The Cause of Liberty

If you were left wondering whether you should laugh or cry after reading my last post, you got the point.

America really is at a crossroads, a momentous point in history infinitely more critical than anything Rome, Greece, or the ancient Israelites ever faced because of how much our decisions impact the rest of humanity.

However, I’m an optimist at heart and believe that Americans can and will conquer any challenge, no matter how difficult or even if it is self-imposed. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, “It is a part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate, to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.”

With this in mind, I wish to transcend the gloomy picture painted in my last post and offer the ten most important things that average Americans can do to ensure that our current decline doesn’t engulf us and last interminably.

10. Read at least one classic a month.

According to George Wythe College, “Classics are original works of depth and substance–writing, painting, sculpture, philosophy, music, theory, law, etc.–that engage the student in the great questions of life. Works that have wide application and scope, they offer valuable ideas to a variety of cultures and times, and can be applied to nations as well as communities, families and individuals. These timeless works change us and ask the hard questions that cut to the core of human nature and human institutions.”

Study the nature and anatomy of freedom through classics. Learn what it takes to preserve and promote freedom for yourself and your posterity.

9. Discuss the classics you read with groups of your peers on a regular basis.

Similar groups were formed long before the American Revolution erupted, and they had an integral role in shaping the views and direction of the entire populace. As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

8. Keep entertainment in proper perspective.

We’re flooded with an infinite variety of ways to divert us from our highest potential and purpose. When entertainment becomes excessive, it prevents us from living the ideals necessary to sustain freedom.

7. Raise a family worth emulating.

Love and serve your family. Be true to your spouse, be kind and inspiring to and patient with your children. Take responsibility for the education of your children. Build America from the inside out with the solid bricks of family values and relationships.

6. Forgive those who have wronged you.

World peace will never be achieved until individuals become conscious of their own contribution to or detraction from that goal.

5. Be a person of integrity.

Keep your word, no matter how difficult, no matter how tempting it may be to follow the crowd and become casual. Do what you say you will do. Live what you say you believe.

4. Be vigilant about how you spend your private time.

As I have written elsewhere, “The ultimate measure of a person’s integrity is how they act when they are absolutely alone, and what they do when no one else will ever know. It is the quiet moments spent in solitude that determine if you are true to what you say you believe in.”

3. Become a constitutional scholar.

Know the Constitution backward and forward. Study its foundations. Study the works that its creators read. Learn what habeas corpus, bills of attainder, and ex post facto laws are. Learn what the different branches of government are authorized to do, and prohibited from doing. Know the intended balance between the States and the Federal Government.

2. Live your mission.

Discover, develop, and utilize your natural gifts and abilities. Do what you were born to do, even if it takes quitting your current job. Live the spirit of providence in your life. In the words of Steve Farber, “Do what you love in the service of those who love what you do.”

And the number one way to lead an American Renaissance is… Continue reading »

An Unlikely Combination, Amazing Results

A friend once flattered my brother and me by commenting that we were “salt of the earth” people. When he asked about the environment in which we were raised relative to his compliment, I said the first thing that came to my mind: I told him that we were raised in a salty environment.

It was just a joke at the time, but little did I know how much I would learn about salt and how it relates to families as a result.

The compliment was, of course, referring to the words spoken by the master teacher Jesus Christ who said, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?” Christ also makes a strange request in the book of Mark, where he directs his disciples to “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”

These phrases and the conversation with my friend led me to research salt, with the purpose to answer the following questions: What are the qualities of salt that lend themselves to Christ’s parables? Why should we become like salt? And most importantly, what can… Continue reading »

I can’t believe all you homeschoolers out there who think you can just teach your children anything you want. And without official, state-sponsored credentials, as unbelievable as that sounds.

It’s time you all woke up and realized that you’re just a bunch of petty felons, selfish reprobates unwilling to sacrifice your lives and your children to the safekeeping of a benevolent and omniscient government.

Luckily, we have sensible and caring judges to put you in your place. On February 28th of this year, Justice H. Walter Croskey and two of his colleagues thankfully declared homeschooling to be a crime in California.

“Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children,” wrote Croskey in an opinion signed by two other members of the district court. “Parents who fail to [comply with school enrollment laws] may be subject to a criminal complaint against them, found guilty of an infraction, and subject to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent education and counseling program.”

The decision quotes this statement from a California court case in 1961:

A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sure heaving a sigh of relief now that that’s taken care of. Frankly, I don’t know how we’ve lasted so long with thousands of homeschoolers running rampant. Maybe that explains the drastic increases in teenage suicide, violence, and drug abuse.

And to think that all this time you thought you were homeschooling to benefit society. Silly homeschooling parents, education is for those with credentials (and lots of big guns).

Click here to read the full text of this astounding article.

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Written By Stephen Palmer. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

“You may not need to resort to punishment to change a child’s course.”

Liberty largely depends on strong, healthy families; any freedom lover strives to make their home and family an ideal for the rest of society to model.

With this in mind, I’m constantly looking for ways to improve my meager parenting skills. I have just come across the absolute best thing I have ever read on parenting, and wanted to share it with my readers.

It is an article entitled “Better Than Punishment” by Duane Boyce of the Arbinger Institute and it can be found here.

Read it, share it with your family and friends, and let me know what you think by posting a comment below.

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Information Age Casualties, and How To Reclaim Them

Why is it that the more digitally connected we become, the more we feel disconnected from the things that matter most?

Picture the following scene, played out many evenings in typical American homes. The father is on his computer in the office, finishing up some last minute work details and reading up on the latest election news on the internet, while the mother is watching TV in the living room. The son is downstairs playing video games while the daughter listens to music on her iPod in her bedroom while instant messaging with friends online.

As you picture this scene (and ponder what’s wrong with it), try to comprehend the magnitude of what we’ve accomplished in the Information Age, the ability to bring the entire world into our living rooms and bedrooms, the ability to connect in real time with almost anyone across the globe.

Want to learn about Zambia? A quick Google search brings up 124 million sites. Want to download the latest song from an obscure artist in Australia? You’re about two clicks away.

What’s the current price of crude oil? Who won Academy Awards? How many delegates does Barack Obama currently have? How can you defeat the final challenge on your favorite video game?

Whatever is on your mind, in whatever corner of the globe or concerning the most esoteric and specialized concepts, you have almost instant access to your questions. Technology has given us a brave new–and small–world, with more information, opportunity, and connectivity than our ancestors could even dream of.

And yet, in an age largely defined by connectivity, we’re losing our lifelines to the most important things. Specifically, there are three main connections that, ironically enough, are being systematically severed the more digitally connected we become.

What are those three connections, and how can we strengthen them in our own lives?

Continue reading »

Does the science of economics have real application in your life, or does it seem like a topic reserved for college professors and “experts?”

The word economics comes from the Greek words oikos (pronounced ee kos) meaning home or house, and nomos, meaning name, organization, or management. To the Greeks, an “oikonomos” is a manager of a home. Economics isn’t about charts, graphs, interest rates, and index funds. It’s about what you do on a daily basis to create a profitable, thriving, and sustainable home life. It’s about learning to create value for your family. An oikonomos is a producer in his or her own home before and above all else.

The science of economics, then, is much closer to home that you may have thought. Be a wise and productive steward of your home and that will be reflected in society. Be the economist in your life.

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