The Basis for a Strong Nation

By R.J. Godlewski
© April 20, 2009, All Rights Reserved


12. The Reawakening

“Be careful what you wish for”. It was a statement that my mother told me thousands of times while I was growing up and I am quite certain that many other mothers had told their children the very same thing. Another one of these priceless – and eternal – statements is the one that goes “If it sounds too good to be true, then it is”. I do not know about you, but I do not need a university debate team or a seasoned diplomat to tell me that the thoughts represent the essence of truth.

Unfortunately, many within our midst today wish for everything and wholeheartedly believe that only that which sounds “good” can indeed be good for us. This flies in the face of common sense. It flies in the face of reality. It flies in the face of history. Yet, we still long for that which we cannot earn and believe in that which we cannot possibly understand. To paraphrase an old saying, we have met failure and it is us.

We do not necessarily treasure the failure that we seek so actively but seek it we do. Through our actions. Through our thoughts. Through our silence. If what it takes to succeed does not sound “good” to our ears, we will gladly abandon it. If what it takes to fail miserably entices us to do what we know within our hearts to be wrong, we will still make the effort with pleasure. We want glory without the burden of sacrifice, heroes without the affront of offense. Our materialistic world simply prepackages everything for our preference of a “one size fits all” lifestyle.

Our nation, our world has become a place where each one of us prefers to be carried aloft upon the shoulders of the many. God forbid should we ever become one of the standard bearers of our great nation as we apparently would much rather become one of its pallbearers instead. To listen is therefore much more convenient than to speak. To be taught less aggravating than to teach. To become “universal” less offensive than to remain American.

Whereas history can blame Nero for the burning of Rome and the Germans for the existence of the Holocaust, our current plight can be blamed upon none other than ourselves. Like those who turned to worship of the Golden Calf following Moses’ delay in returning from Mount Sinai, we have simply abandoned God in favor of whichever entity suits our pleasure at the present. Be it movie star, journalist, professor, or president – as long as they whet our appetite for satisfaction we will quickly turn away from He Who truly provides.

How did we abandon our heritage? How do we continually divert from our proper path? Many have already written on our troubles, but I would like to point a few examples that you may have overlooked. These are not easy to consider, but they have a profound effect upon our future:

Religious Faith versus Religious Fanaticism

The United States of America is built soundly upon the precepts of religious faith, but we are savaged by fanaticism from within the ranks of both the conservative right and the liberal left. Religious faith represents the belief in a God Who orders all and Who bestows upon us certain inalienable rights and responsibilities. The extreme right – religiously speaking – partakes of this fanaticism whenever they, for example, literally interpret the Bible without regard as to the true intent of the authors. God may have inspired its content, but the frailty of the human hand in which He composed His work assures us of ambiguities for the present.

No one within their right mind can conceive of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse literally riding through either downtown Washington or Tehran. No one who truly understands the written Word can locate the so-called Rapture within the text of the Bible. Only the innocently naïve would ascribe 666 (Nero) to any modern villain. Such fanatical beliefs merely serve to discredit true Christianity in the eyes of those already hostile to Christ’s message of Salvation.

The liberal left, for their part, have simply abandoned religious faith altogether and replaced it with an artificial variant akin to Hitler’s perversion of Teutonic Christianity. Their crime of fanaticism rests with their concept of universality – that all people are equal regardless of our actions following our having been created. They worship the Almighty Excuse and blame everyone but themselves for society’s ills. They seek such abominations as gay marriages, abortion, euthanasia, and environmentalism simply to elevate human vice above God’s Grace. Human desire is their deity and it represents a whole pantheon of troubled desires. Their fanatical beliefs merely serve to discredit individual responsibility in the eyes of human justice.

Abandonment of Social Reverence

There used to be a time when men wore suits and ties to attend major league baseball games. Now, the only people who wear hats are idiots like Kid Rock. Our churches used to represent artifacts of history, proud structures adorned with icons and artistry. Today, they tend to look like simple community halls and, far worse, we treat them as such. When eight hundred of my fellow shipmates entered the Pearl Harbor base chapel to listen to a ten-year veteran of a Vietnamese POW camp speak you could hear a pin drop. When I kneel within my local Catholic Church, I cannot even hear myself pray for the noise of those around me. If someone cannot go without using their precious cell phone within church, how, then, can we expect them to dress appropriately?

