The Southern United States of America

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, 1780


Some historians believe if the South had won the Civil War, that the United States that we know today would not exist; that we would probably see two or three smaller nations separating Mexico from Canada. Novelist William W. Johnstone wrote an entire series of stories about the aftermath of a global war that left the United States in shambles and how a band of patriots carved out their own part of America to defend so that they could live according to the vision of our founding fathers. The Soutern United States consists of patriots; the liberals take the northeast; and criminal gangs get the west coast in the "Ashes" series envisioned by Johnstone.

In the SUSA, every able bodied citizen is required to work. Every citizen is armed and serves as part of the militia. Laws are few and are based on common sense. There is no welfare state. Widows and orphans are cared for by their neighbors. Justice is quick and certain. Every citizen can read and understand the laws. Lawyers are not in high demand. Lawsuits are not allowed. Crooks are 'invited' to leave, after making restitution. Those who do not agree with the form of government agreed upon by the majority are also encouraged to leave. What you have left are a people truly united in purpose.

Every citizen is allowed to practice their faith as they see fit. Parents are expected to parent their children so that the State doesn't have to. Caring for the environment means that you use only what you need and leave the rest for future generations. Education is required - with great concentration on learning the way the government works and an equal education on how to defend it. Public office is a sacrifice. It doesn't pay well. Only those who care deeply about serving their nation are asked to serve; no one runs for office - it's unseemly and self-serving to do so.

Alliances with other nations are not entered into lightly, so that the SUSA doesn't get involved in disputes that put their own nation at risk. But if attacked, the SUSA responds quickly and without regard to unilateral approval from other nations. Gangs are put down fast and hard.

The media is expected to report the truth, nothing more. An accurate weather report is preferable to an editorial opinion. Celebrity is over-rated. Every citizen is entitled to privacy. Libelous and speculative accounts are treated as an assault upon a citizen with prison time as punishment. Prisoners earn their room and board; it's not a fun place to be.

Visitors from other nations are free to visit, but if they want to stay they've got to prove their good intentions by serving in the militia for at least four years, during which time they undergo extensive background investigation and constant supervision. Promotions in the military are based upon experience and performance, not upon political appointments or social status.

The citizens of the SUSA are fiercely independent and protective of their own. Character is paramount. Loyalty, honesty, and courage are expected of all. Bad character is punished. Mistakes are forgiven, but not forgotten.

I beleive there are many Americans who would choose to live under SUSA rather than under the government we've allowed to control us today. I would. And should America ever split geographically, I hope that the conservatives claim the warm, fertile lands of the South where we can create for ourselves a simpler lifestle; one that permits the time necessary to commune with God and live according to those ways more conducive to liberty and selflessness.

Getting Unstuck

A few years ago, when my youngest daughter was about 12 years of age, money was a bit tight as Christmas approached and I struggled to come up with something special for her Christmas gift. I decided to write her a story - something she could keep over the years that would remind her of the good times we've had as she's grown up. I also wanted to include some fatherly advice that would help her avoid some of my mistakes.
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That first story was about a talking pelican named Peter. We had made a trip to the Outer Banks that summer, and I thought that including something we'd shared would make the story more real to her. 2003 had been a particularly trying year for us. My mother had just passed and it would be our first Christmas without her. Peter's job was to help my daughter deal with our loss, so he told her the story of Oscar the oyster and how this special crustacean used something that caused him much pain to create something of great beauty and value - a perfect dark blue pearl. Peter's goal was to focus Laura's pain on the good memories she had of her grandmother. It was cathartic to me as well.
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The next Christmas, Laura's story was about a talking brown bear who taught her that courage was doing the right thing in the presence of fear. That summer we'd gone to the Smoky Mountains, so John, the talking brown bear, was a natural way of reminding Laura of our trip.

Three years ago I was struggling for an idea for Laura's stories. She's growing older and reading at a much more sophisticated level than I could write. I came upon the idea of a sequel to the novel I've not yet written - a story based on a dream I had several years earlier. This story was different because it was more of an action/adventure story and I had to be careful not to write myself into a corner by giving away too much of Sea Tree before it's actually written. "Beyond Sea Tree - A Smoky Mountain Adventure" turned out to be bigger than I at first thought and became a trilogy. The next year she got the second installment at Christmas, but because I was working two jobs most of last year I was unable to complete her story in time for this past Christmas. I've had to promise to give it to her for her graduation this January. Laura said it had better be extra good for having to wait eighteen months for her finished story.

