The American Spectator

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Taken to the Clean Ayers

10.14.08 @ 6:01AM

(Page 4 of 7)

At 89 my father is a wise man. He isn't wise because he is 89 but because he has lived his rancher's life prudently, wisely, godly, and consistently. His personal walk of integrity is a measure of the man he is. And for sometime now, at least 2 years or more, he has spoken to me about, what he calls, "The Reckoning." And each time I am out in west central Texas at his large ranch, we sit on the porch and look out at the land and he talks. And he tells me what he sees in his heart happening to this great country we both love. He speaks of grace, of difficulties we will face, and of the persistence and solidity of determination the previous generations of family ranchers have held. He tells me that God has allowed us to come to this point in time and the reckoning will serve to both chastise and redirect this country.

These words are hard. They are tough. They are measured also with grace, for he speaks continually of the love of the Lord and our collectively faith and hope in God which will see us through. And he always adds that he will not be there to see us through it but he will be praying for us on Heaven's side. And I know this to be true, as his tired and failing heart is ready for rest. And his words, while difficult, both in measure to speak, will become the salve to my soul when he is gone. He has lived this hard life always demonstrating that he was God dependent and persistent and faithful in service.

In the fading light of his life Dad has become prophetical in this measure, he saw this coming many years ago and resisted saying anything until he believed the time was right to tell us to be wise and prepare. And preparing we have been. We know that our country is at the time of measuring us against God's plumb-line, and that the choices we have made personally and collectively by elected officials, are being found faulty unwise, and abominable in God's eyes. As a country that was founded on principles of faith and democracy we have strayed far away from the plumb-line by which we were established. We have run after notions that do not provide strength and stable paths, but lead to chaos, anarchy, attacks from our enemies, and instability. And we have elected leaders, who by virtue of their position, led this country down this path and for a dollar here and a dollar there, developed unsound actions and sold out this fine land to the highest bidder, weakened our borders, and in the worst weakness, encouraged our enemies to want to overthrow us.

And many people in our land have made personally unsound decisions of wanting things and have allowed themselves to acquire great and unpayable debts. We have been living in a time plenty and treated it as if it would never come to an end. And it has. And the lessons we should have learned in the Depression years, were tossed aside by most, others like my Dad, raised us with values of simple lives, thrift, saving, godly determination, and we stayed living in that manner. Dad's motto was always, "Do not allow yourself too many of the finer things because the more you have the more you will grieve if it is taken away." And right he was. And we, who have lived simply and close to the land, will know how to get through tough times, for we have roots and habits of a lifetime long established.

I knew the first night I heard her speak why Sarah Palin is a clarion call to us as conservatives. You see, we are wary of elite politicians sitting on thrones far away who lack the simplest of common sense. They have dug deep holes for our country and discarded that which was sound. Collectively as a nation, we are hungry for a return to truth, character driven leadership, right thinking, and yearn for a simple man or woman (do not confuse that term with simple thinking) to return us to policies that make sense, both morally and economically. We know that the elite hold wrong answers for us. In fact we know they only hold the keys to socialism and the destruction of our country. Give us a Sarah Palin who has lived a simple and tough life (try making a living in Alaska and see if there is room for mistakes). We want folks that can draw clear lines between right and wrong and return us to making wise choices. And a Depression and a good leader will do just that. Folks living in the hard life of economy do not have room for foolish notions, save they create personal destruction for themselves and their families.

I close this with the line, "In God we Trust." And so it is. I do not feel hopeless, indeed I feel hope filled, for I know whose hand I hold as I walk into each day. I know He has never failed me and I know I have the simple firm principles taught to me by the leadership of some four generations of Texas cattle ranchers who lived through droughts, famine, and economic deprivation. And that will be enough.
-- Beverly Gunn
East Texas

JUST DESERTS
Re: W. James Antle, III's Filibusted!:

Where were these Senators when it came to immigration? Where were they when it came to limiting high-risk mortgage loans last spring? Where have they been on pushing for nuclear power?

This is an election the incumbent Republicans deserve to lose.
-- Yaakov "Jim" Watkins

The Republican Party has suffered significant injury. Diagnosis. Stat!

The GOP brand name has been diluted and polluted by the actions, choices and indulgences of RINO's, but the brand name was also lacerated by tried and true Conservative Republicans who believed in their hearts that their morality needed to be imposed on the populace (e.g. wanting to save Terri Schiavo while losing the soul of the party). If the Republican Party is to ever have gravitas, seriousness and viability again, it must find and re-grow its true ideological roots of liaise faire economics and maximizing personal responsibility. This is not to advocate amputating the Religious Right; it has a place in the party; they certainly may lead by example, but CBN cohort needs to make room for the "Leave Us Alone" populist movement or the GOP will hemorrhage the valuable libertarian leaning portion of the base.

Further, this election cycle the Republican message has become muddled, muddy, murky and meandering. President Bush, with his call for "compassionate conservatism" served to reinforce the agit prop's misleading trope that conservatism is not inherently compassionate. He undermined, consequently seriously bruised, the perception of the principles of Republican ideology by implementing unprecedented spending and regulations. Under Bush's stewardship, the GOP lost any honest claim of being the party of business. Sadly, today more people trust the Democrats, not the Republicans, to deal with the economy. (Reality will teach the populace the sad truth, but by then damage to America may have reached biblical proportions.) And while Senator McCain is no George Bush, no matter how often the mantra is repeated, he is more than willing create and carry out policies that are diametrically opposed to conservative/libertarian policy (e.g., cap and trade, the financial bailout, McCain-Feingold, McCain-Lieberman). That the lower portion of the ticket is going to be punished for the choice of the top of the ticket is no more surprising than a body dying when the head is severely compromised. It is time for serious triage.

The GOP is seriously wounded. Republicans can either perform major surgery on the gangrenous portions of the body, with the distinct possibility of handing control of Congress to the Loony Left for two more years with some small hope we can survive long enough to have a popular revolt (ala Clinton/Gingrich '96), or they can continue to nominate and tolerate ideologically impure, second rate politicians and watch the party die a natural death. As of now, the prognosis is not good.

The GOP is dead. Long live the GOP.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS
Re: Lawrence Henry's Nothing Else to Do:

Letter to the Editor

topics:
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