how many gallons of water your toilet can flush? Well, they do! You call this freedom? Our Founding Fathers wouldn’t have!

To answer the first part of the ostrich question, the freedoms we Americans have lost are literally too numerous to count. A recent report at the American Dream web site makes a very salient argument as to just how many freedoms have been lost in the good old U.S. of A.

The report states, “Once upon a time, our founders thought that they were guaranteeing our freedoms by adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution.

“But today there are a lot of freedoms that we simply do not have any longer.

“In America today, you do not have the right to say whatever you want. If you say the wrong thing on a blog or a website it can have dramatic consequences.

“In America today, you do not have the right to do raise your own children as you see fit.

“In America today, you do not have the right to grow whatever food you want and you do not have the right to eat whatever food you do grow.

“In America today, you do not have the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

“In America today, you do not have a right to privacy. In fact, you should expect that everything that you do is watched, tracked, monitored and recorded.”

The report then goes on to list several real-life examples to prove the assessments listed above.

See the American Dream.

And, of course, the ultimate symbol of a free people is the right to keep and bear arms. And while most states theoretically recognize a citizen’s right to own and possess a gun, the vast majority of them only do so–not as a right guaranteed to a free people by their Creator–but as a privilege granted to approved subjects by the limited benevolence of the State. At last count, only four states recognize the right of their citizens to keep and bear arms without any kind of State license: Alaska, Arizona, Vermont, and Wyoming. (For clarification, the State of Montana allows open carry Statewide and concealed carry in unincorporated areas, but people carrying concealed in incorporated cities, must have a CCW permit. We passed legislation this year to expunge the incorporated city CCW requirement, but our Democrat governor vetoed it. But Montana will be the fifth State soon!)

View a current map of Constitutional Carry states.

So, the next time you hear someone say, “What freedoms have we lost? We are the freest nation on earth,” why not give them a copy of this column? And then tell the ostrich to get his head out of the sand and his rump off the couch before the little remnant of freedom we have left is also completely eviscerated.

For more by Chuck Baldwin, go to http://chuckbaldwinlive.com

America did not, nor does not want force; but she wanted a proper application of that force. Wisdom is not the purchase of a day, and it is no wonder that we should err at the first setting off. From an excess of tenderness, we were unwilling to raise an army, and trusted our cause to the temporary defence of a well-meaning militia. A summer’s experience has now taught us better; yet with those troops, while they were collected, we were able to set bounds to the progress of the enemy, and, thank God! they are again assembling. I always considered militia as the best troops in the world for a sudden exertion, but they will not do for a long campaign. Howe, it is probable, will make an attempt on this city [Philadelphia]; should he fail on this side the Delaware, he is ruined. If he succeeds, our cause is not ruined. He stakes all on his side against a part on ours; admitting he succeeds, the consequence will be, that armies from both ends of the continent will march to assist their suffering friends in the middle states; for he cannot go everywhere, it is impossible. I consider Howe as the greatest enemy the Tories have; he is bringing a war into their country, which, had it not been for him and partly for themselves, they had been clear of. Should he now be expelled, I wish with all the devotion of a Christian, that the names of Whig and Tory may never more be mentioned; but should the Tories give him encouragement to come, or assistance if he come, I as sincerely wish that our next year’s arms may expel them from the continent, and the Congress appropriate their possessions to the relief of those who have suffered in well-doing. A single successful battle next year will settle the whole. America could carry on a two years’ war by the confiscation of the property of disaffected persons, and be made happy by their expulsion. Say not that this is revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view but the good of all, have staked their own all upon a seemingly doubtful event. Yet it is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with prejudice.

Quitting this class of men, I turn with the warm ardor of a friend to those who have nobly stood, and are yet determined to stand the matter out: I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but “show your faith by your works,” that God may bless you. It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home counties and the back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike. The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. My own line of reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a ray of light. Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to “bind me in all cases whatsoever” to his absolute will, am I to suffer it? What signifies it to me, whether he who does it is a king or a common man; my countryman or not my countryman; whether it be done by an individual villain, or an army of them? If we reason to the root of things we shall find no difference; neither can any just cause be assigned why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other. Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man. I conceive likewise a horrid idea in receiving mercy from a being, who at the last day shall be shrieking to the rocks and mountains to cover him, and fleeing with terror from the orphan, the widow, and the slain of America.

