We need to pray

These last weeks have been filled with many events to occupy our time. The bombings in Boston, the shoot-out involving one of the bombers and the capture of the other one took up several hours of news space. The haunting questions related to when the FBI knew about the two bombers and their family and why nothing was done to stop what became another terror attack, still lingers. Another month where we are to be made more aware of child abuse has come and gone. The awareness of Autism, a developmental issue, is finally reaching into the public view. We are filled with many causes and issues that keep on rolling across the scroll at the bottom of the screen on the news networks. From an official point of view, we still don’t know what happened regarding the attack upon our citizens in Benghazi. The sequester cuts and how they are to be handled is proving to be a public relations nightmare for President Obama. It would seem that in order to exact as much pain as possible on a certain segment of the American people and to finally make the general public aware that the mean old Republicans are to receive the blame has backfired and with non partisan (across the aisle) agreement, the air traffic controllers have been rushed back to work. In not seeing the bigger picture, the person responsible to develop this strategy seemed to forget that members of the House and Senate rush home each week on airplanes, and they were also being delayed in their flights home. One more great idea about being able to point a finger at the other side came back to embarrass the White House. Reading this list, I am beginning to be depressed. Our world is in a mess. At this time in our nation, who is giving any leadership? Leadership seems to be an absent characteristic at this point in our history. Frustration, even anger, is being expressed. We need not get too worked up, however, as the President still has time to “Yuk It Up” with news correspondents for their annual “get-together” at a swanky hotel in Washington. While government waste continues; the entitlement generation wants more; demands continue for higher taxes; and charges of murder against an abortionist in Philadelphia goes under reported because (we are told) few people want to know about what is called “after birth abortion;” and the President finds time to invoke God’s blessings on Planned Parenthood; all is right in the world of the liberal elites in our country.

You will excuse me today if I am a bit sarcastic. I am still mourning the surprise loss last week of George Jones, the greatest country singer ever. Before you get all in an uproar, it is only natural that I would love country music after growing up in the Deep South listening every Saturday night to the Grand Ole Opry and remembering that as a child, the first time I saw my mother cry was the day Hank Williams’ death was announced. Country Music is more than just a genre of music; it is a way-of-life. Country Music singers/songwriters touch the deep heart strings of their listeners with the lyrics of the songs they write and sing. The unfortunate stories behind so many of the hits of country music mirror the train wrecked lives of the singer/songwriters. Few people have been as blessed with God given talent as some of the greats in country music. George Jones was one of those. His personal and family life was a mess. Alcohol, other drugs, women, and wild parties made up much of the life of George Jones. Knowing all he went through in his life of 81 years, one would be hard pressed not to admit that once he stepped up to the microphone to sing, his talent was anything short of God granted. The Lindsey Lohans, Kardashians and other celebrities of today’s party scene have nothing on the generation of country music stars I remember as a child and young adult. Following the surprise announcement of George Jones’ death last week, people from around the music industry proclaimed Jones’ most famous hit; “He stopped loving her today” as the greatest country hit of all times. Knowing all that is going on in the world and with the death of country legend George Jones, National Day of Prayer (tomorrow) could not have been planned for a better time. We need to pray!

