Two Clear Choices

                    We can strengthen our families, communities, and nations by practicing good communication skills.  Part of our communication should include our thoughts and feelings about different subjects.  Sometimes families and friends avoid certain topics - such as religion and politics, but strong families are capable of sharing religious or politics thoughts and feelings even in these areas.  I sent the following information to my children and siblings because I wanted to share what I know with them.  

          

I understand that some of you have different political ideas from mine, and I try really hard not to strain our relationships by discussing politics with you.  I awoke this morning with the definite thought that I should share with you some of my thoughts and feelings about the upcoming presidential election.

As you may know, I was never very active politically - other than voting in every election - until after the 2008 election.  I cannot say that I have become an activist, but I am much more aware of the happenings in our nation and world.  I made some big changes in my life in 2009.  I embarked on a journey to learn all that I could about our government, our history, and current events; I started my blog as a way to share what I learned.  I also began attending political meetings and joining organizations working for the good of our nation.  Two of those organizations are The Heritage Foundation, which stresses constitutional matters, and the National Rifle Association, which protects our Second Amendment rights.  I took my family to Chic-fil-a in support of their stand on traditional marriage.  I even made political donations for the first time in my life!  I am very concerned that we are about to lose our freedoms - particularly Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech - and that America will become a nation that we will not even recognize!

We have less than two weeks until our nation chooses a new President to lead us for the next four years.  The polls show that Americans are about evenly divided in our choice of a President.  I pray daily that God is watching over our nation and will help us elect the right man for our next President.  I plan to fast for our nation on November 4 and hope that you will join me in fasting and praying that the Lord's will be done.

                    For my scripture study this morning I read Helaman 6.  The prophet Mormon wrote that the Lord had blessed the Nephites and Lamanites for so long with "the riches of the world that they had not been stirred up to anger, to wars, nor to bloodshed; therefore they began to set their hearts upon their riches" and "to seek gain that they might be lifted up one above another" (17).  Mormon wrote that the Lamanites - who had become more righteous than the Nephites - took action when they learned that Gadianton robbers had infiltrated their society:  "they did use every means in their power to destroy them off the face of the earth" (20).  The Lamanites "did hunt the band of robbers of Gadianton; and they did preach the word of God among the more wicked part of them, insomuch that this band of robbers was utterly destroyed from among the Lamanites" (37).

                    The Nephites did the exact opposite thing and "did unite with those bands of robbers" (21).  The Nephites "did build them [the robbers] up and support them, beginning at the more wicked part of them, until they had overspread all the land of the Nephites, and had seduced the more part of the righteous until they had come down to believe in their works and partake of their spoils, and to join with them in their secret murders and combinations.

                    "And thus they did obtain the sole management of the government, insomuch that they did trample under their feet and smite and rend and turn their backs upon the poor and the meek , and the humble followers of God" (38-39).

                    You may well ask, what do the Gadianton robbers of the Book of Mormon - Another Testament of Jesus Christ have to do with the 2012 election.  Prophets and Apostles have told us for many years that the Book of Mormon was written for us to help us through the problems of our day.  Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught that "bands of Gadianton robbers will infest every land" in the latter days.  I do not pretend to know who belongs to those bands, but I do believe that some of them are active in the United States.  I believe that our nation is also in "an awful state, and ripening for an everlasting destruction" (40).  I hope that Americans are wiser than the Nephites were!

                    I believe that Barack Obama has been a terrible President in many ways          .  For a long time I thought that Jimmy Carter was the worst possible President, but I believe that Obama has far excelled him in every way.  Carter's policies weakened our economy and our foreign influence and endangered American lives; Obama has done much worst.  Obama has self-described communists working in his administration, and he welcomes members of the Muslim Brotherhood to the White House.  I suggest that you watch the movie "2016 - Obama's America" to help you connect the dots as to Obama's agenda and why he makes the decisions that he does.  America has been weakened during the first Obama term.  If he gets another term, he will continue the policies of the past four years and continue to weaken America; he may even accelerate the rate of destruction.  We must not forget the incidence of the open mike where he told a Russian representative to tell Putin to be patient:  he needed to get through this election but he would then have "more flexibility."

                     I hate to be the one to bring you the bad news, but Obama tells outright lies and then doubles down on them; then the main stream media helps him deceive the American people and has done so since his 2008 campaign.  If you are getting your news from the alphabet soup stations (ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR), you are not getting the information you need to have.

There are numerous examples of his lies that I could give to you, but the worst case was the situation in Benghazi, Libya.  On September 11, 2012, Islamic terrorists attacked our diplomatic outpost in Benghazi and killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens, two Navy SEALS, and an additional civil servant.  Our ambassador was not only killed, but he was also sodomized and pulled through the streets. 

The civil servants cried out for help, but no assistance was sent even though it was about an hour away in Italy.  Why were rescuers not sent?  Obama knew that it was a terrorist attack within two hours of the time it began, and the scenes were live-streamed into the Situation Room in the White House and State Department offices.  Why did Obama and his administration spend two weeks telling us that the deaths were the results of a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Muslim video when they knew it was a terrorist attack?

The most important job of the President of the United States is to keep Americans safe, but Obama

has failed in this responsibility.  He failed to protect our ambassador and his staff in Benghazi.  Our ambassador requested more security, but no additional security was given.  Who made the decision to keep additional security from going?

