Lincoln has been credited for saying that the education of the classroom today becomes the government of tomorrow. This video explains well the way that our educational system has failed to keep patriotism alive in our country. This video is from the 1980’s and you can see the affects of his words today. If we are to raise up patriots and statesman, it will begin in our homes and in our communities, bringing truth, and principles back to society. If you feel you could make a difference in your community, please contact us. Enjoy.
America
March on Washington DC on 9.12
There are members of The STAR Forum marching on Washington DC on September 12, 2009. If you cannot make it to our nations capital, we invite you to gather at your state capitals around the country. A good place to find others doing this is at www.meetup.com. Sign up and then search for 9.12 groups or teaparty groups. Also, you can get more information about the march on DC at www.912dc.org. Please remember to be peaceful and respectful to others. Enjoy the video.
President Boyd K. Packer – Lifetime Freedom Award
We wanted to share with you a wonderful event that just recently took place in Provo, Utah. Many may not know President Packer, but he is an ecclesiastical leader in my faith at one of the highest levels. I believe this story will give hope and determination to all those who are fighting the battle for freedom and liberty. We will likely not be called on to die for our country, but rather LIVE for it. We may need to spend our fortunes, give of our time, and definitely have sacred honor. To read the entire article and learn more about his man, click here. Here is an excerpt from an article about that evening.
…After receiving the award, President Packer spoke of the freedoms the nation enjoys today — freedoms that came at a price.
He reflected upon James Madison’s record of the Constitutional Convention, referencing the weeks of time and effort that had been exhausted creating the U.S. Constitution allowing the freedoms enjoyed today.
He then told a story about the day that the men were individually signing the Constitution. During the convention, President George Washington was sitting in a high-back chair that had a picture of a rising sun on the back. Benjamin Franklin said that he had been looking at the sun all during the convention. He said he was never sure if it was a rising sun or a setting sun. But, as the men came forward one by one to sign the document, Franklin said that day he had the confidence to know it was a rising sun.
“Now 12 wars later and all that has gone on, that sun is now obscured,” President Packer said. “We know that war can’t destroy it, but if it is destroyed it will be from within. And now we face a danger greater than any of the wars we have faced. To honor the Constitution and to honor freedom is a sacred duty for all of us.
“I invoke the blessing on you who are doing this sacred work that you will keep it up, and that in due time the challenges that we face now from within can be conquered so that this nation may remain free.”
We need the help of individuals around the country to educate our citizens on how freedom should look. Stand up for freedom and lead your neighbors down a path that breaks the cycle of socialism that is currently underfoot. Contact us for information on what you can do to help.
Global Currency?
Coin given at G8
Your thoughts on this? One of the 28 Principles of Liberty is # 25 “Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations entangling alliances with none.” This does not seem to fit does it.
Jerome Hudson: The Life of a Young Black Conservative
| July 8, 2009
Last week Glenn Beck got a call from a very impressive young man named Jerome Hudson, who told Glenn he had written an op-ed during the 2008 election on being a black conservative. He sent it in and it’s fantastic. Enjoy!
While attending a black fraternity party, I recently learned it’s a bad idea to profess one’s affinity for Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity. Worse, according to current polls, it appears I may be the only black 22 year old in America who will be voting for Sen. John McCain. It’s not that I was unaware that being a black conservative Republican puts me in the ultimate “minority.” After all, Shelby Steele’s classic article “ The Loneliness of the Black Conservative” has become an article of faith that I’ve all but committed to memory. But I guess I had made the mistake of buying into all that liberal yammering about being “open minded” and supporting “diversity” that I’d deluded myself into believing that a civil, discussion about the herd-like ideological mentality of so many of my contemporaries suffer from was possible. Boy, was I wrong. Big time! My official “Negro” card got stripped away. I instantly lost my “blackness.” And now, consequently, I now am greeted with this: “Hey, y’all, here comes The Black Republican.” And that’s when I think to myself, Hmmm…so this is how it feels to be an “Uncle Tom.” Still, being labeled “The Black Republican” is undoubtedly a promotion from: “Hey, why are you dressed so nice? You got a job interview or something?” Or, worse, “Man, why are you talking like that? You sound white? Who do you think you are? A conservative Kanye West?”
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Tea Party Letter to the President and Congress – July 4, 2009
We, at The STAR Forum, feel this letter was good, even though there are things we do not necessarily agree with. We believe it is not just the current administration that is responsible for our current situation, but 100 years of bad policy against our Constitution. We have disagreements with the Bush policies as well as the policies of this administration, and our Congress as a whole. However, we wanted this letter to be posted in its entirety so that you could read it, comment on it, and give your the feedback. After all, the TEA PARTY movement is YOUR voice.
