Monday Morning Rant 137

 
Lee Parsons was in fine fettle this morning and preached to a subject which bore remembrance. "Hell! " Yes, it is real! All too often in our churches, we are the recipients of yet one more daisy-laced expository on puppies, kitties, little pink flowers and social consciousness. He suggested—no—firmly advised, that the pathway to eternal bliss would only be occupied with those who had sought and fully accepted faith in God Almighty and His Son, Jesus Christ. He also maintained that his offerings came from someone not a stranger to sin; as are we all. Only the brain-dead left the pews with any misunderstanding of the message.

The Founding Principles

An often heard complaint about conservatives and their unanimous acceptance of the United States Constitution is their agreement with the concept of a government abridged. If there were an over-riding theme, that would be it. The Bill of Rights commences in the first Amendment with the words: “Congress shall make no law…” It continues and proceeds to define further, more of what the government cannot do that would enable that federal body to actively oppress the people.

From the founding, the people’s will has been to get the government out of the way to enable life, commerce and personal choice to prevail. Our nation has no state religion, no single oppressive monarch, no restraint on assembly or speech, plus it has the right to seek redress from government grievances. We simply have to settle for some old-fashioned freedom. Call it liberty if you will and understand that it is the antithesis of slavery. We warmly shake hands with friends; salute the higher ranking military officers out of deference to discipline but we bow to no one as Americans. No monarch, no oligarch, no party apparatchik, no dictator, nor any other person who requires a gesture of subservience. We have the reality and the dignity of free men!

The liberty gained by the blood of patriots is guaranteed by our sacred documents. The opportunity for each American is assured but with a guarantee of success for none. No man should be entitled to the unearned largesse of the public treasury. Neither should any man be constrained by regulation and restriction on making an honest living, nor—God forbid!—a profit. Nowhere in the US Constitution does it call for favoritism to any group or individual to be singled out for special favors. All of us have that most desired of all national designations—American citizens.

Our largest problem at the moment is a total antipathy to these concepts by the majority of our elected officials. This is not a situation where our leadership doesn’t know what the documents express: they disagree with the ideas as stated. They choose to ignore the amazing success which the country has experienced and see their opportunity to destroy 223 years of progress. They despise capitalism and the evidence it presents to the world in opposition to progressive socialism. Ours is a bastion of free enterprise and as such is a threat to world communism.

George Washington was inaugurated on August 30, 1789 and moved his family to New York, then the capital, in 1790. Newspapers reported the scandalous news that his household staff was 21 persons. It was a remarkable number only because the entire federal government at the time only consisted of five (5!) un-elected persons. The 1790 census revealed its final figure on August 2nd of that year and had counted just under 4 million souls. Today, the District of Columbia is surrounded by six of the ten richest per capita counties in the United States. The total 2007 federal workforce was reported as 2,870,867 with a payroll of $12,969,722.000.00. If one includes the uniformed services, the total is 4,277,078. We’ve come a long way, baby, and it’s the wrong way.

Obviously, this government has enlarged to its current size by design. It is the result of an obviously thought out plan to destroy that which we hold dear. To deny it is to be childlike and accept the controls imposed from above (not heaven: D.C.!) without question. Each and every productive American must awaken to this threat and respond in his own way and within the reach of his ability. This response should be governed by his capabilities and not his desire to enter the fray. We must become excessively vocal in our demands and involve those who are not aware of the problems we face. It is essential that we collectively insist upon a gradual return to the originality of our founding.

Our return to a successful national purpose may only be attained by following the counsel stated in I Corinthians 13:11: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (KJV)

I’m Hopeless

I confess that as I worked on this tonight, I was watching CMT and the ten year celebration of the blue collar comedy by Jeff Foxworthy, Ron White, Bill Ingvall and Larry the Cable Guy. As Ron White finishes his “tater salad” bit, I am convinced that, at the end of the day, I am really a pretty simple tool. I rarely laugh out loud watching TV alone (Granny went to bed early!) but just about every joke from every quarter has struck me as one of the funniest I have ever heard and I may be disturbing her sleep.

I think I’ll try the doctor joke on her when she gets up. You may remember it.

“Honey, your doctor called and he had bad news and worse news.”

“Well, give me the bad news.”

“He said you were gonna die in 24 hours.”

“Good grief, what was the worse news?”

“He called yesterday.”

Okay. So I’m a redneck.

And Finally

The snow is gone, the temperature is moderate, the wind is not on a rampage and we should be pleased. We’re not! No sunshine and increased humidity has chilled us to the bone and were looking forward to the rising temperatures and clearing skies to resume the restoration of our Ozark paradise. Maybe we just like to complain?

The daylilies are emerging and the daffodils are providing refreshing color. I note also that the redbud trees are covered with swelling buds. It may well be time to get those new blades on the mower and squirt a little grease in the zirks in anticipation of a lengthy mowing season. I am a little worried about the magnolia tree. The leaves are not their usual vibrant green so I worry about the possibility of winter damage to that 8’ beauty. Sure, we had some snow but the temp didn’t really drop out of sight. One might think that with twenty acres of trees it wouldn’t be important, but it is to me.

Meanwhile, get ready for a busy week on the national scene. The greatest blessing would be another snow storm which would shut the place down.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon