This is the obamacare that tries men’s souls…

The following is a condensed version of the message I shared at our STAR Forum of Phoenix meeting March 26th:

I’ve had a fairly emotional week.  Hearing on Sunday night that Obamacare passed in the house in spite of a complete lack of bipartisan participation and a strong vocal resistance from the people made me lose faith in the legislative process.  It further tarnished my opinion of our president and other federal leaders who seem to have forgotten or just refuse to accept that they are our representatives and our servants.  It sickens me.

As I was looking more into this I found out that the bill actually includes articles providing for the formation of Obama’s “civil army” that will be appointed by him, take their orders from him, report to him, operate on their own ranking and pay scale independent from the one established by congress for our current military.  I wonder just how devious and dark President Obama’s true designs are.

I also know that to get too caught up in the negative points will become destructive to me and my goals.  I have been critical of Glenn Beck at times because I felt that he got too angry and didn’t offer a plan of action to deal with all of the problems he was identifying.  I don’t know how correct this assessment of mine was.  Lately I have appreciated his efforts to educate people.  I also appreciate something I heard him say this week.

He explained that a lot of people were surprised that he wasn’t crying and frothing at the mouth about the Obamacare vote.  He said that the reason why is that he appreciated that those in our government who hate freedom and have a complete disregard for the constitution and for the people they were elected to serve have clearly identified themselves.  Then he reminded us of a powerful lesson from our history.

December of 1776 was a bleak time in the colonies.  General Washington and his armies had lost every battle so far in the war.  They were starving and freezing.  I believe that the states were not sending supplies, reinforcements, or the pay that the army needed.  They were disheartened.  Many soldiers were leaving and choosing to not continue on with the army.  It was a dangerous time during which we could have easily lost our ability to continue fighting for our independence.  It was at this time that Thomas Paine penned his famous words, “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

His words inspired the troops.  They inspired the people.  The colonies continued their fight, and eventually we were victorious over the oppressive English.

This story reminds me to never give up.  We have lost battles.  We have lost freedoms.  We have strayed too far from the government designed by our founding fathers to protect our liberties and freedom to prosper.  But the war is not yet over.

I don’t know what will happen from here.  I have an idea how it ends, but I’m not certain what route will carry us from point a to point b.  All I know is that I do not want to be counted among the summer soldiers.  I am not a sunshine patriot!  I will continue to educate myself and act on opportunities that present themselves to help others learn and act as well.  I will share the message of liberty.  I will support others who will stand with integrity for the constitution and the principles on which it was designed.

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered…” but it will be conquered.  Tyrants will fall, and Freedom will ring, and I choose to fight on her side so that I can stand tall and proud when that day comes!

I want to thank Jeffrey, Ed, Jason, Jim, and the wonderfully beautiful Ashlee for your attendance and participation.  I’m especially glad for the example of Ed becoming a GOP Precinct Committeeman and for Jeffrey pointing out that more of us should follow suit.  My email has been sent to our district chair to inform of my intent to become a committeeman myself.

I invite all within my “voice” to educate yourselves.  Read a book about history or government.  Get involved.  Come to a meeting or start your own.

If you live in the Phoenix area you can find our contact information on the tab above or visit www.thestarforumphoenix.wordpress.com.  We have monthly meetings scheduled for the last Friday of each month.

Finally, good job to my fellow liberty lovers in Utah for your participation in the Caucus.  I’ve heard great things about your efforts and results!

A Great Video on Utah’s Candidates

This video, by KBYU covers the intent of caucus meetings, held tonight, March 23, 2010, and interviews many different candidates running for different offices.  Utah’s Governor race is covered as is the U.S. Senate Seat.  You will be interested in hearing the answers of the different candidates to make sure you are supporting a Constitutionally-minded candidate that adheres to the 28 Principles of Liberty, as found in The 5,000 Year Leap. 

