Freedom FROM Religion-- The American Way

This week I attended a seminar on church management and taxes.  It was very informative as well as disheartening.  There is a growing government intrusion into the affairs of the Church.  It is not only the IRS that has slithered its way into the affairs of the church but now we must contend with Homeland Security, FBI and the State.  These government entities are posing a serious threat to church autonomy and our most basic religious freedoms. Pastors are being censored, the proclamation of God’s Truth is being blocked, and churches are being discriminated against and threatened with punishment.

Where are those who are so adamant about the separation of church and state? They should be crying out about the intrusion of the government into the church.   During this seminar we learned that for a church to be compliant with IRS regulations and to be able to maintain your 501c(3) status an average of 119 forms must be completed each year.  Homeland Security is interested in the missionaries you support and how and where the money is going. The church is responsible to report money paid to evangelist, musician, special speakers, or missionaries.  It is important to understand the criminal liability one faces for not complying with all the regulations. The church is no longer a place where you can gather to worship and conduct the business of the church you must also conduct the business of the government.   To be a recognized church it must conform to the definition of the IRS.  These attributes of a church have been developed by the IRS and by court decisions.  They include:

• Distinct legal existence
• Recognized creed and form of worship
• Definite and distinct ecclesiastical government
• Formal code of doctrine and discipline
• Distinct religious history
• Membership not associated with any other church or denomination
• Organization of ordained ministers
• Ordained ministers selected after completing prescribed courses of study
• Literature of its own
• Established places of worship
• Regular congregations
• Regular religious services
• Sunday schools for the religious instruction of the young
• Schools for the preparation of its members

The IRS generally uses a combination of these characteristics, together with other facts and circumstances, to determine whether an organization is considered a church for federal tax purposes.  Source:  Publication 1828, Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations.

There seems to be two types of ordination one by the church and one by the IRS.  The IRS has defined a minister as individuals who are duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed by a religious body constituting a church or church denomination. They are given the authority to conduct religious worship, perform, and administer ordinances or sacraments according to the prescribed tenets and practices of that church or denomination. 

 Ministers fall into two classifications the first is the licensed minister is one who has been granted a ministerial license by the state or district assembly. The licensed minister is to have completed at least one year of the course of study. The licensed minister who is preparing for ordination is vested with the authority of preaching the gospel, administering the sacraments in his or her own congregation, and officiating at marriages where state law allows. The licensed minister who is preparing for ordination is vested with the authority of using his or her gifts in various associate ministries, administering the sacraments and, on occasion, conducting worship and preaching.

The second is the ordained minister.  They are those who have been ordained to that order, have completed the course of study, and have completed a specified period of assigned ministry. The ordained minister acknowledges a specific call to lifetime ministry. The ordained minister has the authority to administer the sacraments and to conduct worship and to preach.

In the past the courts have rules in defining a minister by the five following factors:

1. Does the individual administer the sacraments?

2. Does the individual conduct worship services?

3. Does the individual perform services in the "control, conduct, or maintenance of a religious organization" under the authority of a church denomination or religious denomination?

4. Is the individual "ordained, commissioned, or licensed?"

5. Is the individual considered a spiritual leader by his or her religious body?

(By this definition that would exclude many of the activist “ministers” we see in the news media.  They fail the definition of who the government recognizes as a minister.  Maybe we should use the same rules to identify minister who are always seeking media attention.)  

If you meet some but not all of these factors, the IRS may or may not consider you a minister.  Under the 1989 tax court case, not all factors had to be satisfied. It should be noted that only factor 4 that one be "licensed, ordained, or commissioned," needs to be present in every case. The more of the remaining criteria that one can meet, the more likely one is to fulfill the definition of "minister of the Gospel." However, some more recent court cases and an IRS Private Letter Ruling have required that all factors be satisfied. 

This was not the intention of our Founding Fathers, who established our country on religious freedom and who enshrined this precious God-given right in the U.S. Constitution. And throughout our nation’s history, churches have been recognized as the moral leaders of our society and Christians have enjoyed the freedom to express their religious beliefs.  But all of that is changing very quickly. At the urging of anti-Christian groups seeking to secularize America, courts and government are increasingly treating our churches more as nuisances than as pillars of the community. And some are treated not just as nuisances, but as criminals for exercising their Christian faith!  

During the seminar we were given examples where individuals are now spending time in federal prison for non-compliance of IRS regulations.  These individual were not intentional in their actions they just failed to do their due diligence in meeting government requirements.  Freedom of religion has become freedom from religion.

