These Are Guarded Times

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.  You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.  You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.  You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling the wage payer down.   You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inviting class hatred.  You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.  You cannot help people permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."
    Abraham Lincoln

These are amazingly powerful words and we should probably read them often along with The Lord's Prayer.  We are living in a present that has millions fearing what the future holds.  I'm sure there are some that are hoping the future will give them more 'stuff' and less 'effort'.  I'm also positive that there are millions more that are praying for our nations protection and sovereignty.
And many more that fear the future loss of our individualness.

The political parties are in a huge flux as many members, some new and some multi-generational, question the actions of their Congressmen and party leaders.  There are Republicans that wonder what the big commotion is all about and are satisfied with some of the results coming out of D.C..Likewise, there are Democrats that question decisions and actions of their leaders and don't understand the trade-offs.

As Americans, we still enjoy most of the rights and freedoms outlined in the Constitution and the Bible.  God gave us the ability and the freedom to make our own choices, whether good or bad, and the wherewithal to recognize the difference.  Emotions are running high and will remain elevated for months and even years to come since many of the decisions being made will directly effect us all in one way or another.  Some of us believe that most of the decisions do not promote the American way of life; the Bill of Rights, freedom to make our own choices, freedom of movement and livelihood, etc. 

Having lived in Germany for 10 years in houses in native neighborhoods, (which the military calls 'living on the economy') I am familiar with the German form of socialism which is very similar to all the other European socialist governments.  The major difference between the Europeans and the Americans is that they have never, ever, known what it is to live the American way of life.  When a German wants to get married and move, they have to go to their city of birth and file papers - we get a marriage license wherever we are and just move.  When a German decides to go to school and become a nurse or teacher at the age of 35 - too bad, you had your chance when you were 13 and tested for the university study-track.  If you need your workers to work an extra hour, well...too bad, they work 38 1/2 hrs. a week and will drop their papers and leave when it's time. (I have heard that the German unions were pushing for less work hours each week but I haven't heard if that became law.)  Children go to school yearround with numerous breaks, the longest break is 6 weeks in late summer and that's when most all families go on vacation.

I could go on and on but the point is that we, as independent thinking Americans, will not sit idly by and allow this type of life to be forced down our throats.  We will demonstrate, we will have our voices heard, we will be counted, and WE WILL VOTE!!!!!!!!!!
Learn, think, decide...