America's Responsibility

The Protestant Reformation guaranteed our ability to understand the scriptures in our own language. The execution of Mary Queen of Scots ensured British rulers knew law applied to them as well as to the people. The history of the colonies in America documented two hundred and fifty years of preparation before our forefathers  created a new form of government. America’s first try at government failed.

When the constitution hit the streets, everyone knew it required statesmen of character and morals to provide America with the best hope for the future. In today’s society, you have every right to ask, “Where are they?”

    Some of you already decided to vote along party lines in the election, probably because it’s what you’ve always done. Maybe you learned the party platforms and determined which one best represented you. Some of you struggle with your Christian worldview and wonder how you can vote at all given the circumstances. Some of you already determined there is no hope with the two candidates expected to win. Many of you are thinking my vote won’t make a difference.

    I’d like to point out your responsibility.

    Our constitutional republic requires your vote. We subject ourselves to cultural and media sources that tell us, “Your vote doesn’t count, especially in upstate NY.” Some have even said, “What difference does it make?” It certainly won’t if you stay home. The truth, as I see it, is your vote is your responsibility. It is required in order to adequately represent your way of thinking. Until everyone votes, neither candidates nor incumbents will understand America’s strength.

    The shame of America rests in the low turnout of voters. As long as people stay home from the polls, they will certainly NOT have a voice. Our right to representation guaranteed by the constitution is moot if you stay home. If you stay home, every other one of your rights is in jeopardy. If you stay home, church, God’s voice in the election disappears. Think about it. In a country where we are given the right to elect godly representatives, the Christian vote has been so low godly representatives don’t often run for office. The only way that will change is if YOU change it. Sitting home isn’t an option. If you don’t vote, you’ll have no right to voice an opinion about how bad things get when the country falls further into decline toward godlessness.

    Do not pass on your God given right, responsibility, and civic duty. Your vote does count. There’s too much at stake in this election for your voice not to be there. Rather than vote for the lesser of two evils, vote for the better of the candidates. Make America’s history report a turning point back toward God.

Carpenters' Hall and the Founders

 If there’s one thing carpenters understand, it’s the importance of a solid foundation to the longevity of a building. Not only a solid foundation, but one meant to match the purpose, details and use of said structure. Think of a nuclear power plant. How much trust would you have in the operation of said plant when you don’t know if the concrete in the foundation will withstand the pressures and heat created during the reaction? A new home is no different. Required building code inspections ensure homeowners the floors, basement walls and drywall partitions won’t crack because of a faulty foundation. If the foundation’s specifications are changed for any reason, the resulting damage to the home may be irreparable.

Have you stopped to consider how this same principle can be applied to the United States of America? Consider the foundation on which it was built—biblical principles. For instance, in Exodus18, Moses consults with his father-in-law about how to delegate authority to handle problems. “Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.” This is the foundation of our Constitution.

We the people choose representatives at a local level, county level, state level and federal level. However, the founders also knew people would be lazy and not knowledgeable concerning federal issues. Hence, we elect members of the House of Representatives and we elect state-level legislators. The founders expected the state legislators to be wiser and more discerning relative to who qualified to be elected to the Senate. Those same founders understood common civilians would have no knowledge of or discernment of the complexities of international relations and created the Electoral College for the purpose of electing a president. These delegated election processes are the foundation of the government of the United States of America.

What we now experience concerns the crack in the foundation. Carpenters can’t fix cracks in the walls or a tipping house when the foundation is damaged. The foundation must be reconstructed, and the reason the foundation failed must be eliminated. Was there too much water undermining the footers? A proper drainage ditch must be installed before repairing the foundation. Was there new construction added to the foundation that caused the failure? The new construction must be removed in order to put the foundation back in place.