There are cases which cannot be overdone by language, and this is one. There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both. Howe’s first object is, partly by threats and partly by promises, to terrify or seduce the people to deliver up their arms and receive mercy. The ministry recommended the same plan to Gage, and this is what the tories call making their peace, “a peace which passeth all understanding” indeed! A peace which would be the immediate forerunner of a worse ruin than any we have yet thought of. Ye men of Pennsylvania, do reason upon these things! Were the back counties to give up their arms, they would fall an easy prey to the Indians, who are all armed: this perhaps is what some Tories would not be sorry for. Were the home counties to deliver up their arms, they would be exposed to the resentment of the back counties who would then have it in their power to chastise their defection at pleasure. And were any one state to give up its arms, that state must be garrisoned by all Howe’s army of Britons and Hessians to preserve it from the anger of the rest. Mutual fear is the principal link in the chain of mutual love, and woe be to that state that breaks the compact. Howe is mercifully inviting you to barbarous destruction, and men must be either rogues or fools that will not see it. I dwell not upon the vapors of imagination; I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as A, B, C, hold up truth to your eyes.

I thank God, that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear. I know our situation well, and can see the way out of it. While our army was collected, Howe dared not risk a battle; and it is no credit to him that he decamped from the White Plains, and waited a mean opportunity to ravage the defenceless Jerseys; but it is great credit to us, that, with a handful of men, we sustained an orderly retreat for near an hundred miles, brought off our ammunition, all our field pieces, the greatest part of our stores, and had four rivers to pass. None can say that our retreat was precipitate, for we were near three weeks in performing it, that the country might have time to come in. Twice we marched back to meet the enemy, and remained out till dark. The sign of fear was not seen in our camp, and had not some of the cowardly and disaffected inhabitants spread false alarms through the country, the Jerseys had never been ravaged. Once more we are again collected and collecting; our new army at both ends of the continent is recruiting fast, and we shall be able to open the next campaign with sixty thousand men, well armed and clothed. This is our situation, and who will may know it. By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils — a ravaged country — a depopulated city — habitations without safety, and slavery without hope — our homes turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for Hessians, and a future race to provide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of. Look on this picture and weep over it! and if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented.

December 23, 1776

[Editors note: In this classic article, Thomas Paine discusses the choices that laid before the colonists just prior to Christmas 1776. In many ways, they are the same choices we face today. Please return for Part II tomorrow.]

December 23, 1776

Part I

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but “to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.

Whether the independence of the continent was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is, that had it been eight months earlier, it would have been much better. We did not make a proper use of last winter, neither could we, while we were in a dependent state. However, the fault, if it were one, was all our own; we have none to blame but ourselves. But no great deal is lost yet. All that Howe has been doing for this month past, is rather a ravage than a conquest, which the spirit of the Jerseys, a year ago, would have quickly repulsed, and which time and a little resolution will soon recover.

I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent. Neither have I so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that He has relinquished the government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils; and as I do not, I cannot see on what grounds the king of Britain can look up to heaven for help against us: a common murderer, a highwayman, or a house-breaker, has as good a pretence as he.

‘Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed boats; and in the fourteenth [fifteenth] century the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment! Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. Many a disguised Tory has lately shown his head, that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which Howe arrived upon the Delaware.

