All that is Good

I know this is not the primary message of this blog, but as I looked at the barrage of disgusting headlines in the news this morning, I found myself unfazed. It would be very hard to discourage me right now.

Let me explain…in addition to being a mother, I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve in my church with a group of local teenage girls. For the past few months, we have been working on a program for our Sunday services. The girls all wrote talks and learned songs to sing. I admit that the other leaders and I were a little bit nervous about whether the whole thing would come together. But yesterday, I got to sit in the audience with my four children and listen to these beautiful girls perform. They were more amazing than we could possibly have hoped for.

One young woman gave a sweet tribute to her father, talking about how his example of love and hard work inspired her to be a better person. Another spoke about how she doesn’t find it difficult to cling to her high morals because she knows that her life has been blessed by them. One even said she knew what her leaders sacrifice to spend time with her and it helps her to understand the importance of the things we teach. These girls are so young, yet they are the kind of people that make you want to believe in the goodness of the world.

I am posting this today because I want everyone to understand that, although I often highlight the bad, there is much more good in this world. I want the cynics to understand why I repeat over and over that I believe in people and that is why I cling to freedom so tenaciously. I want the parents to understand that when you expect miracles from children, you will find them stepping up to the plate with more grace than you can imagine.

Yesterday I heard a fifteen-year-old girl give the most beautiful testimony as she sang one of my favorite songs:

“Walk tall, you’re a daughter, a child of God.
Be strong and remember who you are.
Try to understand, you’re part of his great plan.
He’s closer than you know.
Reach up, He’ll take you’re hand.”

Then and Now

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a politician's mind might change with the political climate. In 2004 (only 5 years ago!), Mitt Romney (a republican) was the governor of Massachusetts. If you know anything about the politics of that state, you know that having a conservative leader is somewhat of a miracle in and of itself. Naturally, the state legislature was, and is, controlled by Democrats. At the time, John Kerry was was running for president. The legislature recognized that, if he was elected, the Republican governor would have the power to appoint his successor. So, they declared the practice of allowing the governor to appoint a senator "undemocratic" and pushed through legislation requiring a special election to determine the new senator.

Well, we all know what happened.

Skip ahead 5 years. It's now 2009 and Senator Kennedy has just passed away. This is an important political issue in a climate where Democrats have declared that they will force through their power-grabbing agenda with or without bi-partisan support. Let's face it, there isn't much chance of Massachusetts electing a conservative. Only 13% of registered voters are Republicans. But, that's not good enough for the Democrats. They don't want to depend on the people to elect the correct candidate any more. You see, the current governor is a Democrat. The very same people who had called allowing the governor to appoint a successor "undemocratic" are now pushing hard for the new senator to simply be appointed before the special election can take place.

Ironically, Senator Kennedy was among the big supporters of the special election in 2004. But more recently, perhaps sensing his own mortality (brain cancer will do that to you), the late senator wrote a letter to state legislators asking them to change the policy so that the governor had the power to appoint.

Isn't it interesting how little faith these people have in their own constituents? Perhaps they all, like Bill Mayer (see yesterday's post) think Americans are stupid.

So...anyone want to move to Massachusetts?

Freedom is the Mother of all Invention

Over and over again, we've been told that conservative values are heartless because they don't believe in the welfare state. I hope I've communicated the truth. We believe in people. We believe that people are amazing, intelligent and capable of ruling their own lives. That is why we value freedom. We do not believe that there should be an elite ruling us. We believe in people. Yesterday, Bill Mayer said this on Conan O'Brian:

"But yeah, I mean, they are talking about 60 votes. Forget this stuff, 60. We can't get Americans to agree on anything 60%. 60% of people don't believe in evolution in this country. He just needs to drag them to it. Like I just said, they're stupid. Just drag them to this. Get healthcare done."

I can laugh at that. What I cannot laugh at is the response Americans were giving this clip on youtube.

"Obama is absolutely right in ignoring the polls. A president of a grown up society has been elected TO DO WHAT PEOPLE NEED NOT WHAT PEOPLE WANT."

"most of the people in any country are idiots, and that's especially true for america."

There were others, but I won't indulge them further. Here's my point: I was taught as a young woman that being a liberal meant caring about other people. I have grown up now and realize that what it actually means is believing you're better than other people and they need you to take care of them.

Here's the truth...Human beings are capable of anything. It is only the perceived shortcomings pushed upon us by liberals that limit our possibilities. Don't buy into the lie that people are stupid, or otherwise incapable.The greatest discoveries in history have come recently. Why have we progressed at break-neck speeds in the last century? FREEDOM. It's as simple as that. Let the people make their own decisions and they will astound you.

SPAM

I’m back! I have to admit that I’ve been less than stalwart in my keeping up with the news during the last couple months. In my defense, I did spend three days in a car with just my kids (6, 5, 3 & 1) and a lot of children’s value-based audiobooks. My brain is a little squishy, but I have a renewed passion for dependability, service and cleanliness.

That being the case, I hope you’ll forgive me for being a little out-of-the-loop. Also, that being the case, returning to my daily news ritual made me giggle rather than grit my teeth this morning. This entire article should be read with a laugh track in the background.

Last week, when we were still visiting relatives, my dad had the news on. The reporter was talking about the phenomenon of people who had not signed up for e-mail correspondence from the White House, receiving unsolicited propaganda about Obamacare…from the White House. Now, I honestly don’t care. I get e-mail from royalty in Nigeria all the time and I simply delete it. I thought the whole news report was a bit of a non-issue.

Until…The reporter pointed out that the President and his staff were baffled by the whole thing. They explained to the reporters asking about the e-mails, that they believed there must be a mysterious “third-party” who is signing innocent people up for White House slop. But, naturally, no one in the administration was involved.

My Dad and I laughed and laughed.

I forgot about the whole scandalous affair until today. Today, the White House confirmed that it had, in-fact, hired a private company (with tax-payer money) to distribute the e-mails. (excuse me while I regain control of my giggles)

Seriously? Well, I guess when you are throwing around money you don’t have the way this administration loves to, it’s worth a few million to try to convince people to spend a lot more. Heck, it’s worth a few million to take a dashing photo of the President so that we all feel more confident in the beauty of the man dragging us down this disgusting path.

A few million? I forgot to mention…No one in the White House knows how much of your money they spent to send you SPAM.

Honest mistake.

Admit it, you’re glad I’m back!