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Religious Freedom?
At issue is religious freedom. The Obamacare mandate forces businesses to provide coverage for contraceptive drugs to include drugs and devices that will abort babies.
Hobby Lobby, an arts and crafts store chain was providing 16 of the 20 contraceptive drugs available in the new healthcare law but refused to provide coverage for abortion inducing drugs which is at odds with the owner’s religious beliefs. The story has largely been portrayed by the media as Hobby Lobby refusing all contraception drugs which is just not the case.
The owners of the business feeling they had no choice filed suit against the government’s position and clear disregard for religious freedom . Making the owner choose between accepting the mandate and violating their faith or paying a per-employee penalty which in the case of Hobby Lobby would amount to millions of dollars is worthy of a fight.
Some have argued that the business is a corporation and the owners’ beliefs do not fully represent the stockholders views . The three left leaning women on the Supreme Court questioned how a corporation could be religious.
In my opinion, if a majority of the ownership believes one way then the majority should win the argument. Why is it any different than when a majority ownership decides to buy or sell off a division or take the company in a different direction? The majority ownership always takes the risk that if their decision is so unpopular their employees and stockholders might just leave or sell off their stock interests. Such is the case here too. If Hobby Lobby’s majority owners want to inject their belief system into their business, and they do they’re closed on Sundays for example, they take the risk that others will abandon them. That is their choice and something no government entity or court should be allowed to dictate.
What we are seeing is a good example of the kind of war on freedom the Obama administration and his Democrat supporters wage every day. Putting the state’s needs which they claim are just the poor and needy in front of the individual’s need. It appears that an overwhelming majority are meant to ignore their faith and suffer penalties if they ignore the government’s bullying because a small percentage of the population doesn’t have access to birth control drugs and the ability to kill their babies.
For Obama and his supporters asserting government’s position to that of sovereign over our lives and welfare is their mission and part of his hope and change plan. One doesn’t have to be a member of the Tea Party movement to feel the heel of government oppression on the throat of religious liberty. I reject them and so should you if you believe in religious freedom.
“Don’t tread on me”!
Foundations
Americans have flirted with the ideas of socialism for so long and the impact of big government in Americans lives has become so pervasive that millions of young Americans now cannot envision any time in living memory where government bureaucracy wasn’t needed nor wanted. Most Americans cannot recall a time when Social Security did not exist or where people who did not have jobs and work, did not eat. They cannot recall a time when the IRS did not get to take large portions of their earnings Freedom does not mean the same thing to today’s generation of Americans as it once did to the founding fathers.
The modern democrat party, for the most part, has completely rejected the Founding Fathers belief in small government and respect for individual rights and property. They attack Tea Party members who hold the founding fathers in high regard and believe in the ideals of American independence. They also now use the power of the Federal Government to actually punish their political opponents.
They openly discredit free market capitalism holding examples of criminal abuse from the likes of Bernie Madoff for example as proof that Capitalism does not work. Democrats demand more oversight and more government regulation every day, in short more power be handed over to them. The ignorant say yes, amen. Let’s reign in those evil capitalists and all capitalism does is breed greed. We need government to protect us and take care of us. But they fail to understand that government is just as greedy and selfish if not more so. Plus, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and business people don’t threaten people with guns, garnish their wages or force people to pay them and do what they want like government can.
The proof that socialism is starting to take hold in this country is in the last two Presidential election cycles where Americans by the millions flocked to the polls and elected a President who is arguably the most openly hostile President ever, towards free enterprise, and individual self-determination. He shows his utter contempt for the US Constitution almost daily like threatening to go around the Congress to make law by executive fiat and bypass the will of the people.
Faith in God, country and family has been the bedrock foundation of American society. To the modern democrat however God either does not exist or if he does he’s never spoken of in public and should not play any role whatsoever in public policy. As a side note, did you happen to see Hollywood’s Oscars show on television? Do you recall when Matthew McConaughey openly thanks God in his acceptance speech? You could have heard a pin drop in the audience. I think that demonstrated that either the audience was abundantly atheistic or so politically correct and embarrassed, they could not openly show support. It was painful to watch.
To the modern democrat America is not exceptional at all, and in those areas that it is unquestionable that America is exceptional, like our military power and economic power, (albeit a lot less powerful lately) they profusely apologize for that fact and claim that others were exploited along the way to get that power.
Similarly the traditional view of family once defined as one man and one woman married has come to mean anything now. I would not be surprised that American society starts accepting marriages between humans and their pets like they do in Europe. I guess some of us Americans are just old fashioned that way.
