Purpose-Driven Nation

America’s Founding President, George Washington, wisely said: “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”

Drifting Off Course
Since the 1960s, America has been drifting off course—to the left, degree by degree; incrementally by design. The domestic enemies of America have a secularist agenda that is slowly taking our American society to the left of true North. To correct this leftward drift, Americans need to elect a pilot who knows how to read and use a true North compass; a leader who has a spark of celestial fire in his breast called conscience; an honorable leader who will guide the ship of state back on course and head the U.S. in the right direction. We’ll call it “the ’08 election course correction.” The presidential election of 2008 can be a new beginning for America but only if conservatives unite around conservative ideas and ideals.

Higher Ground
This is the year we must raise the bar—set a high standard and not compromise our conservative values and convictions. Conservatives have an open door to revolutionize America and reverse course in the ’08 election. But a genuine revolution will require real change at all levels of elected offices. There are 511,000+ elected officials in America, from school board to city council to county commission to state legislature. Real solutions have to move through all these offices, not merely the two houses of Congress and the White House.

Voting For a Failed Status Quo
There is no doubt whatsoever that ‘whosoever’ the Democratic Party nominates to be their presidential candidate of choice in 2008, that candidate will represent the failed status quo of liberalism, not too mention the dangerous consequences of leftist ideology, socialism, and Marxist theology. Tragically, the only two choices left for Democrats have been reduced down to either an empty suit (B. Obama), or a pants suit (H. Clinton).

As Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated, “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” Remember: stupid is as stupid does. The power of informed choice means that Americans who are informed about the important issues will not be ignorant about political matters and not conscientiously stupid about the dangers of liberalism and leftist ideology! Vote on principle, not party or personality or gender or skin color.

Putting Conservative Principles To Power
If Republicans hope to win the presidency in 2008, they have yet to find a true conservative candidate. Evangelicals and conservative Americans will run to the voting both in November of 2008 to vote for a candidate who is the “real deal” and will put conservative principles to power; someone with the courage of his convictions to stand up and speak out on the vital social and moral issues of today; and someone who is prepared to make bold and systematic changes in the way Washington works. Otherwise, they may just stay at home on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. God forbid!

Worst Train Wreck in American History
It just may take a Washington outsider to come out of nowhere to clean up the ongoing train wreck in Washington. Instead of complaining about how or why Washington doesn’t work, let’s find the source of the problem and fix it. We need to think outside of the boxcar.

The Washingtonian Federal Excess system doesn’t need exploratory surgery, it needs an amputation. For decades now ‘train wreck experts’ have said that the only way to fix the wrecked baggage boxcars is to allocate more federal funds for repair crews to improve what does not work. Putting a band aid on a cancer sore only covers up the problem, it doesn’t cut out the root source.

Beginning in January of 2009, a citizen president must cut the excessive baggage boxcars from the main engine of government and relegate them to the trash heap of American history. The number of boxcars must be limited and the engine must be set on tracks headed true north. Certainly Republicans can produce better conservative leaders than are presently being courted.

Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership
Margaret Thatcher, a champion of free minds and markets, said that consensus it the absence of leadership.
Like Harry Truman’s “The Buck Stops Here,” the phrase “It CAN Be Done” became the working motto of Ronald Reagan’s successful administration. It was engraved on a plate on his desk in the Oval Office. Reagan and his policies unleashed the greatest economic boom in American history – and defeated the Evil Empire. Reagan proved that the phrase “It CAN Be Done” was more than words, but a powerful force. Reagan was always optimistic and happy. He dared to embrace big ideas.
Reagan also had an ethical philosophy of leadership. He said, “Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate au-thority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.”

According to Dwight D. Eisenhower, the thirty-fourth president of the United States, “Leadership is getting people to follow you.” The key to effective leadership in government is to get everyone in the “Ship of State” to row in the same direction.
John Maxwell pointed out that if people are not following a leader, he’s not leading; he’s just taking a walk. Maxwell says, “All leadership is influence.”

The majority of Evangelicals are moral and social conservatives. They want a president who is an effective leader on moral and social issues and an efficient leader when it comes to fiscal policy; a leader who has simple solutions for complex problems; a leader who has the courage to do what is morally right, even if it may not be popular.

When Evangelicals and conservatives vote for Republicans, they expect them to represent them if elected. They also expect them to fulfill the duties required by the Constitution—protect our great republic, protect our sovereignty, protect our property and hard-earned money, and protect innocent life.