Ray Newman

We must stand together against terror plots

We are not liked by many people. I know that statement comes as a surprise to those of you reading this column.  There is no other country that has given more money away, responded in times of disaster, fought wars for freedom on foreign soil, and rebuilt the war-torn nation and with bucket loads of money, supported the United Nations (the most useless organization anywhere) responding every time a nation has asked for assistance, yet we are not liked. “Not liked” could be a little weak, we are hated by many people in other nations, and some inside our country. Trying to find out why other people dislike (even hate us) is a big waste of time, in my opinion. Our nation set out on a course to experiment with freedom for individuals. We sought to allow individual and corporate freedom in order to elevate the lifestyle of every person in our nation. There are liberals who have never liked the idea of free market economy. There are liberals who think that the only good government is a centralized government with only a few elites at the top with complete control of the government and the personal lives of all the citizens. There are liberals who have greatly benefited from the ideology that caused this nation to be as great as it became. The majority of the liberals who have reached the top of success in their profession did so because they live in America. What they desire to force on this nation has never made anyone safe, secure, or successful. We are not a perfect nation. There is no such example to be found anywhere. In our long and blessed history, we have opened our doors to people from every part of the globe. We have shown great patience in seeking to assist the hurting, and even criminals seeking refugee status. Yet in all we have done, we are still hated! Why? Who knows and at this point in time, rather than wasting time on finding out why we are so hated, let us band together to show the world we are people who can succeed. Let us show the liberals and the extremists in economics, the centralized government crowd, the other groups wanting to impose their brand of religious tyranny on us (and any other haters), we are Americans and we are free to make choices, allowing individuals to take risks that will lead to success or failure based on the individual’s desire to better themselves. Our nation, like the truth or not, was founded with a strong belief in God and the Judeo-Christian work ethic. We were respectful of other people’s rights, opinions, and choices in the founding of our nation. We were fed up with government control and tyranny, which included taxation without representation, thus we declared our country to be a free and independent nation.

There are people inside our nation who think nothing of destroying lives or families and are seeking to bring to ruin our resolve as a freedom loving people. We know there are people who plot, plan, and carry out the plan hurting innocent people because of their hatred for what they see as a nation that needs to be destroyed. We have people outside our nation who would like nothing more than to wipe our country off the map. Their hate filled minds cannot think past their next planned terror attack. They think only of themselves and will stop at nothing to deliver their personal message of hate.

Before we jump into hiding, let us stand strong with fellow citizens as we fight off the haters among us. Many men, women, and children have given their lives as targets of the haters of the world. We need to find more ways to protect our country. We need to bring swift judgment to bear upon any person inside or outside our nation with a desire to bring a reign of terror upon us. Let us look carefully at any who try to hide behind the freedoms we enjoy in order to continue making their plots to destroy us. We must let it be known to the world we intend to continue as a free country. We must send the message that we will not bow to terror attacks or to any with plans to force on us other forms of government than the one that made our country great.

Ray Newman

The New Order of Values

A society or social order which determines it will be devoid of values, traditions, or absolutes is one that has chosen to live by no rule or value system. In effect, they have created another value system that is devoid of any value. On the surface, the idea of having no values or making up values as a society develops might sound inviting. The ultimate outcome of such thinking, however, leads to anarchy or to terrorism as the value system by which the society is ordered.

While many in our world think they have come up with a new way to live, they really have just fallen into an old trap of academia and supposed progressive thinking by adopting a concept birthed in Russia in the 19^th century known as Nihilism. This “know-nothing” philosophy as a way to look at life and to establish order in culture, always leads to a dead end of nothingness. The main issue to the nihilistic thinker is to overthrow all old ideas and ways of looking at life, and embrace new thought. New thought that has no basis in making decisions is an empty pit out of which mankind cannot climb. While in the pit of nothingness the value system that develops, while pretending to be fair and to promise equal justice, really does away with fairness and any former of social order justice. The ultimate outcome of throwing away all values and traditions leads to the development of new values and traditions based on emotion, passion, and spur-of-the-moment concepts that do not stand the test of time to assure either fairness or social equality.

We can take the concept of personal choice as it is reflected in the pro abort mindset. The issue for this thinking is personal choice but on the face of the value system that is developed, there is no fairness or equal justice because the life taken has no way of defending or speaking up for self. The only self recognized in the debate is the personal choice of the one who will take the life of another person. This debate leads to a death. There must be at least two voices that speak on this issue, but with the post modern mindset there is only one voice that can ever be heard and that is the pro abort voice. There is no fairness or equal justice there.

This continues with those who are certain they have come up with a way to assure fairness in the area of marriage by insisting society must now acknowledge that the only real fair way to look at marriage is to allow for so-called same-sex-marriage. The post modern mindset embracing the concept of nihilism throws away tradition and rules of order that have served every civilized society from the beginning of time. Marriage as a union between one man and one woman is the founding block of society and human order. Once a society determines that they have the personal choice to take the life of the unborn person and then not just refine marriage but reconstruct society, we have reached a point to where we make up our values as we go, rather than depending upon the founding value system of our culture.

