When the Cash for Clunkers plan was first announced, it appeared to be a flawed plan right from the start. There were some obvious problems with the scheme to get people into more politically correct green friendly cars. With the plan only a few days into operation, the plan has successfully seduced so many more people to trade in there bigger, safer cars to snag their share of taxpayer or Chinese money that the initial billion dollars has already swirled down the drain. The government is busy patting itself on the back and proclaiming the program a total success. But is it?

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 54% of the voting public was against the plan while 35% favored it. Among those with a little more financial interest, 62% of investors thought it should not be done... and an even 50% of all respondents felt that if they were going to run a program like this, it should be restricted to American made cars. However, like so many programs coming out of our nations' capitol... bailouts, health care and all sorts of things we haven't even been told about, the desires of the people... as in “We the People”... have been ignored in favor of elitist programs and schemes to involve the government in more areas of our lives.

Let's look at what really took place in our country. Thousands of buyers have happily driven away from lots in their shiny new or late model cars, with salesmen and women tallying their skyrocketing commissions and dealers themselves hoping they were going to see the promised money. The scenario fits perfectly the thinking of the current administration... transferring dollars to supposedly disadvantaged or favored and adding burdens to evil business owners.

Several dynamics were at work in each transaction... let's look at them.

The most obvious action was people who may have been thinking of replacing their current mode of transportation for a new one saw the incentive of having their fellow citizens chip in to help pay for their car. Often, these were people who could already afford a car and perhaps were planning to buy one in the next year or two. This program just compressed the process. I guess it goes back to the definition of fairness promoted by many in our government for many years... that someone else pays for my benefit. It's human nature... and not the nicest side of it.

However the they are not home free with no down side. In many cases, people have traded in a functioning automobile that carried no payments for another, probably better car, with significant payments. In other cases, some who could not quite swing the deal for the car found a way, with the incentive, to squeeze it into their budget. At a time when people are trying to cut down on their debts, these buyers have been convinced to join the federal government in increasing their monthly expenses in spite of increasingly insecure employment situations. We saw what happened when easy terms and low interest rates drew more and more people into the housing market who should not have been there... to the detriment of the themselves, lenders and our country in general. One has to wonder if this is just a repeat of a foolish strategy that may drive us into even more negative circumstances.

The salesmen are loving the increase in sales at car lots that have been devoid of customers for months. Customers have been waiting in line just to talk to one of these purveys of economical transportation. Assuredly, they will see some massive checks, but at what cost? Customers may have bought their new car next month, or a few months down the road, even into the next year. So we see a spike in sales this week at the cost of many future sales that would have given them a steady income over the months to come.

The dealers are seeing cars roll off their lots in, sometimes, record numbers. They have been told to sell the car, fill out the 1040 type forms, and wait for their payments... if they are approved. Already reports are coming in that submissions are being rejected... meaning the dealer is not getting the money. With hundreds of thousands of cars on the streets through this program combined with the efficiency and effectiveness of the government in getting payments out the door... this could conceivably be responsible for closing more dealers than the auto companies themselves as, essentially, the dealers have to pay off new cars coming out of their floor plan, pay commissions to salesmen and cover a variety of costs of doing business. The more successful they are, the more they are depending on the government to keep its word in a timely manner.

The cars themselves show the desire of the administration to destroy anything they just don't like. They're not all junkers... some are decent transportation for someone without a lot of money, yet, but terms of the agreement, they must be destroyed withing a few days... long before any payments will be received from our Big Brother in Washington. They cannot even be sent to junk yards for salvage, but are destined to be crushed and melted down. So strong is their desire to remove these politically incorrect vehicles from the streets, our “benefactors” don't have any concern for the less financially well off they claim to want to help by shrinking the supply of inexpensive vehicles.

The administration, and even some Republicans who should know better, are touting the plan as a massive success, to the point of looking for an additional two billion dollars from the American people beyond the initial one billion allocated to the plan. All one can do is only look back at one of the gravely voiced Everett Dirksen's favorite quotes, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.” Unfortunately, the damage goes far beyond the dollars down the drain.

Four hundred Pace High School students in Santa Rosa County FL defied the bullies from ACLU by standing and reciting the Lord’s Prayer during their graduation ceremony on June 4. The Anti-Christian Liberties Union got worked up into a tizzy when days before, the principal had the audacity to permit a blessing at a dinner function. This should not be, they warned the school. Food must be eaten unblessed. In demanding the school censor any student religious expression, they created a situation where no student was permitted to have any part in the program.

Benjamin Stevenson, an attorney for the ACLU whined, “Our feeling is that it’s regrettable that the students took over the ceremony to impose their religious views on the audience who may not have shared the same religious views. School officials have a responsibility to protect the silently held religious views of others.”

Translated, this means that imposing the secular religion must be done at the expense of those who chose to recognize God in public. I would venture to say that Mr. Stevenson, Esq. Would have been smacked senseless by most any of our founding fathers who saw recognition of our creator and protector as a necessary part of public life.

