Keeping the Faith: Lighting a Candle in the Darkness

Once in a while The Constitutional Party finds an article from another blog which we feel important to share. Up until now, we've featured different authors who have written articles for CFP, but whenever we have permission from other bloggers to post an article here, we are happy to do so. 
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Keeping the Faith: Lighting a Candle in the Darkness

July 28, 2013

I am an anachronism.
I was told that, in no uncertain terms, yesterday, by “Libertarians”, on a Conservative website I frequent.
My crime? I refused to be in favor of legalizing marijuana, and I had the nerve to say that I felt that it was more dangerous than alcohol. What’s more, I refused to say that there was a moral equivalency between them.
But, that’s a discussion for another day.
Dictionary.com defines an anachronism as

something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time.

I suppose that’s me.
I started this Blog as a way to vent my frustrations with the ever-evolving “societal norms” and political mayhem around me. A lot of things just grated on my nerves. They still do.
I was “reared” (as we say in Dixie) by a Mother and Daddy (Southern colloquialism for a Male Parental Unit) who were members of the Greatest Generation. In fact, I was born 3 days before my mother’s 40th brithday. To this day, I believe that they were going to name me “Oops”.
My view of the world around me was shaped and nurtured by my Daddy, a Christian American, and the finest man I’ve ever known, who served with an Army Engineering Unit, as a Master Sergeant, in World War II, and who jumped off of a perfectly good boat into a hail of gunfire to join his American Brothers in the tide-turning American Victory known as “D-Day”.
Between him and my Mother, they taught me what it was to be a hard-working, Middle Class Christian American Conservative….and, to be proud of it.
But now, at 54 years old, having just seen an anti-American, Muslim-sympathizing, political-pandering, class warfare-preaching, card-carrying Communist, get re-hired for a job in which, if he were in the private section, his butt would have gotten canned  within the first 7 months, I’m beginning to feel like I’m beating my dadgum head against the wall until it’s bloody, and for no cotton-pickin’ reason at all.
Why am I feelng that way?
Well, there are several reasons.
1. This country re-elected an idiot. Now, I realize that’s been done before. But, they all paled in comparison to this guy. I believe that “Scooter”, my pet name for Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmm), burnt up the vast majority of his gray matter during his “Choom Gang” days in Hawaii, and now, as an old friend, a former Meth-head, who, sadly, later committed suicide this time of year, used to tell me, he has “2 brain cells left and they’re fighting to the death”. I pray we survive the next 4 years.
2.  Evidently, Americans, at least the majority of the ones that actually got up off the couch (Pookie, included) to vote on November 6th, want the Federal Government to take care of them, cradle to grave. Rush Limbaugh labelled this symptom, “The Baracky Claus Effect”.  I pray, that, just as the Proletariat eventually figured out in the old Soviet Union, Americans are going to wake up one day, to find that mega-dependence on The State to run your life, leads to the loss of personal freedom. And those, who believe that they are “the most enlightened people in the room”, will be the first ones hollering, when they discover that their freedom has been taken away.
3. America seems to be devolving into a collection of Libertines. Notice, I did not say “Libertarians”, although, both descriptive words come from the same root word. A Libertine is, per Merriam-Webster.com,

a person who is unrestrained by convention or morality: one leading a dissolute (lacking moral restraint) life

Being a Libertarian used to mean you wanted less Government in your life and less restrictions on your personal happiness. Notice I said used to mean. Now, Libertine and Libertarian both seem to mean the same thing to the majority of posters self-identifying as members of the latter group on Internet chat boards.
Caligula’s Horse approves.
I suppose I could pontificate on the fallen nature of Man at this point, but, that’s fairly self-evident…and, as the late Freddie Prinze used to say, “Ees not my yob, man.”
4. Finally, I was told the other day, during the before-mentioned “discussion” on that Facebook Page, that my blog was considered a “joke”. I allowed this to hurt me very deeply. You see, since April of 2010, I have devoted a lot of time and effort to putting my ideas, however old-fashioned and cornball they are, down on paper. I truly enjoy doing it. I must. I haven’t made a dadgum dime off of it. Although, as I’ve previously written, it did help me land my present job.
A while back, I was asked to define what it means to be a Christian American Conservative.  After all, that’s how I identify myself and that is what it says on the top of this blog, since I began this exercise in ranting and raving in April of 2010.
Let’s perform a dissection, shall we?
First word:  Christian – A follower of Jesus Christ.
I was raised as a Christian by my parents and accepted Christ as my personal Savior many years ago.
Here are some interesting things about Christianity to consider, written by Dr. Ray Pritchard and posted on christianity.com:

