How Has Biden Done as POTUS and What Is the Real State of the Union?

 

How Has Biden Done and What Is the Real State of the Union?

            I chose Joe Biden as my VIP for this week because he is the worst President of the United States in the history of our nation. His first State of the Union address is schedule for tomorrow night, it is only fair to discuss how he has done as POTUS and how would you describe the state of our nation.

            Our nation is in a terrible position and picking up speed as it hurdles toward destruction. Biden has done more to destroy our nation than any group of presidents – including Barrack Obama and Jimmy Carter. I am not alone in my judgment of Biden, as shown by an early-February poll. CNN asked Americans about their opinion of Biden’s presidency and asked what he has done right since entering office one year ago. More than half of those polled could not produce a single success.

            According to Jarrett Stepman, Biden “is hitting record-low approval ratings for a president at this point in his term.” Americans are questioning his leadership ability because there have been “more than a few national challenges and outright catastrophes” that did not have to happen. They are “tied directly to the failures of this president and his political allies.”

1. Border Crisis

Security at the southern border has been an ongoing disaster, though one barely given coverage by the legacy media.

The massive spike in border crossings initially was excused by Biden allies in the media as a “seasonal” problem. It was seasonal all right: open-borders season….

2. Messy Afghanistan Withdrawal

Biden’s shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan was certainly one of the low points of his presidency and one of the lowest points of American foreign policy since the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War….

We clearly had a massive failure of intelligence, since the Afghanistan government collapsed, and the Taliban took over the country in just a few weeks….

3. Return to Energy Dependence

The Afghanistan mess wasn’t the only foreign policy debacle so far under Biden. Russia launched a major invasion of Ukraine in the days before the president’s State of the Union speech.

Unbelievably, former Secretary of State John Kerry, Biden’s climate czar, said the situation in Ukraine is worrying because Russia will be distracted from staying “on track” to fight climate change.

It’s an illustration of just how misguided the Biden administration’s priorities are.

Although the ultimate blame for the invasion remains with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden strengthened Russia’s hand with generally misguided energy policies….

These moves made the U.S. and its allies more dependent on Russian oil and natural gas. Biden now says the administration will pivot and place sanctions on Nord Stream 2. But what would things be like now if he pursued a course that signaled the U.S. is committed to energy production and dominance form the get-go?

 

4. Authoritarian COVID-19 Mandates

Remember when Biden said he would shut down the COVID-19 virus and not the economy? Well, most Americans now believe that COVID-19 is here to stay no matter what we. This after Biden reached beyond the powers of his office to force Americans to get vaccinated and tell states to enforce the most stringent mask mandates….

5. Crime Surge

American cities have experienced an explosion of violent crime since the summer of 2020.

It’s a trend that shows no sign of abating…

This trend coincided with – and almost certainly was exacerbated by – the “defund the police” movement….

Biden mostly has dodged the idea that radical policies embraced by his Democratic Party are to blame for this issue….

6. Rising Inflation

In July, Biden said inflation would be a temporary problem that his administration had a handle on….

Now we’re well into the new year and, if anything, inflation is getting worse.

For most Americans, inflation has become almost impossible to ignore….

Today, inflation is rising, not falling. And it’s been exacerbated by the policies of the Biden administration, rather than being lessened as it was in 1981 by the policies of the Reagan administration….

7. War on Parents

Violent crime is spinning out of control, but the Justice Department clearly doesn’t see that as the real threat to this country.

No, the real threat is parents who disagree with what’s happening in their local schools….

            Biden’s blunders are destroying America. However, I do not believe that Biden is in charge. He brought in numerous people that worked in the Obama administration, like Valerie Jarrett, who are in charge. Anyone with eyes to see can see that Biden is not capable of running his own family, let alone the United States of America. He is a puppet being used by those who are seeking to “fundamentally change” America.

Why Is Freedom Dependent on Self-Sufficiency?

