7 Responsibilities You Have As An American

The following article was written by John Hawkins and posted today, June 8, 2011, on Townhall.com.

7 Responsibilities You Have As An American

You hear a lot about "rights" in America. You have a right to an attorney. You have a right to remain silent. You have a right to free speech, a right to "keep and bear arms," a right to "due process," and a right to have "equal protection under the law."

Cruel and unusual punishment? Unreasonable search and seizure? Being tried twice for the same crime? Those would be violations of your rights. We're told that we have a right to privacy, a right to have an education, and a right to worship as we choose.

We hear about individual rights, civil rights, human rights, and constitutional rights. Stop somebody from doing something he wants to do and as likely as not, he'll tell you, "I have a right to do that and you have no right to stop me. After all, it's a free country and I have my rights!"

All that's well and good, but know what you don't hear a lot about anymore?

Responsibilities.

Responsibilities are the flip side of rights. In fact, the only reason we have rights at all is because there are people who fulfill their responsibilities. Yet, if you ask people what their responsibilities as Americans are, you'll usually get vacant expressions and maybe a mumbled statement about jury duty or paying taxes.

With that in mind, here are a few basic responsibilities that you, I, and all of us have as Americans.

1) It's your responsibility to pay your own way. Nobody owes you a living and that includes other taxpayers. You have a responsibility to pay your own bills and not be a leech. That means, over the course of your lifetime, paying as much in taxes as you take out in services and direct payments from the government. If, by some horrible set of circumstances you feel compelled to go on the dole, you should at least be ashamed to take hand-outs from your fellow citizens.

2) It's your responsibility to take care of your children. If you have kids, you have a duty to take care of them. That means paying money to feed, clothe, and house them. It means being a part of their life and doing your best to raise them, teach them right from wrong, and help them have a better life than you've had. This seems to be so simple that it's practically instinctive to most people, but apparently, a lot of people don't get it.

3) It's your responsibility to look out for future generations of Americans. Whether you think of America as "the land of opportunity, "a shining city on a hill," "the land of the free and the home of the brave," or the "last, best hope of mankind," we all have a duty to preserve what's great about this nation so that future generations of Americans can experience it just as we have. How careless, how irresponsible, how unforgivable it would be if our children and our children's children have to grow up in an America that is no longer extraordinary.

4) You have a responsibility to be an informed voter. In recent years there has been a big push to get all Americans to vote. That's sort of like giving everyone a gun and encouraging them to immediately squeeze off a few rounds. If they don't know anything about what they're doing, they're as likely to hurt themselves or someone else as they are to do good. The same goes for voting. Not everyone has to be a political junky, but it would be nice if people took the time to become well-informed about the ins-and-outs of the basic political issues we have to deal with in this country instead of voting on who has the best attack ads. Being an informed voter is a responsibility. Being an uninformed voter is flipping a coin – heads, America wins and tails, it loses.

5) You have a responsibility to support and defend the Constitution. The Constitution is the "set of rules" that we go by as a people and most of the "rights" are guaranteed by the Constitution. Yet, the Constitution is under daily attack in this country by activists and politicians who feel the ends justify the means along with judges who claim to believe in a "living Constitution," which is functionally no different than not having a Constitution at all. You may not win every fight to adhere to the Constitution, but it's a battle worth fighting because no document does more to safeguard the rights of all Americans.

6) You have a responsibility to put America first. The UN, other nations, and "the world" don't really care very much whether you live or die. Not that Americans in Boston are going to shed tears if an American in LA passes on either, but we at least have a certain small, but meaningful level of kinship with each other by virtue of being Americans.

9/11 was a good example of that. Most other nations around the world said a few kind words for us and seemed to have a few days to a few weeks’ worth of goodwill towards us over it. But nearly 10 years later, it was other Americans who got revenge for the fallen by putting a bullet in Bin Laden's forehead. You should always look out for your own country because it's the biggest group of people on the planet who might actually care whether you live or die.

7) You have a responsibility to be a good person. As Samuel Adams noted way back in 1779,

"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader."

Honesty, honor, godliness, industry, respect for the law, morality, and truthfulness are the wheels on which our entire republic rides. If the American people are no damn good, then no matter how well the Constitution is written, how well we're governed, or how much good fortune comes our way, we are doomed as a nation.

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2011/06/07/7_responsibilities_you_have_as_an_american/page/full/

Founding Fathers' Quotables

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."
-- Tom Paine, 1776

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." -- Tom Paine

"Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Beside, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us." -- Patrick Henry

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." -- Ben Franklin, 1766

"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader." -- Samuel Adams, 1779

Americans are Destroying America

(Ezra Taft Benson. General Conference Talk – April 1968. Americans are destroying America.)

http://www.latterdayconservative.com/articles/ezra-taft-benson/americans-are-destroying-america/

We live in a time of crisis Never since the period of the Civil War has this nation faced such critical days. Americans are destroying America.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–the Mormon Church–believe–
–”that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society.”

