WTH Is Wrong With America - Part 1

Re-Posted by Dr. Shanon Brooks on September 23, 2014  monticellocollege.org/


I've been angry for a while now.

When I turned 50, I took pause and reflected on my life, presuming that I was at the halfway point (yes, I intend to live to see 100).

I thought about my childhood in the 60’s and early 70’s.

I reminisced my high school years and realized that my topsy-turvy life to that point had pretty well mirrored the turbulence of the era.

I remembered my fear of possibly being drafted into the Vietnam Conflict (I missed it by several years, but the possibility still seemed very real at the age of 15) and my full participation in the Cold War aboard a nuclear submarine shadowing Soviet ships of war.

Shortly after my military discharge, I became painfully aware of the poor state of my country and just how much had been lost, and I dedicated the balance of my life to the restoration of the America given us by her founders.

But then came 9/11 and the torrent of bad choices made by the American citizenry and its political leaders following that tragedy. The Patriot Act, the continuation of wars that we could never hope to win with the adopted management policies—that were and still are being used—the gargantuan unjustified economic bailouts and the rapid decline of the US dollar by the alarming leadership of the Federal Reserve, and the unabashed implementation of socialized medicine by all three branches of the federal government destroying any hope of restoring liberty and personal responsibility.

Book Review - Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell

Conflict of Visions, by Thomas Sowell

In this classic work, Thomas Sowell analyzes the two competing visions that shape our debates about the nature of reason, justice, equality, and power: the “constrained” vision, which sees human nature as unchanging and selfish, and the “unconstrained” vision, in which human nature is malleable and perfectible. He describes how these two radically opposed views have manifested themselves in the political controversies of the past two centuries, including such contemporary issues as welfare reform, social justice, and crime. Updated to include sweeping political changes since its first publication in 1987, this revised edition of A Conflict of Visions offers a convincing case that ethical and policy disputes circle around the disparity between both outlooks.

Eric Wilson’s Review: This book is not about Democrats or Republicans, conservatives or liberals. It is far more fundamental than that. This gets to the heart and minds of people’s ideological thinking and why. Not sure if I am naive or arrogant but I did disagree silently in the absolutes of the two “visions” but this is still an absolute must read and amazing perspective into politics and reason. Must admit it reads a lot like a textbook (which I enjoy) but like a good novel, wherever you put the book down you are anxious to learn what is coming next. This is a book not only for the serious student of political science, but for anyone who wants a better understanding of what leads honest and sincere individuals to hold extraordinarily divergent views.


Find this and other books  reading list: Click here

"Our Price: Vigilance"

Posted by Don Pinson on August 14, 2014 HeritageMinistriesKY.com

Thomas Jefferson taught us the principle that “Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty”. Watchfulness over their government by the citizens of a Republic is the only way to make sure liberty is preserved. And only if liberty is preserved will the Gospel go to the next generation by public means.

And yet, in my upbringing, I was not taught that we should be present to watch over local government meetings- and local government is where most seeds are planted that grow into state and national laws. Consequently, though I was a committed Christian and minister of the Gospel of Christ, I set no time aside to be at local government meetings until I was in my fifties. I simply didn’t see the need for civil government being given any of my time, except to pray for government servants and to try to vote for moral candidates. What’s wrong with this picture?

“Self-government: The Only True Foundation”

Posted by Don Pinson on July 12, 2014 HeritageMinistriesKY.com

When America’s Founders wrote and approved our Declaration of Independence they understood something most of us were never taught. That is, only a people who walk byinternal self-government are qualified to maintain external civil government. Because they had been reared in the Biblical thinking of the Great Awakening, they understood that governing one’s self by the power of the Holy Spirit within was the only foundation of good civil government. A people who are not controlled by their own principles of morality will have to be controlled by a large civil government. And a large civil government means less liberty for the individual, the family, the church, and society as a whole.

Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in the mid-1800’s stated it precisely when he said,

“All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint.

“Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.”

(Winthrop, Robert Charles. May 28, 1849, in an address, entitled “Either by the Bible or the Bayonet,” at the Annual Meeting of the Mass. Bible Society in Boston. Addresses and Speeches on Various Occasions (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1852), p. 172. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant - The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Fd. for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1992), p. 7.)

Independents Declaration of Mutiny

Eric Wilson - 2014

The two-party system of American politics is already dead. No matter whose side you think is here to save you, one thing is for certain – neither party is about ideology or principle but instead the maintaining of power. Under the Democrats, government and influence will grow for social reengineering and redistribution. Under the Republicans, it will grow to promote global empires, be the social police, and prop up corporations. Regardless of which is in power, one set of people will be taking advantage of another set of people. The elections just determine which side is which.

