A PERSPECTIVE

President Barack Hussein Obama gave his last speech to the United Nations.  During his speech he,

·         warned Americans against ultra-nationalism.

·         stated, “we can choose to press forward with a better model…”

·         or “we can retreat into a world sharply divided… along age-old lines of nation and tribe and race and religion.”  http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/20/politics/barack-obama-un-diplomacy/index.html.

73 B.C.

The people in America had become complacent in their wealth, and would not listen to their leaders.  So, Moroni took a pole, and placed his rent coat upon it calling the Title of Liberty.  He then prayed to his God for the blessings of liberty… as long as… Christians remained on the Land.

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/search?lang=eng&query=TITLE+OF+LIBERTY&x=0&y=0

Summer.  1776

Thomas Jefferson began to pen the Declaration of Independence.  Within its prose, he spoke of God, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  And that governments are instituted by men to guarantee these rights given by God.

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/

Oct. 12, 1816

John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America stated, “Providence has given our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”

http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/jay-the-correspondence-and-public-papers-of-john-jay-4-vols

During the 27 years of the Bush’s, Clinton, and Obama in the White House, religion in America has been in a great decline.  It started earlier in the 60’s, and then began to decline rapidly in the 90’s.  http://religionnews.com/2014/01/27/great-decline-religion-united-states-one-graph/

This loss of religion is coupled with a loss in economic freedom.  There is a parallel.

https://www.mapi.net/blog/2015/09/america%E2%80%99s-disturbing-loss-economic-freedom

THURS. Oct 11, 1798

John Adams, the first Vice-President, and second President of the United States of America stated in a letter to the Massachusetts Militia, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102

About 600 B.C.

Jared, his brother, and his people travel to America, and as decreed by God, it is a choice land, but those who possess it must serve God, or be swept off. 

http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Jaredites  https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/ether/2.14

American Presidential election 2016.

The lead up, and aftermath of this has shown that corruption is rampant in both political parties, and is nearly complete.  Only a handful remain who understand the Constitution, and are faithful to it.

This is also true for the major media outlets who have abandoned investigative journalism for political persuasion, lies, and obfuscation.  This is evil, whatever your political persuasion may be.

About 92 B.C.

Alma the younger had a religious conversion, and no longer went about trying to destroy the Church.  He then became a great defender of it.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma_the_Younger

Tue. Nov. 8, 2016

As election night of 2016 ended, Donald Trump had won 39 States to Hilary Clinton’s 11.  He also won over 2500 counties across our Country compared to her 500.  Something had awakened in America!

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

Donald J. Trump, a man who has not showed much Christian faith previously, became the 45^th President of the United States of America.  In his inaugural address, he stated:

·         We are now joined in a great effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people.

·         We are transferring power from Washington, D.C. back to the people.

·         For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.

·         A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions.

·         The Bible tells us, “how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.”

·         And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator.

·         God Bless America.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/inaugural-address

Since then he has,

·         Called on God to bless the world after launching military strikes in Syria.

·         Asked God to bless the new Supreme Court Justice.

·         Invoked the Lord’s help in the war on opioids.

·         Pushed socially conservative positions.

·         Felt an increased faith in God, and an increased need to pray since becoming President.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/has-trump-found-religion-in-the-oval-office-237239

Trump is not a Republican.  Trump is not a Democrat.  Trump is not a politician.

Why would a rich Billionaire give up his lifestyle to be vilified and maliciously attacked by the media and existing power structure in Washington?  There is no money trail to follow.  There is no power trail to follow.  Is it all an act to achieve some unknown end? 

Or has he raised the Title of Liberty to save our Country?

POLITICS, MILLENNIALS, AND A SLEEPING GIANT

After watching this election cycle, and the world at large, I have several thoughts.  Most of these surround millennials and their view of the world.  And perhaps the next older generation as well.

With the beginning of the demolition of the Berlin wall in the summer of 1990, most free people thought communism had finally been defeated.  And it seemed so, for a while.

In the last few years however, like a sleeping giant communism seems to be awakening.  Many people do not realize that Russia’s current leader, Putin is an old KGB agent.  One of the responsibilities of the KGB during the 70’s was to provide security for, and guard the leadership of the communist party.  And now the man who knew the atrocities of this time, is their leader.

What does this have to do with today?  First, I don’t think this very dangerous part of our history is known or remembered to a great extent.  If so, I believe people would completely disavow the democratic party and their insatiability for State control.  I remember reading a magazine in the mid-80’s that noted since WWII the population of our country had grown 150% while the government had grown about 900%.  Why is this?  The founding fathers were terrified of a large central government.  And by the Constitution, it’s powers are supposed to be limited.

I doubt this is taught sufficiently in school anymore, because if it had been, something happened on January 14th, 2014 that should have terrified the nation.

President Obama, frustrated with his inability to get Congress to go along with his socialist programs, gave up on the rule of law.  He gave up on the enumerated powers of the Constitution, He gave up on over 250 years of history, and uttered these words,

“We’re not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help they need.  I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone.  And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward…”

This is not how a president of a free nation speaks.  This is the speech of a dictator, or a king.

Aristotle stated there were 3 principle types of governments that existed prior to the great American experiment in freedom, or self-government.  These were a monarchy, aristocracy, and a polity.

A monarchy has a single ruler such as a king.  An aristocracy is based on birth and privilege, and a polity was kind of a loose democracy without any controls.  The first two of these systems concentrated all power in a single individual, or a small ruling class.  And the third deteriorated into mob rule due to a lack of controls.

Today in the world, we have Communism, Monarchy’s, Marxism, and Socialism.  Without going into detail, these forms of government use what is known as command and control economies.  They have differences, but they are slight.