            The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is the importance of self-sufficiency and self-reliance in maintaining freedom and liberty. Joe Biden has proven himself to be a worse President of the United States (POTUS) than Barack Obama, and Obama proved that he was inferior to Jimmy Carter, who was previously the worst POTUS in my lifetime.

Biden has damaged the United States more than any five previous Presidents, and he did it by destroying the self-reliance of America. Joseph Edlow described Biden’s efforts as follows. 

The Biden administration continues to take America down the unsustainable path of open borders and a welfare state for noncitizens. It has proposed a new “public charge” rule that greatly expands the types of government assistance immigrant applicants may receive without becoming a public charge. The administration is breathing new life into the old adage of never letting a good crisis go to waste.

With unprecedented numbers of illegal border crossers being allowed to remain in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed rule will ensure that most never face scrutiny as public charges, regardless of how many public benefits they receive.

Yet again, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says this policy change is consistent with our nation’s values. Apparently, the Biden administration no longer values self-reliance.

Self-sufficiency has long been a basic precept of American immigration law and policy. Since the late 19^th century, the United States prohibited entry to those deemed to be public charges. While Congress has taken actions consistent with that principle in almost every major piece of immigration legislation, the unwillingness to concretely define “public charge” has caused unresolved tumult and provided a gray area for those that administer our immigration laws. The Biden administration views this as an opportunity to now render it useless.

            Families are stronger when they are self-sufficient, and nations are stronger when they are self-sufficient. Biden has reduced America’s self-sufficiency by making us dependent on our enemies for oil. The Trump administration made us self-reliant in oil, and the Biden administration destroyed all their efforts the first week in power. If America is to remain free, we must be self-sufficient and self-reliance. 

Why Is Marriage Essential to God’s Plan of Happiness?

            My Come, Follow Me studies took me to Genesis 24-27, and I continued to learn about God’s covenant with Abraham. Part of the covenant included a promise that “all the families of the earth [shall] be blessed through Abraham and his posterity. (See Abraham 2:11.) God’s promise was a continuing one rather than one that could be fulfilled in one generation.

            God made the covenant with Abraham and renewed it with Isaac. The experiences of Isaac and his wife Rebekah teach us about being part of the covenant. They set examples of kindness, patience, and trust in God’s promised blessings. These chapters also teach us the importance of keeping an eternal perspective and not giving up eternal blessings for worldly “pottage” (Genesis 25:30).

            One of the principles taught in these chapters is that marriage is essential to God’s plan for the eternal happiness of His children. Satan works to destroy God’s plan, and he has influenced people in our day to put a low priority on marriage or even to consider it to be a burden. Abraham had an eternal perspective, and he considered the marriage of his son Isaac to be of highest importance.

            Genesis 24 tells us that Abraham was concerned that Isaac would marry a local Canaanite girl who would lead him away from God. Therefore, Abraham sent his most trusted servant back to the land of his family to find a suitable wife for Isaac. The servant thought that Isaac should go with him to the city of Nahor in the land of Mesopotamia, but Abraham told him no.

            The servant took ten camels from Abraham’s herd and left. He arrived at the city of Nahor in the evening and caused his camels to kneel down outside the city by a well of water. Then he prayed that God would help him to find the right damsel. He suggested a test to show him the girl: He would ask a girl to give him a drink, and the right girl would give him water to drink as well as draw water for his camels.

            Rebekah – daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham’s brother – came to draw water. She was a virgin and “very fair to look upon” (Genesis 24:16). She filled her pitcher with water, and the servant asked for some of her water. She gave him water to drink and then said, “I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking” (Genesis 24:19).

            The servant watched as she drew water for the camels and wondered if the Lord had led him to her. He gave her some jewelry and asked about her parents. He also asked if her parents had room enough for him to stay with them. She told him that she was the daughter of Bethuel and the granddaughter of Milcah and Nahor. She also told him that they had enough food and room for him, the men with him, and his camels. The servant offered thanks to God for guiding him to her.

