"The United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the greatest deliberative body in the world. But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity.
"It is strange that we can verbally attack anyone else without restraint and with full protection and yet we hold ourselves above the same type of criticism here on the Senate Floor. Surely the United States Senate is big enough to take self-criticism and self-appraisal. Surely we should be able to take the same kind of character attacks that we 'dish out' to outsiders.
"I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching -- for us to weigh our consciences -- on the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America -- on the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges.
"I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. I think that it is high time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation.
"Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism:
The right to criticize;
The right to hold unpopular beliefs;
The right to protest;
The right of independent thought.
"The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood, nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us doesn't? Otherwise, none of us could call our souls our own. Otherwise, thought control would have set in.
"The nation sorely needs a Republican victory. But I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny -- Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.
"I don't want to see the Republican Party win that way. While it might be a fleeting victory for the Republican Party, it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people. Surely it would ultimately be suicide for the Republican Party and the two-party system that has protected our American liberties from the dictatorship of a one party system.
"As a United States Senator, I am not proud of the way in which the Senate has been made a publicity platform for irresponsible sensationalism. I am not proud of the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled from the side of the aisle. I am not proud of the obviously staged, undignified countercharges that have been attempted in retaliation from the other side of the aisle.
"I don't like the way the Senate has been made a rendezvous for vilification, for selfish political gain at the sacrifice of individual reputations and national unity. I am not proud of the way we smear outsiders from the Floor of the Senate and hide behind the cloak of congressional immunity and still place ourselves beyond criticism on the Floor of the Senate.
"As an American, I am shocked at the way Republicans and Democrats alike are playing directly into the Communist design of 'confuse, divide, and conquer.' As an American, I don't want a Democratic Administration 'whitewash' or 'cover-up' any more than I want a Republican smear or witch hunt."
This is a portion of a speech delivered on June 1, 1950 by Sen Margaret Chase Smith of Maine.
This was after FDR and Truman had enjoyed same party rule for about 15 years.
Does any of this sound familiar almost 60 years later?
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Tough Love of America
I started something on my Facebook page that will likely make some of my old friends quite upset with me. Whoopie! I sent out an admonishment to all parents of teens that think that the Govt should make their life easier. I challenged them to ask that question to their children and see what answer they get. If the answer is YES, I advise them to drop to their knees and pray to God for forgiveness.
This is the second step in my Tough Love of America plan.
Step one was a follows:
In Sept. 2008 I told my friends and family that I would NOT be voting for Obama because I could not bring myself to do such a thing, but at the same time I had a hope that this nation would elect him. No, I did not want him as president in principle but as a means to an end. We as a nation have become so focused on instant gratification, tolerance, and feel-goodism that we can no longer make the tough decisions required for greatness. So to that end I am now glad that we have Obama and a Democrat controlled Congress. We have turned over the reins of power to the progressives, who now have unchecked authority to legislate and execute the progressive agenda. While it scares me to no end, the misery that shall be visited on this great nation as a result, that is precisely what we need. We need to experience, first hand, what losing liberty really means. We need to experience what happens when we turn our eyes from God in an effort to be “inclusive and tolerant”. We need to feel the pain of the socialist movement.
This is the price that the Post-Boomer generation must pay for our failure to lead, and failure to acknowledge God’s divine providence over this nation. We were raised in a land of plenty in a time when we wanted for nothing. We squandered those blessings and we must now suffer the consequences of our decisions.
Now we come to step 2.
In step 2, we have our opportunity for redemption.
As the parents of the future leaders in this nation, we have a responsibility to prepare them for the world ahead. What world do we want? This past election exposed the liberal leanings of our govt, schools and universities. Our high school Juniors and Seniors are all agog over the idea that we have elected our first Black president. Well that is only half true, literally. As well the Obama movement on college campuses across America was an overwhelming success. Why, because it appealed to the “fairness” argument so many of our students embrace. Life is not fair and the Govt is not the answer to that lack of fairness. We as a society have failed to teach these young skulls full of gray mush that life is hard. Life is not fair and that only though hard work, moral certainty and a belief in the one true living God , can we ever expect to realize the American Dream.
The Step 2 plan is to educate these young people in the facts of life and stop abdicating hat responsibility to the Government. To show them that the Gov’t is OUR servant, not the other way around. We must teach them what our Great Grandparents taught our Grandparents. Those old fashioned ideals that hard work and family are the primary values that will sustain you; even in the toughest of times. And there are plenty of those on the way.
I predict that by 2010 this nation will no longer be the world leader in much of anything other than decline. Our current administration and legislative body have taken it upon themselves to immerse us into socialism at break neck speed.
Our only hope is that we as the parents of the leaders of this nation in our twilight years is to teach them well the values and lessons of our founding fathers. And to instill in them the desire to be free. Truly free. And to love liberty over security at all costs.
This is the key to the taking back this great nation from the transnationalist, socialist, Eurocentric, power mad leaders we have been so stupid as to elect in the last 15 years.
Did we learn nothing from Ronaldus Magnus?
This is the second step in my Tough Love of America plan.
Step one was a follows:
In Sept. 2008 I told my friends and family that I would NOT be voting for Obama because I could not bring myself to do such a thing, but at the same time I had a hope that this nation would elect him. No, I did not want him as president in principle but as a means to an end. We as a nation have become so focused on instant gratification, tolerance, and feel-goodism that we can no longer make the tough decisions required for greatness. So to that end I am now glad that we have Obama and a Democrat controlled Congress. We have turned over the reins of power to the progressives, who now have unchecked authority to legislate and execute the progressive agenda. While it scares me to no end, the misery that shall be visited on this great nation as a result, that is precisely what we need. We need to experience, first hand, what losing liberty really means. We need to experience what happens when we turn our eyes from God in an effort to be “inclusive and tolerant”. We need to feel the pain of the socialist movement.
This is the price that the Post-Boomer generation must pay for our failure to lead, and failure to acknowledge God’s divine providence over this nation. We were raised in a land of plenty in a time when we wanted for nothing. We squandered those blessings and we must now suffer the consequences of our decisions.
Now we come to step 2.
In step 2, we have our opportunity for redemption.
As the parents of the future leaders in this nation, we have a responsibility to prepare them for the world ahead. What world do we want? This past election exposed the liberal leanings of our govt, schools and universities. Our high school Juniors and Seniors are all agog over the idea that we have elected our first Black president. Well that is only half true, literally. As well the Obama movement on college campuses across America was an overwhelming success. Why, because it appealed to the “fairness” argument so many of our students embrace. Life is not fair and the Govt is not the answer to that lack of fairness. We as a society have failed to teach these young skulls full of gray mush that life is hard. Life is not fair and that only though hard work, moral certainty and a belief in the one true living God , can we ever expect to realize the American Dream.
The Step 2 plan is to educate these young people in the facts of life and stop abdicating hat responsibility to the Government. To show them that the Gov’t is OUR servant, not the other way around. We must teach them what our Great Grandparents taught our Grandparents. Those old fashioned ideals that hard work and family are the primary values that will sustain you; even in the toughest of times. And there are plenty of those on the way.
I predict that by 2010 this nation will no longer be the world leader in much of anything other than decline. Our current administration and legislative body have taken it upon themselves to immerse us into socialism at break neck speed.
Our only hope is that we as the parents of the leaders of this nation in our twilight years is to teach them well the values and lessons of our founding fathers. And to instill in them the desire to be free. Truly free. And to love liberty over security at all costs.
This is the key to the taking back this great nation from the transnationalist, socialist, Eurocentric, power mad leaders we have been so stupid as to elect in the last 15 years.
Did we learn nothing from Ronaldus Magnus?
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