What really concerns me is not so much that the IRS, Homeland Security and the FBI are forcing their influence on the church but the number of “ministers” who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ that are reporting fellow Christians to the government for non-compliance.  Individuals who claim to be ministers but fail even the IRS’s definition of a minister are trying to destroy the church.  Charlatans like the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.  Supposedly, The Americans for Separation of Church and State is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization supposedly educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom but their actions are more directed to establishing the goal of their executive director that of a "godless America."  

I guess it is for the purpose of seeking respectability in the media, that these false-ministers like to use the title "reverend," even though there is no record of the name and location of any church the present executive director of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State has ever been a pastor, or the location and time where he ever delivered an actual sermon.  I would recommend that AUS remove the beam from their own eye before they attempt to remove the splinter from others. They should also stop lying about protecting religious freedom they are the arm of evil against the Kingdom of God.  

When the government gets out of the business of the church and allows to the church to carry out its duty to be the watchdog on the moral and ethical actions of the government our country will again be blessed of God.  But when good people are judged to be criminal, in violation of our First Amendment rights, we are all in danger of being oppressed by those who are anti-church, secular humanist, progressive proponents and a  tyrannical government.  If you have bought into the myth of separation of church and state you are part of the problem.

“If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
– President Ronald Reagan

A Political Sermon-Pulpit Freedom Sunday!

Text: Isaiah 3:1-15

"God allowed the prophets to anoint the kings and once men had accepted their kings they were supposed to show them respect, to obey the authority they had set up. To obey, that is, as long as it did not go against the Law of God. St. Peter was ordered by lawful authority not to preach in the name of Jesus, and he said he had to obey God rather than man, and he left prison to go out again to the market place and preach the Gospel. Over and over again, men had to disobey lawful authority to follow the voice of their conscience. The Apostle Paul spent his life going to or coming from prison because he spoke out against evil.  Peter and John were beaten for preaching Jesus Christ.   

In Iran this week a Christian Pastor is under the death penalty because he will not renounce his faith in Jesus Christ.  The same religion or ideology that has put a sentence of death on the Iranian pastor is the same religion that many of our political leaders are slowly forcing us to accept. It is time to speak out against the evil being done by our political leaders. Leaders who support or favor a religion that demands the death of all Christians and Jews should be removed from office for failure to honor their oath to uphold the Constitution.  

Obedience to God and disobedience to the State has over and over again happened throughout history. Foxes Book of Martyrs records the faithful who chose to obey God rather than man. 

As Quakers we have a history of speaking out against the evil practiced by the government upon those who would worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience.  They cried out against the evil rulers of their day and it is time to examine our "leaders," to question whether or not they are evil men or righteous men."  This generation is well described in the message of the prophet Isaiah.

 ¹⁰His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.  ¹¹Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Isaiah 56:10-11 King James Version (KJV)

Have we forgotten who we are as the people called Quakers?  Quakers were not meek and mild innocents.  They were as righteous a group of zealots as most Puritans, and when they entered a Massachusetts town they tried to wreak maximum havoc: bursting into church services, yelling in the streets, banging pots and pans together and calling both religious and political leaders to repent.  In Virginia Quakers were driven out of the state.  Many were charged as criminals because of speaking out against the injustice that was taking place in the government. 

During the American Revolution, Christians, and especially pastors, were in the forefront of the fight for liberty, freedom, and liberation from tyranny. These pastors were not afraid to risk their lives, their reputations, and everything they had to take a stand for God and country - and against the evils of their day. Some were imprisoned, impoverished and even hanged for “treason” against the crown.

This is a far cry from our pastors and Christian leaders of today, who have zero understanding of the times in which we live or discernment regarding the rising tide of evil in our country.  As Christians we are indifferent and complacent toward evil; as ministers we have failed to understand the seriousness of the evil within our own country and we have not shown the courage to speak out against it. 

Restrictions were placed on churches and non-profit organizations in 1954 by then-Senator Lyndon Johnson. Prior to 1954, churches and non-profit organizations had no such restrictions on their freedom of speech or their right to speak out in favor or against political issues or candidates.

The history of Johnson’s IRS gag order is important to understand. It began with what some historians believe to be a fraudulent election of Johnson to the Senate in 1948. Both conservative and liberal historians agree that Lyndon Johnson’s election to the Senate in 1948 was won by massive voter fraud. Known as “Landslide Lyndon,” this aspiring politician was “elected” by only 87 votes. His challenger, Coke Stevenson, challenged his election and presented credible evidence that hundreds of votes for Johnson had been faked. Johnson, however, was successful in blocking Stevenson’s effort by the clever use of “cooperative” court injunctions. 