1) The name “Christian” was not invented by early Christians. It was a name given to them by others.
2) Christians called themselves by different names—disciples, believers, brethren, saints, the elect, etc.
3) The term apparently had a negative meaning in the beginning: “those belonging to the Christ party.”
4) It was a term of contempt or derision.
5) We can get a flavor for it if we take the word “Christ” and keep that pronunciation. You “Christ-ians.”
6) It literally means “Christ-followers.”
7) Over time a derogatory term became a positive designation.
8) Occasionally you will hear someone spit the term out in the same way it was used in the beginning. “You Christians think you’re the only ones going to heaven.”
9) There was a sense of suffering and reproach attached to the word in the New Testament.
In working my way toward an answer to “What is a Christian?” I decided to check out the dictionary. I found these two definitions:
1. One who professes belief in Jesus as Christ or follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus. 2. One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus.”
That’s actually quite helpful because it gives some content to the word. To be a Christian means that you . . .
Believe Something
Follow Something
Live Something
A Fully Devoted Follower To borrow a contemporary phrase, we could simply say that a Christian is a “fully devoted follower of Jesus.” As I think about that, two insights come to mind.
1) It doesn’t happen by accident. You are not “born” a Christian nor are you a Christian because of your family heritage. Being a Christian is not like being Irish. You aren’t a Christian simply because you were born into a Christian family.
2) It requires conversion of the heart. By using the term “conversion,” I simply mean what Jesus meant when he said that to be his disciple meant to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). The heart itself must be changed so that you become a follower of the Lord.

Second word: American – A citizen of the United States of America.
Stephen M. Warchawsky, wrote the following in an article for americanthinker.org:

So what, then, does it mean to be an American? I suspect that most of us believe, like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in describing pornography, that we “know it when we see it.” For example, John Wayne, Amelia Earhart, and Bill Cosby definitely are Americans. The day laborers standing on the street corner probably are not. But how do we put this inner understanding into words? It’s not easy. Unlike most other nations on Earth, the American nation is not strictly defined in terms of race or ethnicity or ancestry or religion. George Washington may be the Father of Our Country (in my opinion, the greatest American who ever lived), but there have been in the past, and are today, many millions of patriotic, hardworking, upstanding Americans who are not Caucasian, or Christian, or of Western European ancestry. Yet they are undeniably as American as you or I (by the way, I am Jewish of predominantly Eastern European ancestry). Any definition of “American” that excludes such folks — let alone one that excludes me! — cannot be right.
Consequently, it is just not good enough to say, as some immigration restrictionists do, that this is a “white-majority, Western country.” Yes, it is. But so are, for example, Ireland and Sweden and Portugal. Clearly, this level of abstraction does not take us very far towards understanding what it means to be “an American.” Nor is it all that helpful to say that this is an English-speaking, predominately Christian country. While I think these features get us closer to the answer, there are millions of English-speaking (and non-English-speaking) Christians in the world who are not Americans, and millions of non-Christians who are. Certainly, these fundamental historical characteristics are important elements in determining who we are as a nation. Like other restrictionists, I am opposed to public policies that seek, by design or by default, to significantly alter the nation’s “demographic profile.” Still, it must be recognized that demography alone does not, and cannot, explain what it means to be an American.
So where does that leave us? I think the answer to our question, ultimately, must be found in the realms of ideology and culture. What distinguishes the United States from other nations, and what unites the disparate peoples who make up our country, are our unique political, economic, and social values, beliefs, and institutions. Not race, or religion, or ancestry.

