Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln

Dear Abraham Lincoln,
I wanted to take the occasion of your 200th birthday to thank you for what you did for our country. So much time has past and we seem to forget (for we are distracted Americans) that at one time our country was on the verge of collapse. We forget that at one time in our country, all men were not free as men are today. We forget that during that time so long ago you led the fight to give freedom to those who were not free. Your hard choice to give men freedom was not popular among all quarters, but your leadership was not governed by what you thought was popular but based on the principles in which you believed. You in fact when it was all said and done, laid down your life for your creed.

I'm sorry to say Mr. President, that we are now engaged in our own country in a second great civil war. In this war there is no smell of gunpowder, there are no flanking maneuvers, there are no bayonet charges, but it is a fierce and may be a prolonged conflict nonetheless. Mr. President, there are those in this your beloved Union that have forgotten what this country that you saved is all about. They have forgotten that freedom isn't free. They minimize the efforts of our valiant men in uniform who are defending us on far-flung battlefields around the world.

There are some in our country who are denying liberty and, in fact, life to a large sector of our fellow citizens. In fact, Mr. President, there are those who are taking life from the most vulnerable among us...those who are still in the womb. You thought slavery was bad, but now we have abortion. You laid down your life that others might be free, while these take others lives to protect their own "freedom to choose". Our own President today is not choosing to defend life. He has taken his authority as an opportunity to make sure that abortions increase both here and around the world.

I'm sorry also to say, Mr. President that at this very hour we have in our own United States Congress those who are prepared to lay an unbearable tax burden upon this nation and its children. While you knew the blood, sweat, and tears of frontier working and living, our government is eager to give vast amounts of money to those who neither work or care to work for what they achieve. Our own President today is touting government as the answer to people's problems. I know that this is diametrically opposed to your own ethic of hard work and reliance upon the Creator.

Worst of all, I must tell you sir that our current President has taken it upon himself to style himself in front of the people as very much like you. He does, however, bear little resemblence to you except that you and he were both from Illinois. He has in a very tacky way sought to usurp what is rightfully yours and make it his own. Many of us, however, see right through this thin and tacky facade at the man that is underneath and know in an instant that he lacks most of the qualities that made you who you were.

I want to tell you Mr. President, that those of us who are on your side in this great new struggle will not let you down. We will continue to fight in the arena of ideas for the ideals that you saw would make America strong. We will be patriots though a vast host seem to be arrayed against us and the Union that we both love so deeply. We will work hard to ensure that "...the government of the people, by the people, and for the people will not perish from the earth".

Sincerely,
Timothy Tuinstra, 2009

Is anyone else tired of the fear-mongering?

It is becoming downright discouraging to learn the depths to which Washington will go in order to scare this nation into supporting a pathetic economic "stimulus" package. I am convinced that this bill will not provide any economic stimulus, but will instead grow the size of government and move us closer toward socialism. This is really an ideologic battle over who best is capable of growing the economy...the government or individual Americans creating wealth by going to their jobs every day and providing goods and services for their neighbors. What I am afraid of is that we are losing this battle in large part because we have a nation whose citizens are not well versed in basic economic principles. People cannot seem to look past what they consider to be their immediate needs to the long term consequences of government interference in people's lives.

Now is the time for patriots to stand up and speak the truth. If we value the United States for what it is and for what has made it great, now is the time for patriots to become engaged and to speak up for the benefits of a free-market. We cannot as much as it depends on us, let this country go in this direction or else the country we leave to our children and grandchildren will be significantly different from the country we had growing up and radically different from what the Founders envisioned.