The Beginnings
A Voice For The Movement
By: Samuel Hackwell July 4, 2009
To: The President of the United State of America , and to all members of Congress
From: Samuel Hackwell, A Voice for the Movement,
Dear Mr. President,
Hear! O hear the petitioning voice of millions upon millions of Americans who stand united. Our grievances and afflictions are too much for American citizens to endure without complaint and without action.
We, the citizens of the United States, are seeing our sacred rights – granted to us through Providential inspirings and bestowals – restricted and revoked. We are seeing our freedoms and our liberties – which were bought and paid for by the blood of our noble Patriots – limited, denied, and taken. We are seeing our Constitution – the precious pearl of our government – being cast down and trampled upon by the calloused and hurried hooves of beastly indifference and irreverence.
We are seeing our hard-earned tax money squandered in the amounts of hundreds and thousands of billions of dollars, totaling trillions. We are groaning under this heavy hand of tyranny and oppression. We therefore imploringly stretch forth our hands towards the highest councils of our nation and demand redress of these abuses and usurpations of our rights, our liberties, and of our freedoms.
For too long Mr. President, politicians have used party affiliations and social issues to divide us as a nation.
But let the unmistakable rumblings from the Giant of Silence, who is now gathering its forces, organizing, and raising its voice that will be heard as well as felt, be a clear warning of what you have stirred and awakened. This Tea Party Movement – the largest grassroots movement in the history of this country – is only the beginning! The participants have come from every political party – we are Independents, we are Republicans, we are Democrats, we are from all parties and from no party at all, and we are all ablaze with the passion of protectionism of our freedoms, of our rights, and of our Constitution!
We stand united. We stand united in principle and in purpose.
We stand united against the undisciplined spending, waste, and corruption.
We stand united against the unconstitutional bail-outs and soaring deficits.
We stand united against the abuse of governmental power and its unrestraint.
We stand united against the ever-expanding government and its ever-expanding intervention.
We stand united against the drift to and the doles of Socialism – whether in whole or in part.
We stand united against the injustice and the blatant disregard of our rights as citizens.
We stand united against the dismantling and desecration of our Constitution.
We stand united against the lack of real concern for the future of America.
In whole, we stand united against the self-righteous attitudes and the coercive maneuvers of big government imposing standards that most Americans DO NOT approve of!
Our rallying cry to you is that this nation’s greatness cannot be maintained when the freedoms and liberties of its people are unconstitutionally denied and taken by its government, and when government abuses its proper role and its privileges. These grievous governmental interventions and meddling are taking us down dangerous and destructive paths.
Political economist Frederick Bastiat once said of this, “It is impossible to introduce into society… a greater evil than this; the conversion of the law into the instrument of plunder.” (The Law, Bastiat, p 12)
We want so desperately to work freely and fairly together, but we ask you, how tight will these oppressive chains become? The inescapable consequences of your overzealous federal agencies (many of which are unconstitutional) and your programs and policies will reach far into our future. Sadly, it is not only us, but it is our children, and our children’s children as well, who will find themselves enslaved, bound to the relentless servitude of national debts and programs and policies that have been so forcefully shackled upon us. Demonstrably, in your rampant pursuit of progress and power, you have shown us little mercy and given us virtually no say in these matters or in our future.
No president in the history of this nation has ever squandered so much of this nations wealth, plundered so much of its future, and diminished so much of its Constitutional greatness in such a short period of time. Clearly, you have overstepped your bounds and at times carelessly abused your powers and your privileges.
Mr. President, you must never forget your place. You are nothing more than a servant unto this people. It would be well to remember that the Federal government itself holds absolutely no power or authority to do anything its people do not bestow. We must remind you that the Constitution clearly explains that the primary function and role of government is to secure the rights and freedoms of its people – the heart and soul of this great nation – and anything more than this is usurpation and oppression.
By constitutional decree, you simply cannot meddle in areas where government is strictly prohibited. So contrary to any personal agenda or campaign slogan, the truth is, “No,… you can’t!”
History can teach us great things. A wise person, and a wise nation, will listen to those who have already worn out both their soles (spelled s-o-l-e) and their souls(spelled s-o-u-l) treading the paths of experience through trials and tribulations. These great forebearers have already born great pains, learned great lessons, and can thereby teach us great wisdom.