As I was with the troops at Fort Lee, and marched with them to the edge of Pennsylvania, I am well acquainted with many circumstances, which those who live at a distance know but little or nothing of. Our situation there was exceedingly cramped, the place being a narrow neck of land between the North River and the Hackensack. Our force was inconsiderable, being not one-fourth so great as Howe could bring against us. We had no army at hand to have relieved the garrison, had we shut ourselves up and stood on our defence. Our ammunition, light artillery, and the best part of our stores, had been removed, on the apprehension that Howe would endeavor to penetrate the Jerseys, in which case Fort Lee could be of no use to us; for it must occur to every thinking man, whether in the army or not, that these kind of field forts are only for temporary purposes, and last in use no longer than the enemy directs his force against the particular object which such forts are raised to defend. Such was our situation and condition at Fort Lee on the morning of the 20th of November, when an officer arrived with information that the enemy with 200 boats had landed about seven miles above; Major General [Nathaniel] Green, who commanded the garrison, immediately ordered them under arms, and sent express to General Washington at the town of Hackensack, distant by the way of the ferry = six miles. Our first object was to secure the bridge over the Hackensack, which laid up the river between the enemy and us, about six miles from us, and three from them. General Washington arrived in about three-quarters of an hour, and marched at the head of the troops towards the bridge, which place I expected we should have a brush for; however, they did not choose to dispute it with us, and the greatest part of our troops went over the bridge, the rest over the ferry, except some which passed at a mill on a small creek, between the bridge and the ferry, and made their way through some marshy grounds up to the town of Hackensack, and there passed the river. We brought off as much baggage as the wagons could contain, the rest was lost. The simple object was to bring off the garrison, and march them on till they could be strengthened by the Jersey or Pennsylvania militia, so as to be enabled to make a stand. We staid four days at Newark, collected our out-posts with some of the Jersey militia, and marched out twice to meet the enemy, on being informed that they were advancing, though our numbers were greatly inferior to theirs. Howe, in my little opinion, committed a great error in generalship in not throwing a body of forces off from Staten Island through Amboy, by which means he might have seized all our stores at Brunswick, and intercepted our march into Pennsylvania; but if we believe the power of hell to be limited, we must likewise believe that their agents are under some providential control.

I shall not now attempt to give all the particulars of our retreat to the Delaware; suffice it for the present to say, that both officers and men, though greatly harassed and fatigued, frequently without rest, covering, or provision, the inevitable consequences of a long retreat, bore it with a manly and martial spirit. All their wishes centred in one, which was, that the country would turn out and help them to drive the enemy back. Voltaire has remarked that King William never appeared to full advantage but in difficulties and in action; the same remark may be made on General Washington, for the character fits him. There is a natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude; and I reckon it among those kind of public blessings, which we do not immediately see, that God hath blessed him with uninterrupted health, and given him a mind that can even flourish upon care.

I shall conclude this paper with some miscellaneous remarks on the state of our affairs; and shall begin with asking the following question, Why is it that the enemy have left the New England provinces, and made these middle ones the seat of war? The answer is easy: New England is not infested with Tories, and we are. I have been tender in raising the cry against these men, and used numberless arguments to show them their danger, but it will not do to sacrifice a world either to their folly or their baseness. The period is now arrived, in which either they or we must change our sentiments, or one or both must fall. And what is a Tory? Good God! What is he? I should not be afraid to go with a hundred Whigs against a thousand Tories, were they to attempt to get into arms. Every Tory is a coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism; and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave.

But, before the line of irrecoverable separation be drawn between us, let us reason the matter together: Your conduct is an invitation to the enemy, yet not one in a thousand of you has heart enough to join him. Howe is as much deceived by you as the American cause is injured by you. He expects you will all take up arms, and flock to his standard, with muskets on your shoulders. Your opinions are of no use to him, unless you support him personally, for ’tis soldiers, and not Tories, that he wants.

It would be helpful to review some of the list of grievances that led them to take this drastic action and risk everything they had, including the families and their own lives.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

The British monarch refused to take care of issues important to the colonists. Problems needed to be addressed.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

Basically, the king ignored large segments of the population and catered to those who supported him and accepted his “benevolent” rule.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

By making it difficult for the colonists to hold legislative assemblies, and then disbanding them when they did not agree with the royal will, King George made it clear he was not interested in any input from his subjects. The legislative bodies were meant primarily to be a rubber stamp to his efforts to rule the colonies.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

As with the legislatures, the king was looking for judges to execute his will rather than justice.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

George created bureaucracies to control, regulate and manipulate the people.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

The crown held agents of force, at the expense and inconvenience of the subjects among them.

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

Britain controlled the trade of the colonies to their detriment.

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

Ah… here is the one most people know, but it seems kind of innocuous compared to some of the insults that came before it on the list.

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

After refusing the colonists the ability to have judges of their own number, the British king erected many more barriers to obtaining justice.