            Rebekah ran home to tell her family about the man. Laban, Rebekah’s brother, ran out to meet the man at the well and to invite him to the family home. Dinner was prepared, but the servant refused to eat until he told them why he was there. He explained that he was Abraham’s servant, and Abraham was rich. He also told them that the Lord had blessed Abraham and Sarah with a son in their old age and that Abraham had sent him to their house to find a wife for Isaac in his father’s house. He explained how he had prayed and asked God to show him the girl, and that Rebekah answered his prayer.

            The servant told Laban and Bethuel to answer him truthfully and tell him if Rebekah could go with him. They agreed that God had guided the servant and that he could take Rebekah. Again, the servants offered gratitude to God. He “brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah” (Genesis 24:53). He also gave gifts to Rebekah’s brother and mother.

            After dinner, the servant suggested that he should leave the next morning, but Rebekah’s brother and mother wanted the damsel to remain with them for ten days and then go. The servant did not agree, and they suggested that Rebekah should make the decision. They called Rebekah and “said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go” (Genesis 24:57-58).

            The family sent Rebekah, her nurse, and her damsels with Abraham’s servant and his men. “And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them” (Genesis 24:60). The next morning, Rebekah and her damsels left with the servant and rode on the camels.

            Isaac was out in the field when the entourage arrived. When Rebekah saw him, she asked the servant about him. When the servant answered, “she took a veil, and covered herself” (Genesis 24:65).

66 And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.

67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death (Genesis 24:66-67).

            The importance of marriage and family are being taught by prophets and apostles in our day. Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught the following:

A family built on the marriage of a man and woman supplies the best setting for God’s plan to thrive—the setting for the birth of children, who come in purity and innocence from God, and the environment for the learning and preparation they will need for a successful mortal life and eternal life in the world to come. A critical mass of families built on such marriages is vital for societies to survive and flourish. That is why communities and nations generally have encouraged and protected marriage and the family as privileged institutions. It has never been just about the love and happiness of adults.

The social science case for marriage and for families headed by a married man and woman is compelling. And so “we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.” But our claims for the role of marriage and family rest not on social science but on the truth that they are God’s creation. It is He who in the beginning created Adam and Eve in His image, male and female, and joined them as husband and wife to become “one flesh” and to multiply and replenish the earth. Each individual carries the divine image, but it is in the matrimonial union of male and female as one that we attain perhaps the most complete meaning of our having been made in the image of God—male and female. Neither we nor any other mortal can alter this divine order of matrimony. It is not a human invention. Such marriage is indeed “from above, from God” and is as much a part of the plan of happiness as the Fall and the Atonement (Liahona or Ensign, May 2015, 50-53).

            God ordains marriage between a man and a woman. He has also provided a way that marriage and family can last for eternity. Marriage and family are essential for the eternal happiness of God’s children.

Why Is Insurance Necessary for Financial Security?

            Families are stronger when they have sufficient insurance, and strong families strengthen communities and nations. I put together a chart showing the different types of insurance that are essential for the financial security of families. I hope that it is helpful for you to understand the importance of carrying adequate insurance.

 

       Insurance Type                Who Needs This?         When Do They Need It?

Homeowners Insurance	Anyone who purchases a home or has property to protect.	Before signing the loan when a home or property is purchased.
Renters Insurance	Anyone who rents an apartment, house, or storage unit and has items worth a lot of money. Sometimes when renting a car	At the beginning of the rental period and even while moving in and cancelled after moving out. Before driving the car.
Life Insurance	Anyone who has someone who is dependent on their income or labor, including breadwinner and stay-at-home spouse.	As soon as they have someone who is dependent on their income or labor.
Auto/Car Insurance	Anyone who owns a vehicle. Full coverage for newer cars and eliminate comprehensive and collision for older vehicles.	Insurance should be purchased as soon as a new or used vehicle is acquired.
Health Insurance	Anyone who is over 18 years of age and is not covered under their parents’ insurance.	At age 18 or when other coverage ends.
Disability Insurance	Anyone who depends on earned income or has someone dependent on their income.	When they start working and earning an income. Risk of disability higher than risk of death.
Long-term-care Insurance	Anyone who is concerned about long-term-care expenses.	While healthy and working or at time of retirement.