The problem is that I've been stuck. Not one page has been written, and graduation is only nine weeks from now. The first two installments were simple narrative with no fatherly advice that Laura can remember me by. Only last night did the glimmer of an idea come as to the message I want to leave with my daughter. The past couple of years have been a bit stressful for my baby girl. She's reached the point where she's realized that her childhood is just about over and she's not sure she's ready to become an adult. She's stressing over whether she will get into Appalachian State University so she can be with her best friend Erin. I certainly hope she gets in, even though we still don't know how we're going to pay for her education. If my daughter is going to leave home however, I want her to be with her best friend. Erin is the kind of friend every parent wants their children to have.

What fatherly advice should I give my daughter at this point in her life? It must be relevant, and most of all, truthful. Here's what I came up with: It's not enough to say that things will get better, that tomorrow will be brighter, that what she's experiencing today is just a phase she's going through. The truth is that good things don't happen by accident. We live in a broken world. Kindness and charity are a decision, not a natural response to what life throws our way. Love is a gift. By limiting our own desires and by submitting our wills to someone or something besides ourselves, we consciously make this world a better place than we found it.

I could go on to say that if Laura wants to really live her own life, she needs to not simply hope for the best - that things will work out in her favor. No, if she wants good things to happen for her, she's got to do things that attract those dreams she has for herself. Simply letting life happen and reacting to it is a waste of our precious time. She doesn't want to end up in stuck with a life that is repeated too often by far too many: get up-go to work-go home-go to sleep-get up-go to work-survive until the weekend-it's over before you know it-back to work.

That's where I've been most of my adult life. Like a hamster on a wheel - running as fast as I can and getting nowhere fast; with no reward other than graying hair, deeper wrinkles, and less energy to maintain the pace. What I want to do in the final chapter of Beyond Sea Tree is to make sure Laura doesn't get on the wheel that goes nowhere. The good things we dream of aren't on that wheel. She's got to go find them.

So now I've discovered how her story will end. I've only to put it on paper. I'm getting unstuck. Once this story is behind me, I'm free to work on one other old project - a self-help book I wrote and published that never sold. This time I'm going to rewrite and publish it online for free. Money is still tight at Christmas. Maybe by giving away what I do have I'll make room for something better. In the end, I hope the stories both written and lived, will tell a tale worth remembering.

The 5,000 Year Leap

America is in the middle of a crisis and it's easy to be overwhelmed with all the bad news coming at us. We're made to feel that we have no control over what's going to happen to us; and we're spending a lot of time blaming someone else. That time could be better spent doing the things we can affect. The good news is, there is a plan that will solve most of our problems. It's not a new plan; it's the original plan - one that took 5,000 years to learn. It's as relevant today as it was in 1776. The problem is that too few Americans know the plan well enough. We can do something about it - we can educate ourselves. And once we know there's a different path than the one we seem hell-bent on following; we can do some specific things that will turn the nation around. Not only that, but we will positively affect the entire world if we go where the Founders pointed us. Give them to your teenagers so that they will learn the truth about what made America the greatest nation on God's earth. The 5,000 Year Leap is probably the finest treatise on the formation of the United States that I've ever read.

Amazon and other online outlets have been flooded with orders for Dr. W. Cleon Skousen's book, "The 5000 Year Leap". Recently, Glenn Beck promoted the book on his 9.12 Project program. People ordering the book from Glenn's site and directly from Amazon are complaining that they're not getting the updated, official version of the book as shown on Glenn's site.

James Pratt recently secured the rights to publish Dr. Skousen's book from his family. This version, the only official version, is only available at www.usconstitutioncoach.com. You need to get this book. There are plenty of copies available at the link above.

I follow James' blog (link on the right). James writes about the things that are important and relevant in my life - and I think in the lives of my friends. His personal story is inspiring and provides hope in the potential for every human being. I encourage everyone to start following James Pratt. He's got some great stuff planned for the near future. For now, start with The 5000 Year Leap, and if you really want the ultimate U.S. history collection - order the U.S. Constitution Coach Kit. Once you own these resources you'll be among the few who truly understand the miracle that is America.