There is a bit of commentary from KBYU, and I don’t necessarily agree with everything they say, but if you listen to the candidates directly and make up your own mind, you will be an informed citizen. (Hopefully delegate.)

Utah’s Biggest Tea Party … so far

by Jacqueline Smith

Before the 9.12 projects, and the tea party movement, many Republicans went to the polls in November, held their nose and voted.  Now we have a new age dawning.  9.12 groups, like the Davis County 9.12 Group, Utah Rising, The S.T.A.R. Forum, and Salt Lake County 9.12 have awakened the masses to the political process.  Groups already waving the banner of liberty with Utah Eagle Forum,  The Campaign for Liberty, and the John Birch Society have joined them.

This Tuesday, March 23, 2010, will be the biggest tea party so far.  You will see record numbers this Tuesday come out to caucus night in neighborhoods statewide.  This mass meeting is the cornerstone of the Representative Republic that holds our country together.  People have turned off the TV, they got off the couch, and they are attending.  In the past few months, people have read books like Glenn Beck’s Common Sense, and Cleon Skousen’s The 5,000 Year Leap.

Many Utahns have become educated in this process.  Before the education process swept over the masses, many people didn’t even understand that the only way to have a say on who showed up on the ballot in November was through this process.  It was a mystery how candidates were selected.  However, those days are over.

With the Federal Government ever encroaching into our daily lives, many Americans have been asking, “What can I do?”  The 9.12 movement came forward and said, “We have a plan, and it’s called caucus night.”

Henry Glasheen, Summit County Republican Chairman, said, “Turnout is going to be fantastic across the board.”  When asked why, he stated, “People are tired of government they view as not for the people.”

When an educated people participate in the process, liberty and freedom move forward.  We must constantly watch our elected officials and demand they give us the most individual liberty, ask for the most personal accountability from themselves and their constituents, and demand that Federal Government stay within the bounds set by the Constitution. 

You have never been to a caucus before?  That is okay, these people are your neighbors.  Find out where your caucus is by going to your COUNTY website.  All the county websites are listed at http://www.utgop.org/county.

This is a great year to begin your participation in the election process.  However, it cannot be your last.  We have much to correct in our states, and in our federal government.  So get involved, and stay involved.  That is how freedom works.  We have moved out of apathy, and it is vital to our liberty that we do not move back into a state of complacency.

FREEDOM CAN WIN!

Thomas Jefferson Education on Glenn Beck

By Jacqueline Smith

As many of you know, I have been homeschooling my children, and educating myself using The Thomas Jefferson Education, sometimes known as TJed.   The class being referred to in this clip is being taught here in Utah (Wanship) by the founders of  The Thomas Jefferson Education system.  This will be a wonderful free event.  Please make plans to attend.  It is on Friday afternoon April 30, 2010.  Do your best to take some time off work and attend this special event, you won’t regret it.  You must RSVP for this event, at our meet up site by clicking here.

We are in a leadership crisis in our country, and the only way to change direction is to become liber.  Liber is the latin word for tree bark.  You see, tree bark was used to write on.  It is also the root word of library, and liberty.  In order to be a free people, we must be educated, and we must educate ourselves in the classics.

It will take leadership to move not just our political arena forward in America, but our enrapreneurs, our educational arena, our media, our communities.  To understand the leadership model of education, I highly recommend attending our TJed for families event.  Dads …. you need to come, too.  A family that learns together has much more impact on the world.

For more information, please visit our Education Resources here.

Western States Owned by Federal Government — Utah Fight Backs

Utah is one of many states that have joined to create a 10th Amendment Task Force.  If the Federal Government takes our land, it takes our resources, and it takes our possibility of revenue.

A Father’s Letter to His Children

I am always grateful to good friends, like Robin that help me find material worth posting. 

Robin likes The STAR Forum, and likes what we we are doing.  Just before she left California, politics came up with a good friend of hers, named Audrey.  She found out they had similar views.  The letter that follows is an actual letter that Audrey’s husband sent to their two college age children.  This is beneficial for all to read, and I received Audrey’s permission to post it.  I have not included their last name to protect their privacy; however, if you want to submit comments, I will make sure they receive them.  FREEDOM CAN WIN.  Enjoy.

