Disillusioned

This iPhone app image got me thinking about our recent experience with my husband's campaign. No, we are not heading to Washington D.C.. There never was any thought that we would be. As a "third party" candidate, the cards are too stacked against you to ever make that a possibility in the near future. I debated about wether to post this or not, because I knew it would probably sound like sour grapes, but we really weren't concerned with "winning or loosing" and we gained such interesting insights into "how to play the game" that I just had to share. We have learned so much and have had a lot of positive experiences as we have met other patriotic, and like-minded people who are willing to do the work necessary to restore the freedoms we have lost in our country, but it was also a lot of work, and time, and frustration as we saw so many more people who don't know, and/or don't care about the detour we have taken as a nation. The frustrating thing to me is that so many people seem to think the problems have all been fixed now that the "Grand Ol' Party" has had such sweeping victories. What they fail to realize is that the detour we have taken didn't happen 2 years ago when Barack Obama took office, but over 100 years ago, and has been perpetuated by both parties ever since. 

We have been asked if we will continue down this path and try to run for office again in the future. The answer right now is no. There are too many things about the game of politics that we found distasteful. We saw many of these things before running, but they were brought into the spotlight over the past eight months. For now we are content to leave the campaigning to those who are comfortable with having their name and face displayed everywhere around town, and have no problem wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars of special interest group campaign contributions in order to purchase things like "campaign vehicles", and advertising so that they can essentially buy hundreds of thousands of votes. It has never been as clear to me as it is now, how much our public elections are like the superfluous student body elections of our high school days. It almost always comes down to who has the most money, and the most impressive signs (or commercials), and the greatest number of them, and who is the smoothest and slickest of the bunch. We say we are fed up with career politicians, and yet we continue to elect them and feel good about it, just because they are backed by the "tea party", or are really good at regurgitating the "I believe in the Constitution" rhetoric. 

Case-in-point: Utah's Senatorial Elections. Mike Lee was the poster boy for the tea parties this year. He was the master of Constitutional Rhetoric. He was constantly spouting his desire to help the country "return to the constitution", while in the same statements he would raise the call for amending the constitution to impose term limitations and balancing the budget. Although these are popular ideas right now, they are dangerous ones. The founders considered both of these ideas when they originally framed the constitution and opted not to include them because of the negative ramifications of each. (ex., If we are forced to balance the budget most politicians are more likely to just raise taxes, not cut spending.) These are band-aids, not cures to our current problems, and I find it troubling that someone so highly acclaimed and so supposedly knowledgeable can't see this for himself. These are not the only affronts to the constitution that Mike made while running either. He supports government mandated health care reform, just not "Obama Care", among other things. Mike Lee raised almost 1.5 million dollars for this campaign, and he spent most of it. To put this in perspective, his Democratic opponent raised less than $300,000 dollars, and the only true defender of the constitution running, Scott Bradley, raised much less than that. How can anyone hope to compete with that? 

So what are our options? Education. Education. Education. That was the only goal of my husbands campaign. He knew he couldn't win against an incumbent republican, in the most republican district in the country, with over $500,000 dollars to spend on his campaign. His only goal was to reach as many people as he could with the message of true liberty and the proper role of government. We had many rewarding experiences in cottage meetings and other gatherings around the state as he was able to share this message with others. Many people are searching for this message right now, as evidenced by the growth of the "Tea Party" movement, but unfortunately many are being deceived into thinking that the answers can be found in the current establishment. The answer isn't in our politicians, it is in "We the People". Until we educate ourselves and our neighbors, and read and re-read the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and their supporting documents, and above all, until we return to God and recognize Him as the Author of our liberty, nothing will change.

Be the Change You Wish to See

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."  ~Thomas Paine

A little over a year ago I wrote this post  about why I was supporting the Constitution Party, after a lifetime of voting Republican, in the upcoming elections.  It was clear to me then that our two party system was destroying freedom in America.  That fact has only become more clear to me over the past year.  While admittedly the most sweeping and radical moves toward statism have been sponsored by the Democrats, the Rebublicans have voted for and even sponsored many bills themselves which take power from the people and place it in the hands of the government.  It is a troubling trend.  One that gratefully many Americans are beginning to wake up to and resist, but if we are going to restore this country to the Provident freedom it once enjoyed it is going to require change much greater than "flipping the house" is going to provide.  I have felt so frustrated and hopeless about the state of our nation recently.  I have had a strong desire to do more about it, but haven't know what I could do.  Little did I know what was to come. . .

