founding fathers

Reflections on All Saints Day

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Feeling overly emotional today . . . on this November 1st. Perhaps because it’s All Saints Day. Or maybe because neither Roger nor I remembered he was on-call today (third weekend in a row – for the bonus round!) until well after last night’s football game. Imagine how HE felt at learning around midnight that he’d have to work today, starting at 6 a.m.! We’d planned a family work day at home today, beginning with outside winterizing like trimming trees and weeding flower beds, in preparation of “pansy/viola-planting” (my favorite flower b/c they are “happy”). Surely, it can’t be because the most important part of that darn announcement got edited out or that I couldn’t find the timely words (before the mid-term election) yet again for another article about the sad state of affairs in our country!

This is our second year to host the Williams family Thanksgiving gathering and a fair amount of preparation is required (I can’t even think about the inside of the house, yikes!). I agree with Southern Living magazine that Fall IS the South’s best season – I offer today in central Texas as evidence. It’s clear and the air is crisp, ripe with the sights and sounds of autumn. We awoke to temps in the 40s with the high expected near 70 degrees. I’ve always felt more “connected” to the world around me this time of year – likely why I chose to get married in October and honeymoon on the East Coast when fall foliage is in all its glory. My how twenty years flies!

Screen Shot 2014-11-01 at 1.17.07 PMRoger recently texted me this picture of a poster he spotted at work. It’s a quote from Mother Teresa, probably the most-noted of the modern day saints. I love what is says – words to live by – a sort of “how-to” for sainthood or “right-living”; the standard of right being the natural standard or what the Founding Fathers termed “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence. I love what the poster says but I love it more that Roger saw it, knew it would move me, and took the time to forward it.

It also reminds me of something I recently read in my favorite Lincoln book (so far). Lincoln was a “Clay man” – an admirer and follower of Henry Clay, author of the Missouri Comprise, which had as its purpose to phase out slavery by restricting its expansion into the new territories. Clay had known the Founding Fathers personally and he seemed to Lincoln the natural guardian of their great traditions. What Lincoln said of Clay applied also to himself: “He loved his country warmly, because it was his home; but he loved it even more because it was a free country.” Similar sentiments were echoed when Benjamin Franklin said: “Where liberty dwells, there is my country.” These early statesmen and model patriots sacrificed and served America because of the higher ideal she embodied and hopefully still does.

Reel Revealing: Were The Founders Surfers?

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Riding the ultimate surf in Point Break movie

Riding the ultimate surf in movie “Point Break”

After a brief trip to the lake to mark my husband’s last day of vacation, we plopped down in our family room and began watching “Point Break”, a movie starring Patrick Swayze as the ringleader of a group of surfers that don masks of ex-American presidents to rob banks. While resisting the obvious urge to draw parallels between the movie’s plot and reality (presidents defrauding an unsuspecting American public) I can’t resist highlighting some notably philosophical lines in the movie. In a dialogue with an undercover FBI agent Swayze’s character criticizes fellow surfers for their ignorance of the “spiritual side of the sea.” He characterizes riding waves as a state of mind, where you both lose and find yourself in the same moment. To achieve this sublime state requires total commitment – “no backing down, a rare quality in this world” – as you paddle out into the unknown sea. Further, the surfer reveals that his whole life has been about experiencing a rare moment when the legendary Fifty Year Storm produces the biggest surf the planet has ever seen off the coast of Australia and the ocean “lets us know how small we really are.” This oneness or accordance with nature Swayze calls the ultimate rush and counsels “if you want the ultimate you have to be willing to pay the ultimate price,” concluding that “it’s not tragic to die doing what you love.”

Uncertain how the surfer achieved this awareness of Natural Law, it is reasonable to conclude his knowledge did not come from modern American public education or Hollywood. More likely, he learned these fixed and discoverable laws – what Jefferson termed the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence – by observing his surroundings and recognizing self evident truths. He witnesses the hierarchal order of the universe – the natural ascension from man to the Divine – and acknowledges that living in accordance with the highest or ultimate things in nature is a very desirable thing – the most desirable state. This natural standard inspired the founding of America and gives rise to her constitutional form. Perhaps a more fitting question is how did the Founders learn about Natural Law? Was it by reading the “elementary books of public right” as Jefferson noted or were they surfers?

Culture: Why Madonna and other Celebrities Ought to be Conservative

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So I’m passing through my bedroom  in the rushed, morning ritual of getting 3 kids to schools on different campuses, at slightly varying times – this keeps it exciting – and a story on the morning news catches my attention.  (I leave the TV on while I dart in and out of my room hoping to stay connected to the outside world).  The story highlights Madonna’s support of a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Russia in protest of the Communist regime’s imprisonment of the female rock band, “P*ssy Riot.”  In fairness to the context of the story, I am not sure if the band’s imprisonment was the result of the Russian government’s attempt to (a) squelch their “First Amendment” rights (recall the First Amendment in America’s Bill of Rights guarantees five freedoms, one of which is freedom of expression); or (b) punish their lawless behavior – specifically, staging a raunchy riot in a church, no doubt vandalizing someone else’s property.  We’ll leave the topic of rights having corresponding responsibilities, like respect, for another discussion.

