1.Wisdom.
Not just for some but for everyone. Cynics be gone.
May 2022 bring the people and our leadership much-needed wisdom in the management of all their own affairs and in those decisions that affect the nation.
Wisdom does not come cheaply or easily. It takes work, knowledge, study and the ability to apply the accumulated wisdom of Western Civilization, Judeo-Christianity, and science with compassion while maintaining individual liberty and freedom. It’s a tall order but a central part of our national character and is embedded in our founding principles.
The results will be unlimited opportunity with a free-market economy guided by enlightened self-interest. Remember that we are the customers of government and not its servants.
We must move away from our academically failing and social engineering public education system and return to the time-proven classical education model that also teaches traditional Americanism, Western civilization and moral formation.
This can be best achieved by putting parents back in control of education funding through school choice. (Parents are the customers of schools).
Wisdom does not come from just knowledge and study. It also demands critical thinking. Much of what we are being told today by our traditional sources such as media, politicians and educational institutions cannot be trusted because they come to us with a political agenda attached. Make your decisions based on evidence and policy results. Where possible, always triple-source your information. Beware of those who claim to speak truth and then seek evidence to support their predetermined conclusion. Do not trust those who simply repeat the talking points of the day. Chances are you are being deceived. Truth is difficult to know; it requires reflection and work to understand. Do listen to your inner voice but be careful that it is coming from the light and not darkness.
2. The Third Great Awakening. What our nation needs now.
Scholars tell us that the first Great Awakening (18th century non-denominational religious revival movement that unified the colonies) gave the American people the courage and understanding that if they could reject the demands and controls of the Church of England while expanding spiritual life, they could reject the tyranny of King George and establish a free and independent state.
The tyrannies by today’s government against the American people often far exceed the charged offenses by Great Britain in the Declaration of Independence. Every day we are losing more and more of our God-given natural law and enumerated rights. Biblical principles and traditional wisdom are being rejected by those in power. “Do Not Murder, Do Not Steal and Do Not Bear False Witness” have been removed from the public square. Street crime is going not prosecuted. Economic and foreign policies are harming the middle class. The Constitution is often being ignored.
Secular humanism has created an unmanageable monster. Faith demands a higher standard. We need a firm reliance on a higher power and divine providence if we are going to move past these dark days. Spirituality can provide us the strength and unity to do what we must do to restore our nation to its ideals. May we awaken to what is being done to us and to what we must do.
3. Consider yourself called to make the difference.
Daily our constitutionally guaranteed liberties and freedoms are being taken away by tyrants that we the people have tolerated, or worse, put into power. They are fundamentally UN-American. The perpetrators are living in denial of their failures. The deceivers have created and spread fear and then offered security in trade for your freedom.
Many proclaim that standing up to the ruling elite is too hard, we cannot win so why try? Doing the right thing is victory.
“But denunciatory rhetoric is so much easier and cheaper than good works and proves a popular temptation. Yet is it far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness.” — William L. Watkinson.
Be the one to light that candle.
The wisdom of President Ronald Reagan (1961): “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well-fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don’t do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.”
“Go and do thou likewise.” — Luke 10:37.
Happy New Year.
Stephen Smith is a graduate of UCLA. In 2010 and 2012 he was the Republican Party-endorsed candidate running against longtime incumbent Xavier Becerra for the House of Representatives. He is currently working to empower parents by bringing school choice to California. “Right Here, Right Now” appears Saturdays and rotates among local Republicans.
