Showing posts with label Government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Government. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Unity Requires Good Manners

The fact is, that in America, people are allowed to hold any views they like. That means that a lot of people disagree with each other on a lot of issues. It used to be that we all (or nearly all) shared the Judeo-Christian value set and that could be our unifying force. We no longer have that. So what are we left with? 

Manners. We need to rediscover good manners. 

Don't call people names - either in person or on line. Consider that there may be other factors involved when someone is rude to you and think before responding. Be kind. 

Also, don't assume that keyboard warrior on the other end of that childish insult is an adult. This brave, new world of ours gives our children and teens far more access to adult conversations than they have ever had before. Not only that, but through that access, they are given far more influence over things that they ought not than ever before.  It may also mean that they really do not know why communism is bad or why they should be polite.  
Children tend to think that the world should be fair and may become incensed when told that it isn't. A child thinks that it is the government's place to make people behave the way they think people should behave rather than thinking that people need to be in control of themselves. 
They have no idea why business is a blessing to a community and may think that the government actually can and should take from the rich and give to the poor without regard to the real life psychological and economic consequences of such policies. 
They also may not have the kind of self control we expect and require from adults. Since we do not know, we tend to assume that we are speaking with other adults. The effect this has had on our national conversations may be far greater than we are aware.  

The internet has created a world where people can make wonderful connections with people they otherwise would not have known. But it also provides the opportunity to let our worst impulses have free rein in a climate of relative anonymity. Or at least it feels like one may behave badly and no one will ever know it was you. (This is clearly incorrect, as we see daily when some poor soul has caught the eye/ear of the cancel culture mobs.) 

 No, someone should not be fired from their job because they hold views that the current culture(with an emphasis on current - because these things change) finds abhorrent. 

No, you shouldn't engage in personal attacks and name calling with some stranger on your social media of choice just because they disagree with your dearly held beliefs. We are all entitled to our dearly held beliefs and being insulted and called names is not likely to engender a thoughtful discussion on why those beliefs may be in error. The term for that practice - name calling and insulting people in the hope that they will bow under the pressure of being insulted is bullying. It's rude and it stifles the very conversations we need to be having.

And finally:

No, mobs should not gather outside of the houses of legislators or the halls of government demanding that they do as the mob wishes. That's not good government, that's mob rule.  (Although one could certainly argue that democracy, in it's purest form IS mob rule, that is not how this nation was intended to function.) The United States is a constitutional republic.(At least that is what it was founded to be. The CIA World Factbook under Mr. Obama labelled it a federal presidential republic. Under Mr. Trump is was restored to a constitutional federal republic. One wonders how it will be labelled under Mr. Biden.) It is participatory but that participation is supposed to be through the legislative process. You contact your legislator and share your opinions - politely- and whether or not you favor a piece of current legislation before them. And then you trust them to vote in the way that they think best maintains the republic - in the case of federal level legislators - or best reflects the wishes of the citizens - in the case of state level legislators.


This is for those cases where the Constitution actually gives them the leeway to legislate. Because the Constitution is supposed to be a list of limitations on the federal government. State constitutions are a little bit different, but in general are supposed to provide the framework to legislators as to how the people of the state wish to be governed. If you have a legislator that does not abide by the wishes of the citizens, then the process may be to recall the legislator and replace them or to vote them out of office in the next election cycle. That is appropriate. Going to their homes or offices as part of a mob is not and it is also threatening and rude. 

Spamming their social media with insults and personal attacks is also, not conducive to good government. One doesn't abuse one's employees.  

One should also remember that nobody is perfect and be forgiving of the occasional lapse. This author has, on occasion, made some tart remarks on the social media of some legislators, so mea culpa and rest assured that there will be an effort made to refrain in the future.  

 Since what we have left in any attempt to unify this nation is manners, (If such a thing may be accomplished outside of a wholesale Christian revival - which this author tends to doubt) perhaps this might be a helpful starting point to those actually seeking unity rather than attempting to inflame people into rude and/or illegal behavior. https://www.thespruce.com/quick-and-easy-manners-tips-1216616

 "1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat." ~ Proverbs 23

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Tommy Robinson at Speaker's Corner for Martin Sellner

This video is being made difficult to share. It contains no foul language, nor does it condemn anyone on the basis of racism. It is certainly a good deal more comfortable to contemplate than are the stories of Rotherdan and Telford which are damning of the British government's wish to appease the followers of islam to the point of destroying their own people. 

Because youtube has marked this as possibly offensive,  I am unable to share the video on the blog page, so here is the url of the video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G1qcwcIFIw&feature=youtu.be&bpctr=1521432588


"By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." ~ Proverbs 16:6

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Alabama Election

For all those bewailing the results of the Alabama election or the most recent presidential one - have a little faith. 
This system was designed to withstand the election of fools so long as the citizenry maintains it's character.  That's right my fellow Americans, this nation is as good or as bad as are it's citizens. 

Our government  is a direct reflection of the character of the people. If the people are self reliant and personally responsible, the government will be limited and unobtrusive.  If the people are lazy and apathetic enough to leave the duties and responsibilities that should be their own to a faceless bureaucracy, then the government will become corrupt and tyrannical. 




 The solution to all of our current political woes is to bring up your own game. 


Build your own character. 


If you are receiving money from the government, get yourself into a place where you are not - if you can.

If you are depending on government for anything, stop it.

Prepare yourself and you family to support yourselves. 

Get to know your neighbors. 

STUDY the history of this nation. Find out how our government is supposed to work and what it is supposed to do and what it is not. For those responsibilities that do fall on the government, find out on which level of government those responsibilities are to fall. 

Find out what responsibilities are supposed to be yours in this republic and shoulder them. Don't allow the government to remove them from you.  Because freedom and responsibility are two sides of the same coin. If you give your responsibility into the hands of the government - the freedoms go with it.

Recognize that helping each other is an individual responsibility. Charity is not the job of the federal government. The people of the states may do what they like.


"20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?" ~ Eze 18: 20-23

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Congratulations Wisconsin

Ron Johnson has defeated Russ Feingold and Mr. Walker has defeated Mr. Barrett. Perhaps, just perhaps the Lord is willing to give us another chance to reclaim our nation from the socialists who have so boldly commandeered it. (I have heard one man describe the election of Mr. Obama as the result of a culture of infatuation, and I must say that does explain a lot.)

Now, we must not rest on our laurels, but instead remain steadfast in our opposition to the agenda laid out and relentlessly pursued by this administration. Stay in contact with those who are new to DC. Do not allow them to forget who elected them and why. Let them know that we expect the best from them and that we will be their support throughout their sojourn in the vice ridden cesspool that our nation's capital has become. Let them not regard with pleasure the honeyed utterances of those whose sole agenda has been to control the people and strip us of our God given and Constitutionally affirmed rights.

We must not underestimate the forces that oppose us, nor the damage that they may yet do. We must be vigilant in guarding our own freedoms and protecting those of our posterity. We must not leave our children and grandchildren in a state of debt slavery to other nations.

I commend Oklahoma for their vote to disallow the use of sharia in Oklahoma courts and I fervently hope the rest of the nation follows suit.

"Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: "~Exodus 18:25