 

When Will Truth Prevail?

            The Trump haters are out in full force again and are blaming President Donald Trump for the invasion of Russia into Ukraine. The ironic fact of the matter is that Russia went into Crimea during the Obama administration and invaded Ukraine during the Biden administration but made no such moves during the four years that Trump was President of the United States.

            David Harsanyi also finds this fact ironic. After listing several headlines blaming Trump for the invasion, he wrote that similar comments from so-called experts can be found across social media. He suggested that Trump’s “most passionate antagonists must be slightly curious” about why Putin did not make any moves during the Trump administration. 

What better time could there have been for an invasion or annexation? Why now and not then? Then again, the notion that President Joe Biden has shown firmness or deftness on foreign policy is at odds with not only recent events – most notably the disastrous pullout from Afghanistan – but also 50 years of his history.

            Harsanyi then proceeded to give example after example of how “Biden has been relentlessly wrong” in his foreign policy.

… In 2009, Biden went to Munich and delivered the Obama’s administration’s first major foreign policy speech, arguing that it was “time to press the reset button” after eight years of purported American antagonism toward Russia.

It was Biden who then spearheaded the effort to reward Moscow by giving Russia access to the World Trade Organization….

Biden loves to take credit for Obama-era foreign policies. Well, it was the Obama administration that also spent years trying to kill the Magnitsky Act, which listed corrupt Russian officials and barred them from American financial markets, before bipartisan pressure compelled them to flip-flop.

In his book “Red Notice,” Bill Browder, the driving force behind the act, wrote that “ever since Barack Obama had become president, the main policy of the U.S. government toward Russia had been one of appeasement.”

Even before Obama was caught on a hot mic telling Putin puppet Medvedev that he would have more “flexibility” on missile defense after the 2012 presidential election, he had already canceled long-promised missile defense systems to our allies in Poland and the Czech Republic.

It was the Trump administration that approved the sale of Patriot missile system to Poland. For that matter, it was Trump who, finally, approved the sale of defensive lethal weapons to Ukraine.

            As you may remember, Democrats mocked Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012 when he said that “Russia was our top geopolitical threat.” It was Biden who went on the Sunday shows to depict “the Putin kleptocracy as a burgeoning ally and partner.” “Though ‘we have disagreements with Russia,’ Biden noted, they were ‘working closely with us’ on a slew of issues. ‘This is not 1956,’ he scoffed, a few years before Putin’s special forces dropped into Crimea.” Harsanyi was not finished with his examples.

Obama also allowed Russia to operate with impunity in Syria, almost surely to protect the prospects of the Iran nuclear deal. Trump, unencumbered by the need to kowtow to the Iranians, killed a few hundred Russian mercenaries in Syria.

            Biden bragged during the 2020 presidential election that Putin’s “days of tyranny and trying to intimidate the United States and those in Eastern Europe are over.” According to Harsanyi, Biden has “done little to uphold his promise of deterring Russian expansion” and continued to give more examples of Biden’s blunders.

In his first year in office, the president who promised to stop “rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions” killed the Keystone pipeline, which would have left us less susceptible to the vagaries of the international energy market.

Biden also strengthened Putin’s hand by waiving Trump-era sanctions on a company building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany. Last year, Biden sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the Arctic Council for another shot at a “reset,” in which, as Bloomberg explained it, “Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin can reinvigorate U.S.-Russia relations that have been in a deep freeze for years.

            With all Trump’s faults – and he has plenty, his foreign policy of “peace through strength” was far more successful in keeping America safe and strong than Biden’s policy of appeasement. As the facts listed above illustrate, this appeasement policy “has been a 15-year project.” Putin is no dummy, and he obviously recognized that “this is the time to strike.” The real problem is that Biden’s policies – foreign and domestic – are digging America into a hole that is getting deeper and deeper as time goes along.

