Impact with Sam Clovis

• Protecting the Bill of Rights
  

  I think a lot of you have received my latest Voice from the Plains newsletter where I offer some thoughts on the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  Perhaps the most compelling aspect of this small research note is that all the protections in the First Amendment overlap and at times are dependent upon each other.  Imagine how the right to assemble (and associate) might be affected if we did not have freedom of speech?  Imagine where all of these protections might come into play inside our churches.  The only protection in the First Amendment that might not apply in our temples, synagogues and churches might be the right to petition for redress of grievances.  Then, being in church is really about squaring the books with the Almighty, isn't it?

  The Obama administration and progressives across the country are scared to death of all of who believe the Constitution is not only still relevant but also a compelling and forceful part of what makes America exceptional.  The progressives cannot control us if we still have our faith.  This troubles them mightily.  To enslave, they must disarm us and render meaningless the moral authority of our faith.  Also, without the right to speak up, the right to assemble and its complement the right to associate and the right to have a free press, we would become enslaved almost over night.  The tyrannical minority would run roughshod over the faithful majority.  They have no power if we have God.

  As we get closer and closer to the election this November, keep in mind that the progressives and the Obama administration will pull out all the stops to win reelection.  They will lie (already doing it), cheat (ditto) and steal (have you seen the budget?) their way back into the corridors of power.  We must do all we can to stop them.

  Over the next several months, I will continue to advance ideas and thoughts about our Bill of Rights in my Voice from the Plains newsletter.  Please sign up if you are not a subscriber.  For those who are, please send my newsletters to everyone you think might like what is inside.  We must spread the word about the threat of progressivism and we must continue to recruit for the fight.

  
  
  
• No Dice on HHS Rules
  

  As could have been predicted, the bait and swith on the part of the administration to now force insurance companies to "pay" for reproductive services has fallen flat with the nearly everyone but the useful idiots on the left.  To paraphrase the general sentiment of all those affected by these rules--Does the President think we are this stupid?  He must, or he would have done something else.

  When the government tells private enterprise to do something--assuming they have the power to do so and in this instance they do not--consumers pay for whatever costs are imposed on the companies.  This cost is essentially a tax that we pay indirectly back to government.  We are not able to access our representatives on this, so it is essentially taxation without representation.  Seems to me we fought a revolution over things like that and religious freedom.

  Religious organizations will still have reproductive services as part of their health insurance plans even though "they" won't have to pay.  But who will pay?  Nothing has changed.  The religious institutions are still being asked to violate their doctrines to make sure that all women have access to subsidized reproductive services, to include morning-after abortion pills.

  The best road for the president and Secretary Sebilius to go is to withdraw the rules altogether.  Wait until after the election so as not to offend too many people by November.  Unfortunately, I think it is too late.  The president has revealed who he really is and what he really represents, so getting this genie back in the bottle is going to be problematic.

  If the president loses just 5% of the Catholic vote, 5% of the Jewish vote (and given his stance on Israel, that number is low), 5% of the female vote, 5% of the African American vote and 5% of the Hispanic vote, he is in deep electoral college trouble.  He may come close on the popular vote, but he and the democrats are going to get their clocks cleaned on election day.

  Perhaps we will look back in history and note that when a president tries to assume dictatorial powers to crush the Constitution, the American people would have reacted strongly against that individual and his or her party.  I am guessing the popularity of the president is going to slide into dangerous ground over the next month or so.  Ought to be interesting what happens.  Right now, the administration is like a cat trying to cover up poop on a marble floor.  Lots of action for very little results.

   

  
  
  
• Beware--This Contraception Thing Is Really Big
  

  Let me be blunt.  This recent blow-up between the Catholic Church and the Obama administration over the reproductive services mandate for health insurance policies is simply the camel getting his nose under the tent flap.  The ramifications of this ruling are profound and far reaching.  That is, if the Catholic Church compromises and the rest of the religious institutions and affiliates do not see this overt attempt to crush Constitutional protections for what it really is.  The progressives, hoping to keep this debate tactical and focused on the Catholic Church, are really after something considerably bigger.

  If the administrtion is successful in enforcing these new rules, the moral authority of the Catholic Church will be severely undermined.  The damage, however, will not be limited to the Catholic Church.  Now that the government can tell religious institutions that they must violate their time-honored doctrines, how long will it be before the government will come back to the churches and attempt to regulate what is taught and spoken from the pulpit.  Imagine a church that does disapproves of homosexuality or same sex marriage.  Will that church and all its affiliates now come under scrutiny for hate speech?  Will those pastors and administrators not be violating civil rights?  Will the "ministerial exemption" not be moot?

  After the administration dismantles the doctrines of the church, what is to say that the State will not tax the churches now, particularly if the churches maintain positions that are contrary to the ruling regime?  Would the churches not be considered political special interests and then lose that tax exempt status?  As many churches would simply go out of business, the progressives would have effectively dismantled all faith institutions through our inattention to the bigger picture.

  Individual liberty, the nuclear family, the primacy of faith and the strength of communities all threaten the progressive agenda.  To think that this contraception thing is limited in scope and dimension is to be foolish and naive.  At no time in history has any administration taken such brazen steps to undermine the primacy of faith in America.  This is something one might expect to see is some socialist dictatorship South America.  But no, we have it happening right here in the good old USA. 