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

Colonists who still considered themselves subjects of the empire were finding they no longer had the rights and protections in the new world that they had back on English soil.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

King George dealt harshly with those who objected to his abuses of the colonists and took retaliatory measures against those who only wanted to be respected and treated as other subjects of the crown.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

Not only were the king’s policies harmful to the colonists, they angered native Americans to the point of hostility and produced further harm to the colonists.

Essentially, the colonists faced a dictatorial monarch who was more interested in showing them his power and control of their lives than being a benefit to them. As the Declaration of Independence showed, the king’s attacks on the peace and prosperity of the colonies went far beyond the mere idea of taxation without representation. He was arrogant, uninterested in their complaints… and ultimately lost the colonies after a costly war an ocean away.

We see some of the same types of intrusions on our freedom today, in an updated form, but inflicted with the same elitist, uncaring arrogance. One can only hope that we can push them back and regain our liberty without going through the traumatic destruction that our founders experienced. We can hope and pray, but if we are unwilling to make a stand like our ancestors did, the enemies of freedom will sense this and our cause will be lost. On the other hand, it is the honest willingness to do whatever is necessary that will insure our victory.

The father of our country, George Washington, understood “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His mercy, to implore His protection and favor… That great and beneficent author of all good that was, that is, or ever shall be, that we may then unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people.” He was not alone.

I can just hear the “fiscal conservatives” scream bloody murder almost as loudly as the atheist progressives now running the country and our lives. Many think all we have to do get our financial situation in order and things will be just fine. It is, unfortunately, not too surprising with the way the educational system has become a materialistic indoctrination operation and our courts have done their best to remove understanding of the Christian bent of most of our founders from the public knowledge. They believe this does no harm. They actually believe there is a real benefit to removing religion, especially Christianity from the public sphere. Then, they also think we can fix the problems ourselves… or really, themselves.

Over the years since prayer and Bible reading has been removed from the public schools, violent crime has skyrocketed, as has teen pregnancy and dependency on the government that is only to happy to feed the addiction to taxpayer funds.

Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence from Maryland, commented, “Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure…are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”

The book of Jeremiah tells the story of his attempts to convince the kingdom of Judah to turn back to God and reject the false gods they were following. False prophets tickled the peoples ears with stories that every thing would be fine, that they had nothing to worry about. The false prophets were wrong and King Nebuchadnezzar carried them off to Babylon. They did not turn back to their roots and they paid the price. We do not have to be carried off anywhere. Our country is being turned in to a socialistic nightmare all around us.

Benjamin Franklin asked “If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?” We are finding out. Yet, it’s not just religion. Patrick Henry clears this up, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”

Jefferson added, “No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example.”

So, does this mean we have convert everyone? No, emphatically no! While this may be desirable, we must spread the word and do the best to get the job done. It cannot be done on a corporate level. Purveyors of the so-called gospel of social justice, including the man in the White House, believe in corporate salvation, but that is not the way it works. Each one becomes a follower of Christ as the result of an individual decision. It cannot be forced as Constantine tried to do. Besides, a proper interpretation of our First Amendment prevents any attempt at creating a national religion – although many are working on proclaiming atheistic humanism as our state religion… with not a peep out of the ACLU.

What we can do is make every effort to stop our nation from becoming more of a stench in the nostrils of our creator who gave us “unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. A few of the things we are doing include turning our back on the apple of God’s eye, Israel, we are permitting the destruction of millions of unborn infants, we are embracing the abomination of homosexual relationships… and that is just the beginning.

Proverbs 14:34 tells us “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.” On one hand we have so much going on that just wouldn’t fly with our founders – even the least religious. On the other hand, our world is falling apart around us. It doesn’t take a genius to make the connection. There are those who do not wish us well, that are encouraging us as we travel down this road to destruction… unfortunately some of them are in positions of leadership.

So can we fix the country by fixing everyone around us. That sounds appealing, but that would put us in the same position as Barack Hussein Obama who invariably blames all his failings on everyone from George W Bush, his lap dog media or even the citizens who are just too stupid to know how right this leftist really are.

We, as Christians, need to fix ourselves first. II Chronicles 7:14 says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Until we clean up our own acts – not looking for short cuts or special advantages for ourselves and turning a blind eye toward other forms of government giveaways that may benefit us at the expense of our neighbors – and tolerating the intolerable, we cannot expect our country to return to its days of glory when we led the world economically, militarily and morally.