In 1954, Johnson was facing re-election to the Senate and was being aggressively opposed by two non-profit anti-Communist groups that were attacking Johnson’s liberal agenda. In retaliation, Johnson inserted language into the IRS code that prohibited non-profits, including churches, from endorsing or opposing candidates for political office. In effect, Senator Johnson used the power of the go-along Congress and the IRS to silence his opposition. Unfortunately, it worked. Some in Johnson’s staff claimed that Johnson never intended to go after churches, only the two “nonprofits” in Texas. Nevertheless, his sly amendment to the tax code affected every church in America, and it is a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

There have been attempts to overturn Johnson’s vindictive gag order that now penalizes churches. There is no reason for this gag order to remain in effect, but Congress apparently thinks it must perpetuate bad public policy simply because it exists.

Organizations like Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, People for the American Way, and The American Civil Liberties Union continue to claim that this Johnson gag order must be upheld to protect “church/state separation.”

Before and after the American Revolution-our nation’s pastors spoke out on the political and moral issues of the day. It was their duty and their right under the Constitution to preach against immorality and corruption in the political and the moral realm. It should be noted that the House of Representatives sponsored church services in its chambers for nearly 100 years. 

On June 28, 1787, Benjamin Franklin said, “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that ‘except the Lord build the House they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel . . . I therefore beg leave to move— that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that Service.

The Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives continues today to bring a dimension of faith to human events, giving praise and thanks to God for what God is doing in the world, in the nation, and in and through leaders and ordinary citizens, to meet representatives of other nations to discuss how religion and politics interface on Capitol Hill. (What restrictions are put on the Chaplain by the IRS?)

It is interesting to observe that our Founding Fathers and our first elected officials didn’t have any notion of “church/state separation,” so vehemently endorsed by anti-American groups. Our Founders valued religion and wrote the First Amendment to protect the free expression of religious beliefs-and the freedom to speak out on the moral issues-including those involving politics and politicians.

The disservice that Lyndon B. Johnson did to religious freedom has yet to be undone and churches in America are to remain silent on moral issues of the day that are now considered political.  Whether we are considering the termination of life of over one and a half million babies per year; same sex marriage; restrictions on the free speech of Christians, or speaking for or against a political leader we are to keep silent.

Evangelical pastors and minister are so silent on the issues of the day that we are perceived as not caring about the direction this country is going.   Many Christians have bought into the liberal definition of “separation of church and state” propaganda.  We are so afraid we will offend church members by being “political” and possibly see church attendance or financial support decline.  We are afraid of losing tax exempt.  By the way, the liberal politicians have no problem going to churches and speaking on what is considered political issues and even using hate speech in their message without fear of government reprisal. 

The religious leaders of Germany in the 1930s and ‘40s both Catholic and Protestant ignored the great evil of the Third Reich.  Some religious leaders actually supported Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, until 1942 - when the evil was no longer possible to deny or condone some Christian begin to speak out.  But it was at the cost of millions of lives lost and the total destruction of cities, towns, and nations.  What would have happened if more ministers had become political and spoke out against this evil?  

There were some ministers who took an active part in trying to stop the spread of Hitler’s Nazism. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian. Bonhoeffer saw the social chaos and a decline of traditional values along with the financial crisis facing Germany, and became critical of the church as being insensitive to the  needs of the world around it.  Bonhoeffer's life was dramatically changed with Nazi rise to power on January 30, 1933.  Two days after Hitler was installed as Chancellor. Bonhoeffer gave a radio address in which he attacked Hitler and warned Germany against slipping into an idolatrous cult of the Führer (leader), who could very well turn out to be Verführer (mis-leader, or seducer), he was cut off the air in the middle of a sentence. In April, Bonhoeffer was a lone voice for church resistance to Hitler's persecution of Jews, declaring that the church must not simply "bandage the victims under the wheel, but jam the spoke in the wheel itself." He took part in the resistance movement and was involved in plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler which resulted in his arrest and execution just 23 days before the surrender of Germany. 

America is at a turning point today just as Germany was in 1933.  I was not born at the time and did not experience what the ordinary Christian German must have felt when a smooth-talking, rabble-rouser from the streets of Germany came on the scene.  He was a man the average German knew nothing about.  Had they known he was associated with thugs that shouted, shoved, and pushed people around with whom they disagreed, they might have been more cautious in following him.  Hitler worked his way into the political arena by being a great orator. 

Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs hundreds were living in the streets and everyone was hungry.  Hitler seized the control of the government during the Great Depression.  He placed his cronies in positions of power and slowly took over the entire government.

The question is how did he get the people on his side?  He promised jobs and money to the have-nots.  The media was compliant with his grab for power.  He would be the savior of Germany.  And all this was done in the name of justice, change and hope.  And the people got what they voted for.

In 1932 the unemployment in Germany was 25%.  Hitler promised that if he gained power he would abolish unemployment. He was lucky that the German economy was starting to recover when he came into office. However, the policies that Hitler introduced did help to reduce the number of people unemployed in Germany.  Hitler introduced policies that would change the economic condition of Germany.  These policies often involved taking away certain freedoms from employers. (Like when our government took over General Motors.)  The government banned the introduction of some labor-saving machinery. Employers also had to get government permission before reducing their labor force. The government also tended to give work contracts to those companies that relied on manual labor rather than machines. (The technology has changed, but the process is the same as seen by the awarding of contracts to companies that support the president such as the half-a-billion dollar contract to Solyndra.)   This was especially true of the government's massive infrastructure and roads program. (Not unlike our “Shovel Ready Project”) As a result of his schemes Germany developed the most efficient road system in Europe.  The entire country was behind him.

There is a change not only in America today but all over the world.  Something big is about to happen.  In 1932 the world was in turmoil and the church was quite. The world was in a financial collapse and millions were homeless and hungry.  There was no hope.  People were looking for someone to give them hope and change.

Today, American leaders who call Americans that disagree with them enemies, traitors, racist, and even question the conduct of their mothers, in addition to threatening American lives and condemning them to Hell which is happening daily, has divided our country.  All this sounds similar to what took place in 1933.  People in 1933 were being encouraged to spy on one another and report on their neighbors.  Just like in America today with our president wanting Americans to report any negative comments that are made about him on his Attack website.

The dividing of the country has taken place.  Our political process has been usurped by unelected judges who write laws rather than interpret them.   The mortgage industry has collapsed, people are losing their homes every day and the banking system is on the verge of collapse.  Over 15 million Americans are unemployed without the hope of finding employment.  The real unemployment rate is 16.9% and climbing every month.  The approval rate of the congress and the president are at an all-time low.  Americans are looking for someone to solve the problems we are faced with.  The entire world is in the same position—looking for someone to solve our problems.

It becomes important that as Christians we are not complacent in whom we place to rule over us.  We have a responsibility to know the people we choose to run this country.  It is not Republican, Democrat, Independent or Libertarian that should be the basis of our support but the character, integrity, and accountability to the American people.

Those running for the office of the President are bringing questionable baggage to the campaign.  Among the top three there are issues with healthcare, immigration, and the Federal Reserve.  Others have their own baggage one resigned from House of Representative because of ethics issues, one continues to be ignored because of his literal interpretation of the   Constitutional, one is so set on America’s role as the policeman of the world that he would ignore the sovereignty of other countries, and one even though the lone woman has many positive characteristics, she has surrounded herself with questionable people.  

Will we find the perfect candidate?   No!  But we must be careful to examine the character of the individual and those they choose as advisers who will influence them in setting policy.  It may be more important to examine the people behind the candidate than the candidate. 

Do your due diligence in researching those who wish to run this country.  This may be the most important election of your life.  What happens next year may change the course of this entire country or even the entire world.  Not everyone is what they say they are.  It is time that the message is proclaimed from every pulpit in America that judgment must first begin in the house of the LORD and the ministers must proclaim the TRUTH and cry out against the evil that is upon us regardless of our tax status.

Whos Says I Can't Be Political In The Pulpit---The IRS

I am sure you’ve heard this statement when the issue of morality comes up.  “You can’t legislate morality”.   The truth is every law, regulation or ordinance that is proposed, passed, and enforced has in it some idea of the good that it seeks to promote or preserve making it moral in its character. There is no governing authority morally neutral. Anyone who thinks you can’t legislate morality is wrong. All laws which regulate the conduct of individuals are based on moral action.  

The very foundation of the law is based on the premise of what is good for the community, the individual or the government.  Anytime there is something so wrong that it demands the governing authority to establish a law-- morality has been legislated.  Anytime the government legislates a law that takes away freedom it is based on the morality of the governing body.

