Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Liberty or Security?

"Finally, when the going gets rough, we mustn't rush to Washington and ask Big Brother to take care of us through price controls, rent controls, guaranteed jobs and wages. [I add to this list: subsidies, social security, health care, or any other promise from the government that should be ours to acquire.] Any government powerful enough to give the people all that they want is also powerful enough to take from the people all that they have. And it is even possible that some of the government manipulators who have brought us into this economic crisis are hoping that, in panic, we, the American people, literally will plead with them to take our liberties in exchange for the false promise of "security." (Ezra Taft Benson, "Gold and the Balance of Payments")


I see some incredible similarities today. For instance, with the war on terror, we were--and continue to--hand over our liberties to the government in return for security. Just think about what we've done with allowing the passage of Patriot Acts I & II.


“Today the devil as a wolf in a supposedly new suit of sheep's clothing is enticing some men, both in and out of the Church, to parrot his line by advocating planned government guaranteed security programs at the expense of our liberties. Latter-day Saints should be reminded how and why they voted as they did in heaven. If some have decided to change their vote they should...throw their support on the side of freedom -- and cease promoting this subversion.”(Ezra Taft Benson Conference Report, October 1961)

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

"The War on Terror" on "The Holy War"

It has been reported time and time again that our troops support Ron Paul (see here). But, just how do our troops feel about The Holy War? A picture's worth a thousand words:


Monday, November 19, 2007

Dancing Queen

Lily had her first ballet performance Friday night at the Festival of Trees here in Idaho Falls. Of course I'm biased, but this was the cutest dance I'd ever seen . . . too bad the photographer (me) didn't get any decent pictures; all of the "action" shots are blurry. Hopefully my ballet picture taking skills will get better with experience. Good thing I get a second try in the middle of December!







Wood for Ron Paul

A friend of mine owns a log home company in Rigby, and he is a HUGE Ron Paul fan. He decided to donate 7 years worth of leftover logs to Ron Paul. We spent a Saturday afternoon chopping up the wood . . . over 10 cords! We have since sold all of the firewood and donated the proceeds to Ron Pauls campaign.

GO RON PAUL!!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Defensive

Ever wonder why us Ron Paul supporters might come across a little defensive? Watch this:



When the media likes of Glen Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh or Shaun Hannity pose you up to be a form of a domestic terrorist, I go ahead and say it's time to defend your position.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Forward

In the past couple of weeks I've heard from Bryan, Sara and Mom that they quit reading this blog because all I do is post movies of Ron Paul. They feel that I need to post something of my own. So, I guess this is my attempt at doing just that.

Most people have that special someone who sends them forward after forward to their e-mail inbox. I hear a lot of people who say that they just delete any "fw:" that they receive from such a person, or better yet just add that person to their "Junk Mail" list. Well, for me, this person is my Grandma Romney. However, I do not delete her e-mails, nor do I have her in my "junk mail" list. My approach to her letters is to save them as unread messages, and then, when I am at one of those points where I feel like I need a bit of inspiration, I'll open up one of her letters.

Tonight, I was listening to music and watching family photos rotate on my xbox 360 while my kids took their nightly bath. I opened up a letter from Grandma titled "Fence". For obvious reasons you will see why this hit home with me. Below is what I received from Grandma:


There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting Communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new Communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line.

The young man said this was no joke. You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again.

You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies,dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms- just a little at a time.


Lets just say I couldn't agree more.

I've expressed this to both Sara and Mom in phone conversations, but for the benefit of all, here is how I see it.

I believe that this country was established to protect our civil liberties. I believe that our country's founders established a constitution which was the perfect combination of freedoms and government. Some refer to this as the "Balanced Center". I believe that the perspective the media and education try to push upon us is incredibly flawed. The media and education system do their best to teach us that the political spectrum is a left/right scale of democrat/republican. I see it differently. democratic and republican party platforms seem to change over time. What does not change is the truth that total government is called "Tyranny" and a complete absense of government is called "Anarchy". If we can use this political spectrum rather than the democrat/republican or left/right spectrum, I find that it is much easier to decipher what a political candidate is attempting to preach.

If you feel that our country has political tendencies of an anarchy, then it rests upon you to vote for a candidate who will introduce more governmental policy to help get us back to the center our founders established. Conversely, if you believe that our country has political tendencies of a tyranny, then it rests upon you to vote for a candidate who will remove some governmental establishments, programs or laws to help get us back to the aformentioned "center". Finally, a politician preaching the status quo should receive your vote if you feel we have not waivered from the originally established center.

Just as the story sent to me by my grandmother conveys, I too believe we are slowly being fed communism/socialism in America. I too agree that we could soon find ourselves fenced in. And this is why I choose to support Ron Paul.