My Mike Lee Endorsement

First of all, I would like to state that this letter in no way represents the opinions of Icaucus, and is simply a reflection of my own research and thoughts that I’ve developed while interviewing and speaking with the candidates. Both Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee have exhibited strong character and willingness to restore the country away from the Progressivism that is like a cancer to its progress and viability. No matter who wins, I am glad that we have such great people who are willing to step up and serve our community, and I will be supporting the winner.

For a long time I have been sitting on the fence, simply supporting the process that has gone on in the effort to select a worthy candidate and I believe that we have done a wonderful job in this process, which included the denial of reelection of an incumbent that did not reflect the values of Utah.

So where did that lead me? I could always look to the people that support the candidate, but that is a poor decision maker as well. I know many people on each side of support that I know on a personal level that have reacted and said things in their support that have surprised me, and have been out of character for them, and completely uncalled for, even in a tightly argued election. So that is no way to make a judgment.

I could make my decision by the political endorsements of each candidate. However that would not make a huge difference either. There are endorsements from every side, some that I agree with, and some that have pushed me away from the candidate. Some of them are more caustic than others and there are some that have offered more insight than the others. But that still has not pulled me off the fence completely.

I have had the chance to have some direct personal expose to each candidate. In the process of interviewing, we found that we have two candidates that have almost identical goals. In fact, during the Icaucus personal interview process they were asked to identify their top priorities and each candidate listed 5, the first three being identical and 4 and 5 were just reversed. (Please visit the Independence Caucus website here http://icaucus.ning.com/group/utah/forum/topics/tim-bridgewater-interview and here http://icaucus.ning.com/group/utah/forum/topics/mike-lee-icaucus-interview.)

Both candidates have acknowledged that they are not experts in the areas of the other. Tim Bridgewater has run businesses for years, started from humble beginnings and scratch and loves the US and the constitution, but has admitted that Mike Lee is the one that is the expert in the Constitution. Mike Lee started from an early age studying the law and the conservative values of our founding fathers, while he runs a business; he has admitted that Bridgewater has more experience with business dealings. This leads to one thing: which position do I believe will be able to make the more consistent choice to fulfill the 5 priorities that both candidates have stated they will be working on. Do we take the Constitutional view, that returning to original intent will restore businesses, or do we take the business approach, that doing what is good for business will be what the Constitution guarantees and therefore what we do for business is what the Constitution intended anyway?

In order to answer this question, I have to go back to the writers of the founding documents, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Both of them were lawyers, but both owned landed and identified themselves more as land owners and business men. But their words both relied upon the intent that they have stated that the documents should always be relied upon in their original intent. In fact, it was Madison during his presidency that stated that the countries laws should rely upon the “original intent” of the Constitution to dictate what laws Congress should pass. In respect to the representation of the country and any news laws that were passed, they never spoke of business and the government together, except to say that government should be the most limited as possible to avoid infringing upon the rights of man to work without that interference, and that it was obedience to the laws of God that would guarantee those rights, and that the Constitution was written to guarantee those rights.

Therefore when looking at the candidates, I can only come to one conclusion as to who of the two will approach our current problems in the same way, and that candidate is Mike Lee. His constant view is that the original intent through the Constitution is the only filter available. There are things that business can do, but it is through the rights of God that we have been born with that have been listed in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, that will guarantee our success. Mike Lee has that view; he sees that same picture and will fight so that others will gain that same vision as well. We need to restore not only our country, but how we talk about our rights as well. Mike will help restore both and will continue to educate all around him. This is the only way that we can restore business, our country and our freedoms. We must focus on the Constitution everything else will take care of itself once we do that.

Sincerely,

John D. Morris
Former Independence Caucus Regional Director – Region 12

The Age of Entitlement

The other day I was listening to a radio program that allowed for people to call in and receive advice regarding their lives and some of the difficulties related to intrapersonal relationships. One calling talked about her life and some things that her boyfriend was doing that, while they weren’t done in an attitude of hurt, were actually causing some pain to the young lady caller. The discussion then centered around what she could to do to approach her boyfriend and discuss the issue and solve her discomfort while still making sure that he understand what it was doing to her. As the caller hung up, one of the ladies that was co-hosting the program stated something to the effect that it was such a shame that in an era where are entitled to so much that people do not feel entitled to being without pain.

That last comment really struck with me. I kept thinking about the statement, why with so much entitlement, with so many claims of women’s rights and the freedom of morals and the body that exist in the world that there would be a lack of basic entitlement to being free from pain and suffering, suffering that this woman could have removed herself from at any moment. As I began to think on this I thought what would cause this condition to exist and what perpetuates it. There are programs to help unwed mothers, programs for those that don’t have jobs, for those that have disabilities, programs that help those that are behind on their luck, that need food, that need shelter, that have had a hard time, that leveraged too much, that overextended their credit, that didn’t make wise choices. So why did she feel that she didn’t deserve to live without pain and discomfort?

The real problem exists that she was never told through a program that it was ok for her to live without pain and discomfort. You say to me, we don’t need to be told that, that’s something that she should already know. But here is the problem, she didn’t know that. She didn’t know that it was ok to step up and support herself without relying on this boyfriend, without relying on someone else to tell her that it was ok to be herself and that she was worth something by herself, that she had a right to do something for herself. With all this entitlement how is this possible? I answer because it is exactly because of these entitlements that she was pushed into this condition.

As the push for entitlements and large government continues to smother us and all around us I look to those guiding principles of this nation that allowed this country to excel in such a quick time as no other country on Earth has ever been able to do. When this country first declared its independence, our Founding Fathers were told, you can’t do that. When this country stated the Founding Fathers stated that all men are created equal, equal under the law and equal to take upon their own responsibilities to better themselves, not equal to be given what others say we deserve, and they were told that the masses couldn’t think for themselves, that they wouldn’t have enough workers if they weren’t told exactly what to do.

We are facing the same problems once again. We are told, ‘Here are the things that you are entitled to and here is how you will get it, but do not hope to succeed more than this.’ I name this what it is, slavery. To be told how and what I may get and that I cannot do more than this I reach out in voice to my Maker and say, I was created in your image, I was given the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness by you, not by these people that wish to be slaver over me, and I push ahead and do what I have been told I cannot. I do this because I am not entitled to anything other than the basic laws of Nature. The laws which were created and established not by men here, but by which the very universe was created and by which we are able to know our place before God, are those which our founding documents lay out those laws for the understand of all nations to strive to protect.

It is time that we reach out once again and take that which ours, Freedom. That we reach out again and see that Liberty is our birthright. We need to start again toward the pursuit of Happiness, in whatever form that may be. Those are the real entitlements that we have been born into and are the real American Dream, to which we are all entitled and to which we must all wake up to again.