Once we decided to dress down in our culture, we decided to dumb down as well. During the 1970’s, wearing torn jeans labeled us as social outcasts – poor people too disadvantaged to wear new clothes. Today, it is the wealthy (or those who want to be perceived as wealthy) that spend a fortune on jeans pre-tattered and pre-disheveled. The difference being that it was not our intent to look as though we did not care to dress. We merely saved our best clothes for church. Casual Fridays have forced us into Casual Everyday. Perhaps we need to start the week with Dignified Sundays to shove us into the right direction once again.

Experience Matters

Although I had never voted for the man, the one thing that I truly admired about President Reagan was that he used his experience and wisdom to guide a nation of young and dynamic people. He intimately understood our nation’s valid history of individual effort and technological innovation. Today, we have the inexperienced young leading our equally inexperienced youth. It is a recipe for failure, to say the least.

There is a reason for our natural aging other than to mock us with the decline of our health and bodies. Growing older matures us to the lessons of reality. When we are young, we are energetic and bold. We believe that anything is literally possible but for the thought to succeed. As we grow wiser with age, we learn that our thoughts may not be practical for the rest. We learn that time not only heals all wounds but smooths all failures.

When I was twenty, I was responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars of Naval hardware (without electricity, no ship could function). When I was thirty, I could not believe how immature I was at twenty – the role as husband had simply shifted my ideals of responsibility from money to family. When I turned forty, I could not believe how immature I was at thirty, for the threat of cancer had shifted my responsibility from future to present. Unfortunately, I do not have to reach fifty to understand how immature I was at forty – the death of a spouse shatters all priorities and refashions our concept of life itself.

Statistically, I can expect to witness another half of my life. Of what could I expect to see within the next forty-five years? By my death, I could be happily married again with seven children and dozens of grandchildren. The second half of my life could be even more extraordinary than the first. One thing is certain; however, I will undoubtedly look back upon these days and marvel at how immature I was.

Our society needs the passion of our youth, but unbridled this energy can do great misdeeds. It is like possessing a college degree without the necessary experience to challenge that knowledge. Great ideas require great effort and time. To merely believe that you know is tantamount to catastrophe. We must know that we know. And that, my friends, is a lifelong learning process.

Evil Exists

Call it what you want folks, but evil – of the true Biblical variety – does exist and it is all around us. It is the only way to explain why students massacre others, why tyrants commit genocide, and why others simply stand and permit these things to happen. Foremost amongst these evils is none other than abortion itself for this abomination consists of three simultaneous sins – 1.) The act of irresponsible sex; 2.) The dehumanization of the innocent; and 3.) The final act of murdering the child.

To simply confront evil with shrugged shoulders makes us no less egregious than those patrons who stepped over a dying woman within a local convenience store. We cannot permit the action of evil through our desire to study it. We are simply incapable of truly understanding the concept of evil, which is why God came down here upon earth to teach us about personal responsibility and strength. Christ conquered evil by dying for us. He did not say that we should sit down and theorize about it – which is why He toyed with our senses through the parables.

Whether we are discussing al-Qaeda, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (and his mullah overlords), or Hugo Chavez, we cannot simply dismiss their evil as matters of opposing thought. Neither have undertaken any action that rational humans would consider as beneficial to the greater population. All are an affront to God for they seek to act in his stead. We do not need to become violent; we just need to acknowledge that their evil cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.

A Bird In The Street Makes More Noise Than Ten In The Bush

Where Evil triumphs over Good is that Evil is far more effective at using people to spread its ill. On April 15th, we saw 350,000 people take to the streets to protest out of control government spending and taxation. This is a good start, but one that was not very effective in the long term. The liberal biased media dismissed the effort as a mere political stunt. What is needed is something a bit more observable to the Left.

If we surrounded the White House or the Capitol Building with only 1,000 people, but kept them there day after day, before long the message would be noticed by even the most recalcitrant media personality. Had the 350,000 Tea Party participants spread out their involvement, we could have kept this 1,000 people in front of our legislators for 350 days. Simply put, we need people to volunteer over the course of time in order to develop a much more permanent opposition towards Congress’s orgasmic spending policies.