Thousands of Christians joined Texas Governor Rick Perry in Houston Saturday as he and many others recognized the failure of the solutions of man and looked to the creator of man. It is doubtful any of the formerly mainstream media had any comprehension of what was taking place.

History records that when an impasse was reached during the deliberations that produced our constitution, they turned to prayer for the wisdom and good will to complete their task. Yet today, this seems to be a rather quaint solution to the sophisticated elites. These are the same sophisticated elites that have had such a huge hand in creating our problems.

The assembled throng was encouraged toward personal repentance as the first step to restoring our nation. Most of those attending and those watching the video feed are well aware of their flaws and the need to make changes in their own lives. It’s not that we can achieve perfection, but without recognizing our own shortcomings and confessing them, we are in no position to intercede for our nation.

The corporate body of Christ was then called into account. The church was once the source of charity for the fatherless and the widows. The church once provided the moral compass for our nation. The church has abdicated most of its responsibilities and retreated behind the doors of its buildings. This is just the way the the purveyors of our secular humanist state religion like it. It upsets them when someone comes along and says there is a higher power than the seat of government.

Are these only the people of the Democrat Progressive Party that have been dragging our country into their socialist utopia? That would be a popular account to some, but much of the criticism directed at Perry and the event come from within his own Republican Party. The “wisdom” of many within the party establishment is that, if he wants to be president, he should stick to fiscal conservative issues… issues they are comfortable with. By showing this jaundiced view of this outcry to God, they are showing they are neither qualified nor worthy of their influential positions.

News organizations are treating the event as strictly a political event. CNN has a somewhat mocking tone, looking at it as foolish to look to a god they don’t even think exists to solve problems that the government is struggling with. Others look at it as catering to the religious right – something they don’t believe is necessary since he already has their vote. Even FoxNews could only report on the gathering as a political event. Their spiritual blindness brings the rest of their thinking into question.

It’s as if these journalists never read the Declaration of Independence where the signers knew they would hang for treason if they were not successful and their only source of hope was “a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence”. The founders were living in dangerous times and knew their only source of help was God Almighty.

We, too, are living in dangerous times, the people who have taken over our government have tried everything in their bag of trick to remake our country, thinking that the free market system they despise was responsible for the economic hardships sweeping our nation. The problem is that nothing they have done has made our country into any kind of utopia. Instead of a dream land, they are guiding us into a nightmare. Yet, in their blindness, these word slingers deny, even scoff at turning back to God.

Among the shortcomings of the church needs to repent of, is the fatalistic acceptance of the slaughter of 54 million unborn children. While there is blood on the hands of murderous physicians, along with the politicians and judges who have made this abomination the law of our land, the guilt is shared by those of us who have permitted this to happen.

To put this into perspective, there are over 58,000 names of the dead on the Vietnam wall. Walking along that sacred memorial leaves one with a sense of sadness and rage. This, I believe, is justifiable as these names represent some of our finest young men and women… some of them, friends and classmates of mine. But, where is the sense of sadness and rage over these 54 million babies that never even had the chance to have a name, or a childhood? It must break God’s heart… does it break ours.

II Chronicles 7:14 tells us it’s not the fault of those killing the babies. It is our fault for permitting it. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (NIV)

We have made half-hearted efforts to stop our current holocaust. Many of us Protestants have left the job to the Catholic church. It has been carrying on the fight with limited success. Even many of our faithful Catholic brothers have left the battle to the priests.  There has been some success, but we cannot expect these good men to carry the fight for all of us.

How can we expect our righteous creator heal our land while we tolerate this evil in our midst? We need to consider the admonition of Haggai 1:7 and consider our ways. The slaughter of innocence may be the most egregious of our insults to the Almighty, but there are many more, like the sin that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. We will throw them from tall buildings as they do in Islamic countries, but we cannot accept elevating their practices to an respected lifestyle. We permit these things in our midst and we wonder why our nation is falling apart.

So what do we do? Saturday was a good start, as was the 1980 Washington for Jesus rally. People came from all over the country at that time for a similar purpose – although many in the press only saw it as part of an effort to elect Ronald Reagan – much like many today only see it as an attempt to elect Rick Perry. They just don’t get it!

