Thoughts From A Conservative Mom

Archive for the ‘Personal Responsibility’ Category

This is a fantastic documentary!  I highly recommend that you get a copy and show it to your church, small group, and friends, whether believers or not!

View on YouTube – Part 1

View on YouTube – Part 2

View on YouTube – Part 3

View on YouTube – Part 4

View on YouTube – Part 5

Can Christians be Capitalists?

The 5 Big Lies About American Business: Combating Smears Against the Free Market Economy

Money, Greed, and GodThe Ugly Side of “Social Justice” Theology

Evangelical Left Twists the Gospel in ‘Social Justice’ Fervor

Barack Obama’s Marxist Spiritual Advisor

Is Socialism Biblical?

The Base Metal of Christian Socialism

TRUE Social Justice: Transforming Lives In Need

THIS is the kind of frightening ignorance we have to rescue our country from, and the reason why some are arguing that we’ll never get government off our backs until we bring back the culture of personal responsibility.   

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was a prank call.  But sadly, it wasn’t.  Wow!  I don’t know whether to laugh or cry!

View on YouTube

Healthcare or a Hummer? Life’s Tough Choices

Voter: Obama Is Going To Pay For My Gas And Mortgage!

Back on Uncle Sam’s Plantation

Something for nothing? Think again

Walter Williams: Good Intentions

Perhaps the most difficult economic lesson is that we live in a world of scarcity and everything has a cost. Scarcity exists whenever human wants exceed the means to satisfy those wants. For example, Rolls-Royce produces less than 4,000 cars a year, but it’s a safe bet that more than 4,000 of the Earth’s 6.5 billion people want a Rolls-Royce. That means Rolls-Royces are scarce. But it’s not just Rolls-Royces that are scarce. It’s clothing, food, land and most anything a human would want. There’s not enough to meet every single want.

Scarcity means there’s no free lunch. Having more of one thing requires having less of another. You might say, “Williams, that’s where you’re wrong. Someone gave me this newspaper and I’m reading your column for free!” Not true. If you weren’t spending time reading my column, you might have spent the time reading something else, chatting with your wife or children, or going out for a jog. You’re reading my column for a zero price but you’re not doing so at zero cost. You have to sacrifice something. There are zero-price services such as “free libraries,” “free public schools,” “free transportation” and free whatever. It doesn’t mean costs are not being borne by somebody.

Read more World Net Daily

Walter Williams: Good Intentions

Give Capitalism a Chance

Keynes vs. Hayek: The Great Debate Continues

At first glance, this may seem like an arrogant question.  What right do any of us have to assume that God is on our side?   As Abraham Lincoln said, “I know the Lord is always on the side of right; but God is my witness that it is my constant anxiety and prayer that both myself and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”

How, then, do we know if we are on God’s side?  By studying His Word.  The more I study the arguments of liberals in regards to “justice” and “compassion”, the more I realize that they often define these terms as Marx did, not as the scriptures do.   That can make a huge difference in how one interprets scriptures which talk about justice and the poor, causing the reader to read socialist interpretations into the scriptures which are not there and twist the meaning to fit their worldview.  May we always be vigilant to allow God’s Word to shape our worldview, not the other way around. 

For more than a hundred years liberals and conservatives have been arguing over the true meaning of justice. The left emphasizes just outcomes—seeking smaller gaps between rich and poor, and a comparably dignified standard of living for all members of society. The right stresses just procedures –making sure that individuals keep the fruits of their own labors and remain secure in their property, without seizure by their neighbors or by government.

Liberals accept unequal, potentially unfair treatment by government in order to achieve fair results; conservatives accept unequal, potentially unfair results so long as every citizen receives fair and comparable treatment by government.

These arguments have raged for generations without definitive resolution, but that doesn’t mean that both sides are right, or that the questions that divide them offer no final answers. In fact, key Biblical passages provide a strong indication that conservative concepts of economic justice comport far more closely to the religious and philosophical foundations of western civilization. If the Bible is indeed the word of God (as a big majority of Americans say they believe it is), then it’s difficult to escape the conclusion that the Almighty would cast his all-important ballot for Republicans.