Last week, the day before C. Bear was born, my husband and I were approached by members of the Utah Constitution Party asking my husband to run for Congress.  Our first reaction was, "There is no way."  We had a list of excuses a mile long.  Among the top reasons why this was an unreasonable request were:

•We were about to have a new baby.
•My husband is incredibly busy at works right now, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
•My husband has a very demanding church calling right now.
•We don't have the money to successfully run a campaign.
•What was the point?  There was no way a third-party candidate was going to win against a heavily favored Republican, so why try?

We had two days to let them know.  At first "no" seemed like the only logical answer, but through prayer we were both brought to realize that we couldn't keep complaining about the state of things in this country if we weren't willing to pay some price to try to make it different.  This quote by Edmund Burke,  "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." kept coming to our minds and we knew what our answer needed to be.

Last Friday my husband drove to the State Capitol and filed his candidacy for Utah's Third District Congressional Seat.  He started setting up his website over the weekend, and I encourage you to take a look at it here. If you like what you see, pass the word along.  We want to get the word out to as many people as possible.  If you would like to contribute time or resources to the campaign, we would love the support.  If you don't live nearby we encourage you to find and support candidates in your area that honor and uphold the constitution as it was intended by the founders of this nation.  Who knows what this year will hold for us, and what the fruits of this labor will produce, but at least we can say that we have done something to try to prosper the cause of freedom.

Wordfull Wednesday: Politics

Yes, I am going to tread into the political realm again.  Chocolate has been doing these Wordfull Wednesdays for a while and I have wanted to participate, but keep forgetting.  This week's assignment was to pick the most important issue for you from the following list and write about it.  The choices were Abortion, Economy, Education, Immigration, Marriage (just between one man and one woman or should gays be allowed to marry?) ,War (Iraq, Afghanistan, or war in general). I love that she chose this topic and that such varying views are being expressed.  I believe that one of the biggest reasons that we are in the current political mess we are in in this country is that we have stopped having healthy political discussions with people of varying political persuasions. We take too much information from the media and "Party Propaganda" and spend too little time researching the issues for ourselves.  

As for the topics, these are all important issues for me, but I can't really say that one is most important. As I have studied our country's history and have gained a greater understanding of our divinely inspired constitution, I have realized that all political questions can best be answered by looking at the proper role of government.  One of my favorite guides to understanding what that proper role is, is this article by Ezra Taft Benson.  If you have not read this, please do, even if you don't espouse all of Benson's political ideals.  This is a concise and well reasoned view of government that every person should read.  

With an eye to this standard, I will attempt to express my ideas about the issues.  

Abortion: “Are there not, in reality, underlying, universal principles with reference to which all issues must be resolved whether the society be simple or complex in its mechanical organization? It seems to me we could relieve ourselves of most of the bewilderment which so unsettles and distracts us by subjecting each situation to the simple test of right and wrong. Right and wrong as moral principles do not change. They are applicable and reliable determinants whether the situations with which we deal are simple or complicated. There is always a right and wrong to every question which requires our solution.” (Albert E. Bowen, Prophets, Principles and National Survival, P. 21-22) Taking the life of an innocent being who has no choice in the matter is not "freedom of choice"  it is wrong.  As many have said before me, I believe in freedom of choice.  A woman has the freedom to choose whether or not to participate in an act that can lead to pregnancy.  Once she heads down that path she has made her choice and must live with the consequences.