SFC Tart and Other Heroes

There's a guy on Facebook who started a group - Soldiers Aren't Heroes. He's catching a lot of flack, deservedly, from Facebook fans. I signed up for the group to get his hateful post removed from Facebook, not because he doesn't have the right to express his opinions, but simply because he's wrong. People have this notion that they have the right to do whatever they want, but that's not true: we only have the right to do the right thing. Man may make laws that permit people to do the wrong thing, but these laws are secondary to natural and spiritual laws, just as the law of aerodynamics doesn't negate the law of gravity.

I spent 24 years in the Army. These were my most productive years so far - but I'm not done living yet. Although I never fought in battle during those years, I did serve with combat veterans who are indeed heroes in my book. While stationed at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, I served with a Medal of Honor winner; a former Marine sniper who had served three tours in VietNam before switching over to the Army and volunteering for his fourth tour.
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Our Command Sergeant Major was the youngest CSM in the Army at the time, also having served multiple tours of duty in combat. I was in the Sergeant Major's office changing some light bulbs one morning when a Major walked in and demanded something silly and trivial. CSM Sinkata looked at the Major and replied, "Sir, with all due respect, get the hell out of my office." The Major was shocked and angered and marched into the Brigade Commander's office to complain about the Sergeant Major. After listening to the Major, the Colonel looked the Major in the eye and said, "You heard my Sergeant Major, get the hell out of my office too."

I served as a Platoon Sergeant in Bravo Company, 252nd Armor in Schweinfurt, Germany - the cesspool of the 3rd Infantry Division, in the early 1980s. Of all my tours, this was the worst. We were only 30 miles from what is now the Czech Republic and were always in the field either on alert or training. Our barracks were in terrible shape. Most rooms had no doors. Our motor pool was usually a mud puddle, and our compound was surrounded by beet fields. On days when the wind was blowing across our barracks, the farmers would use manure spreaders to fertilize their fields.

The only bright spot during my year in 252 was Sergeant First Class William Tart. SFC Tart was tall, thin, and surly. He had no real friends, but he had the respect of senior NCOs and officers. Many times we would be ordered to do something stupid, for no other reason than because a general was going to be visiting or some BS reason. More often than not, Sergeant Tart's platoon would be tasked with some particularly odious detail, probably because the staff and command knew that SFC Tart would get it done. He might not like it. He might tell you what he thought of you and your stupid ideas, but when it came down to it, SFC Tart followed orders. When he stood before his men in formation to give them the bad news, it wasn't coming from the First Sergeant, the Platoon Leader, the Commander, or someone else: the orders for his platoon came from him.
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Sergeant Tart's men didn't like him. Neither did the men in other platoons. They didn't know that he stood up for them and that he often was able to get his superiors to listen to his advice, thus making their lives easier. I was the only NCO that Sergeant Tart felt comfortable talking to, probably because he knew I was missing my family back in the States as much as he missed his. SFC Tart carried a picture of his family. He worried about them, especially during that time when President Carter was in office and the military pay had been frozen for three years, gas was rationed, inflation and unemployment back in the States was in the double digits. Here we were thousands of miles away from our families, unable to do more than send our paychecks home so our families could survive. The way that Sergeant Tart chose to deal with his worries was to immerse himself in his work and to be the best platoon sergeant he could be. He might not have been the most personable leader in the Army, but he was the most professional that I served with. He cared about his men as much as he cared about accomplishing his missions. SFC Tart's men were the most proficient, most professional of any platoon in Bravo Company...or the battalion for that matter.

There are other soldiers that I served with who impressed me with their courage, loyalty, and professionalism. Most I can't even recall their names. There was Sergeant Joseph Vickers, with whom I'd sit and play chess during the middle of the night while monitoring Soviet radio traffic from the basement of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. There was Captain Wilbur A. Curran, the finest commander I ever served under. A former pilot in VietNam, CPT Curran was one of those laid-back officers the men loved. He promoted me to Sergeant. I still have the photo.
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CPT Curran was succeeded by CPT Lester Crapps, the worst commander I ever served under. The man was fat, but he could run the daylights out of us. CPT Crapps had no personal life, so he spent his making our lives miserable. As is the way in the Army, CPT Crapps messed up, so much they had to move him up so they could keep an eye on him. I think that's the way it works in a lot of government positions.