Change is inevitable. However, some things should not change, or else risk the entire edifice collapsing in a heap. Perhaps that’s their real mission. The US Constitution was greatly influenced by the philosophy of Englishmen like John Locke who had believed that God provided men with rights that are immutable and natural. These natural rights cannot be granted or taken away by government and indeed government exists to protect these rights. This is an underlying philosophy of the founders and is not better demonstrated that what is written in the Declaration of Independence.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness”…
To say God has no place in American society or should have no influence in American policy is to ignore the very premise set forth by the Founders however inconvenient to non-believers that might be. The founders believed people have natural rights given to the them by God and that government was formed to protect those rights. Note the Declaration does not say men are endowed by their government or King with unalienable rights. They state their creator endowed them. That sounds a lot like recognition of God or a superintending power over the affairs of men.
One does not have to be particularly religious to understand that this is what the founders were basing their ideas of self-determination and rights when they wrote the Constitution. If you reject God then it follows you reject the premise that men were given unalienable rights from their creator since men were not created. But where do those natural rights come from if not then from God? To the Democrat there cannot be natural rights. The whole premise of the Founding Father’s argument does not reconcile with their agenda. Their rejection of this foundation opens up the door to the ancient idea that only strong willed leaders, kings or despots determine what rights men should have and not have based upon nothing more than their supposed “enlightened” opinions and altruistic nature. And to show just how strong their case is, they will promise to threaten you with force and annihilation if you don’t believe them or agree with them. Freedom then is dangerous and should be controlled in their mind.
It is perhaps American society’s rejection of God, country, and family that we now struggle. We the People have forgotten who we and where we come from and look to a future promised by bureaucrats whose new foundation of hope and change is built on sand.
America is suffering from a case of multiple personality disorder
I had a discussion the other day with someone who identified themselves as Libertarian and was promoting the idea of legalizing marijuana nationwide. While I identify with many Libertarian viewpoints I draw a line when it comes to their views on social issues and I took issue with my friend’s points. When you get down to it both Libertarians as well as those from the left of the political center embrace the idea that man is inherently good and that if only the right set of laws were put in place or the elimination of laws as in the case of Libertarians man would be happy place and be able to live in harmony or paradise on Earth. Conservatives by contrast and particularly Christian ones do not believe in the inherent goodness of man. Instead they recognize that man is corruptible from the moment of birth. I identify more I think with this belief and accept as our founders did that with great freedom comes great responsibility. Men are not angels and so laws are needed in some cases to govern human beings whose very nature is corruptible.
The libertarian mantra that everyone should be able to do whatever they want whenever they want to, and believe whatever they want to, so long as it does not hurt others is often being preached these days. We see them more and more in social networking circles and increasingly in the political arena. Like their left wing political rivals they believe that truth is subjective and changing, and morality can best be described as relative. This idea is gaining traction now too as more public schools are teaching young people to accept everyone and every culture and giving equal merit to all beliefs all the while ridiculing the Bible’s interpretation of creation and man’s purpose on Earth.
The conflict as I see it or some would say the “cultural war” is the fact that America’s heritage is not based on moral relativity; multi-culturalism; multi-lingualism; worship of the State, or hedonism. American culture, laws and customs have their roots in the Judeo-Christian experience and the belief in one true God; the acceptance of absolute truth and the natural laws of men. John Adams said “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”. I agree. It was expected from the outset that citizenship should be taken seriously. It was hoped that citizens would be honest in their dealing with one another; sober; informed and able to exercise sound judgment and fiscal and social responsibility. These things were deemed necessary in order to maintain self-governance. However, fast forward to today’s society and what you have is a population of people addicted to their own passions and pleasures, ignoring their responsibilities and increasingly reliant upon government to provide for them. An increasing number of Americans reject or ignore their heritage and common language English; and millions of immigrants now are permitted to enter the country without ever being required to assimilate to the American culture but are willing to take from American sustenance. It is not sustainable, to use the language of the political left. Rome and many other empires of antiquity were destroyed in this way.
America does not have a state religion but if it did it most certainly would be Christian, as in poll after poll a majority of Americans still identify themselves as Christian. The numbers depending upon the polls hover around 75%. What can be said of a population that stands for and is tolerant of everything? Are they not by default then really standing for nothing? Furthermore what can be said of American society that claims to be Christian but increasingly is silent to pop culture’s embrace of moral relativity and secular humanism?
Increasingly the country is divided because of these issues and I believe is losing its national identity and suffering from what can be described as a multiple personality disorder. It remains to be seen what dominant if any personality emerges over time, but so far I’m not liking what I’m seeing
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