WHY THIS ELECTION IS CRUCIAL
Ps. 33:12
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: SAGE THEN, POLITICIAN TODAY
1. Two men who lived in a small village got into a terrible dispute that they could not resolve. So they decided to talk to the town sage (wise man).
2. The first man went to the sage’s home and told his version of what happened. When he finished, the sage said, “You’re absolutely right.”
3. The next night, the second man called on the sage and told his side of the story. The sage responded, “You’re absolutely right.”
4. Afterward, the sage’s wife scolded her husband. “Those men told you two different stories and you told them they were absolutely right. That’s impossible—they can’t both be absolutely right.”
5. The sage turned to his wife and said, “You’re absolutely right.” —David Moore in Vital Speeches of the Day
B. TEXT
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance” Ps. 33:12.
C. THESIS
1. The Declaration of Independence says, “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.”
2. Today I want to touch on the upcoming election because I fear that our liberties and freedoms are in jeopardy.
3. America is at the Precipice. Rather than “voter disgust” depriving us of the will to vote, it’s more crucial than ever that we get involved in our representative government.
4. Don’t let the “scorched earth” policies of both candidates cause you to withdraw your participation. I want to outline 4 reasons why it’s crucial we vote in this election.
I. AMERICA WILL LOSE HER IDENTITY
A. IDENTITY OF AMERICA
1. The America I grew up with was founded primarily by Great Britain, where a hardy individualism (instead of servitude) and a strong middle class had developed.
2. The culture put primary importance on 3 institutions: protection of the nuclear family, personal advancement by hard work, and sincere faith in God.
3. These 3 values became the bedrock of our country. The family unit transmits values to the next generation; hard work & free enterprise reward those who work harder with additional reward; faith in God & personal religion give us ethics and morals which curb criminal or morally wrong behavior which are destructive to society.
4. “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” Patrick Henry
5. “The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government.” Noah Webster
6. In addition, this nation has always been characterized as courageous. Its founders with courage traversed the oceans; with courage they conquered the wilderness; the conquered in 2 world wars. They rose to put the first man on the moon.
7. That has been our identity: “The Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave.” But will this identity be destroyed by making men no longer be men?
B. HOW WE ARE LOSING OUR IDENTITY
1. We are losing our identity as a proud nation because of the lack of assimilation of our new citizens into our culture. They don’t learn our language and at rallies wave the flags of their former countries.
2. Losing our identity by media-driven culture shift. A liberal-left elite have gotten control of the systems of communication and are promoting a godless and destructive philosophy which will destroy the family, the work ethic, and the propagation of religion.
3. Mass Media has always claimed to be unbiased, but that veneer has been stripped away by recent email hacks to show that they are now controlled by the political machine and have simply become the propaganda wing of the leftist party.
4. Lastly, we are losing our identity by a loss of relationship with God, as a people.
5. As Pres. John Adams observed, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, 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. John Adams (The Works of John Adams, ed. C. F. Adams, Boston: Little, Brown Co., 1851, 4:31)
II. GLOBALISM WILL TAKE OUR RIGHTS AWAY
A. THE FOUNDING FATHER’S RATIONALE
1. In the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers pointed out that in order to be free, they were going to have to split off this country from the mother country.
2. Today the reverse process is in full swing. George H.W. Bush promoted the idea of the “One World Order.” Pres. Obama has recently been promoting the idea “World Without Borders.”
3. This philosophy proposes doing away with individual nations and all nations being put under one worldwide government. This automatically means we will lose our identity as a nation and that we will lose control of our own nation. The politicians are well meaning, but wrong.
4. If you think it’s difficult now to alter our country’s direction because power is vested in Washington D.C. instead of your state, imagine how difficult it will be when the capital is across the globe somewhere! Others will dictate our liberties and we will have no recourse!
B. OUR RIGHTS VS THEIR IDEA OF RIGHTS
1. The Founding Fathers laid out in the Bill of Rights what they knew was essential to freedom: [only 1st 2]
a. The freedom of Religion, of the press, of assembly and to petition.
b. Next was the right to keep and bear arms. Etc.
2. There are 23 countries who don’t allow religious freedom. China & Russia (not of the 23) have recently instituted new rules to hinder religious exercise. Many other allow religious persecution, but don’t have it in laws.