_____________________________________________________________

Dear Jake and Danielle,

            What a disappointing, yet inspiring time.  Already I find myself doing what Hoedad did late in his life, apologizing for the insufficiency of his generation.  As his is called ‘the greatest generation’, ours is simply ‘the biggest’.  These characterizations are not coincidental.  “The greatest’ because they waged and won horrific war which saved civilization as we know it from Nazi inhumanity.  The ‘biggest’ because they, visiting death, returned to make life.

            They did so at a time when survival was being technologically and pharmacologically liberated from perennial threat.  Food production, refrigeration, transportation, communication, antibiotics, medical and every other industrial innovations, etc., propelled the standard of living far past historical mortality. 

            They did so with classic American enthusiasm, hard work, ingenuity, and resolve, expressing the same self-interest which won the war.  The problem is that the greatness with which they fought for values was not as great as the values for which they fount.  (Rand used this phrase to describe Victor Hugo’s heroes.)  The rank and file American person possessed the classic American spirit of individualism, but the American intelligentsia and political leadership abandoned true liberty early in 20^th center, and then disastrously during FDR’s reign of error.  The only reason America escaped FDR’s perpetuated depression is the war forced economic and industrial realities of production upon his destructive policies.  When the war was over, the power of American liberty was left standing.  Our economy replenished a ravaged world.  Our intelligentsia and politics however remained moth-eaten, leading to efforts like ‘the great society’ and a general inclination towards socialism which persists today.

            As young people, you expect to be born into a functional and sustaining society.  You expect that the generations before you and settled on basic rules of civil conduct promoting societal advance.  You expect that the models being displayed have been merited, naturally selected by prior challenges to survival and reliability.  This is obviously not the case. 

            Just in the last several weeks, three separate and vital institutions have failed their constituents, you.  “Scientists” responsible for climate data, which was being used to fundamentally restrict energy usage and hence our economic relationship to the environment, falsified finding to fit their theory.  The scientific method has been deconstructed.  Aspersion is thus cast up on the means of establishing the truth, the foodstuff of human evolution.  Science, still in its infancy compared to the rule and depredation of dogma, has been abused by those positioned to glorify it. 

            Our political leadership is in the act of lying.  They promote fiscal irresponsibility, indebting your generation forever, while calling it the “era of responsibility” (Obama’s deceitful inauguration).  They are devaluing the currency, the means by which you will monetize the value you’re working to achieve.  They are forcing a fraudulent healthcare bill down the American throat which will choke us to death.  The only means to pay for their insane efforts is to tax and punish yours.

            Tiger Woods, heretofore one of the most charming, successful, and popular icons, has betrayed his following by betraying his family.  Family is the centerpiece of human evolution.  It is the biological and cultural means of procreating the species.  If not modeled consistently and correctly, we are biologically and culturally doomed.  Woods, by desecrating his marriage, has failed the billions of people who pay him homage.

            As a society, we are teaching you wrong.  Instead of providing reproducible positive models, we exhibit the negative.  Rather than displaying what to do, we display what not to do.  This may contrarily inspire you to pursue and practice real science, seek out real political and personal leadership.  It however places much greater demands upon your own judgment and developing values.  If not exhibited before you, how does one establish right from wrong, truth from falsehood?

            My own answer has always been to resort to first principles.  Discern the origins, of the universe, of life, of human nature, of reason, of morality, and the evolutionary means by which negentropic progress is made.  As human individuals are our basic evolutionary unit, establish that which promotes, establishes, secures, and unleashes individual potential.  Fidelity matters, to oneself, one’s spouse, one’s family, the truth, the transcendent.  Society like our species, will then benefit and thrive.  We are most certainly here to assist you as we can.

Love,

Dad