President Herbert Hoover once said of the Great Depression, “Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement[!] Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body – the producers and consumers themselves. Recovery can be expedited and its effects mitigated by cooperative action… The best contribution of government lies in the encouragement of the voluntary cooperation in the community.”(Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, Vol 3, The Great Depression, 1929-1941, pg 429-430)
We believe in this “voluntary cooperation.” We believe in serving our neighbors as well as serving our country. We believe our government owes us nothing and we do not seek to receive that which we have not earned. We believe the happiest and most productive people on earth are those who enjoy the most freedoms and liberties.
We therefore believe the absolute best policy is to leave private industry (and our private lives as well) with their freedoms and privileges of setting their own course, solving their own problems, and operating and conducting themselves with little to no governmental intervention or control. The American free enterprise system was designed to work best when left to its own inspiration, determination, and by the sweat of its own brow and by the labor from its own hands. Thomas Jefferson once declared, “A wise and frugal government shall leave [men]… free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it had earned. This is the sum of good government.” (Jefferson, Thomas, First Inaugural, 1801)
These are fundamental God-given rights of self-reliance and prosperity, and the same of which our Founding Fathers so strongly believed, established, and fought so hard to defend.
Henry Grady Weaver wrote, “Most of the major ills of the world have been caused by well-meaning people who ignored the principle of individual freedom, except as applied to themselves, and who are obsessed with fanatical zeal to improve the lot of mankind-in-the-mass through some pet formula of their own… The harm done by ordinary criminals, murders, gangsters, and thieves is negligible in comparison with the agony inflicted upon human beings by the professional ‘Do-Gooders’, who attempt to set themselves up as gods on earth and who would ruthlessly force their views on all others – with the abiding assurance that the end justifies the means.” (The Mainspring of Human Progress, Weaver, p 40-41)
It is not you Mr. President that makes this nation great; although the Office has its place.
It is not America’s soil; although by the richness of its harvest it is considered to be the world’s breadbasket.
It is not America’s industry; although it produces the major part of the world’s best products and services.
It is not America’s Democratic government itself; although it is the Ensign to all nations and by which all others are compared.
No, it is America’s people. It is their ingenuity. It is their strength, their courage and their hard work. It is their sacrifice and their passion. It is their charity – the most charitable country in the history of the world. But above all, it is their love. It is their love of freedom, of liberty, of equality, and of justice. It is its people and their love of goodness and of God which makes this nation so great.
We are the people of this great nation and hereby stand today like the patriots of old who stood at the harbors of Boston. We stand united and unwilling to allow being unfairly taxed, unfairly treated, and unfairly represented. We are seeing our tax money shipped off to the coffers of corruptible empires. We are seeing the unwanted cargo of debt and Socialism forcefully off-loaded against our will. We are seeing a tide of unconstitutional abuse of governmental power, which has been intrusive and oppressive to our lives. We are seeing a pilferage of our fortunes and of our properties; and we are seeing a shameful dishonoring of our sacred honor. We therefore plead with the captains of our country for justice and for freedom, and demand that you turnabout your invading ships from our shores.
Mr. President you must stop and listen to the people. You must listen to the voice of those who have gone before and of those who are here now. Many of your ideals, feelings, and agendas ARE NOT in line with the majority of people of this nation. You cannot simply strong-arm us into submission by one-sided solutions and then force us to do all the sacrificing.
Admittedly, we are at a unique time in our history, a time of great crisis and great opportunity. Indeed, we are faced with tremendous challenges and almost endless problems that need to be solved. But there is hope. There are solutions. America is still great and can still have a great future because we believe that “great things happen in America under great hardships.” (Contreras, Janet, The Letter)
America alone stands as the worlds great hope for freedom. Freedom is the very foundation and by which everything else seems to rest. Freedom is truly what America stands for and what we are so willing to fight for. Tragically however, our freedoms are being eroded and thus our foundation as well. We demand a stop to such dangerous and corrosive practices. We must rebuild and strengthen not only America’s infrastructure, but more importantly, we must rebuild and strengthen its foundation – its foundation of freedom. We believe in making America strong again. But you must free us so that we can make these great things happen! We must be free to choose, free to organize, free to think, free to speak, free to write, free to work and produce, free to create, and free to give.
Stop trying to control us and everything about us. Stop trying to make every decision for us. Stop trying to be something you are not. Stop trying to subject us to your will and to every whim of your doctrine and your philosophy. Fulfill your oath and “faithfully execute” your office and obligations as President by doing all you can to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” for that is all we ask of you and nothing more. (Oath of Office of the President of the United States)
Let there be no mistake about it, we need good government. We need honorable, moral and ethical leaders who will sustain and be integral parts of such governments. America must not be weakened by its leadership, it must be strengthened by it. We need order and we need law. But for the most part, we, as American citizens, can do so much more if government would just get out of our way!