By sticking together and holding to their values, these young people, many of whom even sported crosses on their caps, made the point that they were free people… freely exercising their rights to free speech and free exercise of their religion. There are a few lessons that can be learned from this student rebellion.

The first lesson is to stick together. Individually, any of them may have gotten into trouble, missed receiving their diploma or whatever the vindictive would-be masters should decide to inflict on them. Benjamin Franklin understood this when he said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” There is safety in numbers, but there is also the multiplier that is recognized as far back as the book of Deuteronomy where it says, “one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight,”

The second lesson is that often the power of those seeking to control us exists more in our own minds rather than in reality, Sure there are times when we can be faced with billy clubs and handcuffs, but often the bullies have nothing more than hot air. Push back and they frequently turn tail and run, yelping all the way.

The third lesson we see is that the control hungry statist types believe in rule from above by the elites who know better than anyone else what should be done. This shows they have no understanding of the beauty of the US constitution where the power rests, not with the government, but with the people… who then assign some of it to the government to accomplish needed tasks. They do not understand that any official, the principal included, works for the people and is subject to the direction of his employer. Most in DC have forgotten this as well, but as Bob Dylan sang years ago, “Times, they are a changin’”, this time for the good.

As time goes by, and issues become more serious and the desire to control us becomes more intense, we may be called upon to face more intense harassment or arrest, like the protesters recently objecting to a commencement speech by a pro-abortion president at Notre Dame. By hanging together everyone gains extra courage and resolve.

Restrictions on prayer are just the tip of the iceberg that we see coming toward us. These kids got the idea… stand up for what you believe. Otherwise you become just another one of the sheeple that Ted Nugent talks about. For those content to live a life where they are told to jump, and then told how high to jump, none of this will make any sense. However, for those of us with a strong sense of right and wrong, we must agree with James Madison when told us, “Resistance to tyranny is service to God.” It’s also service to our fellow man.

At the time of his defection to the dark side, a jubilant Sen. Arlen Specter announced that he would be welcomed by the Harry Reid and the Democrat Party with open arms and that he could keep his seniority in the senate and on committees. Once the deed was done, the good Senator found what voters have finding our for years... these people are long on promises and short on follow through. They said, “Not so fast bud, go to the end of the line.” So much for retained power and seniority... one of his primary virtues to Pennsylvania voters.

Specter had served with these people for something like six terms. One would think that dealing with them for this period, he should know a little about their character and reliability. Perhaps his instincts were deadened by the passage of time or the seductive idea of one more term in the good old boys club.

One has to give him credit for recognizing that the re-energized Republican base in in the Keystone State would no longer tolerate his semi-Republican posturing that held no hint of the conservative values the party and country need. He was a man in Washington without a home and had to make a decision. Knowing that he could not return to the state he represented and adequately explain his positions and defend his actions, he looked to the party that actually believed in the things he had been saying and doing.

Instead of thanking him for his votes which often hung his own party out to dry, they showed their gratitude by stripping him of his seniority and maybe even by running someone against him in the Democrat primary. This should not come as a total surprise since a valuable prize like Benedict Arnold died broke and friendless in London after his act of betrayal. People knew he could not be trusted... even those who benefited from his treachery.

Whether the move will benefit Specter or not remains to be seen. One hates to see any career end under this type of cloud... even a career that lacked distinction and direction. It's kind of like watching Richard Petty run in the back of the pack for several years because he did not retire when he had passed his peak... but at least King Richard and his fans had the memory of tremendous victories to accompany his love of the sport. Specter apparently just loves the position and the game... enough to sell his soul to stay in it.

For those not familiar with Specter and his career, he was a fine District Attorney in the Philadelphia area putting away plenty of bad guys. He then gave vivid proof of the Peter Principle in operation when he moved on up to the Senate. Before becoming a Senator, he was a staffer for the Warren Commission, where he was credited with coming up with the magic bullet theory while investigating the assassination of President Kennedy. Either this is true or no one else would claim ownership of the idea of a bullet passing through the president's neck, then turning right to go through Texas Governor's upper body, then head downward through his wrist then into John Connally's leg... only to be “found” on a stretcher in the hospital showing no damage from it's destructive path through flesh and multiple bones. People should have known then that he had a different point of view than most.

In a weekend speech to the Democrat faithful and Virginia fat cats, former President Bill Clinton told the crowd “the culture war is won” as he urged his fellow party members to take advantage of this new found power to implement the various schemes that have been on hold for years. Of course the crowd cheered... but will the country? Will you?

I'm willing to concede that the election was won by the nefarious forces of the left – BUT NOT THE WAR! Before we go on, let's look at some of the changes the former prez would like to see the Obamessiah and his minions in congress pursue.

One item near and dear to the supporters of both is the ability to kill their offspring. The new president already has issued an executive order permitting use of our tax money to fund an increasing array of abortion activities. Many in future generations will not be around to thank him.

The next area to be addressed is the gay agenda where people of the same sex want not only the right to do disgusting things with each other (which they already have) but to have the rest of us accept this behavior as normal and just another option acceptable to us all. It's not clear at what point pedophilia will be added to the list of acceptable choices.