For instance, as the weeks count down to the Jewish New Year this September, congregations around the world all read the same weekly Torah portions from the Book of Deuteronomy, including the famous exhortation, “Justice, justice, shall you pursue.” (Chapter 16, Verse 20). The obvious question on this verse is why the Bible repeats the Hebrew word, “Tzedek” – which means both “justice,” and “righteousness”. A great Polish sage from the late 1700’s, Rabbi Bunam of P’schischa, recorded a profound answer from the Tradition. The text uses the word “Tzedek” twice to make sure that when you pursue justice, you only use just-and righteous-means. In other words, the Biblical view directly contradicts the leftist inclination: no, you can’t unjustly confiscate wealth from those who created it to fulfill the righteous goal of helping the poor. The Bible insists that no matter how worthy your purposes, you must employ only righteous means in achieving them.

This understanding turns up repeatedly in Scripture. For instance, a key passage in the Book of Leviticus (19:15) declares: “You shall not commit a perversion of justice; you shall not favor the poor and you shall not honor the great; with righteousness (Tzedek) shall you judge your fellow.” Amazingly, the Bible warns us not to “favor the poor” even before we’re instructed “not to honor the great,” because partiality for the unfortunate counts as an even stronger human temptation.

And what about all the Biblical demands, in both Old and New Testaments, to show compassion to widows, orphans and the poor?

Read more at Townhall.com

‘Social Justice’ Versus Biblical Justice

The Ugly Side of “Social Justice” Theology

Evangelical Left Twists the Gospel in ‘Social Justice’ Fervor

Barack Obama’s Marxist Spiritual Advisor

TRUE Social Justice: Transforming Lives In Need

Is the Tea Party a Christian Movement?

From the Constitutionalist Today:

I got asked yesterday, “What happens to the Tea Party after Election Day?” It’s a great question as the loudest drum beat has been leading us to 2 November, 2010. The first reaction is to say it depends on who wins and it is becoming clear the Progressives will lose on many fronts. For the thousands in Colorado who have come to meetings, gone to rallies, town halls, written countless letters and made calls to elected officials on issues ranging from health care to out of control spending, it has been a long road. Many will look at 2 November as the culmination of all their efforts, but it’s a dangerous conclusion to reach as the real work begins the morning after no matter who we send to Washington or Denver.

If the GOP takes over the US House, possibly the Senate, and makes major gains in Denver you’ll see those who really haven’t been active beyond the lure of a few rallies go back to sleep. Even some hard core Tea Party members will want to take a breather. After two years of fighting it’s not a bad thing, but that rest will be short lived.

Tea Party members understand an unchallenged GOP will not seriously carry the fight of limited government. It won’t be the Lindsey Grahams displaying the political courage to defend what will be described as draconian spending cuts. That will be left to the true conservatives. Bad things are coming from Washington and they can not be stopped unless those we elect are truly prepared to make the political sacrifices needed to reverse the damage of the last 18 months. Politicians taking the hard stands will be under enormous pressure from a defeated Progressive Party and the propaganda driven press who paint their efforts as destructive and extreme. Where does the political courage to fight come from? It comes from those that send politicians to Washington and Denver. The first time a conservative stands up with a meaningful reduction they better see a field of Gadsden flags behind them or it will be our failure, not theirs, if they never try it again.

It will take the Tea Party having the courage to defend those who we demand make the hard choices because with real cuts comes real pain. We must be willing to not just educate the public on why this pain is required, but we must be willing to endure the pain ourselves. It’s one thing to just tell government to cut programs; it’s another to actually do without what they provide.

After Election Day, the People must retake the reins of government. That requires active involvement at all levels. It involves making the effort to actively support and hold accountable those we elect in November. No one can do this alone and, thankfully, we are not alone. The working Tea Party groups, The 9-12 Project, CCM, AFP, Liberty on the Rocks and the many other liberty groups are the business end of the Tea Party movement. Join them. Work to advance the victories of Election Day or they will be lost forever. Americans stood up to an out of control government and are on the verge of victory. What we do with it will set the course of the nation for decades. Our involvement has given the Republic a second chance, we may not get another.

