President Reagan's Christmas blessing

Congress is out of Session and the President is off on his multi-week, multi-million dollar vacation, which means our remaining liberties are safe for the moment. As I often do let turn to the words of one of our modern American heroes to wish all of us a Merry Christmas:

 

Good evening.

At Christmas time, every home takes on a special beauty, a special warmth, and that's certainly true of the White House, where so many famous Americans have spent their Christmases over the years. This fine old home, the people's house, has seen so much, been so much a part of all our lives and history. It's been humbling and inspiring for Nancy and me to be spending our first Christmas in this place.

We've lived here as your tenants for almost a year now, and what a year it's been. As a people we've been through quite a lot -- moments of joy, of tragedy, and of real achievement -- moments that I believe have brought us all closer together. G. K. Chesterton once said that the world would never starve for wonders, but only for the want of wonder.

At this special time of year, we all renew our sense of wonder in recalling the story of the first Christmas in Bethlehem, nearly 2,000 year ago.

Some celebrate Christmas as the birthday of a great and good philosopher and teacher. Others of us believe in the divinity of the child born in Bethlehem, that he was and is the promised Prince of Peace. Yes, we've questioned why he who could perform miracles chose to come among us as a helpless babe, but maybe that was his first miracle, his first great lesson that we should learn to care for one another.

Tonight, in millions of American homes, the glow of the Christmas tree is a reflection of the love Jesus taught us. Like the shepherds and wise men of that first Christmas, we Americans have always tried to follow a higher light, a star, if you will. At lonely campfire vigils along the frontier, in the darkest days of the Great Depression, through war and peace, the twin beacons of faith and freedom have brightened the American sky. At times our footsteps may have faltered, but trusting in God's help, we've never lost our way.

Just across the way from the White House stand the two great emblems of the holiday season: a Menorah, symbolizing the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, and the National Christmas Tree, a beautiful towering blue spruce from Pennsylvania. Like the National Christmas Tree, our country is a living, growing thing planted in rich American soil. Only our devoted care can bring it to full flower. So, let this holiday season be for us a time of rededication.

Christmas means so much because of one special child. But Christmas also reminds us that all children are special, that they are gifts from God, gifts beyond price that mean more than any presents money can buy. In their love and laughter, in our hopes for their future lies the true meaning of Christmas.

So, in a spirit of gratitude for what we've been able to achieve together over the past year and looking forward to all that we hope to achieve together in the years ahead, Nancy and I want to wish you all the best of holiday seasons. As Charles Dickens, whom I quoted a few moments ago, said so well in ``A Christmas Carol,'' ``God bless us, every one.''

Good night.

Note:  President Reagan  spoke at 9 p.m. from the Oval Office at the White House. December 23, 1981The address was broadcast live on nationwide radio and television.

 

Have we lost the country?

I have found it necessary to take a week or two off following the election. Not just because I was despondent but because I simply couldn’t figure out what next. It’s difficult for instance to think that Boehner who compromised away the conservative momentum of 2010 is going to make a stand now on the “fiscal cliff” or debt ceiling. Before the election I said on numerous occasions “we can win the election and still lose the country but I doubt we can lose the election and still win the country”. How do you come back from that? Maybe we don’t, but let’s consider carefully before we give up.

 

One of my greatest reasons for optimism has always been my seemingly unshakable belief that the people of the country were largely still American. By that I mean flawed but descent, hardworking men and women who valued liberty above all else, people who largely accepted the traditional Judeo-Christian values and would die to defend freedom of religion. This election shook that belief to its very core. Gay marriage where legal has always been instituted by courts and legislatures over the objection of the people now in Maryland and Washington the people were given the chance to once again stand up for family and decency and they chose not to. The basic moral underpinning of society is crumbling far more than I gave consideration (note to pastor- you were right) and now we have election results to prove it. John Adams pointed out why moral decay would spell the death Nell of liberty all the way back in October of 1798 his words: we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

 

Or in this excerpt from an 1814 letter to friend and rival Thomas Jefferson: As long as Property exists, it will accumulate in Individuals and Families. As long as Marriage exists, Knowledge, Property and Influence will accumulate in Families.

 

Ah Mr. President who would have dreamed a mere 198 years later we would no longer even know the definition of marriage! All government, even our own which was helped in its establishment by the Almighty, are constructs of man, the family is a construct of God and it is not within the purview of man to alter it, especially not to include what God calls and abomination.

 

For weeks I’ve sought opinion and insight to see where to go next and the answer is sobering. We have lost the Federal government to a large degree, and reclaiming the Federal judiciary is probably out of our grasp for some time to come. We have a Republican house but we do not have the leadership on the national level to make an effective stand. While we still need to fight on the national level we cannot concede anything without a fight, we need to hold Neville Chamberlain… I mean John Boehner, to the fire and limit the Obama Monarchy to as little damage as possible. If only our leadership would learn a lesson from the other side, when they win elections or when they lose they never cease to push their big government anti-constitutional agenda, if we fought as hard for freedom we’d never lose an election. Still the house speaker seems far more effective at fighting conservatives than he is at defending freedom, this goes for the entire Republican establishment. At this time no viable leader can give us the hope of victory at the national level so what do we do?

 

Our last line of defense are the state and local governments thus far 24 of the 30 (yes 30 and the vast majority of them are not weak kneed RINOs) Republican governors have refused to implement Obama-care. We need these governors to stand strong and more to join them. We need states to refuse Federal monies and with it sever the chains of control they impose especially in education, where Federal mandates cost more than the funds that states are rewarded with for their fealty.  The EPA must be opposed and private property defended. We will not regain our liberty without a series of very unpleasant confrontations between the state and Federal governments. I don’t predict at this time that force will be used as it was in 1861 but think of it this way: in the greatest constitutional crisis the country ever faced the states fought for sovereignty over the Federal and lost, then it was the states that were attempting to deny freedom. 150 odd years later the same type of crisis is emerging only now it is the Federal that is crushing liberty and the states who are defending it. May God give freedom the victory once more! I wonder when King Obama compares himself to Abe Lincoln was he hoping his policies would lead to a civil war level crisis?

 

We can no longer concede education to the left. The dumbing down of the electorate has placed every aspect of the republic at risk. Home schooling and alternate education have given us some hope, but the vast majority of kids are indoctrinated in anti-American and anti-free market propaganda. We simply cannot allow this to continue then hope to win them back later. Reason does not easily overcome conditioning. This corruption took generations to achieve and it will likely take generations to defeat but refusing Federal funds and the controls associated is a good place to start.

 

Further we cannot concede the culture, thus we cannot abandon social issues. When was the last time a candidate won as a Republican who was not strong on the social issues, and especially life?  Ever since Ronald Reagan embraced the Christian right no Republican has won without them. They didn’t turn out for Dole McCain or Romney; they did for Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43. Let me put it this way for you establishment morons, the Christian right will only support a candidate they believe is sincere about life and family values and as much as you hate those voters you will never win a damned thing without them.

 

During the revolutionary war it was thought that if New York fell to the British then all was lost. Later the same reasoning seemed to apply to the crucial port of Charleston, SC. Both fell, but the war continued on new battle fields and eventually the forces of liberty overcame the tall odds and won the day. One small victory in one small fort in Trenton turned the tide of those two major crushing defeats because this kind of war is won by the side that won’t quit. Dearest God let that be us!

 Maybe Michigan will be our crossing of the Delaware!

Next time we will make the argument for lower taxes that our national leadership is too afraid to make. Until then keep on the firing line!