Once all old values, traditions, and rules of order have been successfully thrown away, the only rule (which is the new rule or value system) is that terrorism reigns supreme. The strong survive, but not for very long, because along will come someone stronger to do away with them and we see the ultimate end of civilized society.  A society no longer able to procreate because of the chosen lifestyle of same-sex-marriage will see the end of all humankind on the horizon. We also see that the progressive thinkers who embrace nihilism and the post modern mindset see no problem with the ultimate outcome because for them, they embrace the idea that there will never be an end about which to be concerned once we reach (for them) the ultimate goal of fairness and equal justice for all.  They have created in their minds a world that cannot be or will never be, and certainly it will not yield the utopian ideal society they envision.  We can conclude then that nihilism is fatal and leads to the end of all things, not to fairness or any hope for social justice.

This is no time to give up

The sound was mournful; “I am giving up.” The young man I overheard talking on an elevator caught my attention because he was talking loudly, wanting all within hearing distance to know of his decision to quit. I could not help but engage him in conversation about his decision to quit by throwing in the towel and giving up. As I spoke with him, I heard what has become familiar speech from other people with whom I have spoken. This young person was talking about the never ending cycle of disappointment regarding the political issues we are facing in our country now. “They are all lazy, stubborn, and wrong,” this young man went on expressing his opinion to me about what he observed on the national level in the political world. As I talked more with this young man, I asked him about his level of involvement. To which he answered, “I never vote.” “I don’t understand politics,” he said. To which I then asked, “Let me get this right, you are throwing in what towel?” I am amazed at the number of people with whom I speak who have bucket loads of opinions about the political process and what needs to be done (usually they are sharing what they have heard on their favorite talk radio show or other media source), yet with little or no knowledge of what is really taking place in the political world. There are people with one agenda; it could be immigration, the economy, entitlements, rich people needing to pay more tax, or a list of other issues that seem to ignite feelings of emotion of passion with little real evidence to support their stated position.

 I understand the frustration being expressed as we continue to hear about the cuts occurring as a result of sequestration. There is a sense of hopelessness that has invaded the lives of many people today. Unemployment or under employment has caused a funk to set in and is leading many people into a deep depression about our country and the future.

This is not the time, however, to give up. If anything, we need more people engaged and involved now than ever. We must not let the current trends continue and give up to those who continue to harp about the dismal future of our country. Our country is strong and our people are hard working folks equal to and greater than the task before us. Giving up is not an option.  If we give up now, we are certain to fail. Staying in the game, keeping up the fight, continuing to be truly informed about what is happening in the political world should not discourage us, but should ignite us to try harder and do even more to keep the freedoms that have been fought for and won in the our history. To give up the fight for liberty now would be to insult the past generations of Americans who were willing to risk everything they had to stay the course and come out with victory. Just because certain elections have not gone the way many would like is no reason to give up. Just because there seems to be a level of ineptness and incompetence stinking up the political landscape is not reason to quit. The opposite is true. As we begin to move close to the next election cycle, now is the time to begin to become informed about the positions of elected officials and determine we are going to get in the game trying to find others who will run for office that will carry the banner of freedom and liberty.

My plan is to double down on what I already know and be more involved than ever standing for freedom and a higher level of moral ethic in the political world. Do I believe we will win every race? No, but I will be in there working to find the people who hold to my positions on the issues and to see them go into office. The thought of giving up is foreign to anything I can imagine as we go forward. It is simply because I see the challenge before us that I refuse to quit. I will not give up. I will speed up and go forward, trumpeting the call for all to join us in the fight for change in the direction of our country.

Ray Newman

Cockroaches have more respect than some leaders

When convictions clash with culture, the changes taking place in the way people think becomes clear. I cannot remember a time when there has been more evidence of the change in the direction of our nation or the major change in the way people think as they go through their life. Often, I have bemoaned the reality of the loss of respect we have seen over the years. It is hard to pinpoint the exact date in time when our nation started down the road in losing respect for those who were in authority.