A Tea Party Manifesto: Take Over The GOP

GOP needs to move beyond ‘Default Mode’

The real costs of Social Security far exceed the taxes collected: The compulsory pay-as-you-go retirement system has denied people the choice of using those funds for private investment, diminished the culture of responsibility and strengthened the redistributive state. People have become more dependent on government, and the retirement decision has become politicized. Social Security now accounts for 20% of the U.S. budget, with expenditures of $686 billion last year.

Reforms in 1977 and 1983 increased payroll taxes and the retirement age, but made no fundamental changes to the system in terms of empowering workers by allowing them to put part of their Social Security taxes in personal accounts.

The U.S. system has accumulated surpluses, but they have been used to expand the size and scope of government. The so-called trust fund has no real assets, only IOUs that taxpayers must eventually pay.

In contrast, Chile’s Social Security Reform Act of 1980 allowed workers to opt out of the defined benefit plan and set up personal accounts. Today Chilean workers are no longer burdened with payroll taxes and no longer dependent on government for their retirement income.

The lack of private property rights in Social Security means that individuals have no secure claim to future benefits and cannot pass them on as part of their estates.

The Supreme Court has ruled that Congress has the power to change promised benefits or other terms of the “social contract” — that is, Congress has the power to break the contract and to renege on past promises.

Indeed, Social Security statements now state: “Congress has made changes to the law in the past and can do so at any time. The law governing benefit amounts may change because, by 2037, the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 76% of scheduled benefits.”

What kind of a contract is that? Would anyone voluntarily sign such an uncertain agreement? Of course not! That’s why Social Security is compulsory.

The deal is bound to get worse. This year OASDI will run a deficit of $41 billion, with a smaller deficit in 2011, and surpluses in 2012-14. Beginning in 2015, revenues will be insufficient to pay full benefits, according to the just-released Social Security Trustees’ Annual Report to Congress, and the cash-flow deficit will rapidly increase.

Read more at the CATO Institute

Is the Welfare State a Ponzi Scheme?

The Entitlement Rip-Off

In the Red: Social Security to See Payout Exceed Pay-In This Year

300 Million, Social Security, and Solvency

Obama’s Pension Grab

U.S. Will be Like Greece in ‘Seven to 10 Years,’ Say Congressmen, Experts

Social Security Reform: A Free-Market Alternative

Fantastic article by a mommy patriot, Stephani Scruggs, on American Majority:

I got to thinking about the movement today – specifically Unite In Action & the 2010 March on DC.  In a moment of exhaustion fueled pity, I couldn’t help but think…I’m just a housewife, how the heck am I going to fit all this into one day?  I don’t have a legion of personal assistants…I don’t even have one.  I am not paid, yet I am working from the time I get up in the morning until the wee hours of the next.  (And let me tell you, moms with children under the age of 6 REALLY should to get to bed before 2am EVERY night….because the kids are going to wake up at 7am whether we like it or not).  My kids have learned to make their own sandwiches, and don’t even ask me when I vacuumed last.  I’m lucky if I can squeeze in a shower every other day, and my kids think the computer & telephone are evil devices which have surgically attached themselves to Mommy.  I have a house to clean, bills to juggle, kids to raise, 6 chickens, 3 dogs, 1 pregnant goat and a husband to care for.

Meanwhile, my phone rings off the hook and my 3 email boxes are overflowing with people asking what do we do now?  How do we save the country?  Is it too late? Tell us what to do – we need TOOLS!  Then the media jumps in to label myself and my compatriots as angry, greedy, racist, white men and calls us a vile name previously only heard in XXX theaters.  It is enough to drive a girl stark raving mad! When the first call came in this morning (8am on a Sunday no less) all I could think is “I’M JUST A HOUSEWIFE!”

Then it occurred to me; we are nearly all housewives.  In The 912 Project, nearly all of the group leaders are women – many professionals, some retired, but mostly housewives.  At Unite In Action, more than half of the Board of Directors are housewives – including the President, Vice President, CFO and Military Advisor.  The Event Coordinator for March On DC?  Housewife.  The Liberty XPO Chair?  Housewife.  Symposium Chair?  Housewife.  Young Patriots, Education, Graphic Design, Volunteer Coordinator, Clergy Outreach, Merchandising & Transportation Chairs?  Yup, all housewives.  Don’t get me wrong; we’ve got a few guys thrown in, but we are almost entirely housewives trying to pull off the largest Liberty oriented training event in history.

