How can I help save my country?
The citizens of the United States are the key to solving all of America’s problems. There are several reasons why America has deteriorated in recent decades. Most of America’s problems come from these two things:
- Progressivism, a polite name for Marxism, which is taking over the world, and
- The Federal Reserve, which has concentrated wealth in the hands of the few to the greatest extreme in history.
Why have these things happened? Simply because we let them happen. We enjoyed the blessings of freedom but neglected our responsibilities as citizens of our great republic.
Yes, citizenship has responsibilities, and American citizenship more than any other. If we are to fulfill the Founder’s vision of the greatest nation in history we need to live worthy of American citizenship.
We are now in a desperate situation for reasons discussed on this website and in my other writings. We are very close to a Socialist dictatorship that will reduce America to a third-rate country, a country of hunger, poverty, massive government, complete lack of privacy, and tight control over all our actions.
Will our leaders get us out of this mess? Absolutely not. After all, they are responsible for all the problems we face. We made poor choices in our leaders and judges, choices informed by a dark and insidious agenda that has subverted everything we once held dear. We put people into office who had no intention of upholding their oath of office to support and defend the Constitution.
- Make a personal commitment
It is up to you and me to fix things. The way to start is simple. Each of us needs to make a commitment of our time, talents, and resources to restoring America.
- Become better educated about the principles of freedom
Once we have done that, it will be time to begin our education. Take a look at the Conservative Education links on this website. NCCS.net and Hillsdale College both offer free or inexpensive courses, seminars, books, and videos to help us understand what it means to be an American. We can study them individually or in our families, as well as in other groups such as Constitution Party or other meetings.
As we continue our education we should include our families. We should invite everyone we know to begin the process that will enable us to restore America.
- Become a responsible citizen
John Adams, our second President, stated it plainly:
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
The Progressive movement ushered in the Sexual Revolution, Women’s Liberation, and the gay rights movement. These actions had a serious effect on the way Americans looked at life. Many of us allowed our standards to slip. The result has been record rates of divorce, broken homes, dysfunctional families, alcoholism, drug abuse, spousal and child abuse, and the loss of religious faith and observance. This must change, and the necessary changes will not come by government mandate. They must come from within.
Thomas Jefferson, our third President, put it this way:
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.
Each of us needs to make a personal choice. We must not allow our lives to be governed by our friends, our coworkers, or our government. We must live our lives in accordance with the dictates of our consciences.
A responsible citizen is a man or woman of character, courage, and devotion. He or she is moral, upright, and honest. He or she acts in good faith in all their activities.
A responsible citizen acts in accordance with correct principles to help make their family, their community, and the world a better place. Government is not compassionate; compassion and charity are reserved to individuals.
For those who have drifted far from these principles, we need to think back to a time in our lives when we observed and upheld them. If we cannot recall such a time, we need to find out what a life governed by these principles would look like, and patter our lives after that ideal.
Becoming a responsible citizen empowers us in many ways. It gives us the moral authority to stand up for our rights and to defend the Constitution. It also enables us to recognize the difference between truth and falsehood, and to discern the untruths being forced upon us by those who seek our destruction.
Most people who will read this are already honest, upright people. I mean no disrespect for who you are. Our challenge is to start from wherever we are today and begin to do more.
- Get involved in your children’s education
This is vital for two reasons. First, the federal government has seized more and more control over public education in America. Many of our teachers are compelled to teach things contrary to their own beliefs, common sense, and eternal principles. They need our help to get the government off their backs.
Second, our children are being indoctrinated in many ways in things most of us would find reprehensible. Bibles are no longer permitted in the classroom, and have even been banned from many public-school libraries. In some schools, Islam is promoted as the only “true” religion while Christianity, if it is mentioned at all, is defamed and criticized as misleading and worthless.
Sex education is taught as early as kindergarten. Gender confusion is the rule of the day in many schools. Biological males compete in girls’ sport events. Children are taught that homosexuality and other deviant behaviors are a lifestyle choice, as good as or even superior to heterosexuality. this must end, and it can only end with your help.
Do you have children (or grandchildren) in public schools? How much do you know about what they are being taught? When was the last time you attended a PTA meeting? Had a conference with one of your children’s teachers? Attended class with one of your children? Attended a meeting of your school district’s curriculum committee? Reviewed your children’s textbooks?
All of these things are important. You should know that you have the legal right as well as the responsibility to do all these things. Your taxes support local schools and pay the salaries of every teacher and administrator in the school district. You have a right to know how your money is being spent.
Here is an idea: plan to spend a half day each semester sitting with each of your children in their classrooms. Get permission from the principal first, but don’t take no for an answer. Introduce yourself to each teacher and tell them why you are there. Do not disrupt the class in any way; you are just there to observe.
