Observations©

By Donald S. Conkey

Date: April 15, 2010 – 1016 – Title: Establishing liberty was not easy, liberty is not free.  (4164)  

When the Reverend Al Sharpton appeared on the Glenn Beck Show last week and those two polar opposites had a ten minute civil discussion I said to myself “there is hope for the future of America.” Those two having a civil discussion was a miracle. As I listened to them discuss Faith, Hope and Charity, and the application of these principles to America’s future I too found hope that the principles of liberty the Founders embedded into America’s Foundational Documents can be rescued by ModernDay Patriots and preserved.

            As I pondered this ‘miracle’ of Beck and Sharpton having a civil discussion on principles that could resolve the great conflict here in America I thought of another miracle that recently occurred in my life. My miracle: self-publishing a book using technology I could never have dreamed of growing up. Not only am I now published but the book was recently launched before an enthusiastic audience at the Cobb Galleria; it is available on line and in book stores, at the Fox Tail Book Shoppe in Woodstock. I am the last of the Tribune’s regular local columnists to ‘go public’ with a self-published book.

This has been an incredible experience. The easy part of this experience was writing the book. The hard part is marketing it. But marketing a self-published book has been made easier with the advent of new technology: the web and ‘On Demand’ publishing companies now dotting the industry. I went with UniBook in Alpharetta and my book is available on line at www.unibook.com and typing in my name.

            The title of my latest book, “God’s Influence in the Making of America,” will be no surprise to my Tribune readers who know my ed/op columns have centered around America’s founding and the influence Thomas Jefferson’s ‘Creator’ and ‘Supreme Judge of the world’ had in the making of America – and the principles of freedoms the Founders build their new nation on.

The miracle was not in the writing of the book but on how I was able to launch it in front of 300 ModernDay Patriots wanting to get involved in rescuing those principles Sharpton and Beck discussed. This opportunity came about because the sponsors of a highly publicized event at the Galleria needed a substitute speaker for someone who had to withdraw from the event. I ended up with fifty minutes in front of a crowd excited to learn how ‘God’s Influence’ literally led to the liberty and freedoms they now enjoy and now fear are being destroyed by the Progressive Movement in America.

I had never been involved in a book signing before but it proved to be an exciting adventure. I had heard of people lining up to buy a signed book from noted authors but never dreamed it would happen to me. But it did and thanks to my wife Joan most of my first run was sold at this event. Another miracle that has occurred is that those who have purchased and read the book are now recommending it to their family and friends via their e-mail lists that span America and the world. One woman, after reading the book and seeing the biblical connection to the creation of America, took it to her pastor who is now reading it.

Another advocate of the book, a retired professor of political science, wrote that if he were still teaching this book would be required reading for all of his students. ModernDay Patriots still do not fully comprehend the major role their God played in the creation of their liberty and freedoms. My book addresses this issue and its reception has been beyond anything I could ever have dreamed of.

Today is April 15, America’s tax day. And today there are rallies all across America by men, women and children peacefully protesting the current administrations hard move towards socialism, a program where “poverty is equally divided” among all people, a principle totally opposed to personal liberty. I show a connection between the 1776 Patriots, those who ‘created’ today’s liberties, and ModernDay Patriots, ‘those who must preserve’ those liberties. Many ModernDay Patriots believe that by electing a new congress in 2010 and electing a new president in 2012 that America’s problems will disappear. That’s wishful thinking.

ModernDay Patriots must realize that it took 16 years, from 1775 to December 15, 1791, for America’s Foundational Documents to be anchored in place. And it will require an equal time period or longer for them to undo the damage the termite Progressives have done to America and restore the principles God gave to America via the Founding Fathers. It will not be an easy process, but it must be done.

The alternative to this hard work on behalf of a free America are the consequences that will likely be similar to the consequences the Israelites faced when they rejected their God and asked for a “king.” America must better understand, and soon, that Socialism is “poverty equally divided.”

Liberty did not come easy, and liberty is not free – a price must be paid.