Land of the Free?

The first verse of our national anthem ends with a plaintive question, “O say! Does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” I say “plaintive” because the longer our country exists, it seems, the less freedom we possess.

When I first learned to drive, the daytime speed limit posted everywhere in Kansas outside of cities was seventy miles per hour. When the Kansas Turnpike first opened, the speed limit was eighty. On January 2, 1974 during the administration of President Richard Nixon we lost that freedom everywhere, and it has never been fully restored. If we are to be law-biding citizens, we can only drive fifty-five on many two-lane roads.

When I first began to drive, I was not shackled by a harness that I had to wear. As a small child I stood up in the back seat sometimes so I could see where we were going. No more. That freedom has been taken away from us by a government that treats us as would an over-protective mother. I used to ride in the back of my grandfather’s pickup. We had great fun back there, although I didn’t care for the exhaust smell sometimes. But I can’t offer that treat to my own grandchildren. I hate to think of the fine I would have to pay if a trooper spotted me doing that.


I live here in the vast expanse of the Flint Hills. It’s not hard to imagine a Conestoga wagon or two heading over a distant hill in pursuit of a livelihood out west. Just imagine the freedom the pioneers enjoyed. They didn’t have to pay any income or social security or Medicare or Medicaid tax. They weren’t confined by seat belts or speed limits. They were rugged and hardy. If they survived, it was because they were self-sufficient, self-motivated, and they planned ahead. They had no government safety net to fall back on. They had the freedom to succeed and the freedom to fail. If they failed, they had no one but themselves to blame.

I used to joke that one day the government was going to dictate to me how and when and with what I had to brush my teeth. In the present climate to nationalize healthcare, that joke may become a grim reality.

Which leads me to my point. If you put your trust in man and man’s way of doing things, it will inevitably lead to loss of freedom. Man is not basically good as he was originally created. Something has happened that has seriously corroded his initial goodness. Now, too often, man is a tyrant. He likes to dictate to others how and where and when and if they shall be permitted to live. In short, he likes to control others. The brief history of the Obama administration sadly illustrates my point.

Jesus said, referring to himself, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Ultimate and complete freedom will never accrue to us humans and our society until we choose to link up with King Jesus. Some day He will return, and I look forward to the freedom that will ensue to all who cast their lot with Him. That’s the only thing that keeps me going as I watch our freedom in this country slip through our collective fingers.

The Delusion of Relaxed Standards

Our country is in the midst of a credit crisis that Warren Buffet calls “an economic Pearl Harbor.” President Bush recently proposed a $700 billion financial-markets bailout. When you add in the US Government’s take-over of American International Group, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the amount for which we taxpayers initially will be liable will probably exceed $1 trillion.

How did this disaster come about? There are many answers, but one reason is a relaxation of standards. After the Great Depression, Congress, in 1930, passed the Glass-Steagall Act, which barred commercial banks from being "engaged principally" in securities business. In 1986 the Federal Reserve Board re-interpreted the law to mean that banks can have 5 percent of gross revenues from securities. In 1996 that figure rose to 25 percent!

In a related area, many well-meaning politicians began enacting mortgage lending legislation under the presumption that owning one’s own home was an entitlement all Americans should enjoy. Standards were relaxed. They mandated that banks comply. Potential home-owners no longer had to be as credit-worthy, or make a 20 percent deposit, or hold the same job for a lengthy period of time, as before. Welfare checks could count as salary. Predictably, many people purchased homes they could not really afford, especially if the housing market collapsed. When their mortgage rates adjusted upwards, many could no longer make the necessary payments and they defaulted, which sent the housing market into a tailspin. Now, the President and leaders of both parties are asking the taxpayers to pick up the tab for other peoples’ unwise investments. On Monday, Sept. 29, 2008, the US House rejected the proposed bailout and the Dow Jones fell by 700 points.