A new nobility is running both sides of the debate, and – no matter who seems to win – we keep getting screwed. Judging from the talking heads, they are all stuck in this paradigm. Judging from the recent elections, so are the voters. We no longer live in a representative republic but a democratic aristocracy. One ruled by the status quo with each of us as its willing servants. Our only hope against it stands in the form of the fading concept of independence.

We must get rid of career politicians like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Charles Rangel; but we must also purge our aristocracy of people like John Boehner, Orrin Hatch, and Mitch McConnell.

"The Most Important Government"

Posted by Don Pinson on May 30, 2014 HeritageMinistriesKY.com

Recently there’s been a lot of talk about government and the money it takes to operate it. And all this has produced is just more debt, more tax, and more destruction of our nation---while the government gets larger and larger. And if we don’t quickly return to the founding principle of America we will shortly live under a dictator.

Our Founders taught a principle to their children which summed up all the Biblical teaching about government. It was this:

“The more internal self-government you have the less external civil government you need. But the less internal self-government you have the more external civil government you need.”

America was built on this principle. The Pilgrims learned to walk in the internal self-government which the Holy Spirit produces when a life is surrendered to Christ. This started when they received Christ as their Lord and Deliverer and, thus, were born again. But the earliest among them had learned something about this internal self-government that would profoundly affect the birthing and the growth of America. In the mid-1500’s they had gone to Geneva, Switzerland to learn from a scholar by the name of John Calvin. Calvin taught a simple principle which would change the course of the Western world. He called it “renovation”. The word renovation means to make new. This is what Christ does when He enters a life that has just surrendered to Him as Master. He changes that life by flowing with His life from that person’s spirit, into his soul, and out through the actions of his body. That is what the Bible means when it says,

“Be ye [being] filled with the Spirit.”

(Ephesians 5:18)

Book Review - The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli

The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli


The Prince is a classic book that explores the attainment, maintenance, and utilization of political power in the western world. Machiavelli wrote The Prince to demonstrate his skill in the art of the state, presenting advice on how a prince might acquire and hold power. Machiavelli defended the notion of rule by force rather than by law. Accordingly, The Prince seems to rationalize a number of actions done solely to perpetuate power. It is an examination of power-its attainment, development, and successful use.

“Offend Who?”

Posted by Don Pinson on April 26, 2014 HeritageMinistriesKY.com

We hear much today about not offending people. We’re told we shouldn’t have a Christmas display because it might offend someone. We’re told we’re not to mention Jesus’ Name in public prayers because it might offend someone. We’re told we can’t teach Jesus and the Bible to public school children because it might offend someone--- whoever “someone” is. In fact, not offending someone is being lifted up to this generation as an idol, at whose feet we worship on this “politically correct” altar.

We throw around the term “offend” so much, you’d think someone would define it! Wouldn’t that be a novel idea? Noah Webster, in his original American Dictionary, defined the word “offend” as:

“To transgress the moral or divine law; to sin; to commit a crime.”

Book Review - The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes

The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, by Amity Shlaes 

In The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes, one of the nation's most respected economic commentators, offers a striking reinterpretation of the Great Depression. Rejecting the old emphasis on the New Deal, she turns to the neglected and moving stories of individual Americans, and shows how through brave leadership they helped establish the steadfast character we developed as a nation. Some of these figures were well known others ordinary people that would have been left in the shadows but holding tremendous stories. She traces the mounting agony of the New Dealers and the moving stories of individual citizens who through their brave perseverance helped establish the steadfast character we recognize as American today.

The Walking Dead and the fall of the Republic

Posted by Sean Dysinger on March 5, 2014

        Like millions of Americans I have gotten wrapped up in the AMC phenomenon The Walking Dead. A number of factors had to coalesce to even make this possible. I usually don’t get too involved in weekly “serial” type shows. Way too much happens from Sunday to Sunday in my real life to maintain any empathy with the characters, and I usually have to spend the first 10 or 15 minutes of each new episode trying to remember why I cared about them in the first place. Another challenge was the nature ofTWD itself. Seriously--and if you have ever watched it you know what I mean--you can’t have this show on if there is any chance at all that the kids are going to even  walk into the room. Just when you think you have seen the most horrible thing you can imagine, TWD comes back from commercial and THEN you see the most horrible thing you can imagine. And it’s been like that for going on four full seasons.