Darren What's-his-name on Facebook claims that soldiers are not heroes; that they are stupid and don't know what they are fighting for. But I've been there, and I know otherwise. Soldiers fight wars to win the peace. Soldiers don't fight for politicians, not even for the President. Soldiers fight for something bigger - our nation and our liberties. You won't see tears running down a soldier's face because he's proud of who's in office; but you will see tears when the flag passes and the National Anthem is played. A soldier will risk his or her life because he knows that his team mate will risk their's. A soldier will snap a smart salute when he passes a superior, but his arm will rise slowly, linger on the brim of his cap, and lower ever so slowly to his side when he presents the flag to a widow or a mother who's lost her son in battle. A soldier will not leave a fallen comrade, and will do everything within his power to avoid harming the innocent. Unless one has served, they cannot know the sense of pride a service member has in being part of a team, of serving a righteous cause - freedom over tyranny - no matter where it rears its ugly head. Just getting up and putting on their boots every day is more than most Americans are willing to do; so yes - soldiers are heroes.

Quotes from the Sages and Modern Thought

1. “Everybody, sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences.” - Robert Louis Stevenson
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2. "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives and liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State." - James Madison, Federalist Paper No. 25, 1788 - considered the 'father of the Constitution'
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3. "With respect to the words 'general welfare,' I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators." - James Madison

4. Thomas Jefferson's prediction: "The natural progress of things is for government to gain ground and for liberty to yield."

5. "There is in the nature of government an impatience of control that disposes those invested with power to look with an evil eye upon all external attempts to restrain or direct its operations. This has its origin in the love of power. Representatives of the people are not superior to the people themselves." - Alexander Hamilton - Federalist Paper No.15, 1787.

6. "Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison - 1788

7. "I place economy among the first and most important of republic virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared." -Thomas Jefferson to William Plumer, 1816
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8. "The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson

9. "Democracy was the right of the people to choose their own tyrants." - James Madison

10. "Judge the future by the past." - Patrick Henry - 1736-1799

11. "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none." - Thomas Jefferson, 1801 inaugural address.

12. "America... well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extraction, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force... She might become dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit." - John Quincy Adams; Address, 4 July 1821

13. "Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all... The Nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest ... Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances, with any portion of the foreign world." - George Washington, Farewell Address, 17 Sept. 1796. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

14. "I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be." - Thomas Jefferson

15. "No legislative act contrary to the Constitution can be valid. To deny this would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representative of the people is superior to the people." - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Paper No. 78.

16. "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." - John Quincy Adams, 6th President of USA.

17. "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage." Alexander Tyler (When the thirteen colonies were still a part of England, Scottish Historian/Professor Alexander Tyler wrote about the fall of the Athenian republic over two thousand years previous to that time. NOTE > some have questioned the source of this quote, and that the last name was 'Tytler', not Tyler)

18. "On every question of construction (of The Constitution), let us carry ourselves back to the time when The Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed." - Thomas Jefferson

19. "A small leak can sink a great ship." - Benjamin Franklin

20. "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke 1729-1797

21. "Aided by a little sophistry on the words 'general welfare', [they claim] a right to do not only the acts to effect that which are specifically enumerated and permitted, but whatsoever they shall think or pretend will be for the general welfare." --- Thomas Jefferson 1825 to W. Giles.

22. "For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world but lose his own soul." - Mark 8:36

23. "No generation has a right to contract debts greater than can be paid off during the course of its own existence." - George Washington to James Madison 1789.

24. "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
"Thomas Jefferson - letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802).

25. "...There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. ... Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing." - Daniel Webster, June 1, 1837
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26. "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." - Thomas Jefferson

27. “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” --Thomas Jefferson

28. "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's famous economics book The Law, published in 1850

29. "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed." - Mohandas K. Ghandi

30. "You can fool some of the people all of the time, all the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time." - Abraham Lincoln ??