Not surprisingly, many people operate under the assumption that God, like the US Government, is an Affirmative Action Advocate. If we don’t quite measure up to His standards, it’s OK. He will just drop the bar a little lower so we can qualify. I can have a little dishonesty here, and a smidgen of lust there. I can covet, and under-report my income, but that’s OK – God will still let me into heaven! Sadly, we delude ourselves. With our tendency to relax standards, we have recreated God in our own likeness and image. We have invented a cosmic immortal Santa Claus who hands out forgiveness even to those who don’t think they really need it.

God is not an Affirmative Action God. He is a holy God who never relaxes His standards, not even once! Any sin, even eating forbidden fruit, is deadly, and will alienate us from the Almighty.

Here’s the truth. God loves each person in the world so much He offered up His Son to pay the Death Penalty for all human sinners. God has pre-packaged an incredible gift bailout for all our sins! But it wasn’t free! He paid the entire cost Himself in Jesus! But no gift is worth anything until it is actually opened. Have you embraced Jesus, God’s only remedy for your sin?

Publisher's Review of Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg

Liberal Fascism

The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

By Jonah Goldberg

The following quotation is from the flyleaf of the book Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg, published by Doubleday, Copyright © 2007 by Jonah Goldberg. First edition hardback; 487 pages including notes and index.

“Fascists,” “Brownshirts,” “Jack-booted Storm Troopers” – such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?

Liberal Fascism offers a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightening research, Jonah Goldberg reminds us that the original fascists were really on the left, and that liberals from Woodrow Wilson to FDR to Hillary Clinton have advocated policies and principles remarkably similar to those of Hitler’s National Socialism and Mussolini’s Fascism.

Contrary to what most people think, the Nazis were ardent socialists (hence the term “National Socialism”). They believed in free health care and guaranteed jobs. They confiscated inherited wealth and spent vast sums on public education. They purged the church from public policy, promoted a new form of pagan spirituality, and inserted the authority of the state into every nook and cranny of daily life. The Nazis declared war on smoking, supported abortion, euthanasia, and gun control. They loathed the free market, provided generous pensions for the elderly, and maintained a strict racial quota system in their universities – where campus speech codes were all the rage. The Nazis led the world in organic farming and alternative medicine. Hitler was a strict vegetarian, and Himmler was an animal rights activist.

Do these striking parallels mean that today’s liberals are genocidal maniacs, intent on conquering the world and imposing a new racial order? Not at all. Yet it is hard to deny that modern Progressivism and classical fascism shared the same intellectual roots. We often forget, for example, that Mussolini and Hitler had many admirers in the United States. W. E. B. Dubois was inspired by Hitler’s Germany, and Irving Berlin praised Mussolini in song. Many fascist tenets were espoused by American progressives like John Dewey and Woodrow Wilson, and FDR incorporated fascist policies in the New Deal.

Fascism was an international movement that appeared in different forms in different countries, depending on the vagaries of national culture and temperament. In Germany, fascism appeared as genocidal racist nationalism. In America, it took a “friendlier,” more liberal form. The modern heirs of this “friendly fascist” tradition include the New York Times, the Democratic Party, the Ivy League professoriate, and the liberals of Hollywood. The quintessential liberal fascist isn’t an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade-school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore.

These assertions may sound strange to modern ears, but that is simply because we have forgotten what fascism is. In this angry, funny, smart, contentious book, Jonah Goldberg turns our preconceptions inside out and shows us the true meaning of liberal fascism.

About the Author (also from the flyleaf of the book)

“Jonah Goldberg is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and contributing editor to National Review. A USA Today contributor and former columnist for the Times of London, he has also written for The New Yorker, Commentary, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. He lives in Washington, D.C.”

If Noah Were Alive Today ...

In the year 2006, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said, "Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans."

He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, "You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights."

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard - but no Ark. Noah!" He roared, "I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?"

"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah, "but things have changed. I needed a building permit. I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision. Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it. Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls - but no go! When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodation was too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space. Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood. I 'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew. Immigration and Naturalization is checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work. The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark-building experience. To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species. So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark."

Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky.

Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean you're not going to destroy the world?"

"No," said the Lord. "The government beat me to it."