A couple of posts back, I seem to have struck a nerve with the funny little story about the father/daughter meeting of minds.  One of the comments that followed that posting decided to use the Founding Fathers of our country as support his point of view.  In particular, this person fell upon James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, to support his point of view.  Why don’t we let James Madison speak for himself?  His written words should suffice, since he’s no longer with us to verbally defend his name.

From his “Religious Freedom, A Memorial and Remonstrance,” given during the 1785 session of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia:

       “It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage . . . before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.

       Because the policy of the bill is adverse to the diffusion of the light of Christianity.  The first wish of those who ought to enjoy this precious gift, ought to be, that it may be imparted to the whole race of mankind.  Compare the number of those who have as yet received it, with the number still remaining under the dominions of false religions, and how small is the former!  Does the policy of the bill tend to lessen the disproportion?  No; it at once discourages those who are strangers to the light of Truth, from coming into the regions of it . . .

       Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess, and to observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us.  If this freedom be abused, it is an offense against God, not against man:  To God, therefore, not to man, must an account of it be rendered.

       Earnestly praying, as we are in duty bound, that the Supreme Lawgiver of the Universe by illuminating those to whom it is addressed, may, on the one hand, turn their councils from every act which would affront His holy prerogative, or violate the trust committed to them; and, on the other, guide them into every measure which may be worthy of His blessing.”

James Madison also wrote, regarding the future of America:

       “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it.  We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to government ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.“

(Bold and italicized emphasis added by me.) It seems to me that James Madison, while speaking against establishment of religion by law, still managed to convey a missionary heart.  A heart that firmly believed in God and His commandments, but believed that each man must come to know God of his own free will.  Be that as it may, Madison still believed that the scriptures, particularly the Ten Commandments were the rule by which we should measure and sustain ourselves.

I wonder what James Madison would think about the Ten Commandments being routinely ripped from the walls of courthouses and town squares throughout the country in our “enlightened” age?  I, personally, think it would break his heart.

I posted this in my comments section, but then decided to make it a regular entry — I wanted to be sure that it was read by those participating in the back and forth:

WOW!  I had no idea when I posted the little funny that my DEMOCRAT friend sent me that it would provoke such a firestorm.  Yes, my best friend since 7th grade sent me that little ha-ha and she only recently voted Republican because she’s disgusted with the litigation abuses of the likes of John Edwards, et al.  (As we all know, the greedy legal abuses of ambulance chasers drive up the costs of goods and services for everyone, thus depriving us all of goods and services that are perfectly safe because companies are afraid to similar lawsuits.)

Darkstar218, you can post anything you want on my website anytime.  You are my hero!  Your wife is a blessed woman, and your child(ren), too!

Before I got to your comment regarding the parable of the 10 talents, I was thinking, “has this kid ever heard the parable of the 10 talents?” and then, boom!  You said it for me!  Another that came to mind was the scripture that says (and forgive me for not knowing chapter and verse off the top of my head) that the man who does not provide for his family is worse than the infidel.  To me, this means that you do whatever you have to in order to provide for your family.  So you were a computer geek that got laid off . . . and you can’t find a job computer geeking?  Dig ditches, flip burgers, re-train for something different. 

My husband is an educator — he has almost 20 years of teaching in the public schools and the prison system under his belt.  For a short period of time he was unemployed.  He couldn’t find a job teaching.  Do you know what he did?  He went to work for a car dealership.  Yes, he was a car salesman.  No, he didn’t wear the plaid pants, and he always dealt with potential customers ethically.  But to go from academia to selling cars — it was very difficult for him.

But he did it rather than take a handout from the government.  During that time, he also helped a friend with a construction business bust up old tile in a school (with a jackhammer) and lay the new tile.  The friend’s wife stopped by the job site to bring them lunch and she was seriously worried about my husband.  It was physically demanding work for someone used to teaching and when he got home he was exhausted and had blisters all over his hands.  But he did it.

We’re not wealthy people dollar-wise.  But we are conservative Republicans because the wealth of freedom is more than enough for us.  To choose the liberal path would mean having the government control our lives in every aspect and it’s too great a price to pay considering the sacrifices of those who’ve come before us to give us the gift of freedom.

I’m not afraid of people like Yourmagicalgoat (what kind of name is that?) and their comments.  It would be convenient to block their comments, but then I would be stealing the very freedom of speech from them that I value with my very being.  So post away, liberals — we may read your comments, or we may exercise our freedom to ignore them.  But we will not ever deny you the right to post them.  :0)

Tony Blankley has a great column, “Secession,” you need to read:  http://www.townhall.com/columnists/tonyblankley/tb20041110.shtml

Quoting from his column:

This dominant sentiment of the Democratic Party elite — that scores of millions of Americans are categorically unacceptable as fellow countrymen — is evidence of a cancer in the soul of that party. These Democrats, quite expressly, are asserting that “christers,” people who believe in the teachings of Jesus as described in the inerrant words of the Bible, are un-American, almost subhuman. Some of these Democrats would rather secede than stay in the same country with such people. If they were in the majority with no need to secede, what would they do? Their bigoted and absolutist view of religious people is at least a second cousin to the Nazi view of the Jews.

