The Old Man's Tears

I was walking through the park the other day when I came across an older gentleman sitting on a bench. Every time I walked by him, I noticed there were tears streaming silently down his stubbled cheeks.

On my third lap around the park, I decided to sit down and try to console the man. Perhaps he was mourning his wife or a child and the least I could do was sit with him for a spell.

"Sir," I said, sitting on the bench next to him. "Are you OK?"

He turned and looked at me, as if surprised that I even noticed him.

"Young man, I'm in mourning.

"My wife is healthy, and all my children and grandchildren are living happy and healthy lives, but still I mourn."

"A good friend?" I asked, thinking back to how I felt when a few of my friends had passed over the years.

"Oh, I wish it was that simple," he said, laughing bitterly.

"What else is there to mourn this much for?" I thought to myself.

"Son, let me tell you a short story.

"I fought in a war that freed a continent from evil and stopped the wholesale oppression and slaughter of a people only to see much the same thing here a home.

"I watched as a great man marched peacefully in far too many cities to bring equality and freedom to people long held as 'inferior.' In fact, I marched with him when I could, and was there in spirit when I couldn't.

"I worked hard to bring financial security for my family so that they would never know the deprivation we now know as the 'Great Depression.' For us, it was just 'hard times.'

"I've watched as people have come and gone, making unfulfilled promises along the way.

"I've wondered at the technological marvels and medical miracles our society has produced for all mankind - jet fighters and passenger jets, helicopters, prosthetic limbs, diseases cured. All of that brought about by free-thinking, freedom-loving people with a will to break from tradition and convention.

"I watched with fascination as mankind slipped free the bonds of Earth and traveled to the moon and focused their eyes on the stars.

"I watched with amusement as science chases God with intent to destroy Him, and laughed as He wriggled free of their grasp and created more of His wonders for them to study.

"I've seen evil come along on gilded wings, yet be rejected, defeated, when good people took a stand.

"I've seen more good than bad in my days here.

"And yet...." he trailed off, staring off into the distance.

As he had spoken, the tears had dried. Now, they returned full force.

"What?" I asked, spellbound. This man knew how to tell a story. "Why do you cry?"

"I don't weep for myself. I've had a long and mostly happy life.

"I don't cry for my friends, who are more like me than not.

"I don't cry even for you. You're old enough to have fought for the right things. Whether you did or not is immaterial - you should have.

"I weep because that which we have fought so long for, that which we have gained, we are losing! Worse, we are giving them away!

"What has happened to the only nation where the freedom to speak your mind is guaranteed? When did we devolve into a nation of sissies, afraid to hear a viewpoint opposite of our own?

"When did we decide that giving up our own rights was the 'safe' thing to do?

"I weep for the United States of America I used to know out of the fear that my grandchildren will never know what it means to be truly FREE." ~ Hunter

It's Freedom OF Religion, not Freedom FROM Religion

I first wrote about the First Amendment a couple of years ago. I detailed how the phrase "separation of Church and State" not only does not exist anywhere in our founding documents, but was taken - out of context and not even quoted correctly - from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to Baptist ministers in an attempt to alleviate their fears that the United States government was going to select an "official religion."

 

Given the recent signing into law of a bill in Indiana that, for all intents and purposes, simply says that the government of Indiana will not force a business owner to provide services to an event that conflicts with their religious beliefs, it bears repeating, as some people just don't get it.

 

Everyone walking this planet "discriminates" every day. It's a fact of life.

 

You spend your money at one store over another; you eat at McDonald's over Burger King, you drink beer "A" over beer "B." You use Exxon gas rather than BP. I could go on and on and on, but I hope you get the idea.

 

If you patronize a white-owned business rather than a similar but black-owned business, does that make you a racist? No...

 

If you go to a regular bar and not the local gay bar, does that make you a homophobe? No...

 

As far as I know, not a single case of this so-called discrimination has been an outright refusal of all goods and services to gay people. They've just been refusal to provide goods and services for things that the business owner disagrees with for religious reasons, AS IS THEIR RIGHT under the "free exercise" part of the First Amendment.

 

Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from religion, nor was the First Amendment meant to protect government from religion. It's purpose was to protect religion from government, which is what this law was designed to remind you about...

 

But Hunter, wouldn't the ability to "discriminate" based on religious beliefs be forcing someone to participate in your religion? That would only be true if I could force you to spend your money at my business - which I can't do.

 

Let's turn that question around, though. Wouldn't that work the other way? How can freedom of religion (and the free exercise thereof) be considered a freedom if I'm forced to violate my religious beliefs?

 

Nobody is forced to practice any religion in this country. I can't force you to convert to Catholicism, and neither can the government, which is the primary reason for establishment clause of the First Amendment - to keep the government from endorsing or establishing an "official" religion.

 

What it doesn't do is give you the right to prevent me from practicing my religion in every aspect of my life. Your rights end where mine begin, and my rights are just as inviolable as yours.

It is interesting to note, however, that most of the liberals protesting this law remain absolutely silent on muslims throwing gay people off of buildings, beheading them, stoning them, etc.

Let's not mention good ole Hitlery Clintoon tweeting about the law (apparently not noticing the irony in protesting a law that's modeled after the law her husband signed into law at the federal level in 1993).

 

By the way, a person is free to not participate in my religious beliefs by - and here's the important part - doing business somewhere else.

 

See? FREEDOM... ~ Hunter

You Might Be A Liberal, Too...