–”that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.”

–”that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same; and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people. . . .”

–”that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly. . . .” (D&C 134:1–3, 5.)

No people can maintain freedom unless their political institutions are founded upon faith in God and belief in the existence of moral law. God has endowed, men with certain inalienable rights, and no legislature and no majority, however great, may morally limit or destroy these. The function of government is to protect life, liberty, and property, and anything more or less than this is usurpation and oppression.

Breakdown of law and order

The Constitution of the United States was prepared and adopted by courageous men acting under inspiration from the Almighty. It is a solemn contract between the peoples of the states of this nation that all officers of government are under duty to obey. The eternal moral laws expressed therein must be adhered to or individual liberty will perish. It is the responsibility of government to punish crime and provide for the administration of justice and to protect the right and control of property.

But today these basic principles and concepts are being flaunted, disregarded, and challenged, even by men in high places. Through the exercise of political expediency, the government is condoning the breakdown of law and order.

Qualification for civil liberty

Edmund Burke, the great English statesman, explained that “men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites,–in proportion as their love of justice is above their rapacity,–in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption,–in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” (The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke Vol. 4, pp. 51-52.)

Greatest threat

I do not believe the greatest threat to our future is from bombs or guided missiles. I do not think our civilization will die that way. I think it will die when we no longer care, when the spiritual forces that make us wish to be right and noble die in the hearts of men, when we disregard the importance of law and order.

If American freedom is lost, if America is destroyed, if our blood-bought freedom is surrendered, it will be because of Americans. What’s more, it will probably not be only the work of subversive and criminal Americans. The Benedict Arnolds will not be the only ones to forfeit our freedom.
“At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected?” asked Abraham Lincoln, and he answered, “If it ever reaches us, it must spring up among us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher; as a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by suicide.” (Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1837.)

If America is destroyed, it may be by Americans who salute the flag, sing the national anthem, march in patriotic parades, cheer Fourth of July speakers–normally good Americans, but Americans who fail to comprehend what is required to keep our country strong and free–Americans who have been lulled away into a false security.

Erosion of national morality

Great nations are never conquered from outside unless they are rotten inside. Our greatest national problem today is erosion, not the erosion of the soil, but erosion of the national morality–erosion of traditional enforcement of law and order.

Theodore Roosevelt said: “The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.” (Quoted in The Red Carpet, p. 315.)

In this blessed land we have exalted security, comfort, and ease above freedom. If we dwelled at length on the many things that are disturbing in the life of America today, we might well become discouraged. I mention only a few of the reported startling evidences of our national illness, our moral erosion.

–There is a decline of U.S. morals and moral fiber, a turning to pleasure and away from hard work and high standards of the past.
–There is a growing worry in our universities over cheating in examinations.
–Nationwide juvenile delinquencies show an eight-fold increase since 1950.
–There is a 500-million dollar smut industry in this country causing youngsters to wrestle with standards of value.
–America is the biggest market for narcotics.
–Although we consider ourselves a people who believe in law and order, we have seen much evidence of the passion of the mob.
–Crime in the United States is up 88 percent in seven years, rising nearly nine times faster than population, up 16 percent per year, according to the FBI. Crime costs some $20 billion a year, and less than 21 percent of reported crimes result in arrests and less than one-third of those in convictions.
–In the midst of a cold war and preparation for a possible shooting war of survival, we have faced 651 strikes at missile bases in six years.
–Inflation has struck a serious blow to the value of the American dollar.
–We continue to move in the direction of more federal intervention, more concentration of power, more spending, more taxing, more paternalism, more state-ism.

Gradual encroachments

The facts are clear. Our problem centers in Washington, D.C. And this applies to the administration of both political parties. In the words of James Madison, Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations.” (Elliot’s Debates, Vol. 3, p. 87.)

If America is to withstand these influences and trends, there must be a renewal of the spirit of our forefathers, an appreciation of the American way of life, a strengthening of muscle and sinew and the character of the nation. America needs guts as well as guns. National character is the core of national defense.

Appreciation for American system

Could many of our ills today have resulted from our failure to train a strong citizenry from the only source we have–the boys and girls of each community? Have they grown up to believe in politics without principle, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without effort, wealth without work, business without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice?

In recent months a nationwide survey of high school and college students has been conducted. The U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce reveals that 41 percent believe that freedom of the press should be canceled; 53 percent believe in government ownership of banks, railroads, and steel companies; 62 percent said that the government bad the responsibility to provide jobs; 62 percent thought a worker should not produce all that he can; 61 percent rejected the profit incentive as necessary to the survival of free enterprise; 84 percent denied that patriotism is vital and plays an important part in our lives. (Bookmaker News, Vol. 10, Nov. 1, 1965.)