 Recent surveys indicate that cockroaches are more likeable and can be tolerated better than elected members of Congress. It is a sad day when people in positions of leadership have so disappointed the people they are supposed to be leading that their approval rating goes down and shows no signs of going back up. With the age of tolerance and diversity ruling the day, it is becoming evermore obvious when a person is driven by convictions or traditional views of what is right and what is wrong they will be held up as examples of bigotry. There have been times when I have compared the harsh nature of the rhetoric taking place between people with differing opinions as if it is a “wrestle mania” match. In sports, we have come to expect that the enemy is the other side and we must mash their faces in the dirt and leave them bloody on the field of battle. People are not satisfied just to win a sporting event; they want to see the other side crippled for life. That same attitude is showing up in every area of our culture. In the business world we hear the phrase, “Dog eat dog.” We have heard that when a person goes into the world to try and make a living for their families they find it is like jungle warfare out there. There is a worldview that quickly responds with invectives and insults toward any person who happens to express a different viewpoint. We have moved into a time when we are seeing the truth in the statement; “Only the strong survive.” Any sign of weakness is exploited to the point of rendering the other side useless and of no human value. We soon discover the people who cry the loudest for diversity and tolerance show no indication they are willing to exhibit either tolerance or diversity when they come up against someone who disagrees with their worldview.

What a person believes can be kept personal for a short time but when the belief systems begin to clash, the complete disagreement of how to manage conflict or differing views soon boils to the surface. There are various worldviews driving people today. We have those who believe in no rules or laws, except those they want to impose on others. There are people who advocate for relaxing of the moral code that has been in place in our country for generations. There are people who will take from others without fear of being caught. Once they are caught, however, they quickly seek to blame someone or something else for their behavior. There was a day in our history when rules of behavior were generally accepted but that day is gone. There was a time when mature adults could disagree without being disagreeable but that day is also gone. Human life has been devalued to the place where there is no value left.

Jokingly, my daddy would tell me many times, “Son, remember there are two sides to every issue, your side and then a bunch of ignorant prejudiced idiots.” I am afraid that what my father said in jest has now become the new normal in public exchange of ideas and morals in our culture. There are people who argue that there are no absolutes in moral issues and they are absolutely sure there are no absolutes. We seem to be at a place where everybody does what they believe is right in their own eyes rather than following a moral code generally believed to be the way we should all live our lives. One cannot help but wonder how much further down this slippery slope of clashing worldviews we will fall before we hit bottom.  There must be a return to personal and individual respect in the public square.

Life is precious; all should have a chance at life

Life begins at conception and is to continue until the Giver of Life determines its natural end. This never moving conviction is part of my list of beliefs I always express about the origin of life. 40 years ago this month, the United States Supreme Court ruled they had found what had not been seen in the United States Constitution previously. They found a guaranteed right of choice to take a life in the womb. Though the Declaration of Independence assures life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as part of the founding pillar of our nation, these justices determined they knew best and refused to allow for the pursuit of happiness for the most innocent of human life, a child in the womb. Since they ruled in favor of abortion, more than fifty-four and a half million people have been aborted at the choice of someone else. It seems very strange to me that we have been told by those advocating for the death choice that life does not begin at conception. In fact, depending on which advocate for death one reads, life is an ever moving goal post. Some advocates for death want us to think it could be as late as one month after a child is born. Other advocates for choice want us to think it could be that the child (a vital and vibrant human being) does not really possess life until they can know and be aware of their surroundings outside the womb.

I find it interesting that with the announcement of a celebrity being pregnant there is not a picture of a “Fetus bump,” but the picture always has a tag line to say a “baby bump.” I have yet to see someone go around showing pictures of their ultra sound calling the baby in the womb a blob of tissues. Yet, when the choice advocates refer to an aborted human being as a fetus or just a blob of tissue we are supposed to concede the point to them. The future King of England and his wife are expecting a baby, nowhere have I read they are having a fetus or blob of tissue. Each reference I have read about the heir to the throne of England’s child, says a “baby.”