Third word: Conservative -A person who holds to traditional values and attitudes.
J. Matt Barber wrote in the Washington Times that

Ronald Reagan often spoke of a “three-legged stool” that undergirds true conservatism. The legs are represented by a strong defense, strong free-market economic policies and strong social values. For the stool to remain upright, it must be supported by all three legs. If you snap off even one leg, the stool collapses under its own weight.
A Republican, for instance, who is conservative on social and national defense issues but liberal on fiscal issues is not a Reagan conservative. He is a quasi-conservative socialist.
A Republican who is conservative on fiscal and social issues but liberal on national defense issues is not a Reagan conservative. He is a quasi-conservative dove.
By the same token, a Republican who is conservative on fiscal and national defense issues but liberal on social issues – such as abortion, so-called gay rights or the Second Amendment – is not a Reagan conservative. He is a socio-liberal libertarian.
Put another way: A Republican who is one part William F. Buckley Jr., one part Oliver North and one part Rachel Maddow is no true conservative. He is – well, I’m not exactly sure what he is, but it ain’t pretty.

Even the Brits understand what American Conservatism is.
Per blogs.telegraph.co.uk:

Conservatism is thriving in America today because liberty, freedom and individual responsibility are at the heart of its ideology, one that rejects the foolish notion that government knows best. And its strength owes a great debt to the conviction and ideals of Ronald Reagan, who always believed that America’s best days are ahead of her, and for whom the notion of decline was unacceptable. As the Gipper famously put it, in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in 1988:
Those who underestimate the conservative movement are the same people who always underestimate the American people.

In conclusion, I, a Christian American Conservative, am a follower of Jesus Christ and a citizen of the United States of America (by the Grace of God), who holds to traditional values and attitudes.
So, where do I go from here? Do I run away, with my tail between my legs, and live out the rest of my days in quiet desperation?
To any of you who repled, “yes”…you don’t know me very well.

Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world.

My Creator, while endowing me with certain inalienable rights, also endowed me with an indomitable will. Then, somewhere along my journey, He gave me the gift of being able to express my thoughts and feelings on this computer keyboard.
I will not give up. I will not surrender my Christianity, my love of the greatest nation on God’s green Earth, or my Conservatism, to appease those who wish everybody would just get in line and acquiesce to the prevailing “societal norms”.  I follow another set of guidelines, written a long time ago, but which remain as relevant as the moment in which the Hand of God guided those who wrote them down.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, - Colossians 3:23 (ESV)

I pray that you, the reader, are able to glean that from my blogs.  Because, as Matthew 6:21 tells us:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

May God bless you and yours,
KJ

http://kingsjester.wordpress.com/

Independence Means So much More

When I think of Independence Day, I actually think not of a day in July, but a night in September, about 40 years after America’s Independence was first won. After the Battle of Trafalgar, against the French, Britain controlled the oceans, and many American sailors were being taken prisoner and forced to serve aboard British ships. Britain controlled Canada as well, was building up forces in Upper Canada, and Americans were beginning to feel threatened.

Growing up in Canada, I learned the history behind the War of 1812 from the British/Canadian perspective- and except for a lesson or two, about the British march on Washington and setting the new Capital to flames; little was taught about the American involvement except to show them as the aggressors.

War had come, and the American Army fighting in the nation’s capital was unprepared, as Madison did not believe British forces would dare invade. One man, a Lieutenant in the American Army did not want to go to war, but he knew it was necessary to defend the freedom and liberty that others had fought for and won not so long ago.

The Lieutenant received news that a family friend had been captured by the British and was being held on a ship somewhere in the Chesapeake. He quickly obtained permission from President Madison to try and gain the friend’s release, as the man was a well-known doctor. He soon was headed for Baltimore.

The city had been busy preparing for war as they knew the British fleet would soon dominate the Bay. Fort McHenry had also been prepared with canons and munitions. They waited as a sentinel at the entrance to the harbor, knowing that soon they would be all that stood between their city and the enemy. The Lieutenant armed with letters signed by British soldiers which testified to the kindness of the Doctor, sailed aboard the American ship, the Minden, out of the harbor. He happened to look at the Fort, and marveled at the sight of the huge banner flying proudly. The flag, measuring thirty by forty two feet was made specifically so the British would see it long before coming into the Chesapeake Bay.

