You know, it gets kinda harder, the older you get, to face the beginning of a new year. It seems that you have less of them to look forward to, and quite a few behind you. I can’t think of anything I regret enough to allow it to weigh on me, but I have had my sorrows.

Were I to muse on my personal tribulations, this column would become all about me, and I choose not to travel down that road. We are in the middle of a war against terror, one that has placed many of our sons and daughters in harm’s way. In one battle area, Afghanistan, we’re reached the point where peace is the primary product, free elections have been held, and a major change in the lifestyle of the people has occurred. Now, in the beginning of this year yet to come, preparations are underway in our other battle area, Iraq, for free elections.

It seems freedom is an insidious infection, one that, once introduced to the people of an area, can create havoc. Recent polls indicate the Iraqis look forward to this election, a change to place people into office to represent rather than to oppress them.

Of course, we’ve faced obstruction and defeatism from members of the Planetary Nanny, the UN, but that organization becomes more and more a useless appendage of the past, like the persons you still send Christmas cards to without really knowing why. Our international political world will change in the New Year whether they join the change or not, and we can only resolve to support change for the better. Perhaps it’s time to seriously think about a change in our level of participation in that group. It wouldn’t break my heart to see them off our shores, but then I have a personal problem with providing a home for the world’s collection of certified village idiots.

At home in America, we’ve been at war, too. A war of different ideologies, of Government as all powerful Mother and nurturer, vs. government as a small and controlled part of our lives. It’s a sad commentary on us as a nation, but it appears both political parties travel pretty much in the direction of control rather than that of freedom. Witness that the Republican Party (I should mention here I’m a conservative) wants, on one hand, to allow us to manage our own Social Security (Great Idea!) but on the other hand seeks to deny us the right to shop for what we want where we want, at the price we’re willing to pay (Meaning prescription medicine, of course!).

Our border to the south remains a revolving door, and we still refer to criminals as “undocumented aliens”. Neither major party seems to want to deal with the issue in a forthright manner, instead looking at those here illegally as either a cheap workforce or a potential group of new voters. Wonder what the new year will bring us in this area! I have a feeling that it won’t be good.

I’ve noticed that, as the tide seems to be turning in some areas, the protestors are becoming more strident, more vicious. Witness the fury over Christmas decorations. There is a small group in the United States that seems determined to not only remove religion from schools and public places, they are determined to attempt to destroy it completely. I don’t know about my readers, but I’ve become thoroughly sick and tired of hearing the phrase “separation of church and state” quoted as being from the Constitution. I’ve gone so far as to offer a ten thousand dollar reward to anyone who can show me that exact phrase in the Constitution, but, so far, no takers. Legal actions, protests, letters to the editor, are all made in an attempt to remove the Christian God from American society. The liberals have become so enamored of toadying to minority factions, they ignore the fact that the overwhelming majority of us are Christians, and the number of us not afraid to stand up for our beliefs grows greater with each passing year.

It’s time to quit building bridges, healing wounds, reaching out to the other side, seeking compromise to achieve a common, but less lofty goal, showing that we can give in.

The money changers are in the temple, folks, and they want to negotiate the right to stay there, to expand, to exercise more control, to dumb us down, to make us more dependant on kissing the butt of every two bit, whiny, underachieving group or special interest that expects to be stroked, petted, patted, financed, and told “That’s OK, I feel your pain.”. We’ve long held a scourge that we’ve hesitated to use, but more and more people are beginning to use it. My message is straight from the Bible. Something that Jesus said. “Render unto Caesar those things which are Caesar’s…” and one thing we can render unto Caesar is the votes necessary to remove Caesar from that city, county, state, or federal office if he or she doesn’t start paying attention to what we are saying. Our message for 2005 should be, “You are accountable to us, and to the Constitution AS WRITTEN. Deal with it, or we will make you unemployed.”

The second half of the message is “…and to God those things which are God’s.” Well, guess what? There’s a Christian MAJORITY in the United States that’s getting tired of pandering to every minority group with an issue. We’re getting madder and madder, and we vote.
We’re sick and tired of attacks unceasing on our values, our morals, our beliefs, and we hold a scourge called the vote. Leave our faith, our beliefs, and our Constitution alone!

God bless America, may she prosper in 2005.

NOTE: Copyright 1/1/2005 by Dave Hoffman

Beneficium accipere libertatem est vendere.