Include your neighbors in your activities with your children’s schools. Tell them what you are doing and why. Make them aware of the things their children are being taught, and solicit their help in bringing about necessary changes.
Getting the federal government out of your school district is easier than you might think. The average school district in the United States receives only 5% of its funding from the federal government. Almost all the rest of the money comes from property taxes. Not surprisingly, most of that 5% is spent on extra administrators who contribute nothing to the quality of education; their job is to file reports on how the government money is spent.
You can, with the help of other parents, get the school board to refuse federal funding. You can also review your children’s textbooks and share your findings with other parents in the school district. You can have the Curriculum Committee explain why those books were chosen and you can ask them to be replaced by others you feel are better. In many cases you will have the full support of the teachers who must use those textbooks.
If the public schools were doing such a good job, how is it possible that homeschooled students are often much better prepared for college and for adulthood? The fact is the public schools are often doing a very poor job simply because they are doing what the government tells them to do.
- Get involved in your community
Have you ever attended a meeting of your city council or county commission? These meetings are often boring, and you wonder why people would want to run for those offices. Most of them desire to serve their community and make it a better place. A few are corrupt and use their position to their advantage, but that is the exception, not the rule.
You can help improve the quality of local government simply be becoming involved. When an agenda item that concerns you is “on the table,” you can conduct your own research, talk to your neighbors, form an ad hoc group to represent the citizens, and conduct a campaign to ensure that the appropriate action is decided upon and taken.
Local government officials tend to be short-sighted and concerned more about the budget than the welfare of the citizens. They need input if the form of creative ways to reduce spending and provide essential services. They need help in resolving zoning issues and looking into the future to foresee the consequences of their decisions. You can help – and your help will usually be appreciated.
- Identify the best candidates and support them
In my long years of experience with elected officials I have found that many of those we put into office are relatively clueless about their jobs. Very few of them, for example, realize that the United States is a constitutional republic. Instead, they think that this is a democracy.
They also don’t understand that their job is to protect and preserve the rights of all their constituents under a Constitution that is the supreme law of the land.
You can help. In every community our leaders, our police, our firemen, our EMTs and other first responders need to be educated in the Constitution and what it means in daily life. You could make arrangements to take 5-10 minutes in their training sessions on a regular basis to discuss the Constitution, natural rights, and the rule of law. You will usually earn their gratitude and respect for doing so.
When it comes to elections, if you have attended the local city council or county commission meetings you will know which members should be re-elected and which should be replaced. It is a lot easier to campaign for someone you know and like – and your words will carry greater weight because of your personal knowledge. At the same time, you will have placed expectations on the person for whom you are campaigning. They will know that you expect them to uphold their oath of office and to properly fulfill their stewardship under it because you told them that was what you expected.
- Develop a sense of community
In my public speaking, my church work, and many other contacts with individuals and families I find that most Americans don’t know their neighbors. They don’t have neighborhood activities and get-togethers. They don’t discuss issues of concern to them. They don’t spend time together.
Social media and smartphones have increased the distance between us as individuals. Priceless social skills are disappearing, as are polite conversation, face-to-face interaction, and personal friendship. We know less and less about our city, our state, and the world because we use GPS instead of looking at maps. We have lost the magic of books because we can do a Google search for what we want to know.
This has had significant effects on our sense of community and our feelings of belonging. We can be “alone in a crowd” because we haven’t developed the social bonds we used to enjoy so much. Those bonds also helped stabilize our lives, and helped prevent many of the social ills we see today.
Government welfare programs have created massive “unintended consequences” that have been very destructive. Millions of America families have no father in the home, and millions of children miss out on many of the blessings of a complete family.
Just as important, turning welfare over to the government has robbed us of many opportunities to exercise compassion and charity with those around us. We used to be responsible for those in need in our communities. Our churches and other charitable organizations provided funding and assistance for those in need, and that assistance was usually personal. That kind of charity blesses both the giver and the recipient.
How do you think you can help in these days with so many homeless, addicted, alienated from spouse and children, or suffering from other difficulties? The government has failed them because it isn’t government’s business to care for them. We have fought the “War on Poverty” for more than half a century. In the process we squandered trillions of dollars, created vastly more poverty, and basically lost the “war.” Now that America has almost completely bankrupted itself, it will soon be the responsibility of each individual to do what we can to care for those in need – just as it used to be.
As responsible citizens we can “restart” those institutions and organizations that can effectively resolve these issues in our community. If we put our heads together and think creatively we can solve America’s problems.
After all, this country was created by “We, the People of the United States . . .”
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