The men aboard the Minden saw no ships until the second day when the lookout shouted, "British ships ahoy!" Approximately 40 British ships were heading their way, so they hoisted the truce flag. Soon, a British battleship drew alongside and the Lieutenant along with a couple of others was invited aboard where negotiations for the Doctor’s release soon began. There was much activity aboard the ship; and soon the Doctor was given permission to leave. The Americans were informed that they could return to their ship, but the Minden would not be permitted to leave the company of the British fleet, for they were headed for battle. The Americans were incensed as there was nothing they could do but watch as their nation was attacked.

The Lieutenant, restless and frustrated, paced along the deck that night and watched as the British fleet formed ranks around the Fort. As canons blasted from the ships, it was clear that the Fort was woefully outgunned. Smoke lay heavy as the battle raged on. The Lieutenant, Francis Scott Key, strained to see if the flag still flew above the Fort. He knew that if the flag still waved, the Americans would not give up.

Soon the smoke was too thick to catch even a glimpse of the flag. Francis Key took out a scrap piece of an envelope from his coat pocket and began to write thoughts about his country, a land of free and brave people, and the flag which came to be a symbol of strength, courage and liberty. Soon it began to rain, and the British fleet moved in. The guns from the Fort came alive and more smoke and deafening booms filled the night as the sky lit up in flashes of red and white.

As suddenly as it had started, the canons quieted. The men knew they would have to wait for sunrise to see if the flag still flew. The hours snuck by seemingly endless and then finally, dawn broke. Francis Key began to write again, more of what he saw by dawn’s early light as the smoke and fog began to fade.

 

 

"I can see it!" He cried suddenly. "The Flag! Our Flag! It is still there! Our beloved red, white and blue. May God be praised."

Within hours, Key finished his poem in the room of a Baltimore Inn, the British fleet gone as they knew they were defeated as the Americans had not given up. Francis Scott Key wrote what he had originally called, "The Defense of Fort McHenry" so others would always know of the brave men who had given their lives for their country and their flag.

The failed attack by the largest Empire of the time, on a single Fort in Baltimore signaled the end of British raids on America. America, the fledgling nation looked into the mouth of the Lion again, and had come through to claim victory and freedom. True Independence. This nation has come through many trials and perilous times, not always victorious, but always standing strong.

 

I think of this story every 4th of July because Independence means so much more than a one day event and celebration.  It is the brave, the courageous, the determination and tenacity of those who fought that September night, and the symbolism of Key's words in what has become our Nation's anthem which shows the spirit of Independence. It is the same spirit which lies deep in the heart of many of us still.

 

 

On this Independence Day, our nation is in peril, only it is the enemy within as well as without which is our generation’s fight. I would encourage people to think of the men at Fort McHenry, those who have fought since, and those who still fight for our freedoms today. We have perhaps here at home, the most important battle since the founding of our nation. Will the blood and pain of all be in vain if we allow the liberties they fought for to be taken? Or will we prepare to preserve and gain them back, to save them for those who gave them to us?

O’ thus be it ever when free men shall stand

Between their loved home and the war’s desolation;

Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land

Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just;

And this be our motto, "In God is our trust!"

And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the Home of the Brave!

 

Click here and listen to and read the words of our entire National Anthem.

Independence Is Forever – In Memory and To Honor
Pearl Harbor

 



September 11, 2001

September 11, 2012
For Boston

Thank you to @whitewolf2011
http://www.WolfieHowls.com  for all the graphics!

Thank you to our awesome Patriot friends  Sandy @Orangeone4  and  @RedNationRising #RedNationRising  rednationrising.us

For sharing Independence Day with us, and for all your help and efforts in allowing the Constitutional Freedom Party to participate in another joint tribute!

For another great version of our Star Spangled Banner, please watch (H/T tinlizzieowner commenter from The Right Scoop)

Part 1

 

 

Part 2                             

 

 

 C.A.E. 2013