Conservative With A Heart

My allegiance lies in the heart and not in the symbol next to the name of the candidate. That has been my mantra for many years. This election cycle puts that concept to the test.

The argument for putting in place solid Republican candidates has been made nationally and locally. The country has been moving in the wrong direction – particularly in the fiscal arena – and a reverse in course must happen.

I desire to see the country shift to the constitutional path that it started down over 200 years ago. Should the symbol next to the candidate be the thing that determines if that person will be the one to help the country get back on track?

Here in Marshall County, Alabama, we have the choice between Jeff McLaughlin and Wes Long for State Representative, Marshall County, Alabama, District 27. I know Jeff and have had the chance to meet Wes and they both seem like pretty good guys. Wes has the R next to his name and I am hearing that in order to get things moving in the right direction we need all of the R’s that we can get.

Jeff McLaughlin has been serving Marshall County and District 27 since 2001. He chooses not to accept contributions to his election to keep him from being in debt to any particular person or group. He serves from the heart and not the pocket book. Democrats and Republicans have complaints against Mr. McLaughlin because he does not tow any party line but votes his own conscience.

I am sure that I do not agree with all of the ideas that Jeff McLaughlin has in his head. I am equally sure that I do not agree with all of the ideas offered up by Wes Long. We are all unique individuals and the chance that I would ever agree with anyone on everything is almost impossible odds.

How do you decide?

Do you let the record of the candidate speak? Or do you throw out anyone that does not tow the party line?

It becomes increasingly important to find people that will stand upon principle and not upon a party.

What is your opinion about making the right choice in this upcoming election?

The Founding Fathers expected people to leave their homes and serve their country for a season. The leaders were then to return to those homes and live under the rules and regulations they had established while leading.

At some point, we decided that to be a leader in this nation you had to be a Politian. The media has shouted that requirement from the roof tops since Sarah Palin stepped on to the political stage and the media has only gotten louder as the mid-term election draws near.

“She does not have enough experience.”
“He will not be willing to negotiate.”
“They are not use to how things work in the government.”

Carl Rove said that he thought people did not understand because this election was about taking back congress for the conservatives and we needed to elect people in the primaries that could win in the November elections.

I also heard it said that you have to stand for something or you will fall for anything – and we the people have fallen for that line before.

Never again! Everyone – no matter which side of the “aisle” you might reside – should be looking for candidates that say what they mean and will do what they say. We need candidates that are looking to go in and do the job and then come back home to their lives.

When did “politician” become a job? People that are in it for a job will always be concerned about keeping that job. We must put people into office that want to work – for just a season – and are more concerned about convictions than re-elections!

My husband swears by some conspiracy theories. My positive outlook normally refuses to think that bad of people – but yesterday my doubter kicked in. After one hour watching Glenn Beck, I was ready to barricade the front yard and go off the grid.

The balance of freedom hinges on the leaders putting the needs of the country first and the country choosing to be educated about the path the leaders are taking. Listening to Glenn Beck, reading the blogs online (left, right and center) and listening to other talk show hosts (both local, regional and national) leaves me wondering what chance freedom has in this atmosphere.

Paranoia, fear, selfishness, greed, anger, resentment . . . that just begins the list of emotions I am hearing and feeling thrown out around me. I know that the hope and the encouragement exist because I have experienced them first hand, but I do not SEE those!

The election for new leaders draws closer each day. The leaders should be people ready to invest it all for a moment and not those looking to launch a career. The country needs to understand the motives and desires of those being sent to lead and not just look at the R or D beside the name.

Think about it – if things do not change then we are just going to prove Glenn Beck right, and no one wants that do they?

As I sit and watch the memorial of 9/11, I am still struck by the awesomeness of God. 50,000 people worked in the World Trade Center towers, and that first strike marked plans that were underway to strike multiple blows at the heart of the United States. Had God’s hand not been on us that day, and had the fervent prayers of people around the globe not gone up, I can only imagine the devastation that would have prevailed.

