Political Sleight of Hand

The Obama administration has been busy trying to convince the Supreme Court that the healthcare mandates are new taxes while others in his administration have been busy trying to convince the rest of us that they are not new taxes. At this point, most of us are well aware that no one in the Obama administration is opposed to telling outright lies, but we need to be aware that the depth of their deception is not always so obvious. Currently, we are experiencing a game of political sleight of hand that even I failed to recognize at first glance.

President Obama, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, feels that employers should be forced to provide free contraception and sterilization to their employees. This has, of course, raised a furor on the grounds that such a mandate tramples on the religious freedom of many employers. Even the most incompetent Constitutional scholar, such as President Obama, can see that it is a clear violation of the First Amendment. One has to wonder then, why the President has chosen to stand firm on this issue. Could it be that the First Amendment portion of this debate is intended to be a distraction so that we will watch his left hand while he does something else with his other left hand?

The main issue the administration faces with Obamacare is that the federal government has no constitutional authority to force individuals to purchase a product from a private company. That being the case, it also has no Constitutional authority to force individuals to purchase a product from a private company and then give it free of charge to another individual, yet that issue is being overlooked in the current debate over contraception.

Aside from the fact that the government has no authority to force people to engage in commerce, to force someone to purchase something and give it away amounts to an illegal seizure of private property, and is a backdoor method of wealth redistribution. Admittedly such a method is somewhat more efficient because it eliminates the federal treasury in the role of middle man, but I’m confident that the Obama administration can find an effective way of wasting tax dollars on it anyway.

I will have to give the administration an ‘E’ for effort on this one. No doubt they are taking some heat for their attack on religion, but they obviously believe the possibility of establishing this beachhead in the battle over constitutional powers is worth the risk. If the President can keep us angry about the violation of religious freedom long enough, he will then be able to later back down and grant waivers to certain employers while we feel satisfied that we have won the fight, and he will then be able to have this mandate in place without our having noticed the larger issue.

Once again, it is becoming clear that the Obama administration is unconcerned about the will of the American people, and just as obvious that the Supreme Court will have the opportunity to weigh in on this issue. What is even more obvious is that it is imperative that we deny him a second term. Given Obama’s disdain for the Constitution, as well as his utter disregard for the opinions of anyone other than those on the extreme Left, we simply cannot afford to allow him another four years.

Daniel Prayed

Most of us remember as children hearing the Bible story about Daniel in the Lion’s Den. In case it has been awhile, you can find the story in the sixth chapter of the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament. It truly is an inspiring story, and one that our present government might very well say is seditious.

Let us, for the sake of those who might be unfamiliar with the story, take just a few minutes to review what happened. Daniel was a Jew who was taken captive by the Babylonians, who were in turn conquered by the Persians. Daniel found favor with King Darius, and was put in charge of the entire kingdom. Other officials who were jealous of Daniel plotted against him. Unable to find any fault with Daniel, these other officials tricked King Darius into passing a decree that anyone who prayed to anyone other than the King for a thirty-day period would be thrown to the lions. Daniel, being in the well known habit of praying from a very visible spot on his roof top three times a day, ignored the decree and continued to pray; which of course, led to his arrest. He was subsequently thrown to the lions, but remained unharmed by the big cats.

Fifteen or so years ago, I stood in the pulpit of my small Baptist church in Georgia and delivered a sermon based on this story. At that time, I predicted that one day in our lifetime, we would see the day that Christians in this country would be faced with making a choice between obedience to the government or obedience to God. That day has come.

In the past few days, King …., or make that President Obama and his minion Kathleen Sebelius have decreed that the phrase ‘access to’ means ‘free of charge’, and that religious institutions must ignore their own tenets and provide to their employees services they consider to be against the will of God.

I am not a Catholic, nor do I believe that the use of birth control is sinful. I do strongly believe however, that the First Amendment to our Constitution says that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The President, being a ‘Constitutional scholar’, should be at least as aware of this fact, and I am sure that he is; but it is quite obvious that he has no intention of letting this antique and outdated document stand in the way of his plans.

Lest anyone pretend otherwise, this issue is not about contraception; it is solely an issue of First Amendment rights. President Obama, who recognizes no higher power than himself, is determined to force the Catholic Church to bow to him with their backs turned toward God. In his self-elevated position as Ruler Over Everything Imaginable, President Obama will not hesitate to step over the Constitution in his effort to subjugate Christians to his will.

The time has come for anyone claiming to be a patriotic American to stand up for the Constitutional rights that our founding fathers fought and died to give us, and that so many others have died to protect. Those of us who love freedom, whether Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Pagan, or Atheist, have a duty to stand firm against this blatantly unconstitutional power grab by Barack Obama. We cannot give an inch nor can we accept compromise on this fundamental right. We must be willing to publicly and visibly stand with the Catholic Church on this issue, or we will have no room to complain when King Obama issues his next decree. Daniel’s faith in God gave him the courage to make a stand when the King tried to put himself over God, and we should do the same.

As a former member of the United States Navy, I took an oath, from which I have never been released, to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. There may be room for debate about whether he qualifies as foreign or domestic, but there is no room for doubt that President Obama is an enemy of the Constitution. With every means made available to us by the Constitution, we must stand firm and resist, regardless of the consequences. We owe it not only to those who came before us, but most especially to those who will follow after us.