Born 1776 - Died 2008

When I first saw the photo that I have as my Blog header, I laughed. Today I looked at it and ached. It is true. Did this death come on suddenly in 2008? No. We have let it happen over decades of sitting on the sidelines and letting them do to us what they would. We didn't always sit quietly, but we didn't follow up our protests with action. We watched as we let abortion become the largest killer in our country. We sat by and watched our "heroes" become pompous brats, covered with tattoos and piercings and being paid to act badly in public. We watched as we sent our young men and women to die in wars that we didn't really want to fight but yet we wanted to right some wrongs, but do it without offending anyone. We watched as our schools turned against prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, patriotism, history told truthfully, teaching the importance of trying your best, courtesy, and punishment for bad behavior. We watched as our politicians were sent to represent us and then most lost their souls and turned their service into a personal power grab and longevity contest while helping the progressives to fundamentally change our country to something much different than what we grew up with and what our parents and grandparents would have recognized. We watched as we have had freedoms, rights and liberties stripped from us because "it was for our best interest"? We watched as we let the world condemn Christianity for "their hatred" of anyone who wanted to stretch the norms of social morals. We watched as our judges told us we were wrong in our beliefs and that we had to become more accommodating in our allowing others to do whatever they wanted to do. We watched as we let the family fall apart and become something odd in our society instead of the bastion of our communities. And we watched as we became a weak, embarrassed people not willing to speak out for truth, virtue and honor for fear of being labeled a "hatist" by those telling us that we were old fashioned and out of touch with the new world and its inhabitants.

So welcome to what we created.

I am saddened by the fight taking place in the Republican Party Primary process. We are watching the same thing happen there. When did cheating on your wife at least two separate times become a qualification for President of the United States of America by two separate candidates? When did turning away from Israel become a plank in the platform for the party? I could go on with a lot more, but you understand what I am talking about. We have watched three very strong candidates attacked because of who they are. Two are left. One is being told to step out of the race because he is not qualified to be President yet he has been ahead in the polls and primary results of the one telling him to step down. One is being made out as the bad guy of the race because he was successful? A guy who has served as a governor without pay, the Olympic Games boss without pay, has donated over 15% of all of his earnings in charitable contributions, has served in numerous leadership positions and service positions for decades without pay and has not attacked the others but focused his efforts on replacing the current President. We are sitting watching again.

S.A.L.T. This can mean many things. A food additive, a food preservative, an international military treaty, or my favorite meaning as told by Gordon B. Hinckley, a small statured man who I viewed as a giant among men. He explained it as STAND A LITTLE TALLER.

Why would standing a little taller mean so much coming from such a physically small man? Because we have all shrunk back from our responsibilities and duties. We have let the pressure of the world push us down, the fear of being perceived as a "hatist" or a "bigot", the feeling that it is easier to stay low and shrink into the background of the world than to speak out for truth, virtue, liberty and justice.

We all need to stand tall, stand in the right place and speak out and act in defense of truth, virtue, liberty and justice. It is time to choose whom it is that you want to represent you, whom you want to represent our country to the world and whom you want to lead us back to a society that remembers and honors the things we were taught by our parents, grandparents and Founding Fathers.

Personally I believe this person to be Mitt Romney. I have read volumes about him studying him and looking for something to make me worry. I have not found it. I have read volumes about the other candidates also. One that is left is someone I could stand behind if Mitt did not win the nomination. The others I have walked away from. If you have a different choice, make sure that they are truly honorable in all aspects of their life. If they aren't, then walk away from them and join support for someone who is.

As a country, we cannot survive any further movement down the road we are on. We need to return to the basics of our country. The basics that our Founding Fathers believed in. We need to return to "one nation under God", for without His help we will not survive. Without recognizing Him as the One that we owe our success to and all that we have gained to, we will not survive.

And finally, wise words from one of those Founding Fathers:
"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence.
I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people...

Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.
(George Washington, First Inaugural Address, New York City, NY, Thursday, April 30, 1789)

May God Bless us and America! We need it!