Action is needed from much more than a few dedicated individuals. Everyone who upholds our values and traditions needs to participate. If we organize smaller, more long-term demonstrations, then everyone can participate for everyone is able to volunteer according to their schedule. Our message – of a free and strong America – must become as commonplace as the bureaucrats in Washington. We must make them fear our presence, our power, and our beliefs.

We, the American people, are the basis for a strong nation and we need to show that we are not silent citizens being led to the slaughter. Like the Israelites in Egypt, we have God on our side and our voices will be the plague that brings down Pharaoh Obama and his Congressional Phalanxes. We need to split the IRS like the Reed Sea so that we can move into our Promised Land – the America that our founding fathers fought and died for. There can be no greater threat to bureaucracy than a pissed off population. All that we need to do is to take our “mad as hell” message and make certain that those in power take notice. After all, it is our nation that we are fighting for. Sitting on the couch watching others make the effort isn’t going to lower your taxes any.

Proving that there is nothing (other than subservience and parasitism) that the government won’t try to regulate out of existence, bureaucrats are now going after the practice of owning pets. While it waits for the gargantuan spending it has set in motion to sink the economy, Congress busies itself by once again reaching into your personal life with H.R. 669 — aka The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act — a bill that could make many common pets illegal.

The idea is to ban animals and even plants that are not native to the USA. To save space, bureaucrats are listing what species are allowed, rather than all those that will be forbidden.

I’m guessing Comrade Obama’s Portuguese water dog will get an exception, but your tropical fish, exotic bird, boa, or even hamster might not be so lucky.

The strength of our democracy

The strength of our democracy is built on a fair and accurate system of elections. Our Constitution provides for Due Process and for Equal Protection in order to better guarantee the enfranchisement of every voter.

Unfortunately, those fundamental principles are under attack in Minnesota. Since Senator Norm Coleman was first ahead by hundreds of votes at the end of election night, the Democrats have aggressively worked to change the rules of the game after it’s been played.

Last night, they succeeded in convincing a three-judge panel to issue a fundamentally misguided ruling that disenfranchises over 4,000 Minnesota voters. They did so by imposing a different, and stricter, standard for votes to be counted rather than following the rules that were in place in Minnesota on Election Day.

In doing so, Constitutionally-valid Due Process and Equal Protection concerns have been raised…and as of yet, have not been resolved. Which is exactly why Senator Coleman is appealing this decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court: the votes of over 4,000 Minnesotans disenfranchised by this court’s opinion deserve to be counted.

It’s frankly shocking that many of the same Democrats who so loudly decried voter disenfranchisement during the Florida recount in 2000 have so quickly run away from that principle when it no longer fits their political agenda.

Nonetheless, Republicans, and the NRSC in particular, remain committed to a full and fair resolution of this election contest and stand firmly behind Senator Norm Coleman.

Your strong and continued support is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Man Busted for DUI…for Driving a Motorized Bar Stool

by Warren Riddle, posted Apr 1st 2009 at 11:01AM

Ohio resident Kile Wygle, 28, learned a difficult lesson this week. Be sure to sober up a little bit before you call the authorities, especially after you’ve wrecked your motorized barstool. Yep, the ingenious Wygle affixed a rigged-up chassis and a Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine to a barstool, enabling him to cruise home at up to 40 miles per hour, all the while feeling like he never left his cushy seat at his favorite watering hole.

Unfortunately, on March 4th, Wygle took a spill at 20 miles per hour, and called 911 over worries about possible head injuries. When the officers arrived at the scene, Wygle reportedly told them, “I wrecked my barstool.” Wygle’s next door neighbor told the befuddled authorities that he had noticed someone driving a “strange” motorized machine. Strange? We say awesome.

After Wygle failed field sobriety tests, police charged him with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. Fortunately for Wygle (and for our entertainment), however, they didn’t impound his homemade ride. We wish we could find footage of the unique arrest to see this baby in action, but, even without a demonstration, we’d be glad to purchase one of these slick stool-scooters, in case he wants to manufacture them to help offset legal fees. It does look like it needs a cup holder, though.

I Have a Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”