Has World War III Started?

            Thursday at 5:00 a.m. local time, Vladimir Putin, the president of the Russian Federation, announced that Russian troops had invaded Ukraine. The invasion followed the Monday announcement that Russia recognized “the independence of two regions where pro-Russian troops had held a presence for years.” 

            As his reason for invading Ukraine, Putin said that Russia was using military power to “demilitarize Ukraine because of the threat of it joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.” Then he put the blame for “the possible bloodletting” on “the conscience of the current Ukrainian regime.” He claims that he has “Truth and strength” on his side and that Russia does not intend to occupy Ukraine. However, these statements contradict earlier statements that “Ukraine was an invention of Russia.” He lamented that “the old Soviet republics should not have been allowed to leave Russia.”

            Loud explosions were heard near Kiev after Putin’s announcement. The parliament in Ukraine voted to ease gun restrictions, which allows the people of Ukraine to defend themselves and their country with guns. President Joe Biden has shown weakness since he became president. He done little and acted slowly to order economic and financial sanctions against Russia. Now he is consoling Ukraine.

“The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” wrote Biden.

“President Putin has chosen a premediated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way,” he continued.

“The world will hold Russia accountable,” Biden added.

            Russia, China, Iran, and other bullies in the world were held back from action by President Donald Trump. However, they recognized the weakness in Biden and started making moves. We must remember that Barack Obama was President of the United States when Russia took Crimea. America needs strong leaders for its own safety as well as the safety of the world.

What Should the U.S. Do About Ukraine?

             Russian forces have been moving to the Ukraine border for several months and advanced into Ukraine last weekend. Now, there are nearly 200,000 Russian military troops almost surrounding Ukraine. Americans are asking why Ukraine is important to us. Alexis Mrachek is a research associate on Russia and Eurasia at The Heritage Foundation and has some answers.

1. Increased Energy Prices

A further Russian invasion of Ukraine could continue to put pressure on energy markets globally and in the U.S.

Oil and natural gas prices are at multiyear highs for Americans, driving up costs for heat, power, and transportation….

… Russia is the No. 2 producer of natural gas and No. 3 producer of oil in the world.

2. Violent Spillover onto NATO Allies

Americans should care because if a major war breaks out in Ukraine, it could spill over to neighboring countries.

Wars by their nature are messy and rarely respect political borders. This could have an enormous economic impact on the U.S. …

3. Sovereignty, Secure Borders, and Self-Defense

Americans should care because of what is referred to as the three S’s: sovereignty, secure borders, and self-defense. These pertain to Ukraine just as much as to the United States.

In regard to Ukraine, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country should be prioritized and protected. In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine. And since that year, Russia has illegally occupied Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, which accounts for approximately 7% of Ukraine’s landmass and more than half of its coastline, and continues to stoke a were in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

And right now, Russia is threatening to violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity even more so. This is typical of Russia….

Self-defense also matters to Ukraine just as much as it matters to Americans….

Secure borders are also important Ukraine, as they are to the United States….

4. Putin’s Invasion Undermines Democracy

Finally, Americans should care about the situation in Ukraine because Putin has been doing everything he can to undermine our interests for the more than 20 years he has been in power over Russia. Ukraine has expressed a desire to emulate the U.S. and has put in place a working democracy….

What Happens in Ukraine Affects Us All

Don’t believe any false narratives saying the U.S. shouldn’t care about what is happening in Ukraine. The U.S. cannot ignore the situation. When you consider the factors outlined above, the situation hits close to home. What happens with Ukraine affects us all.

            Putin is wrong at every level to invade Ukraine. He is a bully who is threatening world peace. The only way to stop him is by force. President Donald Trump had him stopped, but President Joe Biden is too weak to do anything.