I’d be hard pressed to say it any better . . .

John Leo put into words so perfectly what I want to say to every liberal who thinks that their opinion is the majority opinion of our nation:  http://www.townhall.com/columnists/johnleo/jl20041108.shtml

Please take the time to read this column.  Intelligent, concise, it exposes the truth that the Democratic Party is the party of intolerance and narrow-mindedness.  I appreciated the reminder of the Dems’ treatment of then Governor Robert Casey in 1992, when he was not allowed to speak at the Dems’ convention because he was not pro-choice.  Liberal in every regard, except the protection of human life, that “little” exception was enough to get him branded and barred from the podium. 

I could go on, but Mr. Leo says it so much better.

And a funny for your amusement (please excuse the language, if any of you are hyper-sensitive . . . it’s really not that bad):

When John Kerry called President Bush to concede the election, he asked that as a provision of the concession he be allowed to receive a Purple Heart medal for injuries received in the ass-whipping.

I think that liberals are surfing the conservative blogs . . .

to stir up trouble.  They are so annoyed, so ticked off, so depressed that they lost and so now they are trying to stir up trouble by posting comments on blogs that they would NEVER read under any other circumstances.  I’ve had two comments in two days from bloggers who are SO INCREDIBLY LIBERAL telling me how wrong the election results were and how wrong I am in my commentary.

Do any of you find this interesting, and have you had similar experiences?

I’m trying to decide if I should be mildly amused at their desperation, or truly annoyed at their mosquito-like buzzing? 

And yet another reader said

this wasn’t a mandate.  Bull, say I!  Perhaps if only President Bush had won . . . I might, might agree with you.  But the fact is the American people turned out in droves to elect conservative representatives and to vote against gay marriage.  When you combine President Bush’s re-election, the increase in Republican representation in Washington, and 11 states voting against gay marriage — that’s a MANDATE.  Americans are tired of the hijacking of their nation by narrow-minded, intolerant socialists.  And yes, they are narrow-minded and intolerant regardless of how loudly they preach love, peace, and tolerance for their fellow man.  Because their open-mindedness and tolerance comes to a screeching bloody halt whenever they run into moral people with a code of ethics, should I say . . . Christians?????  They rant and rave about the intolerance of those who live by a set of commandments, and then extend the very same intolerance they so vehemently despise (supposedly).

The irrational ridiculousity of their complaints and arguments just makes me want to scream.

Whatever . . . he STILL WON!

I’ve been informed by a comment on my previous post that W didn’t win the largest PERCENTAGE of the popular vote in history, but the largest NUMBER of votes in history.  This person also informed me that Kerry won the SECOND largest number of votes in history.  Also that the numbers directly correlate to the increase in our population.  Well, duh.  It would have been hard to generate those numbers 100 or more years ago when there weren’t that many people in the nation, including children and babies.  As far as the population thing goes, it’s all relative to the snapshot in time that you’re viewing.

He still won, without doubt!

I AM SO EXCITED, SO THRILLED, SO PROUD, SO RELIEVED . . .

that Americans across the country did their civic duty, took advantage of the precious right to vote and gave President Bush four more years to lead our country with honor and integrity.  Now that the ordeal is over, and I’ve commented on two of my president’s best qualities, I can’t help but indulge in a little gloating:

Who’s in the White House?  Bush! Bush! Bush! Bush!

I can’t get the stupid grin off my face ever since I heard that Kerry made his concession call and will make his concession speech in just a few minutes . . .

And hey!  How about those senatorial seats we picked up?  Cool beans, huh?  I would like to say the following to liberals everywhere:

GET A CLUE!  Regardless of what you try to put forth through your twisted, liberal media connections . . . the majority of Americans are decent, moral people and after the last election, they realized how important their votes are.  This explains in great part President Bush’s electoral and POPULAR win . . . the largest percentage of the popular vote in U.S. presidential election history!

My faith in the American people has been renewed, although I realize we still have a long way to go to return to the nation our founding fathers originally envisioned.

For now, though, WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Freedom of speech — not!

“Kerry’s supporters are reaching out to blacks by demanding that black cabdrivers in New York City who support Bush be fined and suspended. When taxi driver Etzer Jerome told his sensitive Upper West Side passenger he had voted for Bush, she demanded that he pull over and let her out, yelling at him: ‘How can a black man vote for Bush?’ and ‘I’m going to f— you!’ She then filed a complaint against Jerome with the Taxi and Limousine Commission alleging that Jerome had ‘verbally harassed her.’ He was fined $500 and given a three-week suspension. On the bright side, the Democrats offer black voters loads and loads of meaningless abstractions that will have absolutely no effect on their lives. ‘Jobs,’ for example. (Just not any of the important jobs in a Kerry administration.) Democrats’ extravagant claims about creating ‘jobs’ are as credible as their claims that they will allow the wheelchair-bound to walk. Among the jobs that are currently not available to Americans are these being performed in China under a free-trade bill voted for by John Kerry. (New campaign slogan: ‘John Kerry: Betraying America Since 1971.’)” –Ann Coulter