Don't Give Up!

I fear, for many people, part of being a 'grown-up' is allowing themselves to believe that everything that's wrong with the world will never change.  They allow whatever Idealism they once possessed to be replaced some strange brand of Fatalism.  While some might call this 'growing up', I call it giving up.

Don't give up!

Get Out and Vote!

The reason I have put this together is because tomorrow is the date of the GOP primary in Wisconsin.  While I realize that you may or may not consider yourself to be Republican, or even politically active at all, it is important to note that Wisconsin has an 'open primary' where any registered voter can participate.  You are also able to register on the day of the primary, if you have not yet registered to vote.  Our current president does not have a challenger in the primary; so even if you consider yourself a Democrat, you've got nothing to lose by participating and casting a vote for your preference in the current field of Republican candidates.

I believe, very strongly, that our nation is at a critical point in it's history.  If I did not feel so strongly about it, I would not have taken the time to compose such a message as this, or litter my Facebook page full of political content.  I certainly would not risk the chance of being viewed as an oddball or activist if I did not think it was important to share my thoughts on the subject.  However, I am convinced that our national security is severely threatened by our national debt, monetary policy, and foreign policy.  I believe these threats to be more significant than that of any 'enemy' or 'rogue nation'.  There will likely be a large number of people in this country who, at some point in the next five years, will come to utter the words, "If only we had known.."  It is my hope that we become, and remain, well-informed with regards to the events of our current day and age, and the proper political response.

Regardless of what you may believe, or have been told by your favorite news outlet, here are what I consider to be the most pressing problems we face as a nation:
   -National Debt: Here.
   -Budget Deficit: Here.
   -Foreign Policy: Here.
   -Constitutional Ignorance: Here.
   -Monetary Policy / Federal Reserve System: Here and here.
   -Civil Liberties and Personal Freedoms: Here, here, and here.

While this may be contrary to your current beliefs, or current preference in a Presidential Candidate, here is who I believe is best suited to lead our nation at this time:
   -Ron Paul

Whether you agree with me or not, here are some links containing pertinent information confirming, at least in my mind, why Ron Paul is the man for the job in 2012:
   -His understanding of the economy and his many predictions proven accurate over the years: Here, here, and here.
   -On the National Debt: Here, here, and here.
   -On the Budget Deficit: Here, here, and here.  See the actual budget he proposed here.
   -On Foreign Policy: Here, here, and here.  He advocates the Just War theory of Christianity. Here.
   -On knowledge of The Constitution: Here, here, and here.
   -On Monetary Policy: Here, here, and here.
   -On Civil Liberties and Personal Freedoms: Here, here, and here.

Link to a quiz that determines who you should vote for, based on your answers to a set of policy questions: Here.

Here are some books that are available to read online for free; written by Ron Paul:
   -Freedom Under Seige
   -Mises and Austrian Economics
   -The Case for Gold
   -Gold, Peace, and Prosperity
   -Abortion and Liberty (He is pro-life to the core.)

If you have no opinion, or simply don't want to take sides, please come out and vote anyway.  If, for some reason, you really don't care which candidate becomes the Republican nominee, vote anyway.  I ask that you consider Ron Paul.

Thanks for your time,

-Josh-

So You're a Social Conservative...

Let me start off by saying that I myself, for a long time, considered myself to be a Social Conservative, or a Values Voter, if you will.  In fact, I believed that it was the duty of each and every churchgoing individual to vote for the candidate who was the 'Best Christian'.  I mean, that made perfect sense, right?  We know certain things are morally wrong, so those things need to be illegal... right?  I mean, in order to stop the moral decay of society we need to vote for politicians who promise to enact laws that would promote Christian values..  right?  Well.. not quite.  When we understand the form of government provided to us by the Founders, we understand that we should be far less concerned on how well a President can quote scripture, and much more concerned about how well he or she understands the Constitution.

We can start by asking ourselves, "What was the reason for fighting the Revolutionary War?"  The answer?  Liberty.  The pursuit of  a government without far-reaching powers over the individual.  The desire to be self governed and self reliant.  We have been given a government based on Liberty.  A government created with one purpose, to protect the rights of the individual.  The rights of the people are to be paramount, and the rights of the government are to be limited, specific, and clearly spelled out.  I'm convinced that not nearly enough people understand the concept of a Constitutional Republic. A republic guarantees the rights of the minority against the will of the majority.  This is what separates a republic from a democracy.  For the good part of the past century, our government has embarked on the slippery slope from republic to democracy; and from democracy to socialism. 

Do we doubt the morality of the early Americans?  We know the majority of those in government were devout men of faith.  If they had desired a theocratic form of government, they would have provided one.  But they did not value government-mandated virtue.  They valued liberty.  Far too many people say, "Well, the writers of the Constitution never could have predicted the kind of world we're living in today." hoping to justify a vote for a fellow Christian who happens to despise the inconveniences of liberty.  Even if that were the case, it would be an irrelevant argument.  If our form of government seems inadequate or incapable of dealing with the issues of today, it is only because the citizens have neglected to hold their representatives accountable.  
 

The Founders had the foresight to create a form of government that would be able to tackle any problem, no matter how great or unexpected, by granting certain powers to the Federal government.  Any powers not enumerated to the Federal government were to be held by the State or local governments.  That is essentially the Constitution in a nutshell:  A list of things the Federal government is allowed to deal with.  Creating new Federal laws, no matter what societal ill they may be created to battle against, really only ensure two things: The loss of the personal liberty and privacy of individual citizens, and the creation of a Federal agency and police force to enforce the Federal law.  Besides, do we really want to depend on government to make sure our fellow citizens are living up to a moral code?  Oh yes, because the Federal government is so effective at every other cause they've embarked upon.  (Can you sense the sarcasm?)  Think of the 'War on Poverty' or the 'War on Drugs', for example.  In the end, no matter how well intentioned, these efforts to 'legislate morality' will always fail.

My final and most simple thought on this subject would be this:  When personal morality is demanded by law, the result is without meaning, as it came by force.  Just stop and think about it.  God has given us free will, to decide to live our lives for Him, or for our own selfish desires.  If we truly want to stop the moral decay of society we should focus on convincing individuals to share our personal religious beliefs, instead of trying to use the force of political means to accomplish a moral end.  This was the folly of the Jews during the time of Jesus.  They had built up an idea of a Messiah who would provide political change; to the point that when Jesus revealed Himself as a personal savior, they rejected Him.  I don't think we need our government to save us from ourselves.

Hello...

So, here we are.  My first blog post.  I'm not sure how often I'll be posting, or what topics I'll be focusing on, but it's safe to say that you're going to see stuff about politics, current events, and history.  I'm not going to limit myself either; so let's just get this thing started and see where we end up.