Is any past president of this great Republic worthy of worship? No, never, not ever, NO! The Office of President of the United States of America is worthy of our respect, even if we don't like or didn't vote for the person currently occupying that office. Let me get this off my chest first, Mr. Obama, while in the position of President has not satisfactorily verified that he is in fact constitutionally eligible to hold that office. Regardless of who he is, who he claims to be, or what position he holds, there is no man who should be elevated to the status of Mr. Obama in the way depicted in a recent video which surfaced on Fox News.
I went to Fox News and watched the video. Then fortunately, I saw that Glenn Beck had the lyrics in the video segment, so I could verify what the kids were singing. Part of this blog will be to look at the lyrics piece by piece with my own commentary. I don't think that Glenn Beck went far enough.
"He said that all must lend a hand to make this country strong again." What a novel idea. This is not a new concept. Jesus taught us that we are to love our neighbors (Luke 10) and even to love our enemies (Matthew 5-7). How effective will compulsory service be? Isn't it much better to voluntarily serve? If compulsory service, will the government decide who is used where and how. Isn't it much better to serve our friends, family and neighbors WITH our families or churches? Let me assure you, I know the needs of my family, friends and neighbors MUCH better than ANY politician!
"He said we must be fair today, equal work means equal pay." No arguement here. Or IS there?? Imagine with me for a moment, you're a construction laborer (or a factory worker, or...) and you believe in an honest days work for an honest days pay. You work hard and do everything that's asked of you and often do more. You know of a fellow employee (gender, religion, skin color, etc. is irrelavent), who does the least amount of work possible to keep their job. They're often late, calling in sick, leaving early, long breaks, or just plain lazy. Yet both of you are in the same "position" and you both get paid the same. What if the employer could reward hard workers with higher pay or promotions or other rewards that reflect their work ethic? Instead we have the welfare system and minimum wage. The government by endless regulation is rewarding laziness or giving special privileges to certain persons based on artificial "qualifications". Why should anyone get special consideration just because of some artificial "status"? Why not hire, promote, reward based on most qualified, best work ethic, etc? What do you think that would do to the manufacturing, production, research, etc in this country? We would overnight become the world's superpower in every area of industry and science once again.
Forgive the sidetrack here, but when Glenn Beck mentioned that the only thing he thought may be missing was a great statue of Obama to place near the children so they could bow down to the statue, I had another thought. I recalled news footage of an incident early in the Iraq war involving a statue. This statue had been placed by someone who thought that worship (or perhaps intense admiration and adoration) would be appropriate. Well, when our troops entered this part of Baghdad, they used their armored recovery vehicle to topple the statue. I'm not making any suggestions here, just sharing my thoughts when the idea of a statue near the children singing praises came up.
"He said that we must take a stand to make sure everyone gets a chance." Honestly, this is pure HYPOCRISY in my view. Let me explain. Everyone does get a chance. That's what everyone gets when they are born into this great nation. Well, except for those innocent babies that DON'T GET THE CHANCE TO BE BORN! I do recall a historical document espousing the ideas of LIFE, LIBERTY and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. I think it's so obvious, but wonder how anyone misses this: without LIFE, there can be no liberty and without liberty, not much pursuit of happiness either. I will concede that not everyone starts out with the same opportunity based on financial or social status, location, personal resources and such. EVERYONE has a CHANCE, but there is no guarantee of equal results. If I work harder or make wiser choices the government (or no one else, for that matter) has ANY RIGHT to demand that I give up what I have earned through hard work or good choices.
"He said Red, Yellow, Black or White, all are equal in his sight." Well, stereotypes are unfortunate, even if there is a hint of truth to the generalities. Of course we're all equal, we ALL belong to the human race. It wasn't God, but man who artificially "created" the various "races". With various ethnic (social, geographic, etc.) "divisions" come some learned behaviors. Fortunately, these learned behaviors are not always carried into adulthood. Bad patterns, of any type can be broken. It is an individual CHOICE to carry on the status quo or to establish new ethics and values to pass on to the next generation.
The other thing that REALLY burns me about that line is that part of the line was taken from a Sunday School song I learned as a child. Wait a minute! We can't pray in public school, we can't sing traditional, historical Christmas carols, we can't even wish friends "Merry Christmas" without getting sent home or worse but these schoolchildren have been taught to steal words from a Christian childrens' hymn to sing the praises of the man in the office of President? Something just doesn't add up here.
I'm not getting into the lyrics here, but toward the end of the song, the tune to one of the greatest hymns ever written is stolen and used with words that the writers of the hymn would NEVER, EVER agree to. That hymn is The Battle Hymn of the Republic. I'm BEYOND offended!
Toward the end of the Glenn Beck video clip I used to assist in writing this, Mr. Beck said that, "We don't even glorify Abraham Lincoln and George Washington anymore". I hope we never have and never will glorify anyone except God, who alone deserves glory. We should honor our presidents, especially those who made significant contributions to our Republic. Here's an example of where that is going: somehow, the celebrations of Lincoln's birthday and Washington's birthday have been combined into "President's Day". I'm sorry, but in my humble opinion, some of our presidents did more harm to our Republic than they did good. I am all for rendering honor to the office of President, and when appropriate, to the man who occupies that office, but some of our presidents have been just plain scoundrels, to put it mildly.
Can we just get back to the Founding Documents of our Republic, PLEASE? We need to read our nation's founding documents and writings by our Founding Fathers. Let's not just read them, but STUDY them. Here are the 3 most important founding documents of our Republic: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, and the Holy Bible. Read, study and then put that knowledge to action.
May God bless you and yours. Thank you for taking time to read these thoughts, and may GOD BLESS THE UNTIED STATES OF AMERICA!