And so it is with today’s version of the Constitution of the USA. The most significant deteriorating factor of our foundation is the 17^th Amendment. This 1912 addition to our by-laws completely unbalanced the federal government. It replaced the election of senators by the legislative bodies of the states with a popular election like that of the House of Representatives. It completely removed the wisdom and knowledge of the statesmen in office and replaced them with the ignorant public. One of the ploys engaged in obtaining the change included telling the public all politicians are crooked, so how could we expect crooked politicians to elect statesmen to send to the Senate in DC? Therein lays the hinge that swung open the public vote consideration. No one spoke up and said, “What if we simply elected statesmen with the qualifications Moses demanded of his leaders?” Read Exodus 18 again. “…able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness…”

Another modern issue concerns term limits. The founders considered the options when creating the foundation. People were expected to elect statesmen. As long as a statesman did their job and made decisions based on what made America better, they’d keep their job. If a statesman made a turn and became a politician (one in government for his own good), then the people would replace him. In the meantime, those with experience, wisdom and knowledge of the workings of the government would contribute to the general welfare of the nation. It’s not term limits we need. It’s the election of statesmen in all of our representative forms of government from local school boards all the way to the House of Representatives. That’s where the foundational principles so aptly applied by our founding fathers holds up our Constitutional Republic like a building set on a solid foundation.

Great Expectations Today

Life in these United States of America has changed a bit from my memories of growing up. Some changes have been for the good, others, not so much. The single biggest change toward the negative side of the scale is the lack of expectations. When I joined the Boy Scouts, I was expected to learn and live by the Scout Law. I knew that I was to be Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent. And that from memory at the age of 65.

One primary focus of mine revolves around the merry-go-round of education. Bear in mind that I am all for getting kids involved in learning. How they learn has challenged many educators over the years. Some students will only learn after they mature more. Some students won’t learn in a rote environment. Some students will learn in spite of a teacher’s style. No matter how the students learn, there remains one sure way for them to fail—don’t expect them to learn.

My wife of over forty years invested her career in educating elementary students. One time her elementary class received calculators with which they could figure out what 2+2 equaled. My discussion with her at the time revolved around the problem with not expecting them to learn, and to know what 2+2 equaled, for if a student could not or would not learn this simple fact, they would be challenged the rest of their life by any subject matter. Sadly, these students and many more like them now struggle with daily math application. Perhaps you know some of them. They are the ones that cannot make change at McDonald’s. They are the ones that never learned what year the United States federal government was ratified. They are the ones who were never expected to behave in public. They are the ones who pass you on a solid, double-yellow line in a no-passing zone while you travel at the speed limit .

They are also the ones to whom the progressives have appealed for votes. Since the children were never expected to perform or to succeed in doing some little thing, they don’t believe that they should have to work at anything. Their expectations are that someone should supply them with all their needs because, like their parents who would not allow a teacher to expect them to perform, they learned to expect something for nothing. They feel they are entitled to pass a grade without studying, without knowing any answers, without having basic math facts at the ready to use. They are the ones who have no work ethic. They are the ones who refuse to take a menial job because they are better than that.

The latest news affecting much of our nation concerns the influx of children from developing countries crossing our borders through no legal process that qualifies them to be here. Again, I am all for children receiving education, medical assistance, clothing, meals—a new start to life. Our household contributes far more than an average household to organizations doing exactly these things. However, if these children entering illegally are taught by experience that there are no expectations of following the law of the land in the United States, to what end will they aspire? My guess, and my fear, is that they will simply add themselves to the rolls of entitled individuals who don’t contribute to society, but will vote themselves a benefit.

The founding fathers of America warned over and over that the Republic would soon fail under these circumstances. In the book, Why Nations Fail, you can read about the Roman Empire and the Roman Republic failing. If I were to copy and paste that narrative here, you couldn’t discern it from today’s news.

It is time to call America back to an era of expectations. Expect children to learn. Expect young adults to work for a living. Expect businessmen to have character. Expect statesmen to make decisions for the benefit of the country, not for the benefit of the faction with the loudest voice and not for their personal wealth management plan. If you don’t start to expect these things now, today, then you’ll have very little to complain about when you don’t expect to use your vote come the election cycle this year.