I remember. I remember the tears, the need to be with my family and the gutting tearing desire to do something and knowing there was nothing I could do. I remember the love and compassion that poured forth from everyone, everywhere!

Each year I choose to turn on the news at the exact hour of the first attack. Staying in the heat of the moment helps me to continue to hold to the purpose that drives the fight. During the year, I let the words of the National Anthem and Pledge of Alliance spark memories of that one day and the many days of sacrifice that preceded it.

I will never understand the reasons that spark such hate. But I must not let that hate become the focus. The miracles, the hope and the unity have to be the things I see when the sun rises on days like today.

I will never forget – but I have to choose to live each day with a spirit that remembers and a heart that will reach for something better!

The “Star Spangled Banner” holds more than words that proclaim the anthem of this nation. The hope of a country can be found embedded in the verses of the song.

The radio theater broadcast from Adventures in Odyssey was playing on the radio as I drove. I got caught up in the story of the Revolutionary War and the Battle at Fort McHenry. The sounds and voices carried me back to that day and I felt the emotion of the dawn breaking and the light shining down on the Stars and Stripes. “Dawn’s Early Light” brought me to tears, and from that day forward the “Star Spangled Banner” did as well.

This morning I was reminded that the one verse most of us learn in school and sing at ball games does not even begin to touch on the story.

Lyrics for the “Star Spangled Banner”

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause. it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Knowing the history of our songs, our government and our people will help us continue to live the life of freedom and unity held in this amazing song! May the words from so many years ago inspire you for today.

Good, positive and uplifting thoughts and actions carry me through my day. Last year I discovered Glenn Beck, and his words encouraged me. I started taping his shows and signed up for his newsletter. My family also began to attend Tea Party events. The words about doing and changing were exciting.

The climate changed somewhere along the way. Turning on the news, even Glenn Beck, became a hate fest. All of the negative thoughts and words began to drag me down. So I turned it all off. I even stopped opening the emails sent to me regularly and just trashed them when they popped up.

A few days ago, I posted and article about Obama bashing. The negative talk had reached my breaking point. Enough was enough.

To my surprise, I was not the only one that felt the negative had gotten out of hand. Glenn Beck announced yesterday that he was changing his tune.

See, I can want something different from you and that does not make either of us bad people. My words can counter your idea – or even prove it wrong – and that does nothing to lessen you the person.

People are fundamentally good. That may be the optimist in me, but it is a statement that I hold true. Ideas may be wrong, because of misdirection, misinformation, or misguidance, but people are at their core good, positive and uplifting.

I vote in elections. Sometimes I will even openly support a candidate. But when the dust settles, I have to choose to get behind the PERSON that is elected even if I do not agree with the ideas. That means I can push against the ideas and even offer up my own ideas, but I should never attack the person.

The political season has just begun. America will only survive the chaos if we quit fighting and look for the good, the positive and the uplifting that we can all agree makes this country such an amazing place.

1. We have the freedom to have different views.
2. We have the freedom (and opportunity) to express our views.

There are so many more things that make this country great! What are the good, positive and uplifting ideas that you see?

My whole life centers around the positive. My kids hear the phrase “if you cannot say anything nice then do not say anything at all” so often that they will say it before I get a chance to say it. The family motto comes from Philippians 4:8.

I am also a conservative – deep down, hard core conservative. It may surprise you when I say that I am tired of people talking negative about President Obama. It shocks me a little that I am even writing the words because I agree with very little of what President Obama has done, has said or wants to do.

I do not know President Obama, nor have I ever even seen him in person. But I believe that he is sincere in his convictions. I still think he is wrong, but I do feel like he believes that he is correct in his ideals. Bash his ideas all you want, but quit talking about him.

President Obama has pushed for the health care plan – now known as Obamacare. He thinks that it will benefit the country. Trash the plan, not the President.

President Obama wants to placate the terrorists and the countries that support terrorists. Trash the idea that these people can BE placated, but skip the negative talk about the President.