3. 86% of the countries DON’T HAVE freedom of the Press. Many countries don’t allow their citizens to own guns. 4. Do we want these other countries to vote in the U.N. to take away OUR religious rights, freedom of the press, and rights to keep and bear arms? We then become their slaves!
5. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!” Benjamin Franklin
6. Globalism = slavery. We dare not relinquish our rights to other’s control.
III. SUPREME COURT PHILOSOPHY AT RISK
A. MORE THAN JUST A FUTURE DANGER
1. Many recognize this election as all-important due to the knowledge that the next president will pick justices for the Supreme Court who will decide cases the next 30 years, thus redirecting the country in the direction of their personal philosophies. This is true.
2. But I see a more important principle at risk than whether Roe Vs Wade is allowed to continue, or Gay
marriage issues, etc.: It’s the philosophy of what the job of the Supreme Court is.
3. Until the last 50 years, the Supreme Court was supposed to be the Body who applied the Laws voted in the legislatures to specific situations. They didn’t MAKE the Laws, the INTERPRETED the Laws.
4. The new direction of the Court is to WRITE the Laws themselves, by discovering principles in the Constitution that no one has ever seen before.
5. The most recent example is the new “right” of gay people to marry. No such right exists in the Constitution of the U.S. nor in the majority of states, before 2015.
6. Yet 5 justices of the Supreme Court forced all 50 states, contrary to their actual Laws, to institute Gay Marriage.
7. This opens the flood gates to the 9 justices to make up any law they wish. They now supersede the president and the Congress in power. Such was never meant to be. This trend must be stopped by electing a president who will promote justices who believe in “strict constructionism,” that is, they just interpret the laws voted in by the people.
8. QUOTES BY ANTONIN SCALIA
a. “This practice of constitutional revision by an unelected committee of nine…robs the People of the most important liberty they asserted in the Declaration of Independence and won in the Revolution of 1776: the freedom to govern themselves.”
b. “A system of government that makes the People subordinate to a committee of nine unelected lawyers does not deserve to be called a democracy.” [Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court Justice, Dissent on Gay Marriage decision, 2015.]
B. FOUNDING FATHER’S PERSPECTIVE
1. “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” Patrick Henry
2. “We the People are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts–not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln.
IV. NANNY STATE = SLAVERY
A. GOVERNMENT ENCROACHMENT
1. The passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2011 has pushed up the number of recipients of entitlements to 49.2 percent of U.S. households. Now about 151 million out of an estimated 306.8 million Americans (according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last October) receive benefits.
2. Americans are increasingly dependent on the government for the basics of life. Instead of making them more independent and entrepreneurial, they make less efforts to care for themselves and depend on the gov’t.
3. Is this a good thing? No. Because once the Gov’t gets in control of you, they begin taking away your freedoms. Bureaucrats believe they know better than you do what’s good for you.
4. For example, since the passage of the ACA, the gov’t has begun to tell citizens they can no longer smoke a cigarette, what foods they should eat, and what beverages they should drink.
5. Scottish historian Alexander Tytler observed a pattern on nations: They go from Bondage to Spiritual Faith, then to Courage, then to Liberty, then to Abundance, then to Selfishness, then to Complacency, then to Apathy, then to Dependence, then star over with Bondage. See the picture http://commonsensegovernment.com/the-tytler-cycle-revisited/
6. Our country has reached the point where we are in the "dependence" stage. The next will be "bondage!"
B. COMMENTS FROM PRESIDENTS, LEADERS
1. “Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
2. “If ye love wealth greater than liberty, [then]….Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” Samuel Adams
3. “They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.” Benjamin Franklin
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: GREAT QUOTES ABOUT AMERICA
1. America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. Harry S Truman
2. Only in America can someone start with nothing and achieve the American Dream. That's the greatness of this country. Rafael Cruz
3. America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal - to discover and maintain liberty among men. Woodrow Wilson
4. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under. Ronald Reagan
B. THE CALL
1. Let’s pray for our nation and take careful thought of how we will vote next election.
2. “Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary.” Daniel Webster
quotes https://www.cancertutor.com/quotes_presidents/