Over these forty years since Roe v Wade, those who advocate for choice always set a predetermined point that they have the right to choose if the life in them lives or dies. Those of us who advocate for life are painted as extremists and even a danger to society because we argue on the side of life. In the way this issue has been presented to the public, we are told that the life issue is political. Not so, the issue of life is a moral one. Over many years, I have been asked to help counsel women following abortions when the reality sets in on what they chose to do. I have not sought them out; they have come to me seeking guidance as to how they can deal with the trauma following their decision and resulting death of their baby.

I am pleased to be able to stand with Georgia Right to Life as they advocate for life. We are still in the process of finding it necessary to explain to this current generation of child bearing women that carrying a child to full term and giving birth is the correct choice to make when dealing with the issue of being pregnant.

My heart goes out to the women who learn they cannot conceive or bring children into the world. With the number of children who for many reasons are in this life without parents, adoption is a wonderful path to take in becoming parents. I remember being on a fact finding mission in the former Soviet Union and visiting many orphanages where children were longing and looking for affection and care. In recent years, many have rejoiced in being able to adopt a child from Russia. That option has now, at least temporarily, been closed. There are many more children across our nation and in other countries that are available to adopt. As a person finds they are faced with the choice of abortion or carrying the baby to full term know, there are agencies that will assist in being sure the baby has a chance at life. I look forward to the day when Roe v Wade will be overturned.

We must learn lessons from history or fail

As a student of history, the rise and fall of governments intrigues me. We are moving toward a historic date that calls for closer examination. The date to which I refer is not the Presidential Election, November 6, but the date is December 25, 1991. That date stands in history as the time when the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, admitted he could no longer be the leader of the Communist nation of Russia.  It would be In January of 1992 that the nation would collapse. In these twenty-one years since the fall of that totalitarian centralized government, historians have sought answers as to why such a thing happened. There is not enough space in this column to address every issue that brought down the once thought-to-be mighty empire, but I will suggest one major issue we should always remember. The issue to which I refer is the need for public debate on how we are to be governed. I am a believer in a two party system of government with input from the largest number of citizens as is possible. This year, we are facing in our nation a public debate on how we are to be governed. We have before us a clear example of a choice to be made. The issue at hand is our determination to remain a free capitalist people. We are facing a major decision about how our government will be structured. Do we want a strong centralized government structure headquartered in Washington D.C or do we want to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people?

The most interesting assessment of the collapse of the Communist system in Russia was actually penned before the fall of the government. In January 1990, Joe Slovo, the head of the Communist Party in South Africa, wrote a major essay titled; “Has Socialism Failed?” The summary of what Slovo said was that Socialism/Communism did not and would not fail  He admitted that the ideology of Socialism had fallen on hard times and was facing a crisis in the decade of the 90’s due to allowing of the encroachment of capitalist principles in government.

To me, the most interesting aspect of the examination of the collapse of the Communist regime in Russia is that it took place twenty-one years ago and many of the young college graduates in the Western world today were never exposed to the evil of the totalitarian control by a centralized government. The young leftists of today do not know of the horrors of the old Soviet state. The liberal media has become unhinged following the Republican National Convention where Mitt Romney was nominated to carry the banner for the party into the Presidential Election in November. The horror that is evidenced by the radical leftists media types is seen in that they have bought into the false idea that government knows best and that government must be controlled in a centralized manner with only a few at the top making decisions for all people. That is the only fair way they can see for government to function. They could not be more wrong.

In April of 1992 following the fall of the government in the old Soviet Union, I was there. I had the chance to engage many different people in conversation about what had happened to their government structure. The most interesting fact that came to light was the reality that following the takeover by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the first thing that happened was the total loss of freedom of speech, the press, religion, and free expression of ideas. The media trumpeting the positives of total government control lost their freedoms first. The very people who want to defend against a populist movement of freedom of speech will be the first to loose their freedom to speak as they deem necessary in a takeover by a socialist’s regime.

History records for us that it was the reforms restoring freedom of speech and the move toward capitalism that is now pointed to as the biggest mistakes Mikhail Gorbachev made as he tried to save the empire, which then led to the collapse of the police state of Communism.  As we move toward the anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union and the Presidential Election, we must learn the lessons from their history or we will be where they once were.