Who Was the Candy Bomber?

            My VIP for this week is Gail “Hal” Halvorsen who passed away last week at age 101 years. He is otherwise known as the Candy Bomber because he started dropping candy to the children around the landing strips as he flew in the Berlin Airlift. His gesture of kindness brought adoration from thousands of children in Berlin and gratitude from Germany and the United States. His actions also helped to heal the wounds of World War II. His story is remarkable. 

After the war, the defeated state of Germany was partitioned into zones administered by the victorious Allies. The American, British and French sectors combined to form West Germany. The Soviet sector became East Germany. Within East Germany lay the city of Berlin, which also was divided into two sections, east and west, eventually separated by the wall that came to represent the Iron Curtain that had fallen across Europe.

From June 1948 to May 1949, in one of the first major confrontations of the Cold War, Moscow blockaded West Berlin, blocking rail and road access to that part of the city. More than 2 million West Berliners, deprived of food, fuel, medical supplies and other basic necessities, faced starvation.

The Berlin airlift, one of the most massive humanitarian aid missions ever undertaken, circumvented the Soviet blockade by delivering goods to West Berlin by plane. More than 278,000 flights into Berlin — including 190 by Mr. Halvorsen, The Washington Post reported in 1998 — delivered more than 2 million tons of supplies to the city over 15 months. The accounting of casualties varies, but at least 70 American and British airlifters were killed during the operation, which ran day and night in often hazardous conditions, with planes sometimes landing every three minutes.

            Halvorsen volunteered to fly in the Berlin airlift and began making deliveries. On one delivery in July 1948 at the Tempelhof airfield in West Berlin, he met a group of children who were outside the barbed wire divide. He could tell that they were hungry, and he offered everything that he had in his pockets – two sticks of gum. He tore the two sticks of gum in half and gave them to four out of the thirty children. They were thrilled with the smell of the wrapper. He promised that he would return the next day and drop chocolate and other goodies. He told him that he would wiggle the wings of his airplane, so they could know it was him. He became known as Uncle Wiggly Wings.

            Halvorsen went back to his base and collected candy rations from other airmen. He attached them to handkerchiefs to float them down to the children. His continuing candy drops attracted other children and a German journalist. He had not consulted his superiors before making his candy drops because he knew about the bureaucratic red tape. He was “dressed down” by his commanding officer for making unauthorized drops. There may have been talk of a court-martial, but then the officer told him to carry on with his “good idea.”

            With official permission, Halvorsen’s private project became Operation Little Vittles, and “American candymakers donated tons of sweets for the effort.” Headlines were written about the operation, and cheers came from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. “By the end of the airlift, pilots had dropped a reported 23 tons of candy over West Berlin.” The operation taught the children in Berlin that Americans were not the bad people who had destroyed their nation, but good people at heart.

Will Democracy Destroy the Progressive Movement?

             The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns freedom of speech and the consequences of using it. Freedom is the opportunity to use our God-given right to choose for ourselves. However, freedom does not excuse us from the consequences that come from speaking freely.

            The progressive wing of the Democrat Party has pushed and pulled the party to the left with policies like defunding the police, renaming schools, and toppling statues. America does not like the direction that the nation is headed and is striking back. Now top Democrats are blaming the progressive wing for damaging the party and sinking Democrat chances in the midterm election. Left-wing progressives are lashing out at Democrats for putting the blame on them.

            The party in power always faces the prospect of losing seats in the midterm election. This year, Democrats have more seats up for election than do Republicans. Recent polls show that Democrat chances are getting worse as their policies are rejected by Americans. One obvious sign is the recall of three progressive members of the San Francisco school board. According to Carlos Garcia, this is how progressives responded. 

While the aides to the squad members didn’t comment for the report, some of the congress members responded on Twitter.

“In case you hadn’t caught on by now, every time there’s a media push blaming progressives, there’s something conservative Democrats are trying to cover up. This time it’s that they sent 4 million kids into poverty because they killed the Child Tax Credit. Don’t get distracted,” replied Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.).

