As many of you know, the victims of the March 24 plane crash in Montana were largely the family of Irving “Bud” Feldkamp, who owns seventeen abortion clinics.

I pray that God gives the Feldkamp family peace that surpasses all understanding.  I pray that God’s mercy and the mercy of His people will move Mr. Feldkamp to  love and embrace Him.  It does not matter how much money the man has.  Mr. Feldkamp has lost his world.   I pray that he gains his soul.

You know I love to think and write about liberty.  Yet, I seldom mention the people that influence my thinking.  It is very true that I am significantly influences by the work of our founding fathers.  But, it is also imperative that we know about the writers that influenced them.

By far the source most often quoted by our founding fathers is The Holy Bible.  After that, four people seem to be quoted allot.  Beyond quotation, their thoughts and teachings permeate  our founding documents.

Sir William Blackstone is a great influence on our Constitution, Declaration of Independence and The Federalist Papers.  His most popular work is Commentaries on the Laws of England.

John Locke is often considered to be the greatest influence on our founders.   He is the quoted and paraphrased more than any other writer.  The link I attached to his name will take you to a library of his entire works.

Adam Smith is one of the most forgotten.  His works have been cited, used and abused by everyone from Ronald Reagan to Karl Marx.

Charles de Secondat baron de Montesquieu is the driving force behind our separation of powers.

Edmund Burke, of course has been a major influence on me. I did not know how much of an influence he was until National Review kept quoting him.  If you would like to have your mind blown, and you have a few hours, chew on these.

The only one of these men ever mentioned in school was John Locke.  And that was it.  He was mentioned.  I have no idea why we don’t introduce our children to the schools of thought that the founders subscribed to.  I guess it is just too hard.

Government is made for the purpose of governance. Unfortunately, our government thinks it is supposed to rule.

Defending life, liberty and property is the foremost obligation of every government official. Today many of them lose perspective or even worse never have a correct world view. They don’t consider life, liberty and property to be the only true entitlements of mankind. They forsake the sanctity of life, personal liberty and ownership in favor of the entitlements they see as right. Among these are “social justice” and “universal health care.”

Today, our government knows no bounds. It treats the constructs of the Constitution as old fashioned restrictions that hold no value. It has no respect for what I hold dear. It sees me as a bitter clinger, holding fast to my guns and faith. I am to be vilified. I am to be feared. I am to be destroyed.

Not everyone who is given life respects it. They destroy themselves. Not everyone who enjoys liberty truly wants it. They gladly trade their freedom for things less than freedom’s worth. Not everyone with property will increase wealth. They just sell it off bit by bit. People that don’t value these things are not reasonable. They cannot be convinced. They cannot be trusted.

This value system that discounts the blessings of God and elevates some sort of fictitious fairness, is the stuff that is destroying our country.

God is no longer the ruler. Now it is the State. The people who took an oath to defend the Constitution are supplanting the same God who bestowed our “unalienable rights.” This is political molestation.

My parents taught me better. I never knew life as being anything but the foremost blessing we have. I leaned my belongings were mine and other peoples belongings were not mine. I wanted nothing more than to make my own decisions.

I do not understand the socialist’s mindset. I’m pretty sure the reason that I don’t understand it is because it does not make sense.

I think we are not so different from the Israelites that demanded a King. They wanted to be like the other nations. They chose a bright handsome warrior. He lost what little mind he had. They were better off before. We too deny our true King His throne. We turn His authority over to men. We seek blessings from the state.

Surely, we must change our mind.

Stimulus: Something that incites activity as:

• incentive
• stimulant
• agent for environmental change

I am getting really sick of Washington.   The government spending money really doesn’t fit the definition of a stimulus.  Yet they are so unwilling to do what will definitely stimulate the stock market and the economy as a whole.

The government is not currently collecting much in capital gains taxes right now.  So, there are no potential risks in suspending those taxes.   If that does not stimulate the economy, what would we lose?  If it does, look what we stand to gain.

Washington is so dead set on using this recession to  advance thier own agenda that they have no desire to do the right thing.

Politics is a power play.  Politicians seek votes.

Philosophy is more powerful than a power play.  It seeks to actually change thought.

Which is truly the greater prize: the one time vote or the lasting change of a person’s values?

We just saw an election go the way of this country’s cities.  People in the suburbs and countryside voted mostly Republican.   The blue counties were in the cities and along the border.  This is good news.  It tells conservatives where to concentrate their efforts.

I hope that the conservative think tanks will put some effort into developing effective teaching methods for urban and Hispanic audiences.  I don’t think that will be as tough as it seems.  Many inner city families and most Hispanic families have conservative values.  The key to promoting conservatism in these demographics is to show how these values are consistent with the conservative philosophy.

I for one, care less about winning individual elections than about winning the hearts and minds of people.  I want the people to value freedom more than money.  I want the people to value achievement more than largess.  I want the people to value posterity more than the absence of hardship.  I want the people to value life more than convenience.  I want the people to value ownership more than a twisted concept of fairness.  Do I want too much?

“Happiness is neither without us nor within us. It is in God, both without us and within us.”, Blaise Pascal

My church correlates the class material with the sermon series. Lately we have been covering “Balance”. We have been looking at our priorities and practices to see if we have them in order. This week’s lessons struck a nerve. We talked about money and time. When it comes to balancing these I am half a bubble off plumb.
The passage used for this Sunday’s lesson is well known, often misquoted and seldom studied enough.

But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.

If we have food and shelter, with these we shall be content.

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.

I think it is easy for us to get off track. Instead of pursuing happiness, contentment or what ever else you want to call it we get sidetracked. I have come to a point where I’m sick and tired of getting everything out of whack. I’m tired of sacrificing sacred things for an extra dollar that instantly goes to my creditors. I am impaled by my many griefs.

At this phase of my life, I must make some changes. So, my money focus is no longer to have stuff but to get free. The rest of my life is no longer about gaining things. I want to focus on becoming upright, godly, faithful, loving, steadfast and kind. It seems that is the real way to hunt down that happiness I want.

The time has come for me to trust God a little more. I must know that He will indeed take care of my needs.

The tough part is: this aint easy. In the very next verse, Paul called this, “fighting the good fight.” I sort of wish it wasn’t a fight but, it is.

Right now, I’m counting my blessings. Even though I’m not as well off as many of the folks I know, I am in fact a very rich man. Money can’t buy some of what I have. I own things that can’t be earned. For that, I am very thankful.

Blaise Pascal also said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus. ” I know he was right. I think I know how to chase down the joy I have been missing.

Lord, you gave me the right to pursue happiness. Help me learn the skill of contentment so that I might actually catch it.

Post Script: If you would like to hear one of Tim Spivey’s more excellent sermons click here.