We Don't Need to Redefine America

We don’t need to redefine America
But return to its truths, self evident
The constitution was indeed a miracle
Putting policy where it is best spent

Promoting the general welfare, hence
While granting freedoms equally to all
Providing for the common defense
Responding to liberty’s call

The American Republic, once great
Ought not become a socialist state
Freeing industry improves the employment rate
We must act before it is too late!

Green jobs, stimulus packages, entitlements
Must be a thing of the past
Giving power back to local governments
Returned to the people at last

click on the title to read Tom McClintock's speech
California: A Morality Tale in Three Parts

The following is a speech delivered to the
Council on National Policy on September 30, 2011....

We Who in Freedom Live Today

We who in freedom live today
Remember those once brave
Who knew the valiant price to pay
For sovereign rights to save

The greatest act that one can do
Is to do what's hard, but right
To face enemies and fear too
And be steadfast in the fight

If we ever were to forget
Life's lessons would be gone
But a patriot's heart won't let
Of such comes freedom's song

Thus in the season where colors fall
And families gather near
Let us pay tribute to honor's call
And thank our veteran's dear

Pause and Remember

Pause to remember
Solemnly with pride
Our American heroes
Who now live and have died

We owe all these men and women
Our respect and admiration
We are grateful for each veteran
For their service to this nation


Mitt Romney
Today, Veterans Day, we pause to remember - and to take solemn pride in -
America’s heroes. We owe the men and women who have served in our armed forces our respect, our admiration, and our eternal gratitude.

The Golden Thread of Freedom

Throughout the gospel plan

There lies a golden thread

Giving free agency to man

To choose where one is led

Defend the constitution

Each freedom it provides

Safeguard it from pollution

And strengthen it with your lives

Give of yourself in service

As it is vitally important to activate-

Those finer qualities of purpose

That refine us and are a joy to radiate

To summarize our capacity to influence those around us, President McKay said the following half a century ago:

There is one responsibility which no man can evade and that responsibility is personal influence. Man’s unconscious influence, the silent, subtle radiation of his personality. The effect of his words and acts. These are tremendous. Every moment of life he is changing to a degree the life of the whole world.
Every man has an atmosphere which is affecting every other. Man cannot escape for one moment from this radiation of his character. This constantly weakening or strengthening of others. He cannot evade the responsibility by saying it is an unconscious influence. He can select the qualities he would permit to be radiated. He can cultivate sweetness, calmness, trust, generosity, truth, justice, loyalty, nobility, and make them vitally active in his character. By these qualities he will constantly affect the world. This radiation to which I refer comes from what a person really is, not from what he pretends to be. Every man by his mere living is radiating sympathy, sorrow, or morbidness, cynicism, or happiness or hope, or any other hundred qualities. Life is a state of radiation and absorption. To exist is to radiate. To exist is to be the recipient of radiation.

"To radiate our positive influence in civic affairs, we must become righteous and moral; we must, as Ghandi once said, be the change we wish to see in the world. We need to learn and abide by the principles found in the Constitution, for as President McKay taught: "Next to being one in worshiping God, there is nothing in this world upon which this Church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States!" (Instructor Magazine, 1956, 91:34). We must take that knowledge and understanding of the Constitution, and infuse our political system with its disinfecting simplicity and principled restraints; we must become leaders and work diligently to support good people in public office, or seek office ourselves. And finally, we must radiate our influence by exposing ourselves to those who might be impacted and uplifted by our actions, words, and character."


http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/the-civic-duty-of-the-latter-day-saints

The State is No Judge of Religious Truth

The state is no judge of religious truth
It must be mute on such matters
History, alone, gives us the proof
To civic peace it has been disastrous

Each man must tend to his own conscience
Coming to know for himself what is right
Learning to self-govern and to be cautious
Of what puffs itself up to take freedom and light

Religion is that transcendent link
To God and community
That each might spiritually drink
Moral fiber for unity

pondering:

Is religion special?

Desert News

Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011 

any comments are appreciated... as I am still pondering

Founding Principles

Founding principles

Made this land great.

Freedom and enterprise-

It is not too late!

Save the Constitution-

Increase the defense.

"The People" not institutions-

Make the true difference!

The will, the heartbeat

Calls us to work hard.

We have a destiny.

We know who we are!

America's soul

Is worthy of saving.

Of our leading role

The world is more craving.

Liberty, choice

Freedom, religion-

On each make a noise

The vote... the decision.

God Has Planted in Us a Love for Liberty

God has planted within us
A love for liberty
These times are perilous
In bondage we are hurting

For rebirth let us turn back
To God and search for light
Our freedom's under attack
And we must do what's right

The soul of America
Has been deeply injured
We need a miracle
As we now lay endangered

Our Constitution hangs
Sadly by a thread
As for freedom we once sang
We complain now instead

Families, in half, are torn
And marriage is at risk
For wayward children we mourn
The slippery slope- it did this

But the sky still shines with freedom
The clouds promise there's more
Let us seek God for wisdom
And right this course of error

May our pulpits flame again
And stir our hearts to see
When we're humble there's wisdom
Lighting you and me

Re-declare independence
Prepare well for a fight
History's the evidence
That each must sacrifice

Who will humbly pray?
Who will give their all?
Each and every day?
Answering freedom's call?

Recognizing God's hand
Let's work to do His will
Helping freedom stand
Our destiny to fulfill

Let us pray to be led
By one noble, true, and great
Who has earned respect?
Humbly to take the weight?

Let him not stand alone
May others rise up tall
In truth, to be known
As servants to us all

May they rise in Spirit
And speak with great command
Compelling all to hear this-
"With honor we must stand"

Be of good cheer and sing
In thanksgiving for all we know
Let the cry of freedom ring
And the pledge of allegiance grow

Let us pledge allegiance
To this worthy cause
Calling for obedience
Unto all of God's laws

Let us raise this great nation
To where it ought to be
And in our homes for explanation
Let us school liberty

Liberty- is will
It's a part of us like skin
It belongs to us still
And with light will brighten

Mothers

Societies always need
A little reminding

It is our mothers who lead

The future we're finding

Be a Communicator of Great Things

Be a communicator of great things

Rediscover patriotism and common sense

Teach what our history best brings:

A shining city of, for, and by the people, hence

Beliefs Become a Reality

Beliefs become a reality

Through freedom, truth, and faith

Becoming the fruits of society

Releasing the spirit... to create

The Rights of Man

The same revolutionary beliefs For which our forefathers fought Cannot be taken by thieves Cannot be changed or bought Man's rights are God given For the pursuit of happiness They cannot be taken Like skin, they're a part of us For I have sworn before you and                                  Almighty God, the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago. The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe — the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.”

— John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961 I heard Mitt Romney mention this Inaugural Address- and I wondered what he'd said.  These are amazing words!