God’s Blessings Needed Now More Than Ever

by Gary Bauer
11/27/2009

Like millions of American families yesterday, my family celebrated Thanksgiving, which President Washington declared “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God.”

But as we were thanking God for His blessings, it struck me how many of those “signal favors of Almighty God” are endangered today not only by an administration that views the country it leads as inferior and unexceptional, but also by enemies determined to make that belief a reality.

Religious liberty: Conservatives have long denounced the Left’s assault on the First Amendment’s guarantee of religion freedom. That assault has intensified over the last year. President Obama recently signed a hate crimes law that may designate any talk against homosexual conduct as a hate crime. And Obama nominated David Hamilton as a judge to the Seventh Circuit Court. The Senate confirmed the former ACORN and ACLU attorney despite a decision in which he ruled that prayers in Jesus’ name are unconstitutional but prayers to Allah are not.

Free Elections: Such elections are fundamental to constitutional democracy. As James Madison said, “Where annual elections end, tyranny begins.” But our elections are increasingly marred by fraud. A new study by Aristotle International Inc, a technology company specializing in political campaigns, found that there are 12.9 million Americans who remain registered voters despite being dead. That’s 8.9 percent of voters, enough to tip almost any election.

In August, Attorney General Eric Holder dropped a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party, two of whose members brandished weapons and verbally and physically threatened voters in Philadelphia last November. When you consider also that ACORN has received more than $50 million in taxpayer funding over the last two decades despite being under investigation for voter registration fraud in a dozen states, it is easy to see why some commentators only half joking compare America’s elections with those in the most corrupt African countries.

Family and the Defense of Human Life: Perhaps the most cherished words of our founding are found in the 2nd paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, which states in part, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Yet more than one million of our nations’ most vulnerable members are destroyed each year. Under ObamaCare, an increasing share of that genocide would be paid for by American taxpayers. What’s more, President Obama has also released a directive to rescind President Bush’s provider conscience regulation, which protects pro-life medical professionals from having to participate in abortions. Abortion advocates have made clear their intention to force all medical professionals to participate in abortion and other life-destroying procedures, even though such participation violates the Hippocratic Oath not to destroy life and would drive needed pro-life medical professionals out of the profession.

Financial Responsibility: Our national debt has reached more than $12 trillion. By 2019, our government will spend more than $700 billion a year just to service that debt. And while our debt has been a problem for decades, it has ballooned since Barack Obama took office less than a year ago.

The federal government added almost $2 trillion in debt this year and wants to add to it with a $2.5 trillion budget busting healthcare bill. The federal government spent $3.5 trillion in Obama’s first year in office, leaving our children and grandchildren (and great grandchildren and beyond) to shoulder the burden.

National Security: The Obama administration seemed to have little trouble deciding to launch a surge in government spending, but committing to a surge of troops in Afghanistan has been a much harder decision. Our armed forces are undermined by cowardly political leadership that has forced our men and women in uniform to wait months for reinforcements in order to fight a politically correct war.

Meanwhile, the commander-in-chief bows to foreign monarchs and meets with dictators while refusing to meet with the Dalai Lama or human rights advocates in China.

And now the Obama administration has decided to put 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on trial in a civilian court in New York. That decision may encourage jihadists to attack unarmed civilians here in the U.S. instead of fighting us on foreign battlefields.

It is perhaps human nature not to fully appreciate our blessings until they are threatened. The United States of America remains a free nation, with a standard of living higher than almost any other country. But if we hope to continue enjoying “the many signal favors of Almighty God” next Thanksgiving, we must continue fighting for our values now.