We should be aware that ambivalence toward an action that is truly morally wrong is still based on one’s morality.  Our acceptance or rejection does not mean there is no right or wrong without morality being part of the decision.  The very foundation of our law is-- we believe authority has the right to punish perpetrators of wrong.   So, to legislate, then, is to legislate morality. It is impossible to avoid legislating morality. We cannot separate morality from the law. The real question is not whether the political community will legislate morality; the question is whose morality will be enforced and by what sort of government.

Thirty years ago, a pastor could preach a sermon from Scripture that marriage was between one man and one woman and no one would have been concerned or would have even thought to complain to the IRS that the Church was violating the law.  Issues that are political cannot be addressed from the pulpit.  If a pastor were to stand in the pulpit and preach a sermon that says marriage is between one man and one woman, that sermon would be instantly deemed “political,” and somehow church-goers, and the culture at large, would assume that the Church was wrong and should stay out of “politics.” 

Moral issues are being discussed politically outside the church but are being silenced in church.  The church is fighting a war over fundamental issues such as the definition of marriage, the sanctity of human life, and religious freedom.  As these issues are fought in the public square, they frequently become politicized by a culture that increasingly turns to government to demand answers to these most fundamental of questions.  Yet a pervasively darker consequence of these fundamental moral conflicts is that the Church is frequently told that when culture deems an issue “political,” it somehow becomes off-limits for the Church to address.

It seems to me that today’s pastors have a moral choice to make?  To preach faithfully the counsel of God’s Word on all issues addressed by Scripture, or to self-censor and remain silent simply because some issues have been deemed “political” and therefore off limits as a sermon topic.   

“Preach the Word!” the Bible exhorts us. “Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:2) The Bible is clear in its call to pastors to boldly preach the Gospel.  As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ I must be faithful to the call of God.  Look at the moral responsibility placed upon the spiritual watchmen. 

2 Chronicles 19:10 In every case that comes before you from your fellow countrymen who live in the cities--whether bloodshed or other concerns of the law, commands, decrees or ordinances--you are to warn them not to sin against the LORD; otherwise his wrath will come on you and your brothers. Do this, and you will not sin.

I have an obligation to the LORD to address the laws, commands, or ordinances of our government.  There are reasons why minister must obey this command of the LORD.   “… Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: 'When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of a land take a man from their territory and make him a watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.' "So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore, you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me." (Ezekiel 33:1-7)

This brings me to the moral responsibility of a minister to be obedient to God. Ministers must be alert and awake to give a distinct warning when we see individuals who would deceive the church into accepting false teaching.  Minister should not be afraid to identify those who would damage the message of Jesus Christ or speak out against issues that are morally wrong.  Someone once said: "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." So true, yet large portions of God's church have fallen asleep at their guard posts or even failed to see the need for a faithful ministry and have paid a heavy price.  Christians believe that civil government owes its existence to God and is therefore accountable to him to behave righteously in serving the common good. The role of the pastor is and always has been to declare the good news that "our God reigns" (Isa. 52:7).

Currently, the Internal Revenue Service has placed itself in the role of evaluating the content of a pastor's sermon to determine if the message is "political." We need to ask: Where did this authority come from? And more importantly, why should Americans be willing to submit to this unconstitutional power grab without even a whimper? Why is that pastors are the only people who have allowed the IRS to censor their First Amendment rights to a tax exemption they have enjoyed since the founding of our nation?

Churches are tax-exempt because they are churches, not because the government decided to bless them with a "subsidy." The church is not a profit-making business or individual. It is not getting a pass on taxes; it is simply outside the government's appropriate tax base.

It's time we exploded the false sacred/secular dichotomy that the secularists have conveniently created to silence our message. It's time we stop letting others tell us to keep Jesus inside of the church and out of the world he died to redeem. This is not about promoting political parties or agendas or establishing a "theocracy." It's about our right to bring scriptural principles and solutions to bear on contemporary social problems if we so choose. But it's our choice, not the choice of the IRS.

If we can’t discuss any and all topics, including those the IRS may deem "political," even within our communities of faith we are no more than a social club.   It's time to defend our first liberty, the freedom to preach the Good News of the whole gospel, without fear of IRS censorship or sanction, to a world desperately searching for answers. Simply put, it's time for the church to be the church. 

America--The Divided House

It has become difficult for concerned American citizens to side with any political organization. There are over fifty various political parties in the political arena in America.  Republicans have those who are flip-floppers on important issues, Democrats have those who hate America and are bent on destroying our way of life, the third largest political party, the Libertarian Party would like to legalize drugs, prostitution, and allow open immigration into our country.  The fringe organized political parties range from labor; environment, socialism, communism, and anti-war are not concerned with the overall health of our Nation, only their established political goals.