                Enter Netflix and the TV binge. Now I could sequester myself in the basement with tin cans tied on strings at the top of the stairs to warn me of approaching children and watch episode after episode commercial free. This is how TV was meant to be viewed! I am a pretty addictive personality type anyway- if a little is good, a lot is great after all. But this! Total emotional immersion. Fantastic!

“How Long Before Impeachment!”

Posted by Don Pinson on February 8, 2014 HeritageMinistriesKY.com

Barack Obama made the astounding statement in the 2014 State of the Union Message that if the Congress refused to work with him, he would advance his policies by Executive Order. He’s bragged that he has “a pen” and he has “a phone;” as if his word is the law! This is beyond thinkable! This is dictatorial control such as was exercised by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.

In July of 1776 the American colonies stood up and threw off the dictatorial yoke of King George the III of England because this man had constantly ignored the British Constitution. In the Declaration of Independence, our Founding Fathers listed 27 violations of God-given rights which King George the III had done. Mr. Obama has now violated a full 23 of those 27 God-given rights. Consider:

Book Review - Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin

Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin

When nationally syndicated radio host Mark R. Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny his clarion call for a new era in conservatism a #1 New York Times bestseller for an astounding twelve weeks. As provocative, well-reasoned, robust, and informed as his on-air commentary, with his love of our country and the legacy of our Founding Fathers reflected on every page, Levin’s galvanizing narrative provides a philosophical, historical, and practical framework for revitalizing the conservative vision and ensuring the preservation of American society. In a series of powerful essays, Levin lays out how conservatives can counter the tyrannical liberal corrosion that has filtered into every timely issue affecting our daily lives, from the economy to health care, global warming to immigration, and more.

Book Review - "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville

"Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville

In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat and ambitious civil servant, made a nine-month journey throughout America. The result was Democracy in America, a monumental study of the life and institutions of the evolving nation. Tocqueville looked to the flourishing democratic system in America as a possible model for post-revolutionary France, believing that the egalitarian ideals it enshrined reflected the spirit of the age and even divine will. His insightful work has become one of the most influential political texts ever written on America and an indispensable authority on democracy.

That Which is Seen and That Which is Not

Posted by Dr. Shanon Brooks on September 5, 2013  monticellocollege.org/

The President of the United States believes that our role in the global community is to punish the Syrian government for military strikes on Syrian civilians resulting in hundreds of deaths and diminishing the Assad regime’s ability to deploy biological agents in the future.

Whether or not it is the duty of the U.S. to punish another sovereign nation against which we have not declared war is an important question. (Photo -Syria crisis: Obama 'has the right' to strike regardless of vote, says Kerry - The Guardian 9/2/13)

Another pertinent question is, is it possible for the U.S. to retaliate on behalf of innocent victims without further civilian casualties?

War is armed conflict between nations.  It is unrealistic and dishonest to suggest that any act of war (or international violence) can be accomplished without civilian casualties or “collateral damage.”

Another questions is, is the U.S. bound by international law?  I have my own opinion, but what matters is, does the Obama administration adhere to international law or not?

Book Review - Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?

“"Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?" - by Richard Maybury

Richard Maybury, also known as Uncle Eric, is a world renowned author, lecturer, and geopolitical analyst. He consults with business firms in the U.S. and Europe. Mr. Maybury is the former Global Affairs editor of "Moneyworld" and widely regarded as one of the finest free-market writers in America. Mr. Maybury's articles have appeared in "The Wall Street Journal", "USA Today", and other major publications. He has penned eleven books in the Uncle Eric series. His books have been endorsed by top business leaders. 

In "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?" Richard Maybury uses historical events from Ancient Rome to explain economic principles. This clearly written book about economics is a remarkably easy and fun explanation of investment cycles, velocity, business cycles, recessions, inflation, the demand for money and more. Essential for every student, businessperson, investor, and free-market patriot. 

Optimism Kills

Eric Wilson - 2013


With just a glimpse of the headlines, anyone can clearly see that things are bad and getting worse.  Unfortunately – as people keep fighting to preserve liberty and to change policies and institutions – truth is (and facts are proving out) that the cycle has progressed forward and is already beyond repair.  It is no longer a matter of if American society is going into bondage but rather how long it will be enslaved.

 Yes, this is tough to come to grips with and requires a different perspective that many do not want to concede.  There are many that continue to say “just one more thing (policy, election, protest, etc.) is going to turn everything around.”  Sadly, though, the next election comes, bill gets debated, and liberties get lost.  They do not want to face that the best days for a generation may be behind us and that every season must come to an end.  For these people – as the next headline comes out and the next band is tightened around our wrists and ankles – it becomes more difficult to accept.