Letters that come to my desk from worried parents deeply concerned by what is being taught to their children in the schools are shocking, to say the least.

We can never survive unless our young people understand and appreciate our American system, which has given more of the good things of life than any other system in the world–unless they have a dedication that exceeds the dedication of the enemy. Character must become important in this country again. The old essentials of honesty, self-respect, loyalty, and support for law and order must be taught the younger generation.

Right to be uncommon

I appeal to people everywhere, young and old, to heed these words of Dean Alfange:
“I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek opportunity to develop whatever talents God gave me–not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the bend fit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say–’This, with God’s help, I have done.’ All this is what it means to be an American”

Those of us conscious of the seriousness of the situation must act, and act now. It has been said that it takes something spectacular to get folks excited, like a burning house. Nobody notices one that is simply decaying. But in America today we not only have decaying but burning before our very eyes.

Heritage threatened

Our priceless heritage is threatened today as never before in our lifetime: from without by the forces of Godless Communism, and at home by our complacency and by the insidious forces of the Socialist-Communist conspiracy, with the help of those who would abandon the ancient landmarks set by our fathers and take us down the road to destruction. It was Alexander Hamilton who warned that “nothing is more common than for a free people, in times of heat and violence, to gratify momentary passions, by letting into the government, principles and precedents which afterwards prove fatal to themselves.” (Alexander Hamilton and the Founding of the Nation, p. 462.)

Serious and concerned citizens everywhere are asking, “Can we cope with these threatening realities?” Yes, we can; if we would allow the local police to do their job, they could handle the rioting and looting. Yes, we can, if we have the courage and wisdom to return to basic concepts, to recall the spirit of the founding fathers and accept wholeheartedly these words of Thomas Paine, whose writings helped so much to stir people to action during the days of the American Revolution when he said:

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; ’tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.” (The Political Words of Thomas Paine, p. 55.)

The way of safety

As American citizens who love freedom, we must return to a respect for national morality–respect for law and order. There is no other way of safety for us and our posterity. The hour is late; the time is short. We must begin now, in earnest, and invite God’s blessings on our efforts.
The United States should be a bastion of real freedom. We should not support the world’s greatest evil, the Godless, Socialist-Communist conspiracy that seeks to destroy all we hold dear as a great Christian nation and to promote insidiously the breakdown of law and order and the erosion of our morality.

With God’s help we must return to those basic concepts, those eternal verities, the rule of law and order upon which this nation was established. With an aroused citizenry and the help of Almighty God it can be accomplished.

The Wisdom of Plato

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."

"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."

The Courage Of The Minute Men

April 14, 2011 by Bob Livingston

In the early morning hours of April 19, 1775, about 700 British regular troops began a march toward Concord. Their goal: Round up weapons and gunpowder stored there by rebel colonists and arrest any rebel leaders they find, particularly John Hancock and Samuel Adams.

Around 1 a.m. Paul Revere arrived and informed Lexington’s captain of the militia, John Parker, that British troops were on their way. Parker called for his Minute Men and 77 arrived at the town’s green. After learning from Parker that the best-trained and best-equipped troops Britain had were on their way, the Minute Men voted to disband, lie low and do nothing to provoke the British.

Upon learning from Revere of the British march, Hancock grabbed a pistol and started to join the Minute Men. But Adams persuaded him that their capture by the British would be a major coup for Great Britain and huge loss for the rebel cause. Reluctantly, he relented. However, about four hours later, after learning the Minute Men had dispersed, Hancock met with Parker and the Minute Men who remained on the green. Shortly thereafter the drum was sounded and the Minute Men reassembled.

Hancock and Adams climbed into a chaise to leave the area just as British troops arrived. With orders to capture and hold two bridges leading into Concord and the knowledge that Revere was spreading word of their mission, the British commanders had no intention of engaging the Minute Men on the Lexington green. And Parker had ordered his men to let the British march by and not molest them unless they acted first.

As British troops marched in quick-time past the green, cursing the rebels all the while, British Major John Pitcairn told the Minute Men, “Disperse ye villains, ye rebels! Disperse! Lay down your arms! Why don’t you lay down your arms and disperse?”

After standing fast as most of the British troops passed and defying the British call to lay down their arms, Parker told his men to disband. Some began to walk away, carrying their muskets with them, and it seemed as if the crisis would pass without incident. But someone—no one was sure who but it was thought to have come from a nearby tavern or hedge—fired a shot and all hell broke loose.

Upon hearing the gunfire as the chaise rode away, Adams told Hancock, “Oh, what a glorious morning is this.” Seeing that Hancock mistook his meaning, for it was dawning a nice spring morning, Adams said, “I mean, what a glorious morning for America.”