Economy: I agree with Crabapple Farm in that the economy is best left in the hands of the people.  In the words of Henry David Thoreau, "This government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. IT does not educate. THE CHARACTER INHERENT IN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAS DONE ALL THAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED; AND IT WOULD HAVE DONE SOMEWHAT MORE, IF THE GOVERNMENT HAD NOT SOMETIMES GOT IN ITS WAY. For government is an expedient by which men would fain succeed in letting one another alone; and, as has been said, when it is most expedient, the governed are most let alone by it." (Quoted by Clarence B. Carson, THE AMERICAN TRADITION, p. 100; P.P.S.N., p.171) There are so many things that have contributed to our current economic situation, but most of it can be traced back to the federal government meddling in affairs that it has no right to be involved in.  I whole-heartedly agree with President Benson's 

"A FORMULA FOR PROSPERITY
The principle behind this American philosophy can be reduced to a rather simple formula:

1. Economic security for all is impossible without widespread abundance.
2. Abundance is impossible without industrious and efficient production.
3. Such production is impossible without energetic, willing and eager labor.
4. This is not possible without incentive.
5. Of all forms of incentive – the freedom to attain a reward for one’s labors is the most sustaining for most people. Sometimes called THE PROFIT MOTIVE, it is simply the right to plan and to earn and to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
6. This profit motive DIMINISHES as government controls, regulations and taxes INCREASE to deny the fruits of success to those who produce.
7. Therefore, any attempt THROUGH GOVERNMENTAL INTERVENTION to redistribute the material rewards of labor can only result in the eventual destruction of the productive base of society, without which real abundance and security for more than the ruling elite is quite impossible."

Education: I love this quote by Max Victor Belz, "I don't want my children fed or clothed by the state, but if I had to choose, I would prefer that to their being educated by the state."   I am in total agreement.  The government is notorious for making worse, anything it tries to tamper with.  I found this website that says it perfectly. "For more than three full lifetimes — the 220 years from the 1620s to the 1840s — most American schooling was independent of government control, subsidy, and influence. From this educational freedom the American Republic was born.
Now, after 150 years of tax-financed schooling, we see more and more children failing to grow into responsible, caring, competent adults. A movement is growing to reclaim the American tradition of family responsibility in education by returning to the separation of school and state."   One last quote by Sir Walter Scott, and I'll leave well enough alone.  "All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education."

Immigration: “The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. ” (John Locke, Two Treatises of Civil Government, II, 57: P>P>N>S., p.101)  I believe the freedoms of our country should be available to all who wish to enjoy them, but there is a right and lawful way to obtain that freedom.  Those wishing to reap the benefits should be willing to pay the price and go through the proper methods to do so.

Marriage: I refer to the quote in abortion.  I believe that "Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God."  (The Family: A Proclamation to the World) Anything else is wrong, and makes a mockery of this divinely mandated institution.

War: This is one area where my views have changed dramatically as I have studied the intent of the founders of our nation.  I used to believe the rhetoric that it was our duty to "promote the cause of freedom" in foreign lands.  I now appreciate the comments of John Quincy Adams when he said, "[America] goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom."  We can plainly see the wisdom of his statements as we calculate the needless loss of life in our most recent "war" that has no foreseeable end in sight, and whose merits are much less clear than they seemed to be at the outset.

I realize this post is rather long winded, but I am passionate about the cause of freedom.  Our country has strayed so far from the principles of freedom established for us by God through the "Founding Fathers", but I have hope that we will soon wake up and see the error of our ways.  I have seen many encouraging signs of this in my travels through the "blogosphere".  The real answers lie in us, as a people, becoming educated in the principles of freedom.  

I'll leave you with one last quote from President Benson, "An ounce of energy in the preservation of freedom is worth a ton of effort to get it back once it is lost. Today you cannot effectively fight for freedom and not be attacked, and those who think they can are deceiving themselves. While I do not believe in stepping out of the path of duty to pick up a cross I do not need, a man is a coward who refuses to pick a cross that clearly lies within his path.

A man must not only stand for the right principles, but he must also fight for them. Those who fight for principle can be proud of the friends they’ve gained and the enemies they’ve earned. We face days ahead that will test the moral and physical sinews of all of us. Those who hesitate to get into this fight because it is controversial fail to realize that life’s decisions should be based on principles, not on polls.

The basic purpose of life is to prove ourselves, not to be
with the majority when it is wrong.

In due time, when each of us has had a chance to prove himself, including whether or not we are going to stand up for freedom, God will interject himself, and the final and eternal victory shall be for free agency. And then shall those weak-willed souls on the sidelines and those who took the popular course lament their decisions.

