No Fly List Loss

Diane Feinstein proclaimed on the Senate floor that those on the No Fly List “must prove their innocents” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n98Urhcde_A Have we really fallen so far from the basic premise of presumptive innocents that the laws of Due Process have been targeted as a means to justify the ends of our overwhelming fear of those who would do us harm.  This is not the time to falter nor is it the time to enact punitive or dictatorial rules that will only serve to enhance the fears and further erode our constitutional rights.

When our constitution was enacted the republic was established so that we could have self-rule.  If you need to be reminded, self-rule was a new concept to humanity and the constitution guaranteed those inalienable rights (rights that cannot be given or taken away), rights that were not dependent on any monarchy, ruler, group or religion, rights that were understood to be the privilege of all men and women regardless of race, color, gender or religion. 

For the first time in Human history man was responsible for their government and not subject to it.  This revolutionary process demands that all men be responsible for their own actions and not the whims of any ruler.  The importance of this revolutionary process creates a system of opportunity that was absent in virtually every other country and land.  When Benjamin Franklin was leaving the last meeting of the creation of the constitution he was asked “Well, Doctor, what we have got— a Republic or a Monarchy?”  He answered,   “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

It is up to us to fight for those rights that are systematically and now blatantly being taken away.  When Franklin Roosevelt said “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”, and then followed with, “Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance,” he was referring to the banking problems of his day but the same argument can be had for the fear of terrorism and the fears that cause men to pass laws to control those fears through legislation.  The results, even if enacted temporarily will dissolve our resolve toward self-rule and undermine the basic foundational principles of individual rights and freedoms.

The pundits would have us think that we need to enact a level of Martial Law in order to keep us safe.  There is some logic to the idea of taking control in order to establish control but the risks to our constitution and our individual freedoms are more important than the risks of temporary safety.  You may not agree and I can respect that level of fear, we are faced with an almost insurmountable risk to our safety but if we abandon our principles and our rule of law then those that would see us harmed have already won.  They would applaud the victory if our concepts of equality were abandoned and they would have a free and gaping opportunity to enact their rule of law, Sharia.

There is a better way.

Most if what I am going to propose is non-political and being the Political Dad I thought long and hard about what I am proposing.  Politics has not served this country well over the last 200 years.  Despite those negative inroads into our freedoms served to us through the selfish designs of the political process, our country remained strong through two major wars and numerous smaller wars.  The strength of our country is decidedly not political it has always been strong because of our freedoms and specifically our freedom of religion. 

This is where I may lose some of you so try to stay with me.  The reason we have a constitution and the reason we have a country was primarily due to the need to establish freedoms for worship. Even when those who came became intolerant and segregated the ideals of free worship overrode those ignorance’s.

There were thousands upon thousands who came primarily because of the opportunity to be free and worship freely, the optimal word to remember is worship and the idea of being able to worship anyway you chose.  My religion has at its core the articles of faith and the 11^th article states:  "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”

The issue of worship is at the crux of my proposal to establish and maintain a free and safe society.  As we have forsaken the God of our rights we have forsaken the blessing that are inexorably connected to those rights.  All we have to do, this sounds easier than it sounds, but all we have to do is worship our God, keep his day holy and strive to live a better life. 

When we do these simple things, our lives will improve across the board.  Our country will improve across the board and the promised blessing of this great country will once again be provided.  God’s spirit has been slowly taken away from our country and our lives and by returning to our God (Any God is better than no God) we will be blessed accordingly. 

Politics is not the answer, it never really has been.  Politics is fun to write about, it’s nice to think that those that lead us will do so as statesman and not as the bureaucrats that currently fill our halls of justice.  Politicians will not solve our problems of overcoming our fear, nor will they provide meaningful and long term solutions to those issues.  What we need is a faith in God and in his tender mercies to support the freedoms he has always granted to those who believe. 

Once we start to believe in and act in faith with that belief our minds and are actions will prevail over the fears that now surround and encompass all we do.  Where there was fear there will be faith.  Where there was estrangement and discord there will be unity and cooperation.  Politics has already failed us, negotiations are not the answer, the only way to regain our freedoms and our safety is to rely upon the All Mighty and Great God above and let Him bless us as he always has.