And you know what?  This is exactly how it should be.  Housewives are the ones who literally manage the world.  The microcosm of each household is the macrocosm of society.  My house and your house and their house…this is reality.  And in reality, it is the housewives who carry the burden of the future.  Yes, the men provide, but we clean up the messes, both literally and figuratively.  Vomit on the floor?  No problem; get the Clorox.  Teen angst?  Here comes a lesson in character.  We balance the budget and figure out how to pay all the bills with money left over for savings and college funds.  A new pair of Jimmy Choos versus Walmart sneakers so we can pay the rent?  You know what we will bring home.   Homework due or exams to study for?  You know we will be there making sure everything gets done.  In short, we the housewives are tasked with the future of our children and therefore the future of society.

So yes, a bunch of housewives are running the 2010 March on DC & Liberty XPO.  Because we know it takes WORK to clean up a mess.  Because we know you need TOOLS to get the job done.  Because we know EDUCATION is everything.  And because WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THE LOSS OF OUR CHILDREN’S LIBERTY – nor will we stand for the bankrupting of our grandchildren’s future.  Because we know this mess will not be cleaned up overnight, and November will not fix everything! WE WILL move past street parties and protests.  WE WILL do everything we can to get real classroom training & tools into the hands of the patriots who need them, AND WE WILL SAVE THIS COUNTRY!

So, girls grab your gloves, the Clorox, the character lessons, the budget, and the mops and meet me in DC – September 9^th& 10^th.  We’ve got a House to clean!

P.S.  If you see Keith Olbermann, send him my way…I’ve got a bar of soap just itching to clean up that potty mouth!

Tea Party: mostly moms

Mommy Patriots: A Call to Arms

Mommy Patriots – Striking A Balance

Moms From All Across America on the Glenn Beck Show

Let’s Hear it for the Girls: Republican Female Candidates On The Rise

The Year of the GOP Women

View on YouTube – Part 1

View on YouTube – Part 2

View on YouTube – Part 3

View on YouTube – Part 4

View on YouTube – Part 5

View on YouTube – Part 6

Attacks on Freedom

The Original Tea Party

View on YouTube

The Civil War and Gilded Age

View on YouTube

Progressivism

View on YouTube

FDR’s State And LBJ’s Society

View on YouTube

Big Gov’t and Tea Parties

View on YouTube

The Constitution and Freedom

Woodrow Wilson and the roots of Progressivism

Barack Obama and “The Second Bill of Rights”

America’s Ruling Class – And the Perils of Revolution

We the Serfs

WHO has changed how the constitution is interpreted?

“We the people” are the familiar opening words of the Constitution of the United States– the framework for a self-governing people, free from the arbitrary edicts of rulers. It was the blueprint for America, and the success of America made that blueprint something that other nations sought to follow.

At the time when it was written, however, the Constitution was a radical departure from the autocratic governments of the 18th century. Since it was something so new and different, the reasons for the Constitution’s provisions were spelled out in “The Federalist,” a book written by three of the writers of the Constitution, as a sort of instruction guide to a new product.

The Constitution was not only a challenge to the despotic governments of its time, it has been a continuing challenge– to this day– to all those who think that ordinary people should be ruled by their betters, whether an elite of blood, or of books or of whatever else gives people a puffed-up sense of importance.

While the kings of old have faded into the mists of history, the principle of the divine rights of kings to impose whatever they wish on the masses lives on today in the rampaging presumptions of those who consider themselves anointed to impose their notions on others.

The Constitution of the United States is the biggest single obstacle to the carrying out of such rampaging presumptions, so it is not surprising that those with such presumptions have led the way in denigrating, undermining and evading the Constitution.

Read more of Part I at the Patriot Post

Dismantling America: Part II

Dismantling America: Part III

Dismantling America: Part IV

WHO has changed how the constitution is interpreted?