Leaked e-mails in recent days - six or more weeks after the attack - prove that Obama knew almost immediately that terrorists killed our people.  Why did he decide to lie about it?  There is some talk that our ambassador was running guns to members of the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda.  Why would the rebels kill a man who was supplying guns to them?  Why would the rebels turn on the nation that was helping them fight for independence?  Why were we helping them in the first place?  There is some talk that our ambassador was "set up" for a kidnapping so Obama could sweep in to rescue him to earn political points?  Was he set up?  Who set him up?  Why didn't the terrorists get the message that it was just a kidnapping?  There are many questions that have not been answered about the Benghazi incident, but the truth will eventually come out.  It appears that Obama was fully aware of the circumstances and let them continue; however, he cannot "own" this situation because it would show that his foreign policy was wrong.  It would prove that the death of Osama bin Laden did not stop al Qaeda from gaining strength.  I feel certain that more information on this incident will continue to come out!

The Benghazi debacle is just one example of Obama's failures of leadership; his

 Administration has numerous policies that have weakened our nation in several areas.  One specific area is the economy, which remains weak even though billions of dollars have been pumped into it.  Yes, we had economical problems before George W. Bush left office, but we can now put the responsibility for this economy right in Obama's lap because he has had four years to fix it.   We should all recognize that the policies of the Obama Administration do not work!  He has not helped America!  He did not follow through on his promises!  He blames the Republicans and the Tea Party for his lack of progress, conveniently forgetting that Democrats controlled the White House, the Senate, and the Houses of Representatives for two years.  There were not enough Republicans to stop him until after the 2010 election.  Obama had the job for four years, and he failed to be a leader!  It is now time to fire him!

                    In spite of the fact that Romney was not my first or even my second choice for a candidate, I now fully support him.  My faith in him continues to grow as I learn more about him.  I do not agree with him in all areas, but I can support him.  I consider him to be a much, much better candidate for the office than the current occupant of the White House.  I truly believe that Mitt is more qualified and better prepared to lead our nation at this time of trouble. 

As more and more people get to know the real Mitt Romney, his supporters continue to increase.  The latest big endorsement of Romney came from the Detroit News, which printed the following editorial.  

"President Barack Obama came into office in 2009 riding a wave of hope and change.  Unfortunately, he has not delivered on the nation's yearning for change nor on the specific promises he made to fix what is broken.  The president is asking the country to be patient, but his plan isn't producing results that would merit more patience, and the president hasn't spelled out what he would do differently in a second term.

"Hope and change are still what Americans are seeking.  This time, Republican challenger and Michigan native Mitt Romney offers the best hope of changing the nation's fate."

                    The editor then listed several reasons for his endorsement:  1) "Romney brings a credible plan." 

2) Romney brings a "solid resume." 3) The course of our nation.

1) "Romney brings a credible plan….  We expect that Romney will also employ a results-oriented approach and be ever mindful of his customer, the taxpayer….  We find Romney to be less partisan than the typical politician, and not bound by rigid ideology.  The nation will be best served if the entrenched disagreements of the past four years give way to cooperation and achievement. 

"We are confident that Romney will be focused on the bottom line, and will divert the United States from `the road to Greece,' ….  The Keynesian approach has not worked.  Despite an $830 billion stimulus and increased annual spending, the economic recovery is the weakest in post-World War II history.  Investors remain on the sidelines, afraid to put their money into job creating projects because of the uncertainty about future tax and regulatory policy.

"Romney's five-point plan for economic revival centers on energy independence, a goal that is finally achievable thanks to the natural gas boom and development of the Canadian oil sands; a better trained work force; trade that increases the demand for American goods and services; debt and deficit reduction, and promoting the growth of small businesses.  If implemented in urgent fashion, we believe the plan will work."

2) Romney brings a "solid resume…."  The editor listed all Romney's accomplishments (governor of Massachusetts, Olympics, and business experience) and explained why his resume is such an asset to him and to the nation.

3) "The course of a nation.  As we said, this is more than a choice between two individuals.  America is locked in a struggle over what it will be as a mature nation.  A country built on rugged individualism finds itself increasingly under the thumb of a federal government that is ever expanding its reach into the lives of its citizens.

"Obama has proved himself a disciple of the doctrine that for every problem there's a government solution.  Romney, by contrast, embraces individual initiative and entrepreneurship.  He would turn back the encroachment of the bureaucracy into the private sector.  Romney would replace the heavy hand of government with the invisible hand of a rational marketplace working to produce broad prosperity.

"While both poverty and dependency have increased on Obama's watch, Romney promises to replace government checks with private sector jobs and reverse the decline in middle class incomes.  It is heavy lifting, but we favor the candidate who is committed to it.

"Romney's goal is to help all Americans live independent and productive lives, free to rise to the extent of their personal capabilities.  He would not shield them from risk or the consequences of their decisions, but neither would he deny them their earned rewards.

"Our hope is that Mitt Romney would restore faith in the core principles of free men and women, free minds, and free markets that made America great, and will kept it so."

I found this editorial very interesting because it comes from Detroit, a city that endured the worst part of our recession.  Detroit is what we will all face if Obama is given another four years to "fundamentally transform" or destroy our nation.  I encourage you to read Atlas Shrugged to learn what happens to a society that is government-heavy.  Better yet, watch the two Atlas Shrugged movies. 

                   Americans have a clear choice as to which path they want our nation to follow.  The following video shows the two clear paths.  

I believe that our nation is heading into some tough times no matter who is elected as our next President.  We need a leader who will be honest with us, one who loves America, and one who knows how to lead.  Since we know that Obama lies most of the time, we cannot believe anything that he says and we cannot trust him.  I will personally vote for Mitt Romney, a man of integrity and optimism.  I hope that you will join me in voting for Romney as well as in fasting and praying for the good of our nation!

Please strengthen our families, communities, and nation through peacefully communicating your thoughts and feelings to your loved ones.