A Disturbing Poll
 
This week, the Wall Street Journal produced yet another poll that, sadly, shows what other recent polls have told us.  There is a virtual collapse in the fundamental, unifying values of faith, family and freedom, and it does not bode well for our nation.
 
Among those between the ages 18 to 38, there is little interest in having children (Family), waning interest in God/religion (Faith), and an alarming drop in patriotism (Freedom).
 
It is also no coincidence that these trend lines are associated with the growing power of the secular left and the rise of socialism.
 
A day doesn't go by without some Hollywood star or cultural elitist announcing that they won't have children because they just can't bring another person into the world that will consume and pollute.  (Seriously, you can read some of their stories here.  Their warped worldview is terribly depressing.) 
 
And, of course, the left is all in on destroying babies after they have been conceived.
 
The left's war on faith has been going on since the 1960s, and it shows no signs of letting up.  (The left has adopted radical environmentalism as its religion, and Big Government is its god.)  Those on the left are only interested in the Bible as long as they can distort it to promote socialism and more government. 
 
That's not hyperbole, folks.  Just last week, leading progressives gave a standing ovation to a pastor who declared:
 
"If someone calls it socialism, then we must compel them to acknowledge that the Bible must then promote socialism, because Jesus offered free health care to everyone, and he never charged a leper a co-pay. . .
 
"If you want to call caring for folks socialism, then the Constitution is a socialist document because it calls us to promote the general welfare and to establish justice."
 
First of all, Jesus was performing miracles, and socialism is hardly a miracle! 
 
Second, the Constitution is not a socialist document.  The Founders did not rebel against King George III because they wanted big government telling them what to do.  They rebelled because they wanted limited government and individual freedom.  If the Founders intended us to be a socialist nation, we would have been a socialist nation since 1789. 
 
This is horrible history and Marxism masquerading as theology.  

Perhaps this is the most depressing aspect -- the left's weaponization of history to attack America.  The teaching of history generally inspires patriotism by helping children understand the past and how their country overcame challenges.  But the left is turning our classrooms into battlefields to turn our children against America. 
 
They are teaching our children anti-American history -- that the nation of their birth is not "a shining city upon a hill" but an evil nation built on slavery and genocide.  Who would want to defend that?
 
If you wanted to come up with a poison guaranteed to destroy a nation, secularism and socialism would be key ingredients. 
 
This is just another reminder to talk regularly with your children and grandchildren as they start school and head off to college.  You can provide balance to the indoctrination they are likely receiving from left-wing professors and ideologues.
 
 
 
Lincoln's Warning
 
Long before serving as America's first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of his earliest known speeches in 1838, at the age of 28.  Known as Lincoln's "Lyceum Address," he warned that America faced a great danger.  Here's what he said:
 
"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? . . . Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow?  Never!  All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined . . . with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
 
"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? . . . If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.  As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
 
Lincoln was a prophet of sorts.  He clearly saw the coming Civil War.  He preserved the union of our states.  A united America would go on to help save the world from the evils of fascism and Soviet Communism.  But we should heed Lincoln's warning once again about being the authors of our own destruction.
 
 
 
Defending Religious Liberty
 
I am pleased to report that the Trump Administration has reversed Obama-era rules purging symbols of faith from VA hospitals and chapels. 
 
In a recent interview, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said he visited a chapel in a North Carolina VA hospital.  He was shocked to find that "there were no Bibles.  It had been stripped of the symbols of religion."  Wilkie added:
 
"I consider the spiritual well-being of our veterans, their spiritual health, to be just as important as the medical competence and technical competence of our doctors and nurses. They should have that fundamental right available to them to access chaplains, to access their Bibles."
 
The new orders issued by Secretary Wilkie rely heavily upon recent Supreme Court decisions, including the Bladensburg Peace Cross case. 
 
And here's more good news.  Last week, the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Christian videographers should not be forced to participate in same-sex weddings in violation of their deeply-held religious beliefs. 
 
Judge David Stras, a Trump appointee, ruled that Minnesota's Human Rights Act as applied in this case resulted in "compelled speech," which is constitutionally prohibited. 
 
Remember this the next time you hear someone say, "How does same-sex marriage affect you?"
 
This case is just another example of how the left's demand for "tolerance" was a ruse.  Tolerance does not suggest that you can force someone to do something. 
 
The left has no tolerance for conservative values.  It will not allow conservatives to live their values anywhere in the country.