In this day we do not have the luxury of allowing another to stand for us. We must protect our freedoms now, while we still have them, lest we find the history books remarking on what a novel concept the saying at Gettysburg of Abraham Lincoln was: “and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” If we do not protect and hold dear the freedom which we should cherish above all else; the freedom that our ancestors fought for and that our Sons and Brothers and Husbands (and wives) fight and die for today, then we shall read that saying in the future as: and that this government of the rulers, by the rulers and for the rulers over men’s souls, shall not perish from the earth. My hope is that we would use common sense in viewing the world, from everyday minutia to the elections of our leaders. That we would begin to love this country once again and cherish the opportunity that freedom has afforded us all. Whether we began life wealthy in the suburbs or poor in the city, we all have the freedom to, and I would dare say the obligation, pursue the greatness that lies within… Whatever that may be.

I think it is a shame that we do not esteem the janitor who is faithful to his family and who goes to work every day, an honest man. We do not hold high the single mother who works two jobs to provide food and shelter for her children (not only do we not hold her high, but we shun and ridicule her). Who is there to provide the help that she needs, to give her children guidance and show them that the world can be a beautiful place, and loving, not only wicked and cruel. We send these people to the government lines because that is the easiest thing to do. Don’t seek to deceive yourself, it is much easier to pay an extra one or two percent in taxes and hope that the government program for the under-privileged, one of the thousands that are in existence currently, will provide the guidance that the children in the “inner cities” need. It’s far more difficult to volunteer for the Big Brother or Sister programs and give your life to that same child to make them a better person. It’s much more difficult to give up your plasma screen television and instead donate that money to one of the hundreds of private organizations that do a better, more efficient job of reaching those who need help and effecting change in the lives of those who could easily be led down a path of unrighteousness without that help.

We fret over inner city violence, but common sense tells us that this violence is simple to stop… wait a second, before you jump all over me… I didn’t say easy, I said simple. The first step to stopping the violence is to cut off its blood flow (pardon the language). By that I mean that gang violence, or general thuggery tends to be the cause of the most violence in any “inner city”, and it is simple to stop gang violence (I didn’t say easy, I said simple)… you get rid of it’s lifeblood: the members. You care about the kids in the neighborhood, you show them love, give them things to do and make being in a gang uncool. You arrest and convict the ones on the streets with the harshest penalties possible for their crimes instead of letting them go (maybe even make being a member of a gang illegal – our Constitution provides no right of people to associate for the purposes of committing crimes, we only have the guarantee to peaceably assemble). You arm the law abiding citizenry in and around the city so that the criminals no longer have free reign. I’m not saying that violence, or even gangs, would ever completely go away, but we can drastically reduce their impact on our society if we act as responsible and caring citizens.

I want to share with you something that will boggle your mind and will display how backwards our thinking has become these days (some might say we’re nonsensical). Gun control is a hot issue, and rightly so, anytime the government tries to take away rights, people will fight and if they don’t then they deserve to lose them. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has its state scorecard posted, and according to them the second most dangerous state in the union should be Kentucky, because their gun laws are so relaxed, and yet they are the 10th SAFEST state in the union, which means that, contrary to what the folks at the Brady Campaign think, the availability of guns does not necessarily make a place more dangerous. Kentucky should have massacres every weekend, bank robberies every week and shout outs at every accident scene, but they don’t. Conversely, California is ranked number 1 on the Brady scorecard which means that California should be a veritable utopia, with virtually no crime. Again, not the case. California, while not ranked most violent is the 10th most violent state in the union with only 9 states more violent than it. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is not some crackpot organization either, they are heavily involved in the political arena and are respected.

Do you see how we have blinded our eyes? Can you take a step back and look at how warped our view of the world is? Can you tell that we have chosen to abandon (some of us) our rights as free peoples to own firearms in order to feel better about violence. I say FEEL better because the gun control measures do nothing to stop crime, they only prevent law abiding citizens from exercising their rights. If a man was willing to commit murder in order to obtain money through theft, do you think he minds breaking a state law against purchasing guns without a background check or carrying that gun illegally? No. Especially not when people are rarely sent to prison (like they ought to be) for simply carrying an illegal firearm.

It is my hope that we can begin to see beyond our fears, look beyond our selfish needs and use common sense to effect change in our world, for the better.

-Matt signing off.