(Anyone) who retreats from this battle jeopardizes his life here and hereafter. Seldom has so much responsibility hung on so few, so heavily; but our number are increasing, and we who have been warned have a responsibility to warn our neighbor. The fight for freedom cannot be divorced from the gospel. "(Pres. Ezra Taft Benson - CF Apr 1967)

The Lesser of Two Evils...

Over the past couple of months I have received a barrage of e-mails, phone calls, and fliers urgently proclaiming that the upcoming election is the most important one in recorded history. They all have this basic message in common, "If the liberals win the upcoming election, America as we have known it will no longer exist."   My question when I hear something like this is, "So how will it be any different if a Republican wins?"  Don't get me wrong, I have been a "faithful Republican" all my life.  I have never not voted Republican.  I had these feelings of "gloom and doom" eight years ago when George Bush ran against Bill Clinton.  I remember anxiously staying up all night on election night waiting to see the final results, feeling certain that if Bill Clinton won we would be ushering in the Second Coming.  However, over the past few years I have begun to realize that the Republican agenda is not that different from that of the Democrats.  If you look at the outcomes the results are typically the same, no matter who is in office.  What we end up with from either party is more government "programs",  with a bigger National debt as a result, and more government control of our lives.  We can see that thanks to President Bush things are just as bad as they would have been with Clinton, if not a little worse. He has single-handedly taken away more freedoms from the American People than any President before him, violated the constitution over and over again, and left us with a country that is teetering on the edge of collapse.  In regards to this election, and many before this, I have heard a number of people express the sentiment that although John McCain isn't the ideal choice for President, in this case "you have to vote for the lesser of two evils."  My contention is, the lesser of two evils is still evil.  This is the President of the United States we are talking about.  This is supposed to be the most venerated secular position known to man. To think of settling for "the lesser of two evils" in choosing who should hold this high office should be reprehensible.  In fact, there is a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that addresses this way of thinking.  D&C 98:9-10 "Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn. Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil."

President Ezra Taft Benson expounded on this scripture saying, "Now that is a commandment to his Church and to his Saints. To me it means that we have a responsibility as Latter-day Saints to use our influence so honest men and wise men and good men will be elected to public office in the community, in the county, in the state, and in the nation. To me this commandment of God is just as binding upon the Latter-day Saints as is the law of tithing, or the Word of Wisdom, or any other commandment which the God of heaven has given us.

As I read that for the first time some years ago I thought, "What an indictment of corrupt would-be political leaders in many parts of the world—demagogues who deal in half-truths, innuendos, and falsehoods! Here the God of heaven has pointed out the type of men he wants elected to public office among his people." It is not enough, my brethren and sisters, just to stand on the sidelines and criticize what is taking place, and to point the finger of scorn at some political leader. It is our job, our duty, and our responsibility to take an active interest in these matters, and carry out the admonition and the commandment which God has given us to see to it that men of character—good men, as measured by the standards of the gospel—are elected to public office." ("Our Duty as Citizens" 920, 922)

This is a sobering thought.  We can't afford to compromise.  There is too much at stake.  I contend that whether you vote for John McCain or Barack Obama, the results will be pretty much the same.  Neither of them are committed to, or have a history of upholding the divinely inspired Constitution of our country.  Both of them will continue to squander the resources that we have been blessed with.  Neither of them will do anything to restore the freedoms that have been taken from us, and both will likely continue to take them away in the name of "the greater good".   That is why I am looking elsewhere when I cast my vote next month.  I will be voting for the only man running who is committed to God, the Constitution, and Freedom.  For the first time in my life I will be voting my principles rather than my party.  I will be voting for Chuck Baldwin. I have heard the argument that if you don't vote for one of "the two parties"  you are throwing your vote away.  I maintain that any vote that is not in keeping with your principles is a wasted vote.  In the words of John Quincy Adams, "Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." 

Most Americans will admit that we need a change, yet we keep looking to the same sources for that change.  It is time to look somewhere else.  To again quote President Benson, "Not cheap politicians but statesmen are needed today. Not opportunists but men and women of principle must be demanded by the people. In this time of great stress and danger we must place [in office] only those dedicated to the preservation of our Constitution, our American Republic, and responsible freedom under God. "Oh, God, give us men with a mandate higher than the ballot box."  This was never more true than it is today.  It is my prayer that we might use wisdom as we vote and that we might find and elect men of wisdom to lead this great nation that it might remain great.