The constant fighting between the Democrats and Republican over petty issues have reduced the confidence of the America voter to the point neither side has creditability.  Americans are tired of the political lies, the pretentiousness that government knows best, that party politics are more important than what is best for America and that politics has become a career path and not a path to serve the best interest of the people.  The end result is America is looking for someone who will speak for them and not a political party or platform.

In every organization there are those who claim to be members without accepting the purpose or goals of the organization and have their own agendas.  It is wrong to say that every Democrat is out to destroy America or to say every Republican wants to oppress to poor and push the elderly off a cliff.  It is deceitful for political leaders to say a segment of our society is racist or traitors just because they refused to accept political agenda being pushed.  It is also divisive and petty for the President of the United States to allow anyone to call Americans SOB’S.   Yet, this is the face of our political process.  

I have been a conservative all my life.  There have been policies and actions from those who consider themselves conservatives that I could not agree with.  Some of the policies of our past president in regards to economics and security did not seem to me the best fit for our county.  I have a hard time accepting the premise for a just war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I am not happy with the freedoms we have lost to become a more “secure” nation.  I did not support the No Child Left Behind Act that has damaged our education system.  However, I have a greater respect for a president who accepts responsibility for his actions and actually performs the duties of the president then I have for one who blames others for his failure and allows others to take the lead on policy.

A major duty of the government is to establish a budget.  The president takes ownership of the spending in this country even though Congress has ownership as well.  The budget that Obama inherited in 2009 was Bush's Budget.  It was something established before Obama became president but we fail to remember he immediately added a $787 Billion stimulus package over the objections of Republicans in the Congress who were in the minority.  This made the budget in 2009 his budget not Bush’s.  He didn’t stop there in the 2010 Budget, Obama increased non-entitlement spending in federal agencies by as much as 24%.    

Obama would remind Republicans that he won the 2008 election.  Democrats would not permit Republicans to contribute ideas.  Enter the Tea Party.   They held rallies against the one sided legislation being pushed by the Democrats only to be vilified by the news media, the president and congressional leadership.  Democrats reported rude and uncivil behavior on the part of those in the Tea Party rallies but no one ever came forward with proof despite the hundreds of cameras focused on the rally and Pelosi's arrogant march through the middle of it.  

The economy of our country has been falling apart for several years.  Millions are unemployed, thousands are losing their homes each month, and poverty is on the rise and retired workers have lost hundreds of retirement dollars.  Both political parties are guilty for allowing these conditions to exist. 

When there is such a discrepancy in how we as American can earn and spend our money it is no wonder Congress is such a mess.  I feel the money I earn is mine and the government has the right to tax only as much as is needed to perform those limited functions, which are appropriate to it. But, when the government wants to redistribute what I have honestly earned to establish spending programs in times of budget surpluses, and to return to me only that portion of my money which will make me dependent upon  government services-- I have a problem with this.

I am not an expert in economics or business but I have an excellent record of helping young men starting successful businesses.  From my experience, I have learned that the free enterprise system is the most effective engine of economic progress.  History has proven time and time again that every time government regulation and federal control of the workplace tries controlling business so that they can better distribute wealth and services to the American people jobs are lost and businesses are closed.

I believe it is imperative today to re-affirm the traditional freedoms and values of America to preserve our great Republic. At the risk of offending special interest groups, America must stop being politically correct, stop trying to please every multi-culture group that denies the common American heritage and re-establish the set of values that are the foundation of the American culture.

I know that there can be differences of opinion and that such differences result in opponents, not enemies.  Please stop calling me a racist, terrorist, s.o.b., and hostage holder, and an enemy of the State.  Stop threatening my life and promising to send me to Hell. If you are going to accuse someone of being a name caller make sure you ask who they represent.  They may belong to the opposition.  After all, tares will grow among the wheat.   I know I want outrageous things such as a balanced budget, to be able to keep more of my own money.  I”m tired of seeing my hard earned money going to government programs that perpetuate problems they are supposed to solve. I want the immigration laws on the books enforced the same as other laws.  I want a strong national defense that protects the interests of the USA and not a security program that takes away my freedoms.   

Finally, I expect public servants, particularly those whom we elect to office, be held accountable to the highest standards of ethical conduct.  

"If a man cannot be trusted with the government of himself, can he be trusted with the government of others?" [Thomas Jefferson]