I don’t know if Rick Perry is the man for the job. However we have one leader who recognizes that unless we reject the wisdom of man and place our “firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence”, we have no hope. Government has tried and government has failed.

We will close this with Gov. Perry’s prayer which summed up the spirit of the day

Lord, You are the source of every good thing, You are our only hope. And we stand before You today in awe of your power, and in gratitude for Your blessings; in humility for our sins.

Father, our heart breaks for America. We see discord at home. We see fear in the marketplace. We see anger in the halls of government. And as a nation we have forgotten Who made us, Who protects us, Who blesses us, and for that we cry out for Your forgiveness.

We pray for our nation’s leaders, Lord — for parents, for pastors, for the generals, for governors — that You would inspire them in these difficult times. Father, we pray for our president, that You would impart Your wisdom upon him, that You would guard his family. We pray for our military and the families who love them. Father, especially for those special operators who lost their life yesterday in defending our freedoms.

You call us to repent, Lord, and this day is our response. We give it all to You. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen and amen.

… and amen.

[Videos from the event will be available soon at http://theresponseusa.com/ .]

To make matters worse, these selfish citizens are pulling more money out of the economy by increasing personal saving to almost five and a half percent of after tax income. They did this in spite of the abysmal interests rates forced upon us by the Fed trying to meet the government’s insatiable need to borrow.

This combination of less spending and more saving is an indication many are taking what steps they can to protect their families and themselves from the man made disaster called the US economy. They realize nothing is certain anymore. They know “good” jobs could be gone tomorrow… whether through diminished markets, outsourcing or aggressively hostile regulation.

The uneducated American public instinctively knows that Keynesian economic theory only works in Ivy League academic models. The people are smart enough to know that when things are going badly, when your income is down and expenses are up, you don’t get out of the situation by spending more and more. There comes a time when you have to conserve your resources, even when your government is encouraging you to commit economic suicide by sacrificing your own financial well being so the monthly numbers will look better.

It looks like the citizens, the unwashed masses, have a better idea of how to take care of themselves than their multi-degreed betters. Many in our society are beginning to understand that “the borrower is slave to the lender”. (Proverbes 22:7b) The irony is that, especially with this president, the more individuals try to secure their freedom, the further our government goes to enslave all of us in a web of debt and deceit.

The figures show that despite the efforts of our government, the formerly main stream media and the skilled practitioners of the advertising industry, sanity is beginning to spread in the land. Borrowing – committing tomorrows’ money which may or may not be there – is the bane of the studious and frugal man. Sure it is necessary sometimes, but doing it excessively and unecessarily is hallmark of modern day thinking. Congratulations to the wisdom of the people.

It is unfortunate that as the people save more and more, they get an insultingly low return on their investment and the value of each dollar is diminished as the Federal Reserve “prints” ever more dollars to feed the voracious appetite of the national government and keep the wealthy ruling class in their yachts and mansions.

The “little people” may have common sense on their side, but they don’t have the resources and connections of the ruling class. This makes it even more critical that those who value freedom and independence work together – and I mean work – to prevail over those who would be our masters. These overeducated, under disciplined practitioners of pseudo-economics tell us that we the people just don’t understand how government works and what is best for us. They say we just don’t know what is best and what we are talking about In reality, the reverse is true.

George Washington

Called “The Father of His Country,” George Washington was, perhaps, the most important man of the founding era. Supernaturally spared during the Indian wars, Washington became the military leader who held the Continental Army together when it was virtually impossible for any man to do so. Without his leadership at Valley Forge and elsewhere, there is absolutely no doubt that the Continental Army would have fallen apart and the fight for independence would have been lost.

Equally significant is the leadership that George Washington demonstrated in the Continental Congress. Without question, Washington was the glue that held the political bodies of the colonies together. Then add the fact that George Washington was America’s first President, whose leadership solidified the colonies into a new United States, and his value to the cause of American independence cannot be in any way overstated.