  This is worth the expenditure of our wealth and our honor.  Inform everyone of the larger picture.  Do not be duped into thinking this is just a passing thing.

  
  
  
• Another Thing Jefferson Knew
  

  The intensity of the rift between the Catholic Church and the Obama administration of the recent DHHS rules on reproductive services is likely to get even more intense over time.  I think the administration will blink, however, and there will be some half-measure compromise offered that will help keep the Catholics firmly in the Obama camp.  Frankly, I cannot understand how any person of faith--Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Muslim or anything else for tha matter--would believe anything his president says.  He is amoral, thus his behavior indicates that he has no moral center and no moral compass.  He is, in a word, faithless.  Because he is faithless, he is Godless.  He does not believe in God, for if he did, he would behave differently.  Again, his actions say a lot more than do his words.

  Obama is simply the latest crusader against faith in this country.  His Black Liberation Theology, his socialist upbringing, his socialist ideology and his incredibly corrupt ideology have so influenced his thinking and judgment that he is incapable of seeing that what he is doing might be offensive.  The worst sin, however, is this brutal, sustained, deliberate and pernicious assault on the Constitution.  A person can do a lot of things in this country and get away with things, but taking after the First Amendment is not likely to bear the fruit one might think.  Try assaulting free speech and see what happens.  The left is usually leading the way in this area, except when that speech is directed at progressives.  Of course, the freedom religion will be honored as long as people of faith keep quiet and work with the State to help control citizens.  The State interference in the actions, doctrines and teachings of any church are an affront to all who are citizens of this nation.

  I have often written about the four pillars of American strength.  First, by way of review, is the individual and his or her free will.  Second is the dominance and beauty of the nuclear family.  Third is the primacy of faith.  Fourth is the need to for strong communities.  This assault on the Constitutional protections of religious freedom is a full four front assault.  The individual who adheres to a particular faith is being told that those beliefs are of no matter in Obama's State.  The family is not being regarded as the choice for using contraception is a choice--not a right dictated by government.  Further, that the government would require that these services be subsidized by everyone else is an insult of the highest order.  The orders from DHHS force church enterprises to violate the foundational doctrines of those religious sects.  This is oppression of religious beliefs and nothing could be further from the foundation of this nation.  People came here from all over the world to avoid governments like this one.  Where do they go from here?  Finally, these policies will rend communities and force more and more people to adhere to government coercion or face the full weight of the national government on them. 

  The President and his Secretary of Health and Human Services should apologize to the American people and, to show good faith, should step aside.  No one has been more destructive of the protections offered in our Constitution than this president.  He cannot uphold his oath of office and should, therefore, leave office so that someone who can support and defend the Constitution will do so.  If the president cannot do it, then he should say so and then move on.

  This November, the American people will have a chance to rid themselves of this Godless, feckless individual who is the least qualified person in any room into which he might go.  His attempts to transform America into something akin to Greece or Germany are not welcome and should be examined in the harsh light of day.  This president is a progressive nightmare that must be sent back to Chicago next January.  Of course, our unemployment numbers won't be a lot better, so maybe he will finally see what the rest of the nation has had to suffer under his administration.

  At no time in our history have we had to endure anything like this.  After the elections in November, we will not likely ever see anything like this again.  Do your part by doing one more thing.

  
  
  
• The Wall of Separation
  

  This morning, I finally got to a stack of material about the recent Department of Health and Human Services rules pertaining to "reproductive healthcare" mandates for all enterprises who offer health care insurance as a benefit.  This reproductive healthcare mandate is focused on the fact that insurance plans must offer contraception and some other services (read this services associated with abortion) with no co-pay required.  This means that all members of a healthcare insurance plan must subsidize these services.  As bad as that is, religious institutions, rather than be given a "ministerial exemption," must comply with these rules within one year.  Of course, this is anathema for nearly all religious institutions and the Catholic Church has decided not to take this without fighting back. 

  The Council of Bishops authored a letter to all dioceses that was to be read in mass this past weekend.  That letter states without qualification that the Catholic Church and its institutions will not comply with this set of rules.  The church simply cannot not and remain faithful to its doctrine and tenets.  Other church organizations will likely follow the lead of the Catholics.  One would hope so.

  In the letter to the Danbury Baptists, Thomas Jefferson made it clear that the central government should never breach that "Wall of Separation" between church and state.  That wall was intended to keep the government out of church business.  Subsequently, we have enjoyed over two centuries of keeping the state out of the pulpit.  That has changed with these rules.  Government cannot pass along rules that breach that wall and then not allow religion in our courthouses or in our schools.  This is not a one way thing.

  I do not think these rules will stand.  Approximately 30% of Americans are Catholic and they vote seven to three democrat.  Obama cannot believe that something so fundamental to the Church will not influence this situation.  If the Catholic vote goes 7-3 republican, Obama will be back in Chicago a year from now, trying to find work.  Let's hope the Catholic Church and other religious organizations find their voices and protest these rules in the most strident manner.