A Prayer

guest post, by Richard Burroughs

When I was in high school oh so many years ago, to pass our civics class we had to not only pass the exams but we had to memorize and recite to the class, The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address. At the time I hated it, at least the recitation part, but I am so thankful because those words live with me today.

When Abraham Lincoln scribbled the Gettysburg address on the back of an envelope on his way to visit the battlefield of one of the bloodiest engagements of the Civil War he began, Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that nation or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. It’s interesting – he didn’t say a nation dedicated to the proposition that the government shall make men equal. He specifically wrote, the proposition that all men are created equal. From that point on, how you apply your equality is your individual liberty. It is, and always has been, what has made this nation great - opportunity.

I also find it interesting that if you were to change two words the Gettysburg address it could well apply to our situation today. Eleven score and twelve years ago . . . Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. The citizens of this nation have been under siege from the left for a long time now and never more so than in this election season. I find it curious that one side of the current debate continuously points to a “divided nation” as they heap scorn and ridicule on certain segments of the population and then seek to lay blame for the situation on same. Ask the Obama candidate a question that he doesn’t like and prepare to be labeled a racist. Mention that much of his promised economic policy is socialism, which it is, and you engage in hate speech. By his own words, if we do not agree with him we are bitter clingers.

The very idea that people who do not agree with the left have “divided the nation” is a canard, a specious claim that is easily refuted by an examination of our nation’s history. With the exception of WW II one would be hard pressed to point to a time when the nation was not divided. You will find unanimity on some specific issues but they would make for a short list. The results of past presidential elections reveal only a handful of presidents that have been elected by a landslide. I don’t know whether these landslides reflect unity across the nation or abjection of the opposing candidate. The point is this, opposing viewpoints are not the exception but the rule and political elections, particularly presidential elections, have never been a stage for decorum.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Promote the general Welfare . . .? If you read the rest of the Constitution or the writings from the time, you’ll find the Founding Fathers not only encouraged but expected business and individuals to thrive and be successful. They did mean that the government had a role to play in promoting an environment where commerce and free trade could flourish. However, our Founding Fathers certainly did not mean that the government should create a welfare state where everyone or anyone gets to stay home and wait for the government to send them a check. They did not mean that the government should provide “free” health care for everyone. They never intended to take the fruits of one man’s labor with the intention of redistributing those fruits to others who had not earned it. Yet today, that is exactly the stark contrast from which we have to choose.

Nothing epitomizes this contrast more sharply than “Joe the Plumber.” On one hand I find it amusing the way the left reports this story. “You know, Joe isn’t his real name, it is Joseph and that’s his middle name.” “You know, Joe doesn’t have a plumbing license.” “You know, Joe has a lien on his property for unpaid back taxes and he doesn’t even know it.” On the other hand I find it frightening the way the left obfuscates this story and continues to try to destroy Joe. The story isn’t about Joe the Plumber, the story is about Barack Obama’s answer to a simple question asked by Joe. And to Barack’s credit he answered it truthfully. He told Joe that he intends to take his wealth and spread it around. To Barack’s discredit, he couldn’t wait until the next day to mock and ridicule Joe the Plumber asking his supporters, “How many plumber’s do you know making $250,000 a year?” His running mate, Joe Biden, was piling on asking the same question. They both laughed at this question which incited their supporters to hilarity. But at no time did Joe mention how much money he makes as a plumber, Joe said he wanted to buy a business that makes $250,000 a year and rightfully wanted to know what the implication of Obama’s tax plan would mean to him.

What we need to remember is this; I am Joe the plumber, you are Joe the plumber, we are all Joe the plumber. Barack Obama and Joe Biden, by their very words, hold nothing but contempt for the Joe the plumbers of this nation. Obama has told us flat out what he intends to do to all of us. I don’t know about you, but as for me, I’m going to take him at his word. He laid out his economic plan to redistribute wealth, one of the planks in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, and I believe he intends to do just that. Embracing Marxism so we can all be poor equally is not the hope and change I am looking for and is certainly not the Blessings of Liberty laid out in our Constitution. Thanks, but no thanks.

In a few short days, on November 4, we will cast our vote for a new president. Lest we forget, November 4 will also be the 29th anniversary since the Iranians stormed our embassy in Tehran and held 52 US diplomats hostage for the next 444 days. I’m going to take Joe Biden at his word on something else. During the primaries he said that Barack Obama doesn’t have the experience to lead this nation. He reconfirmed that last week when he guaranteed an international crisis within the first six months of an Obama administration to ostensibly “test him”. We need to be aware how our enemies love to “test us” when they sense weakness in an inexperienced novice at the helm of our nation; John Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis, Jimmy Carter and the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Barack Obama and the ??? Crisis, apparently Joe Biden knows of four or five scenarios. Considering this, I’m not sure how an Obama presidency provides for the common defense particularly when he has told us that he would drastically reduce defense spending to pay for his welfare programs.

I don’t know how we could have arrived at this point (although I have my own ideas) but here we are. Eleven score and twelve years of generations before us have secured the Blessings of Liberty to themselves and their Posterity, i.e. us. And here we are with a choice to continue that rich tradition or forego the Blessings of Liberty and usher in an ideology that is the complete opposite to the ideals that were held by our Founding Fathers. And if we do, what is it that we will leave to our posterity?

What is that ideology? When Barack quotes from Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky, a devotee of Marx, I have to believe he is a Marxist. The economic policy he has espoused is pure socialism, what I like to call Marxism-Lite. It has been tried and failed or left wanting throughout history. Yet there are many who believe it is time for a “change” here in America. Really? What is it our country has been called for all these generations, that shining beacon of light on the hill, and much more. Where is it that the people of the world have turned to escape oppression and tyranny? America. Where do they turn when all else has failed? America. Are we really this close to turning away from our destiny? Don’t get me wrong, I too believe some change is needed in Washington, but not this. This is an ideology that is foreign to this nation and I for one reject it.

I'm not exactly what you would call a religious person - you won't see me in church on Sunday morning, I forget to say my prayers before I eat and go to bed, but I have never forgotten my faith in God. And I have never forgotten how to pray. This prayer has been on lips every day this summer. It is on my lips almost continuously this autumn. I’d like to share it with you because I do believe that if we are sincere our prayers will be answered – or if you wish, call it the power of positive thinking. You know the prayer. I know you’ve said it before and I suspect you know the words by heart. For me at least, there has never been a better time to hold these words close and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone speak these words more beautifully than Martina McBride.

God bless you. God bless us all. And most importantly, God bless America.