Presidential Error

By Tammy Derouin

The holidays can be a difficult time.  There is always so much to do and so many schedules to coordinate.  Despite all the extra stress, it’s important to remember why we celebrate individual holidays. We will always have to deal with a Grinch from time to time.  Unfortunately, in real life, the heart of a Grinch doesn’t always grow by the end of the season.  That however, is their choice, so please pass the Who-pudding.

My oldest daughter recently asked me if I had a favorite holiday.  I paused as I watched the Christmas lights reflect off her eyes.  I don’t know that I have a favorite holiday, as they are each uniquely meaningful and fun in different ways.  Knowing she wanted me to say Christmas, I said without Christmas followed closely by Easter, the others would have little to no meaning, if they existed at all.

The desire to live free runs deep within us all.  It begins at a very early age.  Once we realize those little legs of ours are capable of taking us where we want to go, we don’t accept limitations lightly.  As we grow, we also realize we have free will. We begin to think for ourselves and make our own decisions. 

Our freedoms, our very basic rights, weren’t always understood to be ours and ours alone.  Those who came before us and dared to reject absolute rule, risked their lives and in many cases sacrificed their lives.  Their desire to live free paved the way for several liberty empowering documents.

The Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation are documents of liberty.  Each document is dependent upon the one which came before it.  Each document came with a price paid for by the fallen.  Their sacrifice bestowed freedom on the generations which followed.

In another discussion with the same daughter, she asked a straight to the heart question.  The answer involved personal sacrifice.  I love that she wants to learn about history, but I also tell her, it isn’t pretty.   I listed the order of making such personal sacrifices.  I stated God, country and family.  She was a little puzzled and asked why family was last.  I told her it wasn’t that family was last, as we make many types of sacrifices throughout our lives, but without God, we wouldn’t have our country, without our country we wouldn’t have our family or our life of freedom.   

This caused us to revisit the holiday discussion.  First and foremost, as a Christian, Christmas and Easter are the most important.  As an American, Independence Day quickly comes to mind.  However, without the holiday which gives thanks for survival in a new and unknown land, Independence Day wouldn’t exist.

Every decision, whether it involves our personal life or the life of our country, must be made with great care.  We know when we make bad decisions in our personal life, even when made with good intentions, there are consequences.  We also know that decisions made simply because you want something and you want it now, can have disastrous consequences down the road.  There’s a reason we take time to look at all the facts and weigh all the possible outcomes.  No one wants to create unnecessary problems.

I take it personally when I see my country, my home, being destroyed from within.  We entrust every individual who has been elected to the highest office, by the people, to protect our homeland and uphold the law of the land, the U.S. Constitution.  When that individual fails to do his job properly by not putting the interests of the U.S. citizens and homeland first, we have a presidential error. 

Our Pres-a-king has intentionally weakened our security, making us vulnerable to attacks from our enemies inside and outside of our borders.  He relentlessly attacks our foundation, the very document which states our rights and freedoms; freedoms which come from God, not man. The land of the free is fast becoming the land of the enslaved. 

Christmas is upon us.  It is the first holiday, the most important holiday, and the holiday which no others would exist without His presence.   If we allow one document of liberty to disappear, others will soon follow.  Holidays will have little to no meaning, if they exist at all.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a free life.

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

James Madison