Think of it: George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. And he led that inferior army to victory over the greatest military force in the world at the time: Great Britain. Afterward, Washington rebuffed a strong effort to inaugurate him as America’s king, and led the fledgling nation to embrace republican government instead. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention that drafted the US Constitution. He was America’s first President. Washington’s Farewell Address formed the compass and rudder of America for at least the next hundred years and, in my opinion, is the greatest political address ever delivered on American soil. Without George Washington, there would be no America.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of America’s birth certificate: the Declaration of Independence. In my mind, there is no greater document of liberty ever written by man. When it came to the understanding of human rights, individual liberty, State rights, and enlightenment philosophy, Jefferson had no peer.

President John F. Kennedy once held a dinner at the White House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: “This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” He was probably right.

Jefferson served in the Continental Congress; he was the first Secretary of State; he was the third President of the United States; he commissioned the Lewis and Clark expedition; he was the author of the Virginia Statute For Religious Freedom, which is regarded as one of the greatest declarations of religious liberty ever written; he spoke five languages and could read two others; he knew and influenced virtually every man who would be regarded as a Founding Father today; and he wrote nearly 16,000 personal letters. Had not the British burned much of it in the War of 1812, his library would probably go down as the greatest personal collection of literary works ever collected by one man. Without Thomas Jefferson, there would be no America.

Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry was the colonies’ most ardent advocate of liberty–bar none! In oratorical genius, he has never had an equal. Henry was a self-educated lawyer, successful farmer, devoted father of 17 children, and five-term governor of Virginia. Henry was the first Founding Father to defy British taxes, and in so doing was the first who was willing to risk death as a traitor.

Patrick Henry’s immortal speech at St. John’s Church in Richmond to a gathering of the Virginia legislators in 1775 is regarded yet today as the most influential speech ever delivered on American soil. Probably more people are acquainted with that “Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death!” speech than any other public address ever delivered.

Henry’s contribution to the War for Independence cannot be underestimated. As Governor of Virginia (the richest and most populated of the 13 colonies), he supplied the largest share of arms and munitions to the outnumbered and poorly provisioned Continental Army. It was also Patrick Henry and his fellow Anti-Federalists who were primarily responsible for the first ten amendments to the Constitution (the Bill of Rights) being drafted and ratified. Without Patrick Henry, there would be no America.

Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams is rightly called “The Father of the American Revolution.” He was a cousin to President John Adams and a graduate of Harvard. He was perhaps the most influential member of the Massachusetts State legislature. He succeeded John Hancock as Governor of Massachusetts. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He, along with men such as Dr. Joseph Warren, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and Josiah Quincy, Jr., created the “Committees of Correspondence,” which became the principle conduit of articles and letters of pro-revolution, pro-liberty, and pro-independence communication between the colonies. Adams was also very influential in the now-famous Boston Tea Party.

Sam Adams was so hated by the British government that they used military force to try and apprehend him, which led to both the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, and the “Shot Fired Heard ’Round The World” at Lexington Green and Concord Bridge on April 19, 1775. Without Samuel Adams, there would be no America.

James Madison

James Madison is properly called “The Father of The US Constitution.” He was the fourth President of the United States and was the principal author of the Bill of Rights. Madison authored more than a third of the Federalist Papers. Thomas Jefferson referred to the Federalist Papers as “The best commentary on the principles of government, which ever was written.” Madison served as US Representative from Virginia and as Secretary of State under Jefferson. George Washington considered Madison to be the preeminent authority on the US Constitution in the entire country.

Madison was a fervent proponent of the principle of divided power. He believed government (especially the federal government) could not be trusted with too much power and worked to ensure the separation of powers within the federal government. He also was a major proponent of State rights and sovereignty. Madison broke with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton over Hamilton’s promotion of the State Bank, and together with Thomas Jefferson, formed what became known as the Democrat-Republican Party. Madison also co-authored with Jefferson two of the most prominent documents of liberty: the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions. Without James Madison, there would be no America.

As we celebrate Independence Day this year, I trust and pray that each of us will reacquaint ourselves with the principles upon which the Declaration of Independence was written, and upon which the United States of America was founded. And while we are doing that, let’s be sure we are passing these principles on to our children and grandchildren, because without their dedication and commitment to liberty, there will be no America!

For more by Chuck Baldwin, go to http://chuckbaldwinlive.com