Thomas Sowell, the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution and author of Dismantling America, discusses, with Hoover research fellow Peter Robinson, why he believes America is collapsing.

View on YouTube: Part 1

Thomas Sowell discusses same-sex marriage and judges who legislate from the bench.

View on YouTube: Part 2

American Collapse: Chapter 3
Thomas Sowell says a loss of personal responsibility is at the heart of the decline of American society.

Libertarian Economist Thomas Sowell on Property Rights

View on YouTube

“Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: first, a right to life; secondly, to liberty; thirdly to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can.” ~ Samuel Adams

“It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.” ~ Frederic Bastiat

Independence and the Right to Private Property

What Freedom Can Do For a Country

Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?

View on YouTube

Record number of black Republicans running for office

Black conservative tea party backers take heat

Stop The Haters: Black Conservatives Respond

View on YouTube

Set against the backdrop of today’s headline – 67% of Americans don’t approve of Obama’s economic policies - the film takes a provocative look at our deeply depressed economy using the words and actions of Presidents Reagan and Obama and shows the marked contrast between Reaganomics and Obamanomics. The film contrasts two views of the role that the federal government should play in our daily lives using the words and actions of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Two versions of the American dream now stand in sharp contrast. One views the money you earned as yours and best allocated by you; the other believes that the elite in Washington know how to best allocate your wealth. One champions the traditional American dream, which has played out millions of times through generations of Americans, of improving one’s lot in life and even daring to dream and build big. The other holds that there is no end to the “good” the government can do by taking and spending other peoples’ money in an ever-burgeoning list of programs. The documentary film I Want Your Money exposes the high cost in lost freedom and in lost opportunity to support a Leviathan-like bureaucratic state.

Find out more at IWantYourMoney.net

America’s new culture war: Free enterprise vs. government control

Tea Partiers Embrace Liberty, Not Big Government

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is worried about the country’s financial future because of the coming costs for entitlements and the fact that Obamacare’s costs will kick in on top.

According to Ryan, more than 18 cents of every dollar already is being taken by the federal government to pay for entitlements.

The future, however, will see that figure skyrocket.

“I’ve got three children who are 5, 7, and 8 years old,” said Ryan. “I’m 40 years old, and by the time my kids reach that age, the federal government will be taking more than 40 cents out of every dollar to pay for these entitlements.”

And that doesn’t even include the future costs of Obamacare, President Obama’s effort to nationalize health-care decision-making.

“We’ve only begun to study those numbers.” Ryan said.

Ryan views the coming bills as a direct result of the new “progressive” attitude in Washington, which also is reflected in the idea that government should be involved in a wide range of personal issues, from health care records to eating habits and insurance purchases.

“Where do our rights come from? Do they come from government or from God? That question has put our country on a collision course of ideas,” he said.

“Our rights come from God and nature not government,” said Ryan.

He explained the government’s role is to protect people’s rights, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Progressives, Ryan warned, are moving away from that principle because they believe the government now determines rights.

Read more at World Net Daily

Paul Ryan: Do we want an opportunity society or a welfare state?

Paul Ryan: 70% of Americans Becoming Dependent on Government

Paul Ryan: The Man With the Plan

Political labels constantly change throughout time, depending on the point and perspective of history that you view it from. For example, the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence were seen as enemies of the state, and from Great Britain’s perspective a charge of high treason was placed upon them. Today, they are looked upon as heroes in the eyes of this great nation of men and women, not only for their great courage but also because of their thought and insight to political philosophy.

These political labels are often blurred, and the terms liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, and libertarian are used as vague descriptions, insults or for political gain. They mean little and are generalizations that attempt to define us as a person or ideologue. Ousting these labels for myself and others, I have found one thing in common among “We the People”: A common distrust of those in leadership, perpetual propaganda exploited to the people by those in control, and a lack of understanding of our beginnings as a nation and of history as a whole.

My point and the question that continually burdens my mind, as well as many others, is: How did we get to such a complacent and apathetic standard and viewpoint of our own history and an understanding of the political schemes around us? This should indeed raise concerns and peak our curiosity.

Read more at the Tenth Amendment Center

The Patriot’s Guide: What You Can Do for Your Country

Join the fight to take back our nation!