Those who are sent to Washington must govern as conservatives, otherwise the grassroots value voters who gave them their support feel betrayed. Candidates who run as moral and social conservatives cannot govern as establishment “players” consumed with materialism and personal ambition. Conservatives entrusted with an elected office cannot abandon the Reagan platform of the GOP, or become corrupted by the power and money of national politics.

It seems only right and proper that a Republican should be a conservative, not a RINO (Republican In Name Only). A true conservative will hold fast to principles of human equality, to principles of limited government, and push for lower taxes and reduced spending. Non-conservatives do not belong in the GOP. That’s what the Democratic Party is for. But Democrats are not dangerous just because they are Democrats, subscribing to liberal and secular humanist ideologies is what makes them danagerous.

Some of today’s Democrats have become DINOs—Democrat In Name Only. DINOs have abandoned the party of FDR and JFK. They have sold out to the New Left revolutionaries who are taking America and the West down the path to domestic and cultural suicide. Like actors playing a role, the New Leftists take on the persona of a moderate to deceive registered Democrats, and even some gullible Republicans.

No Surrender
While conservatives must become engaged in the “culture war” in America, they must not do so with the same attitude and approach liberals had with the Cold War. Liberals were willing to end it by surrendering much of the world to communist domination. This is the main reason we cannot trust liberals to set American foreign policy. Appeasement is a policy of accepting the imposed conditions of an evil enemy aggressor in lieu of armed resistance, usually at the sacrifice of principles.

Freedom isn’t free. That’s why we fight for it! Patriotic Americans have strong feelings of gratitude toward those who defend our freedoms. General Douglas MacArthur, who oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951 in WWII, said, “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”

In spite of criticism from liberals, Ronald Reagan saw the problems facing the free world and put the Soviet Union on notice. Thanks to his strong no surrender approach, American liberty triumphed and the communist system of the USSR collapsed.
The speech by President Ronald Reagan to the people of West Berlin contains one of the most memorable lines spoken during his presidency. On June 12, 1987, President Reagan said, “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” This famous speech is a historical example that words have meaning.

The Berlin Wall, referred to by Reagan, was built by Communists in August 1961 to keep Germans from escaping Communist-dominated East Berlin into Democratic West Berlin. The twelve-foot concrete wall extended for a hundred miles, surrounding West Berlin, and included electrified fences and guard posts. The wall stood as a stark symbol of the decades-old Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union in which the two politically opposed superpowers continually wrestled for dominance, stopping just short of actual warfare.

Two years after Reagan’s no appeasement speech, in November 1989, East Germans issued a decree for the wall to be opened, allowing people to travel freely into West Berlin. In some cases, families that had been separated for decades were finally reunited. The wall was torn down altogether by the end of 1990 upon the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, thus symbolizing the end of the Cold War era. The Berlin Wall is a historical example that ideas have consequences.
Ronald Reagan was not a hypocrite. He lived by his own words. He said, “The future doesn’t belong to the faint-hearted. It belongs to the brave.”

A Call for Conservative Leadership
Regrettably, there is still a void of conservative leadership in America today. Most Americans are looking and longing for conservative leaders to emerge on the political front. What our nation needs is a leader who will articulate conservative principles, and who will lead a conservative movement as Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s. When Mr. Smith goes to Washington in January 2009, he must be resilient and have tenacity. He should be confident enough in his belief system to put principles before politics, and committed enough to his ethics to put conservative ideas and values into policy.

America just needs a few good men—a full House of elected representatives in the vein of William Wilberforce, the Englishman who fought for a good and noble cause as a Statesman, not as a milquetoast career politician.

REAL SOLUTIONS
Here now, ladies and gentleman, are real solutions offered to solve the real problems that our great nation is presently facing. First, this author, Phil Pantana, offers the “FIVE F’s” of a conservative political platform, and second, conservative radio talk show host, Sean Hannity, offers his top 10 items for victory in 2008. Will the real true conservative political candidates please stand up!!! We should expect no less!

