America's Best

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This link goes to one of the best stories I've heard from Detroit in a long time. Two elderly gentlemen, on their own, without government help or interference, are doing the unthinkable. They are taking care of their neighborhoods, mowing vacant city lots, planting gardens, improving the looks of their surroundings. They do this because they care--about themselves, their neighborhood, and their community.
When I talked to my husband about what they were doing, and why, he immediately linked what I had said to the scripture we had read together last night (Alma 60-62). In these chapters, "king-men" have taken over the government, driven the chief judge into exile, and withheld desperately needed men and provisions from the armies fighting to defend the borders of the land from their enemies. These traitors have even sent a letter to the enemy, asking to be left rulers over the land once it's conquered. This is very bad, when citizens turn traitor to their own country. But that's what's happening to us now. Our "king-men" are trying to set up a government that is not run by the people, but is running the people. They are very persuasive, telling us that the government will take care of everything: everyone will be fed, everyone will have healthcare, the government can do all this if everyone gets on board with the program.

The number and scope of the recent laws that have been passed in Washington threaten to destroy our economy, while making everybody a ward of the state. We as a country are so far in debt, there is doubt among economists as to whether or not we can ever dig ourselves out. I don't want kings, or socialists, or liberals running the country, or me. We can be responsible for our own lives, and our communities, but it takes work. Hard work, like Mr. King and Mr. Edwards are doing, that isn't "helped" along by the government. People who know how to labor and have self-control don't need a big government, just one that will protect them from the lazy and opportunistic.