Liberty

"When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon." - Thomas Paine

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"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty." James Madison

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"Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty." - Plato

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Liberty is a term not used much these days. By definition Liberty is freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or external influence. Liberty implies within its very core that we humans have the ability to choose. We humans were blessed by our Creator, our God, with a body, a mind, a freewill and the freedom to exercise that freewill regardless of the consequence. That freewill is a wonderful and at times incomprehensible example of Gods unselfish love! The founding fathers of the United States thought and wrote about liberty quite often, some may say it consumed them. As you read the Declaration of Independence you are barely past the introduction when Liberty is brought up.

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"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness....

" - Declaration of Independence July 4th, 1776

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Our liberty expressed through our voting is a very rare and precious gift that very few people enjoy in this world and fewer still have enjoyed throughout history. My prayer is that all people exercising their liberty through their vote will have done so thoughtfully, rationally, and with a clear conscience in harmony with their personal beliefs, morals and vaules.

Who will be 44th?

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." -- John Quincy Adams

I am fairly certain that most Americans have heard quite a few things over the course of the past several months concerning who will be the 44th President of these United States. Heated discussions, "debates", partisan politics, lies, innuendo, rumors, spin, hype, blame, blogs, main stream media, blah blah blah ......we have heard it all. All that is except a polite and civil discourse where points of view are clearly articulated in unbiased and non-filtered ways which encourage citizen participation. Complex problems are trivialized, solutions to complex problems are oversimplified or worst obfuscated, fingers are pointed and still we are left to choose.

My "Official General Election Ballot" for 2008 has 13 choices for President. Some candidates I have heard of and some are totally new to me, but in the end I am blessed with the freedom to choose. The candidate I choose may not win but I will have cast my vote and will cherish that freedom!

McCain - Palin (Republican)

Obama - Biden (Democrat)

La Riva - Puryear (Party for Socialism)

Baldwin - Castle (Constitution Party)

Amondson - Pletten (Prohibition Party)

Barr - Root (Libertarian)

Stevens - Link (Objectivist Party)

Harris - Kennedy (Socialist Workers Party)

McKinney - Clemonte (Green Party)

Keyes - Rohrbough (America's Independent Party)

Nader - Gonzalez (ECO)

Moore - Alexander (Socialist Party of the USA)

Jay - Smith (Boston Tea Party)

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The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. - John Quincy Adams

On the Road

The past 10 days or so have kept me travelling quite a bit. From Baton Rouge, La and LSU's Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night, to Washington D.C. and Arlington Va, to the campus of FSU in Tallahassee, Fl and then the campus of UCF in Orlando, Fl and back home. I had a great time and enjoyed every minute but I have had enough of traveling and am looking forward to a long quiet weekend at home. While in Arlington, Va I was able to watch the 7pm changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. A very somber experience followed by a mile or so walk out of the cemetery in the dark highlighting the experience.


The U.S. Capitol


The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier


Arlington Naional Cemetery

UCF Brighthouse Stadium

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I plan on posting more pictures from my trip to Washington on my Web Album.