I. THE PANTANA FIVE LEGS OF A CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL PLATFORM

1. Faith
First Amendment Rights; Congress has made no law respecting an establishment of religion, and has not prohibited the free exercise thereof. Therefore, two issues must be addressed: (1) all educational institutions should provide a level playing field where all ideas may be equally be heard (e.g., Genesis Record of Origins and ID in science class; true American history in history class; post 10 Commandments in schools), and (2) any whisper of the so-called Fairness Doctrine must not be considered to silence free speech on the public air waves or in any form of media, or churches.
2. Family
Traditional Monogamous Marriage—”Yes” to one man & one woman marriage; Family: Foundation for Society; “No” to Same-Sex Marriage or Civil Unions; “no” gender neutral dorms on college campuses.
3. Finances
Limited Government; Pass the Fair Tax Act!!! Repeal the 16th Amendment and Abolish the IRS; end doles via Welfare; get America out of debt; increase the value of the American dollar; encourage and increase fair and free trade with other nations; pass an emergency energy bill to DRILL HERE (anywhere there is oil on American soil) & DRILL NOW! Result: PAY LESS!
4. Freedom
US Sovereignty; Protect our Borders; Stop Illegal Immigrants; No Amnesty; Defeat Islamo-Fascism & End the growth of Terrorism
5. Future
End Jimmy Carter’s unconstitutional Federal Department of Education. Education is the responsibility of parents, local school boards, counties, and the several states; pass legislation to prohibit Teacher’s Unions from blocking quality education of our young people.

Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are two conservative radio talk show hosts who have more to offer the American people in terms of real solutions than any Republican in office and, regrettably, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain of Arizona.

II. Hannity’s Top 10 Items for Victory
Visit: http://www.hannity.com/ for his top 10 items for a conservative victory in 2008.

1) To be the Candidate of National security:
a) Victory in Iraq
b) Fully support NSA, Patriot act, tough interrogations, keeping Gitmo open
c) A Candidate that pledges to NOT demean our military while they are fighting for their Country. eg Harry Reid: “the surge has failed”, “the war is lost”
d) Candidate that promises to ensure that our veterans can live out their lives in dignity.

2) The Candidate who pledges to oppose Appeasement:
a) The Candidate will oppose any and all efforts to negotiate with dictators of the world in places like Iran, Syria, N.Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela without “pre-conditions”

3) The Candidate Pledges to support Tax CUTS, and fiscal responsibility:
a) The American people are NOT under taxed, Government Spends too much
b) The Candidate who Pledges to ELIMINATE and VOTE AGAINST ALL Earmarks
c) The Candidate pledges to BALANCE the budget

4) The Candidate Pledges to be a supporter of “Energy Independence”a) supports Immediate drilling in Anwar and the 48 states
b) Building new refineries
c) Begin building and using Nuclear Facilities
d) expand coal mining
e) realistic steward of the environment
While simultaneously working with private industry to develop the new energy technologies for the future, with the goal being that America becomes completely energy independent within the next 15 years.

5) The Candidate pledges to secure our borders completely within 12 months:
a) build all necessary fences
b) use all available technology to help and support agents at the border
c) train and hire agents as needed

6) Healthcare:
The Candidate will look for Free-Market solutions to the problems facing the Healthcare industry, and will vigorously oppose any efforts to “nationalize healthcare”.
a) The Candidate will fight for Individual health savings accounts, that includes “catastrophic insurance” for every American, so people can control their own healthcare choices.

7) Education:
a) The Candidate pledges to “save” American children from the failing educational system
b) The Candidate will fight to break the unholy alliance of the Democratic party and teachers unions, which at best has institutionalized mediocrity, and has failed children across the country
c) fight for “CHOICE” in education and let parents decide
d) fight for vouchers for parents

Social Security and Medicare:
a) The Candidate will “save” social security and medicare from bankruptcy.
b) Options will include “private retirement” funds so people can “control” their own destiny.

9) Judges
a) The Candidate vows to support ONLY judges who recognize that their job is to interpret the Constitution, and NOT legislate from the bench.

10) American Dream:
The Candidate accepts as their duty and responsibility to educate, inform, and remind people that with the blessings of Freedom comes a Great responsibility. That Government’s primary goal is to preserve, protect and defend our God given gift of freedom.

That Government’s do not have the ability to solve all of our problems, and to take away all of our fears and concerns. We need their pledge that we will be the candidate that promotes Individual liberty, Capitalism, a strong national defense and will support policies that encourage such…

It is our fundamental belief that limited Government, and Greater individual responsibility will insure the continued prosperity and success for future generations.

We the people who believe in the words of Ronald Reagan, that we are “the best last hope for man on this earth,” “a shining city on a hill,” and that our best days are before us if our Government will simply trust the American people.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

[THIS A SOLEMN PRAYER TO GOD FOR HIS BLESSING, PROTECTION, AND GUIDANCE ON AMERICA!]

“While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. ”

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

God Bless America
Words and music by Irving Berlin
© Copyright 1938, 1939 by Irving Berlin
© Copyright Renewed 1965, 1966 by Irving Berlin
© Copyright Assigned to the Trustees of the God Bless America Fund
International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
Used by Permission

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