Respectfully Sir, our message to you, and to any governmental body or person who performs outside of Constitutional bounds, is clear and our pledge is the same:
Get out of our businesses! And let us again be happy in our pursuits of self-reliance and self-regulation.
Get out of our fortunes! And let us again be prosperous and charitable.
Get out of our lives! And let us again be free.
It is to this end we stand. We stand in defense of our Constitution, of our rights, and of our freedoms. Let this be the mark of the beginnings of a new voice, a new energy and a new force. And may God bless all of us in seeing that true freedom rings again.
(There is so much more to say,…that will be said)
Respectfully written and submitted by,
Samuel Hackwell
samuelhackwell@gmail.com
Tea Party Commerical
We must not forget what we came together for on April 15, 2009. We must come together again and again. Liberty, freedom, and America will survive, because we are strong. Enjoy the video.
Pledge Your Life, Fortune, and Sacred Honor?
Are You Ready to Pledge your Life, Fortune, and Sacred Honor?
When the signers of the Declaration of Indepence pledged their lives, forturne and sacred honor, it was not just a symbolic, but also a literal gesture. If caught by the British, they would be killed. By the end of the Revolutionary war, many of them were bamkrupt because they gave all to the cause of freedom. They valued freedom over material posession. Sacred Honor, is a term that has no equal or meaning in today’s world. We live in a society where self preservation and self gain are the goal and any means to that end is justified. Ethics and morals have become situational rather than enduring principles to found a life on.
Abraham Clark was a signer of the Declaration of Independence whose life demonstrates his willingness to give his life, fortune and keep his sacred honor. His sons were taken prisoner during the Revolutionary war. When the British discovered that they had the sons of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, they knew they had a great bargaining chip. They wrote to Abraham saying we will not feed your sons until you denounce your signing of the Declaration of Independence and come out in support of the king. Abraham Clark sent word that he would give the British all he had if they would let his sons go. The British did not accept this offer and again sent word that his sons would not be fed until he denounced his singing of the Declaration of Indepencence. This time, Clark responded by offering his own life for that of his sons. Again, the British did not accept and demanded his denunciation of the revolutinary cause. Abraham Clark knew that if he denounced all he stood for, so that his sons might live, he would in reality give them a legacy of dishonor worse than death. Broken hearted, Abraham Clark wrote back that he would not denounce his signing of the Declaration of Independence. In so doing, he thought that he had signed his sons’ death warrant. Providentially, he did not. His sons were freed in a final prisoner exchange. Abraham Clark showed us what sacred honor truly is. Today more that ever, we need a society filled with people who are willing to live by their sacred honor. Is it your mission to be one of these people and inspire others to do likewise? We need a country filled with sacred honor in order for liberty to survive.
What about fortune? Without sufficient funds, our Founding Fathers could not have pulled off the cause of liberty. The currency printed by the Americans during the revolution became worthless and inflated. Were it not for Robert Morris, William Williams, signers of the Declaration of Independence and others like them, who stepped forward and gave their money and resources for the cause of liberty, the Revolutionary War would not have been successful. In 1779, Williams exchanged $2,000 in specie of his own money for the worthless Continental money so that the army would have the supplies they needed. He lost almost all his money. The army got the supplies needed. Morris borrowed money on his own credit for General Washington and the Continental army when there was dire need of funds. Thomas Nelson another signer, raised $2 million dollars for the revolution. He used his own estates as collateral. When the notes came due, congress refused to honor them. He died in poverty at age 50. He gave all he had for liberty.
According to Dr. Oliver DeMille, in order for freedom to win today, in the United States we will need about 3% of our population ( 7 million) sucessful, entrepreneurs, innovators or initiators to create what he calls mini-factories. A mini-factory is a small business that does something as good or better than Big Business and is successful at it. Why would this matter? Small businesses create about 80% of the wealth generated in the United States today. If most of the nation’s resources and wealth reamain in the hands of small businesses run by freedom loving individuals, it will give liberty the resources to again thrive in the United States. Is it your mission to start a mini-factory? Is it your mission to keep free enterprise alive and well in America?
Take action. See the article on what books are great for setting up your mini-factory here.
What Can You Do to Restore Liberty?
What Can You Do to Restore Liberty? Is Freedom Part of your Life Mission?