31. "The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato 429-347 B.C.

32. "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." - William Pitt (1759-1806)

33. "Trust but verify" - Ronald Reagan, U.S. President, 1980-88

34. "The only proper purpose of government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence. A proper government is only a policeman, acting as an agent of man's self defense, and, as such, may resort to force only against those who start the use of force. The only proper functions of government are: to protect you from criminals; the military, to protect you from foreign invaders; and, the courts, to protect your property and contracts from breach or fraud by others, to settle disputes by rational rules, according to objective law." - 'Atlas Shrugged', by renowned philosopher Ayn Rand, 1957.
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35. "The decline of great powers is caused by simple economic over extension." - Paul Kennedy 'The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - economic change and military conflicts 1500-2000'

36. "Government is best that governs least." - Henry Thoreau, in 'Civil Disobedience' -'people should not permit governments to overrule'

37. "Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens against crimes against themselves or their property. When government -- in pursuit of good intentions -- tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the costs come in inefficiency, lack of innovation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player. It is my view that what is important is cutting government spending, however spending is financed. A so-called deficit is a disguised and hidden form of taxation. The real burden on the public is what government spends (and mandates others to spend). As I have said repeatedly, I would rather have government spend one trillion dollars with a deficit of a half a trillion than have government spend two trillion dollars with no deficit." - Milton Friedman, Noble laureate
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38. "The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. Both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists." - Ernest Hemingway - 1899-1961 - Nobel laureate Literature 1954

39. “By adopting programs to redistribute substantial amounts of income, a nation guarantees that its government will become more powerful and invasive in other ways.” - Robert Higgs

40. "It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion. If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State." - Dr. Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, 1933-1945.

Ronald Reagan - The Last of America's Great Visionaries

"There can be no question that Mr. Reagan was one of the greatest visionaries since Lincoln to occupy the presidency of the United States" - December 4, 2000 - by Steven G. Calabresi, a professor of law at Northwestern University and National Co-Chairman of the Federalist Society.

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History, unless it is rewritten, will record Ronald Reagan as the exception to more than a century of mediocre Commanders In Chief. As George Washington set the moral bar after which no other President has been able to attain; so Ronald Reagan set the economic and patriotic bar that no President since him has even approached. Certainly we are a nation divided against itself as greatly as it was during Lincoln's tenure; and our economy has retreated below that of what Ronald Reagan himself inherited.

The Reagan era was:

1. The first era in 50 years that the private sector share of the economy was not reduced by government expanding its share of the economic pie faster than economic growth. In fact, government's share was reduced for the first time. Reagan believed that government was part of the problem, not the solution to America's problems.

2. Federal social spending ratios stopped rising, and fell, for the first time in over 3 decades. Lyndon Johnson's social programs, aggravated by Carter's ineptness and reluctance to make hard and necessary decisions had Americans facing double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, and double digit mortgage rates prior to Ronald Reagan taking office.

3. The early 1980s was the first interruption in the rapid up-swing of federal regulatory activity spending in 2 decades. In fact, during the 1980s, spending declined in real terms - - only to resume its fast upward pace in the 1990s.

4. Taxes were reduced by large amounts, and the economy expanded together with a new climate of competition and regulatory burden reductions. This resulted in higher employment, which in turn provided greater revenue to the government.

5. A decade of declining real median family income was reversed to the upside. In 1978, I purchased my first home - at a 24% interest rate. When rates dropped under President Reagan and I refinanced, my disposable income increased by 16%.

6. Double digit inflation and interest rates were eliminated as mentioned above.

7. Debt increased due to lack of congressional spending cuts following tax cut approval, but debt ratios were higher 9 years later. Still, when President Reagan left office, the debt ratio was 54% compared to 71% under President Clinton.

8. International terrorism was faced head-on. While nations like Iran and Libya thumbed their noses at President Carter, they saw in Ronald Reagan someone willing to stand up to them. The Soviets found out that Reagan was not only able to build a larger missle defense system but was willing to use them in defense of our nation.