Back on the Lexington green it was anything but. One of the Minute Men, Jonas Parker, who had vowed to never run from British guns, fell from a musket ball. He tried to fire from the ground but was bayoneted where he lay. The Minute Men fled the green and the British fired into their backs. When the smoke cleared, eight Minute Men lay dead on the green.

Shortly after 1 a.m., Samuel Prescott arrived in Concord and gave word of the British march. Bells in the town began to ring and the Concord Minute Men began to gather at Wright’s tavern. As day broke a messenger arrived from Lexington telling of gunfire on the green, but he was unsure whether the British had fired only powder as a warning, or if they were actually shooting.

About 250 men of the militia decided to carry the battle to the British and began marching east toward Lexington. After they had traveled about a mile they saw the British troops coming their way and they halted, waiting until the British were about 500 yards away.

The Minute Men then did an about face and marched back toward Concord. As they neared town some of the Minute Men were ordered to command a high ridge to deny it to the British and the rest debated what to do next. The Reverend William Emerson said, “Let us stand our ground. If we die, let us die here.”

But the Minute Men weren’t quite ready for battle and they faded back to see what the British would do. The British troops secured the bridges and then began to spread out in search of weapons and rebel leaders.

The troops burned what weapons they found and also cut down the town’s Liberty Pole and threw it onto the fire. Seeing the smoke from the bonfire over the hill, one of Concord’s volunteers asked if they were going to sit back and watch while the British burned the town to the ground.

They were told to get ready to move, but not fire until fired upon and then fire as fast as possible. They marched toward the bridges.

As the Minute Men approached the bridge, British Captain Walter-Sloan Laurie told his men to remove the bridges’ planks to make them unusable, but the Minute Men told them to stop and the British troops complied. Laurie ordered his troops into formation for street fighting, a tactic designed for fighting in narrow roads and alleys surrounded by buildings, not out in the open.

As the distance between the two armies narrowed, once again a musket went off without the order to fire being given, and the battle commenced. The Minute Men fired as rapidly as possible and advanced, driving the British off the bridge. The British troops broke and ran to the center of town.

British commanders regained order and collected their troops, but they were soon surrounded by Minute Men, whose ranks had swelled once the firing began. The order was given for the British to withdraw from Concord and the march back began.

Minute Men, hiding behind houses, barns, fences and trees, harassed the British as they retreated.

Back in Lexington, after the dead were removed from the green, Captain Parker reassembled his men, along with some newly arrived volunteers, and began to march toward Concord. Hearing the sound of the British retreat coming his way, Parker ordered his volunteers to take cover.

The British troops ran headlong into the Lexington volunteers seeking to avenge their fallen comrades. The British had no idea how many troops were facing them, but the shooting was intense. Before long, the British again broke and ran.

In Lexington, British officers got in front of their troops and again got them into order. They began a retreat toward Boston. They whole way Minute Men harassed the retreating British ranks.

When the day was done, 49 Americans were dead, 39 were wounded and five were missing. Of the vaunted British army, 73 were dead, 74 were wounded and 26 were missing. Against overwhelming odds, American volunteers had defeated troops from the mightiest army in the world.

After the fighting was over, Dr. Joseph Warren, who had become something of hero for his actions treating wounded Minute Men as the battle raged around him, put out a call for volunteers:

“Our all is at stake. Death and devastation are the instant consequences of delay. Every moment is infinitely precious. An hour lost may deluge your country in blood and entail perpetual slavery upon the few of your prosperity who may survive the carnage.”

Thousands of volunteers arrived for the cause. Thus began the war for American independence.

Now we have a new war for independence. It’s a war to make us independent from the slavery of the debt burden put on us by the Federal Reserve and the actions of the elected elites. It’s a war that will require the courage exhibited by the Minute Men on April 19.

It’s going to require sacrifice and it’s going to be difficult. But it’s obvious from the most recent budget deal that Congress still doesn’t get it. The plutocrats are crowing about cutting $38 billion from the budget as the deficit grew by $58 billion in the days they debated the cuts.

It’s time and past time to get to work contacting your representative in Congress to tell him or her that things have to change, that government has to be cut, that the Constitution has to be adhered to. Remind him or her that an election is coming soon, and you are watching and taking notes.

Undoing 100 years of damage is going to be difficult. It’s going to require a new way of thinking about the role of government. It’s going to require commitment and courage.

Do you have the commitment and courage of the Minute Men?

(Descriptions of the battles taken from Patriots, by A.J. Langguth.)

Now THAT’S funny!

Yesterday, MSNBC host Chris Mathews of “Hardball” fame stated that Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan would "kill half the people that watch this show." To which actor and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson tweeted: “That's terrible. Hope his other viewer will be OK.”

Senator Lee Defends the Tea Party