An Open Letter to America 

And another great gettin' up mornin' to ya!

Got your cup of java poured yet?  Well?  Better hurry. The day's a-wastin'.

It's been awhile since I did some political commentary, and with our presidential elections less than six weeks away, it seemed appropriate to weigh in on our present political chaos.

Some of what I will share has been borrowed from Ronald Reagan's famous 1964 speech (A Time for Choosing) when he was supporting Barry Goldwater.  Some of it comes from an open letter that I wrote to the voters of Texas' 25th Congressional District when I ran for the U. S. House of Representatives four years ago, and some has been borrowed from my good friend and politico, Tony Smith, who has written some of the finest political commentary I've ever seen, and who graciously helped me in my run for public office.

Without realizing it at the time, my father did a great deal to inspire me to become involved in the political process.  When Dwight D. Eisenhower was running for President in 1952 against Adlai Stevenson, Dad frequently offered up commentary on the political process, and on the ills of our nation.  I once asked him why he didn't run for President and he replied, "Son, God didn't call me to political office.  He didn't call me to run for President.  He called me to preach the Gospel, and that's what I'm doing."  It was the first time that I actually realized God does call some people to political office and to government.

It was perhaps 14 years later that I sat on an Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle with the then-chairman of the Alaska Republican Party.  We had known each other at a distance for several years and he urged me to run for the U. S. House of Representatives in the upcoming election.  I had already committed to take on the youth ministry at Bethel Union Church in Duarte, California (and in fact was headed there) and declined his offer of support.  But it planted a seed that would grow during the coming years.

It would be another dozen years or so before I actually got involved personally in the political process, and I won't take the time in this Coffee Break to recount my various political activities other than to say that I have actively campaigned for folks (and co-managed one gubernatorial campaign) on both sides of the political aisle, based in large part on their stance as committed Christians and support for issues that affect our liberties as believers in Christ Jesus.

That said, let's get on with today's discussion.  It's time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by our Founding Fathers.  James Madison said, "We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self government." The idea?  That government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man.

This is the issue of this upcoming election: whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that intellectual elites in New York or Washington can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. We've been told we must choose between a left or right, but I would suggest that in politics there is more than just a left or right.

There is an up or down: Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity or humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path.

I believe that the writings of the U.S. Constitution apply to every man, woman, boy or girl who is a citizen of the United States. There should never be a distinction between a natural born citizen and a naturalized citizen.

I believe the Constitution should apply equally to every citizen, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity (which is simply a circumstance of birth), religion, or political affiliation. The Constitution creates a representative government "Of the People, By the People and For the People."

I believe that the Constitution must apply to government at all levels, from one's home town city council or school board to Washington D.C. I also believe that when we choose a representative, they should actually represent us. When they do not, I believe that they must be removed and someone else chosen who will represent us.

It was Plutarch who once said, "The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits."  Our Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people.  They knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose.

Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, "What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power." But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.  Our Founding Fathers never designed America's government to replace the private sector.

All political power and influence should flow from the grass roots upward, not from government down to the people.  All human rights are granted by God, not by government.  Government exists primarily to protect the God-given rights of its citizens.  The Constitution was written by wise men under the inspiration of God; and the original intent of the Founders is as valid and binding today as it was in their day.

No government in any nation can replace private enterprise, its abilities, its inventiveness and its ingenuity.  That's not its purpose.  Neither has it been anointed by God or commissioned to replace the body of Christ in its support of the needy.  Yet any time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we're denounced as being opposed to their humanitarian goals.

It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutions with the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we're always “against," never "for" anything. We are for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, and to that end we have accepted Social Security as a step toward meeting the problem.  However, we are against those entrusted with this program when they practice deception regarding its fiscal shortcomings, when they charge that any criticism of the program means that we want to end payments.

We are for aiding our allies by sharing our material blessings with nations which share our fundamental beliefs, but we are against doling out money to government, through government, creating bureaucracy and resulting socialism, all over the world. We need true tax reform that will at least make a start toward restoring for our children the American Dream that wealth is denied to no one, that each individual has the right to fly as high as his strength and ability will take him.  But we can not have such reform while our tax policy is engineered by people who view the tax as a means of achieving changes in our social structure. Have we the courage and the will to face up to the immorality and discrimination of the progressive tax, and demand a return to traditional proportionate taxation?

Freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp. Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and then conveying that information to family and friends?  Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community?  Realize that the doctor’s fight against socialized medicine is your fight.  We can't socialize the doctors without socializing the patients.

Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business. If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, to quote Ronald Reagan, “recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he'll eat you last.�?/FONT>

If all of this seems like a great deal of trouble, think what's at stake.  We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his long quest for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States. There can be no life when we tolerate the taking of the lives of unborn children in the name of “choice.�?/FONT>

Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. They say the world has become too complex for simple answers.  They are wrong.  There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers.  We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.

Winston Churchill once said that "the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits -- not animals."  He continued, "There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which -- whether we like it or not -- spells duty."

Before our nation becomes a total catastrophe that suffers God's judgment and reaps a whirlwind, there must be new foundations laid for our families.  Laws that discourage marriage must be repealed.  Taxes that impose additional hardships on married couples must be done away with.

More than that, we must rid our educational system of the anti-God, anti-family agenda.  We must rid our culture of the tyranny of “political correctness.�?nbsp; We can no longer tolerate an agenda that makes homosexuality an acceptable “alternative lifestyle.�?nbsp; IT IS NOT!!!

Throughout history, every single nation that has accepted and endorsed homosexuality has disintegrated, been defeated by stronger nations and scattered into oblivion.  This is the judgment of the Lord against this sin.  Homosexuality makes a lie of the purposes of God.  It flies in the face of the picture of Jesus Christ and the love He has for His Bride, His people.  It distorts and perverts the whole purpose of creation and procreation.

Because some who read this article will think I hate homosexuals, let me clarify myself.  I don’t hate homosexuals.  I do hate the sin.  That said, government has no business legislating and endorsing it.   If our government does endorse it, it will fall.  At the same time, government cannot legislate righteousness.  That is God’s business.

What we must have, as the apostle Paul so appropriate describes it, is a government that allows us “to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.�?/FONT> (see I Timothy 2:2)

This nation was founded as a Christian nation.  It was founded upon solid family foundations.  We must return to those foundations and rebuild.

Will you help me do that on November 4th?

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth as we step into a thousand years of peace, or we will sentence them to take the first step into uncountable years of darkness.

If this sounds somewhat visionary, I will remind you that the wise king Solomon once wrote, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.�?/FONT>

"Statesmen by dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand....The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty."  -- John Adams (letter to Zabdiel Adams, 21 June 1776)

"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors."  -- George Washington (Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789)

The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow!  (Proverbs 10:22)  Be blessed!

 

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
700 South 6th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 837-4657

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