9. The Evil Empire was brought to its knees, without increasing the defense spending ratio, ending a 40-year cold war. I served in Berlin, Germany during the Carter years. Berlin was the spy-capital of the world then. Anytime Americans visited East Berlin we were shadowed by Soviet and East German military. 110 miles behind the Iron Curtain, the Soviets in East Berlin were brazen. On one occasion, they informed us that they would fire a dummy round into our compound to prove how powerful they were. As stated, a round fired from over 20 miles away landed on the 40 yard line of our football field. Our mission was not to defend Berlin should an attack come, but to destroy intelligence before the enemy could get to it. We were expected to hold off an attack for no more than 30 minutes before being overrun. A decade later, Ronald Reagan had the Soviets tearing down the Berlin Wall and the nation of Germany reunited. This was preceeded by the mighty Soviet army being forced out of Afghanistan by freedom fighters supported by American weapons and money. Ronald Reagan was not afraid to tackle those who prey on the weak or who threatened democracy.

10. A 2-decade slide in voter turnout and citizen trust in government was reversed, only to collapse to new lows in the 1990s. Ronald Reagan won by embarrassingly wide numbers in both elections. That record was only reversed in the last election as unprecedented numbers turned out to vote, not so much for President Obama, but for change that would hopefully improve the lives of angry and frightened Americans. So far that change has not been positive.

During the last election, many candidates - even those on of the opposite party evoked Ronald Reagan in an effort to appeal to the American voter. Regardless of party, Ronald Reagan was respected and loved by Americans for his positive attitude, his humor, his great ability to communicate, his steadfast focus on defeating communism, and the way he treated everyone around him. People knew that Ronald Reagan cared about them and about America. He had confidence in the people and in America's potential for good in this world.

We need another Ronald Reagan...but he, or she, has yet to step up. Perhaps that's as it should be. George Washington reluctantly left retirement three times to serve our country - each time because he knew that someone had to lead. We must be careful to not lightly entrust our freedoms to those who wave their hands most frantically for the position. Let us look towards that person who's vision in not based on their ideals but on America's founding principles of smaller government, more liberties for the citizen, to live within our means rather than indebtedness, who will protect our nation and represent America abroad as the apex of civilization where free men and women cooperate for a greater good.

Glorifying the Father

My favorite blog is Woodshavings, written by my friend and pastor Jimmy Chalmers. Jimmy has been down in New Orleans helping families rebuild their homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Jimmy posts daily updates on his blog, keeping the rest of us informed on the progress and telling us stories about the human beings behind the statistics. Recently Jimmy has had the priviledge of working with groups of teenagers who forego their spring breaks and senior trips to do something far more important - helping others. In spite of all the doom and gloom we hear on the news today, there's good things happening, and they are being done by the generation who are inheriting the mess my generation is leaving them. There is hope for America when our young people can grasp what our politicians cannot - that serving others, not having authority over others, is what makes America great. The work being done in NOLA today is being done by volunteers, not by the government. Most of those volunteers are there because they want to serve God. Long after the people of NOLA have given up hope in our government, they can still hope in the Father, who continues to send help their way in the form of pastors and tradesmen and teenagers.

Then the Father blesses those who serve by using the people of NOLA to serve them. Mrs. Phillips and Mrs Holloway and so many grateful recipients of God's army of volunteers turn around and cook for those who came to help. They give God thanks for His provision, they tell their stories so that the rest of us can know the faces behind the statistics.

Together, they all paint a picture of the love of God for His children. He doesn't mind sharing the spotlight with us, but what a wonderful way of inspiring hope where there is none, a sense of accomplishment where there's doubt in our purpose, and love when we think we're in this world all alone.

I'm certain that Jimmy is going to return to his family and friends a changed man. He's been a vital part of what God is doing in people's lives. It's for this time and this place that Jimmy was created; and he is giving his life so that the Father is proven real and relevant and involved in our circumstances. This is the type of cooperation I believe God intended between us and Him; so that whatever is done in Heaven is done here on Earth.

Glenn Beck - 9 Principles to Believe In

Glenn Beck, one of the brightest, courageous, and honest reporters in media today has been studying our founding fathers and has come up with 9 principles upon which we can turn America around from our country's socialistic policies. Follow the link above and if you agree with Glenn, then email him your picture. Do it today!

God bless America.