Do you ever look around you, look at what is happening in our country and in the world, and wish there were something you could do? Do you ever feel hopeless or helpless as you watch liberty and moral values crumble around you? I believe that God sent the Founding Fathers of our country at that time to fulfill a mission that would bring liberty to this land. God sent you to earth at this time and place. He has given you talents and abilities. He has a plan for you and your life just as He had a plan and work for the founders to do. It was not chance, but Providence, that brought two men, Henry Knox and Nathanael Greene, together. The two became friends and had placed in their hearts a burning desire to read all that they could about military arts and strategy. This was a very unlikely subject for the Quaker raised Nathanael Greene to want to study. It was also very convenient that Henry Knox owned a prosperous bookstore that allowed them access to the kinds of books they would need to study. The two poured over books on military arts for hours. These two men played a major part in helping George Washington to win the war. They were inspired to learn and were ready when needed to fulfill a purpose.
If each us is put here at this time and place to fulfill a mission, what can we do to be ready? What can we learn from history? This series of articles will explore what it will take for liberty to win in this Fourth Turning. It will also hopefully inspire you to find out what your personal mission is and help you to start on the path that you need to take.
What can we learn from the past?
Cincinnatus was a consul in the ancient Roman Republic. He was very well educated and wise. After his term as consul, he retired to his farm. He was so respected and loved by the Roman people, that they often came to his farm for advice. During this time, a barbarian army gathered with an aim to take Rome. They burned and plundered every village in their path on their march to Rome. The Roman senate and consuls gathered their army and sent it to stop the barbarians. Some time later, a small, rag-tag group of blood stained survivors returned telling how the Roman army had been trapped on all sides in a mountain pass and defeated by the barbarians. The Romans now had no army and the barbarians were on their way. Someone in the senate cried, “we need Cincinnatus!” An envoy was sent to Cincinnatus’ farm asking him to save Rome. They promised that if he saved them, he would be king. Cincinnatus gathered an army mostly made up of inexperienced young men because that was all there was left. Calling upon his education and leadership skills, Cincinnatus was able to use military strategy and lead his army to victory. Upon his victorius return, Cincinnatus was, as promised, given the offer to be king. Cincinnatus replied, “I give the power back to the senate, it is their job to make the laws”. He then returned to his farm.
In a time much later in Roman history, Julius Caesar started his power play to take over the Roman Republic. Cicero and others in the senate called for a Cincinnatus. No Cincinnatus stepped forward. There was none to be found. After Julius Casar was assassinated, his nephew Octavius (later called Augustus) took up where Julius had left off. He formed a triumverate, that killed anyone with power to stand in his way. Mark Antony, part of Octavius’ triumverate, celebrated with glee when he learned that his arch enemy, the statesman and senator Cicero had been killed by the triumverate’s death squad. Cicero was well educated and very vocal in trying to save the rupublic. With his death, and the deaths of others like minded, the republic failed.
What does the story of Cincinnatus and of Cicero have to do with you today? George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers were the Cincinnatuses of America. They fought for liberty from Britan. Instead of taking power for themselves, they studied government and human nature and then wrote a constitution that gave us a republic and left the power in the hands of the people. Today, our American Republic and the Constituiton are in jeopardy. We need to study what liberty looks like. We need to have the education to be the Ciceroes and Cincinnatuses of our time. “But,” you say, “I am no Cicero or Cincinnatus or George Washington. I am just a regular man or woman. I am not great like them.” Perhaps that is what those men thought of themselves. That is probably what made them great. The difference, is that they had the education to give them the ability to do what they did. Again you say, “but I don’t have that kind of education.” Many of the founding fathers and people of that time were self-educated, look at the example of Henry Knox and Nathanael Greene. It is not too late. Start now. One of the best places to start is The Five Thousand Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen.
Dr. Oliver DeMille states that in order for freedom to win in the United States, we need 30% of the population which is about 70 million people who have the kind of education and thinking and reasoning skills that we have been discussing. Perhaps your mission is to be one of those 70 million people that ensure freedom wins. If there are enough Ciceroes, freedom wins!
Memorial Day
Thank you to all the people who have sacrificed for our freedom over the centuries. Our debt to you is great.
On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation!
– Thomas William Parsons, poet (1819-1892)
Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored.
– Daniel Webster, statesman (1782-1852)
They fell, but o’er their glorious grave
Floats free the banner of the cause they died to save.
– Francis Marion Crawford, writer (1854-1909)
The brave die never, though they sleep in dust:
Their courage nerves a thousand living men.
– Minot J. Savage, minister, author (1841-1918)
Peace to each manly soul that sleepeth;
Rest to each faithful eye that weepeth.
– Thomas Moore, Irish poet, entertainer (1779-1852)
They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.
– Henry Ward Beecher, clergyman, reformer (1813-1887)
Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet, educator (1807-1882)
The S.T.A.R. Forum 