Another area we have to watch is a bill currently moving through the Senate to approve the Law Of the Sea Treaty (LOST) which would give the UN almost all control of everything about the oceans, including resources, overflights, the ocean floor and continental shelfs. They are about to put the majority of the earths surface under the control of one of the most corrupt organizations in the world.

While we are on the topic of ceding US sovereignty to people with agendas that are far removed from insuring our good, one has to wonder how long it will be until the Kyoto agreement will finally be signed by our “citizen of the world” president. Already we have heard rumblings from the environmental left and their leader Algore about all the changes that need to take place to fight the imaginary demon of “global warming” or, since they found it wasn't really warming, “climate change”.

These last two are taking place as many business are struggling just to survive. They simply cannot deal with addditional regulations and expenses. We are chasing a phantasy and leaving real problems to fester.

With the new presidents declaration that he wants to restore science to its proper place, we will be seeing experimentation on embryonic stem cells – more embryos destroyed and more dollars wasted. With Darwin Day coming up soon, do we really think it will be long before the federal government will be joining their academic supporters in driving the teaching of intelligent design even further from the public sphere.

Much more is planned along the lines of decreasing individual responsibility and increasing individual dependency. The European model is the highly touted end game of their planned secular society. This European model features such things as low single digit percentage church attendance, high – no, conficatory tax rates, limits on free speech and a sky rocketing incidence of depression.

If this sounds good to you, apparently we are not on the same page. If this doesn't sound good, but you agree that the godless left has won, it's doubtful that we are the same page either. On the other hand, if these things give you real concern, even fear, for the future of our country, then it is high time you join me and John Paul Jones in saying “I have not yet begun to fight!”

As we observe the world around us, we see what seems to be a chaotic multiplicity of viewpoints and voices. However, when we look at them a little closer, we see what some proclaim to be fresh, new and exciting concepts to be variations on one or two age old themes.

Essentially there are two primary ways of viewing the world around us. C.S. Lewis called it the “Great Divide”. Do we live our lives with the recognition of the supreme being, or do we consider ourselves (man) to be the supreme being? There is even a perversion of this thinking whereby man is the supreme underbeing and Mother Earth is the deity to be worshipped… in the way these unusual people shall specify for us.

In any case, the culture war that currently engulfs our country is one in which most who would claim the God centered world view are blissfully unaware of the seriousness of the conflict. They are absorbed in their own lives and problems. They have been distracted by the small acts of goodness they can do and totally miss the bigger picture that shows the Christian viewpoint being shuffled off to the side. Many of us have been majoring in minors, as the saying goes.

Many also site II Timothy 2:4 that tells us “No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer.” We are told this as they, many with sincerity, attempt to go about the business of the Lord. The problem with this thinking is that it fails to recognize that a major part of the battle has moved into the public arena and the forces of secular humanism have been winning by default.

Many also take Paul’s admonition to heart that we need to endure hardships and the implementation of a secular based government with no concept of the creator endowed rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is just something we will have to live with.

This all well and good except they are missing the main point: IT’S NOT ABOUT US! Our convenience and ease of life are not the issue. The issue is the millions of children going through the public schools immersed in Darwinism. The issue is the millions of babies killed in the name of convenience with no concept of consequences. The issue is the gay and lesbian clubs in the same public schools that now call Christmas Vacation a Winter Break. No, it’s not about us. It’s about permitting a culture that devalues the God of the Bible and promotes the idea that our puny logic can figure out what is right and wrong based on our circumstances… and it’s about the tragic consequences to those misdirected by our culture.

An example of how one’s world view determines their actions and impact on those around them is the slavish allegiance of academic biology departments at all levels to the evolutionary thinking of Charles Darwin. They understand there are gaps in the theory, but they have faith that eventually, their knowledge will be filled. Why is this, as the facts can’t substantiate their position? To understand this, let’s go back to the basic divide in world views. One says there is a creator God and the other denies this fact.

Most academicians in their ivy covered world with inbred social and work life circles publicly proclaim that they have never been able to see or measure God, therefore, he must not exist. With this background they HAVE TO embrace Darwinism since it meshes with their world view. There is no way they can even admit Creationism is a valid alternative. They deride Intelligent Design as simply an attempt to insert religion into science.

Ben Stein showed the foolishness of this position in his film Expelled when he interviewed a distinguished professor who could accept the possibility that a superior race from another solar system could have set life in motion on earth, but could not accept that we were created by a deity. These people are people are teaching our young and we are letting them!

Books could be, and have been, written about the effect of the secular humanist philosophy on our society as a whole and on us individually. Basically it has only led to increases in crime, suicide and poverty. The secularized society has proven it is not the paradise envisioned in John Lennon’s Imagine any more than the former Soviet Union produced the workers paradise it touted around the world.

Consider your world view. Compare it to the programs and pronouncements coming out our Washington and your state capitol. Don’t just think about the impact they will have on your life. Think about what they will do to the people around you and society as a whole. Many are trying to buy you off with trinkets as they steal the soul of our country.