And now to the millennials.  A lot of them tend to be democratic in nature as liberalism seems to be the mantra in most of our universities.  In fact, many of the professors in universities today were the hippies of the 60s!  It is a "feel good" philosophy!

The more government programs we have, the less freedoms we have.  You see, the government does not have an income.  It can only give something to person “A,” if it takes from person “B.”  And the younger generations seem to think this is all good.

Where does this deterioration end?  If we do not stop and change course now, we will lose what is left of our Constitution and slowly slide into a third world society with ruthless dictators at our helm.  We are headed there now with President Obama’s statement quoted earlier.

Like the frog in the boiling pot, these changes are happening slowly, so we don’t notice them.  So, let’s jump ahead by going back in time to see how command and control economies worked after WWII.  And then see if this is the type of society you want to live in!  Following are a few examples of what freedom deteriorates into;

“The existence of the Soviet Republic side by side with imperialist states for a long time is unthinkable.  One or the other must triumph in the end.  And before that end supervenes, a series of frightful collisions between the Soviet Republic and the bourgeois states will be inevitable.”

V.I. Lenin, “Report of the central committee at the 8th party congress."  1919.

The history of the world, including now, is unending war between freedom and slavery.

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“Our collaboration with capitalism during the war which has recently ended, by no means signifies that we shall prolong our alliance with it in the future.  On the contrary, the capitalistic forces constitute our natural enemy despite the fact that they helped us to defeat their most dangerous representative.  It may happen that we shall again decide to make use of their aid, but always with the sole aim of accelerating their final ruin.”

Marshall Tito, Continental News Sevice Nov. 8, 1946.

We cannot trust communist societies even though we may work with them.

**********

“If the situation is ripe for a popular uprising, in view of the fact that the revolution in social relationships has already taken place, and if we have prepared for it, we can order an uprising.”

V.I. Lenin, Selected works, Vol. III p. 298.

Black lives matter?  Riots in Ferguson? Civil uprisings?  We have found out these have been funded by less than honorable sources.

**********


Speaking of the Bible, “A collection of fantastic legends without any scientific support.”
Russian dictionary under Christian Economics, Vol III, No. 7. March 27, 1951.
 
Hillary Clinton saying the Catholics have to give up their beliefs?  Obama forcing Christian doctors to do things that violate their beliefs through Obamacare?
**********

The Book of Revelation speaks of a great war in Heaven.  The issue was over agency and how we were to be saved.  Isaiah and Luke speak of this.

ANYTHING that lends to God given freedoms is righteous.  ANYTHING that would remove or shackle these freedoms is evil.

The drive of Satan (communism, command and control economies, whatever you want to call it) is to force all to be equally good and all the same.  The drive of God is to give us the freedoms we need to become like him.  A great war was fought in Heaven over this.  Is the fight for freedom any less important now?

THOUGHTS ON THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Let me start right off by stating this post is not to endorse any candidate or discuss my personal beliefs!  My intent is to offer some observations as to the state of our Country right now, and how we came to be in this position.

I have seen news articles that indicate up to 60% of our Country has not been happy with the Republican or Democrat nominee this time around.  That is a phenomenal amount, and bears some reflection.

The Constitution does not mention political parties.  They are just something that evolved rather quickly as our government is "of the people, by the people, for the people" (Gettysburg Address).  It was a simple thing for like minded individuals to get together and form parties.

One of the shortcomings of this however, is there have really been only two viable parties, democrats and republicans, which severely limits the playing field.

The Federalist party started in the 1790's and believed in a strong federal government.  The Democrat-Republican party started in the early 1800's and believed in a smaller federal footprint. 

The Democrat-Republican party became the Democrat party we have today, and believes in a strong federal government, and strong federal control among a host of other beliefs.  The Federalist party died around 1816, and the Republican party we know today started in 1854.  Its core belief is a limited federal government and local control.  Mind you, these two descriptions are horribly simplified for the sake of keeping this writing to a reasonable length!

Scott Conroy of Real Clear Politics wrote in 2013, "For as long as the United States has maintained its two-party system of government, reformers have dreamed of upending the status quo."  He continues, "From Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party of 1912 to Ross Perot's 1992 independent run for the White House, a smattering of real contenders in the last century pieced together personality-driven campaigns that threatened to change everything."

Unfortunately, those candidates fell short, and this has never changed.  It is a catch-22 situation.  Mr. Conroy believes a lot of people like third parties, but don't believe they can win, so end up voting Republican or Democrat.  It may be a simplistic answer, but explains very well their lack of success.

So here is a quick review of where we stand:

1) Democrats:  They will always get a certain number of electorates based on their big government and progressive agendas.  I will not go any further than this as I promised no personal beliefs!

2) Republicans:  The leadership has lost their conservative roots after being given the Senate, House, and a majority of the governorships.  They have completely turned their backs on those who elected them.

3) Because the Republican leadership disenfranchised their own base, Trump, who has never been a conservative or a Republican to my knowledge ran on the Republican ticket and beat all of their best!  I believe this happened because the Republicans, as well as the entire country, is completely fed up with career politicians.  I get that!

In summary:
For the Democrats, their party has been fairly consistent in their pursuit of an ever expanding and larger government.

For the Republicans:  Their party has fallen apart.  I believe there are still a majority of conservatives in the Country, but since the leadership is no longer conservative, there are two questions that must be answered.

1)  If Trump wins, will he govern conservatively?  Only time will tell.  If he does, perhaps the Republican party can be finally fix itself from within and rebuild.

1)  If Trump does not govern conservatively, can a third party realistically become a major player for the conservatives to endorse?

Whatever happens, I believe this will be the most pivotal election in our Nation's history.  I sure hope we get it right!  As my wife said, "Our politics is a reflection of who we are as a people."