I wrote "You Might Be A Liberal" about two years ago. It was a huge hit for the Facebook pages on which I write. Given the everyday ridiculousness that is liberalism, this follow-up is LONG overdue. I hope you enjoy...

If you think nuclear power plants in Iran is "just fine" but protest against them in America, you're a hypocrite, and you might be a liberal, too.

If you think Iran is enriching uranium for "power plants" when their stated goal is to wipe Israel from the earth, but the intercontinental ballistic missile system they're also developing is completely unconnected, I've got some swampland in Arizona to sell you, and you might be a liberal, too.

If you think the IRS, VA, Fast & Furious, etc. have nothing to do with King DingleBarry but Iran-Contra was entirely Reagan's fault, you clearly have your head in the sand, and you might be a liberal, too.

If your idea of religious "tolerance" means bending over backwards for islam while demeaning Christianity and Judaism, you obviously don't understand why and how the Constitution and Bill of Rights were written the way they were, and you might be a liberal, too.

If you think your imaginary "right" not to be offended trumps my actual right to say whatever I damn well want to say, your mother put your helmet on too tight, and you might be a liberal, too.

If your idea of equality is tearing down those who are successful to the level of those who aren't instead of helping the less fortunate become successful, not only are you an idiot, you might be a liberal, too.

If you believe animals have rights but pre-born humans don't, it makes me wonder what your favorite window flavor is, and you might be a liberal, too.

If you don't bat an eye at murdering unborn babies, but protest a convicted criminal being put to death, there's something really, horribly, terribly wrong with you, and you might be a liberal, too. (from my friend Teresa)

 

If you criticize Republicans for spending money to seek justice for the four Americans murdered at Benghazi, but have no problem with the billions being spent to support illegals, there's no question whatsoever that you're a liberal. You probably eat crayons, too. (Teresa)

 

If you thought the Affordable Care Act was going to do anything about the cost of healthcare, you truly don't understand economics, and you might be a liberal, too.

 

If you think the sun's waxing (it means more, liberals) activity has nothing to do with global warming but the sun's waning (it means less, liberals) activity has everything to do with the impending "global cooling" (yes, I'm serious), your head is so far up Algore's fat a$$ that nothing can be done for you, and you might be a liberal, too.

 

 If you think Ted Cruz (an actual Constitutional scholar) is an idiot for pushing for a return to the Constitution, but think King DingleBarry (a Constitutional scholar in his own mind) is the smartest being in the history of the world, just shut up, because you might be a liberal, too.

If you think the forty-seven Republican senators who signed an open letter addressed to Iranian leaders committed treason, but think John "Lurch" Kerry, Nancy "The Catholic" Pelosi, and King DingleBarry doing the same thing (except Kerry and Pelosi actually went to the places they interfered with) is just peachy, I'm pretty sure you rode the short bus to school, and you might be a liberal, too.

If you think freedom of speech only applies to people who agree with your point of view, I seriously have to wonder about your comprehension of the English language, and you might be a liberal, too.

If you think education equals intelligence, but have a degree in Eastern European Art Philosophy (and took ten years to earn it), you don't understand what intelligence really is (and you're wasting your clear talent for cooking McDonald's fries), and you're definitely a liberal, too.

If you think banning "assault" weapons deters crime, but sending criminals to jail does not, you're truly an idiot of the highest magnitude, and you should probably be the one to go tell the gang-bangers to give up their weapons. We'll wait to see how that turns out for you. Oh, you might be a liberal, too.

If you think our enemies just need to be "understood" and we need to "empathize" with them, you might be Hillary Clinton, and you might be a liberal buffoon (OK, there's no "might" about it). ~ Hunter

 

What's Wrong With America: Voter Apathy

I've been seeing a great many Facebook posts today about making sure people get out to vote. They've been inundated by comments about how voting doesn't matter - things are decided already by some shadowy secret cabal or some other such nonsense.


The only position I take on "the fix is already in" is that I don't believe it - not for a second. It's nearly impossible to comprehend that, in a nation where almost every secret is leaked by someone, somewhere, sometime, it's somehow possible to keep this cabal hidden. Sorry - just not buying it.

As for those who aren't voting - you are the problem. Or at least a very big part of it. As a citizen of the greatest nation ever set on this planet, you not only have the right to vote - it's your responsibility to exercise that right. Every last one of the rights enumerated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights comes with the responsibility to USE THEM. Yes, it really is that simple.


If you can't bring yourself to drag your sorry a$$ off your couch to go to your local polling place and press a few buttons, you - yes, YOU - are an even bigger danger to this Republic than the liberals/socialists/communists.


Voting for the lesser of two evils is, by far, not the best of solutions, and certainly not what the Founders would have wanted. At the moment, however, we don't have a better option. By not voting, you're helping the greater evil win.


Don't believe me? Look at the 2012 presidential election. Upwards of 5 *MILLION* conservatives failed to vote. I agree that Romney was far from the ideal candidate (I would've preferred Cain or Gingrich), but he was certainly a better choice than allowing King DingleBarry a second term.


If you don't vote, if you don't at least make the attempt to help turn back the tide, how can you possibly have the temerity to complain about the direction we're going? By not exercising one of your moat basic rights as a citizen of the United States, you're acting just as selfishly as those who vote for the liberals ruining this great nation.


And that, my friends, makes ME sick - and makes YOU pretty damn contemptible. ~ Hunter