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded with an emoji symbol of agreement, but in her own tweet, she blamed capitalism for the report.

“Truly wild how these folks called the shots & got their desired nominees, agenda, priorities, legislative order, and excluded us from participating in campaigns yet find no shortage of ppl willing to write as their uncritical stenographers. This is how capital & power works folks,” she tweeted.

Others on social media responded by called the report “racist and sexist.”

The social media kerfuffle is just the latest in the battle waged by far-left progressives to wrestle control of the Democratic party away from the centrist establishment wing.

            Progressives are not willing to admit that their policies are troublesome. Instead, they choose to blame other people and call them names. They do not seem to understand that their heavy use of such words has rendered them meaningless. If everyone is sexist or racist, then no one is.

The ultimate Hail Mary cry is that democracy is at fault. Democracy allows Americans to state their opinions and to vote their consciences. Socialists do not want Americans to have freedom and push policies to destroy it. More people can see what leftists are doing to America, and they are fighting back. I agree that the loss of progressives in San Francisco is the result of democracy – people using freedom to choose their representatives.

Do You Trust God Like Abraham Did?

            My Come, Follow Me studies this week took me to Genesis 18-23 where I found more about Abraham and Sarah. Abraham had a vision where he learned that we are on earth to be tested “to see if [we] will do all things whatsoever the Lord [our] God shall command” (Abraham 3:25). In fact, his life was filled with both heartbreaking and heartwarming experiences.

            I was told once that big people are given big tests, and Abraham was tested mightily. He was given such a big test that we often refer to difficult trials as “Abrahamic tests.” He was told that he would have a large posterity, but he and Sarah remained childless into their old age. After the long-promised Isaac was born, Abraham was commanded to sacrifice him.

            Abraham trusted the Lord, and he proved faithful. We know that Abraham’s test was for his benefit because God already knew what Abraham would do. God also knows how you and I will meet our tests. Will we prove faithful and put our trust in God? Elder Melvin J. Ballard put Abraham’s greatest challenge this way.

You remember the story of how Abraham’s son came after long years of waiting and was looked upon by his worthy sire, Abraham, as more precious than all his other possessions, yet, in the midst of his rejoicing, Abraham was told to take this only son and offer him as a sacrifice to the Lord. He responded. Can you feel what was in the heart of Abraham on that occasion? You love your son just as Abraham did, perhaps not quite so much, because of the peculiar circumstances, but what do you think was in his heart when he started away from Mother Sarah, and they bade her goodbye? What do you think was in his heart when he saw Isaac bidding farewell to his mother to take that three days’ journey to the appointed place where the sacrifice was to be made? I imagine it was about all Father Abraham could do to keep from showing his great grief and sorrow at that parting, but he and his son trudged along three days toward the appointed place, Isaac carrying the fagots that were to consume the sacrifice. The two travelers rested, finally, at the mountainside, and the men who had accompanied them were told to remain while Abraham and his son started up the hill.

The boy then said to his father: ‘Why, Father, we have the fagots; we have the fire to burn the sacrifice; but where is the sacrifice?’

It must have pierced the heart of Father Abraham to hear the trusting and confiding son say: ‘You have forgotten the sacrifice.’ Looking at the youth, his son of promise, the poor father could only say: ‘The Lord will provide.’

They ascended the mountain, gathered the stones together, and placed the fagots upon them. Then Isaac was bound, hand and foot, kneeling upon the altar. I presume Abraham, like a true father, must have given his son his farewell kiss, his blessing, his love, and his soul must have been drawn out in that hour of agony toward his son who was to die by the hand of his own father. Every step proceeded until the cold steel was drawn, and the hand raised that was to strike the blow to let out the life’s blood.” (“The Sacramental Covenant,” New Era, Jan. 1976, pp. 9–10.)