I do not agree with the things that I see coming out of the White House, but I refuse to judge the man that puts those ideas out. Even if I had the privilege of meeting and getting to know President Obama, I could never truly know his heart.

My family falls at the low end of the income bracket. We have had insurance through work, been self-employed with no insurance and back around again. This time we are paying for our own insurance as a self-employed family.

My unique perspective of the health care issue does not stop at paying for insurance. I have worked in an office handling medical bills – which means I have dealt with all levels of insurance and seen how and what some of them pay. I also have a family of medical professionals – from x-ray equipment salespersons to nurses to surgeons to dentists.

From all of the angles that I have experienced, I can tell you whole heartedly that things are NOT perfect. I can also tell you that Medicare and Medicaid type programs (with the government in charge) are not the answer.

There are only two medical fields where the prices have gone down but the quality of care and technology has continued to go up – laser eye surgery and cosmetic surgery. Here the insurance does not pay so the clients/patients look for the best surgeons and the best deal.

In other words, when people have to pay for themselves or their family then they search out for the best options and the best deals. Doctors and businesses have to work to draw people to their offices. Everyone begins to do their part and the system begins to fix itself without the need for government intervention!

Mommy Patriots are just a few of the patriots that are taking a stand from all walks of life and from all corners of the country. These people are waking up to their responsibility for this land and for the future of the children.

Glenn Beck may have been one of the ones lighting the flame originally, but the ordinary people (maybe even the ones living next door to you right now) like the Sisterhood of the Mommy Patriots, are the patriots that are spreading the word that this country is ours and we have to take responsibility for its directions.

Any time spent watching the news might cause depression or at least the feeling of loneliness. It seems that no one thinks like I do. Many people have spent the last several years hiding their personal beliefs in an attempt to make life a little easier for them and for their family.

The time for a smooth ride is over. Mommy Patriots, Daddy Patriots and Children Patriots are coming together to give notice that they will be quiet no more.

The Sisterhood of the Mommy Patriots is just one of the outcomes from all that Glenn Beck has been talking back. These are mommies that have felt alone but are beginning to recognize that there are other Mommy Patriots out there. These Mommy Patriots are connecting through the internet and even local Tea Parties to discover that they are not alone and there is strength and power in numbers.

Mommy Patriot Sites

As A Mom is the main Patriot Mommy site and it also supports the 9-12 Project that was first ignited by Glenn Beck. It is “Network of principled mothers, grandmothers, daughters, & guardians of our nation’s children dedicated to the 9 Principles & 12 Values.”

See what started the Mommy Patriot movement.

Mommy Patriots and the other patriots that are fueling the Tea Party movements, the 9-12 Project and other ideas are concerned about the direction of the country. It will be interesting to see if the politicians hear their concern and act on it or wait for the full force of the Mommy Patriots to move from sea to shining sea.

College football was never my cup of tea. I never talked about it much – I am from the South and football down here is almost a religion. Two years ago I had the opportunity to write a column about Auburn football and other players and I met Kody Burns of the Auburn Tigers and Tim Tebow of the Florida Gators and Saturdays in the fall have not been the same since.

It can be easy to be worried about the future of the United States. The news shows bad news, panic and worry. But college football shows that hope is not lost.

Reasons Football Bring Hope to the United States

Tim Tebow – This quarter back already had a Heisman trophy and two National Championships under his belt. Many guys would be focused on their future in the NFL but Tebow came back to play with his team and for his team. He puts everything into the game with a sacrificial focus. He boasts only about his Faith, his God and his team and not about self.

Kody Burns – he left his family and home state of Arkansas to play football at Auburn. He played quarter back for two years before another team member won the position. He made an appeal to his team to support the decision and said he would do all that he could do to support the team. He showed leadership through high school and has carried those qualities over into college.

It may only be two examples so far, but there are more of them showing up every day – Kids that have character and values; Young men and women who have convictions and manners; People that are more concerned about the people around them and the future than they are self and the hear and now.

Times may be tough but hope is alive. Focus on the hope and the tough times WILL be overcome!