The first order of business it seems would be to remind Madonna that the incident occurred in Russia not America!  The American regime is unique among all the nations in that it is founded on the belief of the equal, natural rights of individuals.  This is what is meant by “American Exceptionalism” – America is the exception to the rule.  In America, uniquely, (we believe) government exists to secure these equal, natural rights, our Declaration of Independence eloquently states.  Hence, the Russian band enjoys no “First Amendment” protection because freedom of expression – or any other kind of freedom – is not guaranteed in a Communist regime.  (For a list of Communist regimes – past/present – consult Wikipedia or the t-shirt collections of many celebrities).  The collective State is supreme in such regimes NOT the individual.  And they employ force – not consent – to govern.  I submit the band’s two-year prison sentence and Obamacare penalties, as evidence. (force = employing the power of the state/gov’t. to ensure compliance)

Which brings me to my point about the ideology/politics of celebrities.  These are the people who make their living and whose vocation IS self expression – “the First Amendment incarnate.”  They should be the standard-bearers of the American regime AND free enterprise, which simply put, is freedom of expression in the marketplace.  In other words, celebrities ought to be Conservative not Progressive (synonym for liberal but more positive sounding).  Conservatives believe in the preservation of the Constitutionally-defined role of government, embraced in the American founding; Progressives want to get past or “progress beyond” this pre-defined role of government, in favor of an ever-expanding government role.

Personal Note: Reflections on Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and Addiction

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My kids and me: Anne (12), Ty (9 for a few more days), and Jack (14)

My kids and me: Anne (12), Ty (9 for a few more days), and Jack (14)

I made the call today.  As I was leaving my Pilates class I overheard one of my classmates asking our instructor how much weight she had lost, to which she responded 15 pounds.  I congratulated her and told her how jealous I was; then quickly left, jumped in my car, and dialed the number  for my “preferred” weight-loss program (the number was preprogrammed).  Nervously waiting as the phone rang I felt a sense of relief when a familiar voice answered.  I sheepishly asked her if the program took “repeat offenders” – the name I’d given myself as a feeble attempt to lessen my humiliation and embarrassment at being a “restart” TWICE!  Of course they take repeat offenders,  weight-loss being big business in a country where half the population is overweight!  (My commentary, not hers; she was very gracious and immediately put me at ease).  I scheduled my “work-up” for today – before I could change my mind.  So as of now I’m officially “on the wagon.”

Weight has always been an issue for me.  I went on my first diet when I was in 5th grade so I could wear “Luv-It” jeans – the original jeans with embellished pockets.  My weight was successfully maintained through Middle and High School, no doubt due to my “religious” commitment to healthily eating, avid water drinking, and frequent exercise.  Naturally I gained the “Freshman 15” (or 20) in college but was able to beat it back, despite being introduced to Diet Coke and late-night studying.  The status quo prevailed until I had children in my early and mid thirties.  Since then I have been a solid 40 pounds overweight except for a brief respite in 2009 when I initially enrolled in this particular weight-loss program at the occasion of my 40th birthday.  I lost 36 pounds but it was back in less than a year.

What I’m trying to say is this:  but for the grace of God I’m addicted to food and not heroin or alcohol!  I’ve actually had the thought that if I was an alcoholic I’d be a miserable drunk because I couldn’t stay off the bottle.  One taste is not good enough.  So I understand why they say “once an alcoholic always an alcoholic!”  Once an overeater . . . you get the picture.  But unfortunately I still have to eat, so moderation and portion control are a must.  It’s up to me to find a “framework” to achieve and maintain my goal – a healthy lifestyle of which proper weight is a byproduct.  This is the genius of America’s Founding Fathers.  They accurately assessed “flawed” human nature (self-destructive tendencies being one such flaw) and accounted for it in the republic they designed.   In a society based on self-rule, people will necessarily be given  a lot of power, particularly those popularly elected to govern over others.  But that power has to be limited and checked, in other words, carefully prescribed.   After much trial and error, the Founders devised our constitutional republic as the best form of government to maximize personal and public happiness.  The Constitution prescribes the optimal arrangement of political power to achieve a government of, by, and for the people.One of TLBCo.'s new designs for spring

One of TLBCo.’s new designs for spring

Culture: Are You Ennobled?

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While updating TLB’s Facebook page with the latest sales promotion, a familiar face flashed across my screen – the image of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Hot off the press was the news that the award-winning actor was found dead in his NYC apartment at the age of 46 of an apparent drug overdose.  Out of curiosity I “googled” the phrase “actor dies of drug overdose” and stared at the images of seemingly, endless photos of accomplished people – all shapes, sizes, ages, and colors.  Perhaps cliche to say, it’s nevertheless worth noting that talent, fame, and fortune are not guarantees of happiness.  They are fleeting.  And this is self evident.  So what is permanent?

The Founding Fathers had an answer for this.  With knowledge of Old Testament prophets, Ancient Greek Philosophers, and Christianity, they devised a government whose purpose is human happiness – the American Republic.  Carefully divided and arranged powers are based on “The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”, in other words, fixed and discoverable laws.  Citizens must “figure out what is true and good and beautiful and conform our lives to those standards that come from nature, do not change, and are not to be voted on”, according to Hillsdale professor Terrence Moore.  Advice worth considering.  And according to the founding claim, it ennobles the individual.

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