            Abraham understood and hated human sacrifice. In his early life, his father was instrumental in Abraham’s being put on the altar and rescued by an angel. He surely must have had questions about why God would test him in this way. However, Abraham did as he was commanded, and God accepted of his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. At the last second, God provided a ram for the sacrificial offerings and saved Isaac’s life.

            The Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ adds depth to the story of Abraham and Isaac. In Jacob 4:5, we learn that Abraham’s willingness to offer up Isaac is “a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son.” Most people can clearly see the similarities between Abraham’s test and the sacrifice made by Heavenly Father. However, they miss the precise details in this teaching experience with Abraham, some of which are as follow:

Abraham is obviously the similitude of Heavenly Father. Even his name points in that direction: Abram means “exalted father,” and Abraham means “father of a great multitude” (Genesis 17:5). Both meanings apply to Heavenly Father.

Isaac represents the Son of God, and his name means “he shall rejoice.” Both Isaac and Jesus Christ had miraculous births.

The two acts of sacrifice took place in the same hill system. Isaac was offered on Mount Moriah, and Calvary was a higher point located several hundred yards to the north.

Isaac carried the wood for the burnt offering up Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:6). Jesus Christ carried the cross on his shoulders (John 19:17).

            Most of us can relate to the experience of Abraham and Isaac more than the sacrifice made by the Father and Son. However, Abraham’s test was a similitude of the sacrifice made by the Father.

Is America Inherently Racist?

            There are people living in the United States who claim that America is inherently racist. They argue that the Revolutionary War was fought for slavery and that America has been racist since its day of founding. They use the argument of “original sin” of slavery to begin their argument, and they continue it with the way Indigenous people were treated, segregation, and Japanese internment camps.

All these events took place in the United States, and all of them are bad. However, they are not proof that systemic racism and white supremacy are inherent in American life. Ari Blaff does not agree with these arguments, and he gives one example to prove his point. 

But a curious phenomenon has been silently unfolding against this intellectual backdrop. Immigrants the world over – from South America and the Caribbean to Africa – are still coming to America in search of a better future for themselves and their children. As a native Canadian now traveling in the U.S., I have been curious about this seeming dichotomy and what it says about the nature of racism in America.

Following the relaxation of U.S. immigration policy in the 1960s away from racial preference, Black immigration to America in particular climbed sharply. According to the Population Reference Bureau, the foreign-born Black population in America increased seven-fold in the next two decades. Between 1980 and 200 it tripled again. By 2013, Pew Research Center reported that Black immigration had more than quadrupled since 1980.

The latest studies now place the Black immigrant population around 4.6 million by 2019, nearly double the community’s size in 2000. The figures are even larger for Latin American immigration. In 2018, an estimated 44.8 million immigrants were living in the United States with more than half coming from Mexico or Latin America, according to a Pew Research Center report.

These numbers are difficult to square with the rhetoric of some writers today.

There’s no question that racism is still a problem in the United States and beyond. But if America remains an unabashedly white supremacist state, as some claim, it’s worth asking why millions of Black and Latino immigrants would desperately see entry?

More specifically, why bother immigrating to a country in which leading intellectuals maintain that all aspects of life are structurally aligned against people of color? If the answer is that economic incentives outweigh the purported systemic racism, it’s worth asking whether economic incentives aren’t also evidence of opportunity. Immigration as measured by “foot voting” is one way to discern how individuals and families answer these questions for themselves….

It's not just the success of immigrants, but also that of native-born citizens in the United States that challenge the rhetoric emanating from cloistered academics today. Warts and all, the American Project continues to lift individuals and families of all shades to previously unimaginable heights.

            It is remarkable that a non-citizen from Canada is one to recognize that reality is different than what some people are claiming to be. America cannot be as bad as the socialists and Leftists assert. Otherwise, people of color would not risk rape, injury, and death to come. America has seen days when we did not live up to the ideals of Constitution, but America is not inherently racist. America is not perfect, but Americans are still moving to the ideals of the American idea.