Observations©

By Donald S. Conkey

Date: October 28, 2010 - # 1044 - Title: Freedom is not bestowed, it is achieved – vote Tuesday (750)

In my nearly 83 years there have been few years when there were no wars, or rumors of wars going on somewhere in the world. The United States of America was either directly or indirectly involved in nearly all of these wars. And in nearly all of these wars large numbers of human beings, of every race, religion and ethnic background, were enslaved. They were enslaved mostly because someone or some group felt they were superior to those being enslaved. And in most cases, as with Stalin, Hitler and Mao, millions of humans were slaughtered because of the socialistic ideology of those who gained power.

            These movements beg the question: Why? Much has been said in recent months leading up to next Tuesday’s historic elections about good and evil. Everyone seems to know what good is and what evil is. Most know by instinct what good feels like just as most know by instinct what evil is, and what it leads to in our lives. Some say good emanates from God and that Satan is the source of all evil.

            There are those who will disagree with me but I strongly believe that without the Spirit of God watching over the Founders America could no more have won the Revolutionary War, or caused the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to be written, and then adopted, than pigeons could have built the Brooklyn Bridge. The Founders verify this belief for me with their writings and the evidence of their work during the past 225 years. God’s influence can be seen in the fruits of the Founders work – in an America that spread its wings of freedom all around the world. Contrary to what progressives now preach today America’s influence brought freedom to millions of God’s children all around the world.

            I am reminded once again of how Albert E. Bowen described freedom in 1938, as President Roosevelt, an early progressive, was beginning the “transformation of America,” leaving it to Barack Obama to complete his beginnings in our day. Bowen stated: “Freedom signifies more than a release from outward restraint. It is an essence, a quality of the spirit whose rarest blossoms, in an atmosphere of oppression wither and die.” “Freedom,” he continued, “is not bestowed, it is achieved. It is not a gift, but a conquest. It does not abide; it must be preserved.”

            Self government by we the people is not easy. Bowen said: “Self government involves self-control, self discipline, an acceptance of and the unremitting obedience to correct principles. Its demands are commensurate with its high privileges. Duties are the inseparable companion of rights. No other form of government requires so high a degree of individual morality.” Bowen than quoted Edmond Burke who said: “It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free.”

            As I have watched the current war for America’s soul unfold during the past year and the charges and countercharges, getting more raucous and bitter with each new advertisement, by men and women of ‘intemperate minds’ I begin to wonder if America can remain free. Moses recorded that Satan, the devil, is “the father of all lies’ with his role being “to deceive and blind men (and women), and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto the voice of God.”

            Far too many Americans fail to realize that ‘freedom is not bestowed.’ They believe their beloved freedoms are guaranteed. They are – but only as long as the Constitution remains the law of the land. We must remember there are fellow Americans today who want to destroy those beloved freedom believing that average Americans, like you and me, are not wise enough, nor smart enough to know how to self govern ourselves. It is a battle for America’s soul - and your freedoms.

            Albert Bowen saw our day from 1938. He saw           our generation fighting those “despotic principles” introduced by Roosevelt destroying America. And so have millions of others.  The men and women who today make up the Tea Party movement are those people who, like the Founders of old are relying on the “Protection of  divine providence,” and are “pledging to each other their Lives, their Fortunes, and their sacred Honor.” These are the people going to the polls next Tuesday and voting for change, the change that will restore America to the principles of freedom and liberty our Founding Fathers endowed all Americans with over 200 years ago. VOTE!