 It was from this place of despair that a friend asked how I handle what is happening.  The problem was that he was stuck in a paradigm of choosing between optimism (hoping to change things back to the way they were) and fear (giving up and becoming pessimistic about where we are today).  In a book by Jim Collins, “Good to Great,” he talks about a principle called the Stockdale Paradox (named after the highest-ranking American prisoner of war in Hanoi, Vietnam).  In summary, the Stockdale Paradox states there is a different paradigm and one which we should be realistic about our current circumstances while maintaining faith about the future.

Common Core Hammers the Final Death Nail in Education

Eric Wilson - 2013


Many of the most recent (and worst) “improvements” to our national education process have come under the misguided banner of reforms such as Common Core.  Its stated objective is to set forth a national K-12 content standard to be adopted by all states to drive education to become more standardized across the country.  Its supposed purpose is to impose more rigorous standards now so that our students will be prepared for competing in the global economy of the future.

 Taking a closer look, the true progressive objective here is the development of a more disposable workforce.  Common Core proponents seek to replace the previous American education system with a more standardized, “predictable” approach.  This approach prepares the next generation to become easily assignable cogs in a national or even global industrial system.

 As far as the rigorous standards, the current Common Core curriculum will make students less college-ready and force school systems to lower the bar of already deplorable expectations.  Many states actually had more rigorous criteria in place prior to adopting Common Core, and signing on to these new standards is more of a “Race to the Middle” (as frankly admitted by one drafter of the Common Core math standards).  Early adopters of this program – such as Kentucky – have shown no improvement over the past two years and have even gone backwards with 30 to 40-point drops in proficiency tests.

Sequestration “Comedy or Tragedy”

Eric Wilson - 2013

Sequestration will not throw us into economic Apocalypse – politicians will.  I am not blaming

them for not doing anything; truth be told, doing nothing may be the best thing Congress does.  My concern is that sequestration is just the first stride on a road paved with more opportunities for immoral compromises.

 Unlike the sequestration, the debt limit looming on March 27 could actually force a government shutdown.  Congress must vote on a new continuing resolution and if they once again do nothing and hit an impasse – the government will shut down.

 Next, on tax day – April 15 – a budget resolution is officially due from Congress.  It is this milestone to which they have tied the “No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013.”  If Congress does not pass a budget and all twelve of the accompanying spending bills setting annual agency budgets on time, every lawmaker's paycheck would get cut off. 

Finally, on May 19 arrives the reinstated Debt Ceiling standoff.  This is the date (as certain as you can be in Washington) when the extension of the debt ceiling expires per the House bill passed three months prior.  If no budget is reached and no actions are taken, this is to be the “drop dead” date of a freeze on additional spending.

The Death of the Tea Party

Eric Wilson - 2013


The Tea Party movement may not be dead yet, but it may – in fact – be on life support.  This is not due to a lack of individual effort, resolve, or commitment to the cause.  Despite what the media may portray, it is not due to infighting within the group but rather because the group may be fighting to hold up a collapsing house of cards.

 Face it; America has already raced over the “fiscal cliff.”  Nearly half the states are upside down and a majority of the nearly 127 million voters preferred a governing platform that favors a saturated welfare system, higher taxes, forced health insurance, and an abundance of government-dependent workers.  While there is a place for activism and justified reactions to current policies, the movement’s death is inevitable if it continues working to warn and prevent the nation from going over the precipice instead of focusing on determining the best way and place to land.

 The reality is that the Tea Party is not a growing, silent majority but is instead a shrinking minority.  It has been met with resistance from power brokers on both sides of the aisle and forced to realize it is not just losing to Obama and other liberals.  The Tea Party is losing to Republicans and people like Mitch McConnell, Karl Rove, and the “right-wing establishment,” as well.

If It Saves Just One Life

Posted by Dr. Shanon Brooks on February 1, 2013

I was shocked, dismayed, and like you I personally grieved for the families who lost children at

the Newtown, Connecticut shooting just two month ago.

What a severe act of violence.

Who can make sense of 27 senseless deaths? It will indeed be a black mark on American history.

And as much as I try to feel their loss and grieve with those parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, and grandparents, I still believe that citizens have a right and duty to maintain our constitutional second amendment rights according to the founding era original intent.

At the time of this tragedy, President Obama tasked Vice President Biden with finding a solution in 30 days so this never happens again.  Vice President Biden has offered his recommendations and as a result we have or will have a slew of new executive orders limiting the inalienable right to bear arms for self-protection.

During this process, the vice president was explaining the attitude of the president concerning this issue and said, “And as the president said, if our actions result in only saving one life, they’re worth taking.”