ALWAYS THE SYMPTOM, NEVER THE CAUSE

The topic today is gun legislation. We are told to solve the problem of drug addicted kids, kids from single parent or no parent homes, kids who have been taught to shun respect for others and to not take pride in their accomplishments, is to violate the United States Constitution and infringe on the rights of law abiding and good citizens from owning guns. This is an easy argument for any who wish to control the lives, choices, and thoughts of others.
It is also far less of a political threat to professional politicians if they shy away from discussing causes of problems, causes of acts of violence, of acts of violating the natural rights of others or the life, liberty, and property of others. These causes are uncomfortable and threatening for not only the politically ambitious but also for those who seek riches and power.
Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence said. "The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be aid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.  Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind."
Having read biographies on Benjamin Rush, I can attest that when Rush said religion, he did not mean religion such as in promoting the religions of Secularism, Communism, or Islam. When Rush said religion he was referring to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as outlined in the Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21.
Noah Webster, author of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary stated, "The moral principles and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. . . All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."
Ronald Reagan told us, “We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”
The politically ambitious and the money and power seekers disagree with Rush, Webster, and Reagan. The politically ambitious and the money and power seekers claim that all evil can be eliminated if we simply address the symptoms of crime and ignore the causes. These people instead seek to increase any and all welfare programs which have destroyed the core family. Since LBJ and his great society was introduced in 1965, out-of-wedlock birth rates have soared. In 1965, 24 percent of black infants and 3.1 percent of white infants were born to single mothers. By 1990, the rates had risen to 64 percent for black infants and 18 percent for white infants. Twenty years later it’s now 72 percent of black infants, 30 percent of white infants and 53 percent of Hispanic infants.
63 percent of youth suicides are from fatherless homes, 85 percent of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes, 80 percent of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes, 71 percent of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes, 70 percent of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes.
That the welfare state has been the biggest contributor to these devastating numbers is never discussed. The way these numbers are being discussed in today’s society is to encourage failure by lowering achievement and discipline standards, by creating even greater numbers of essentially homeless children, by making drugs even more accessible, or simply by promoting the programs of the American Left, which are Communists have as their number one goal to destroy the family. They have been successful.
Today, our children are not encouraged to be good citizens but are instead rewarded for bad behavior by removing consequences for bad behavior. Today our children are rewarded for failure by punishing those who do seek achievement and lowering the standards so more and more will fail. Today we strive to teach victimhood so the politician and those seeking money and power will have larger and larger bases.
The policies promoted by the American Left,  the politicians, and those who seek riches and power is a proven way of how to destroy a society. This has been proven time and time again. The teachings we find in the Bible are the antithesis to this. The Bible teaches that nobody has to be a victim, but all can be welcomed into the Kingdom of God. The Bible teaches that any civilized society must impose consequences for bad behavior. Bad behavior is the same today as it was in Genesis through Revelation.
The Bible also reveals the devastating destruction and misery brought about by society rewarding bad behavior. The Bible also teaches that the ambitious politician and those seeking riches and power will distort Biblical teachings, they will preach that good is evil and that evil is good, they will promote perversions of all kinds, they will promote reliance on government or themselves, and they will promote victimhood and then dominate and destroy the very people they were claiming to help.
Americans, we harm our future when we believe that what is happening in our nation is unique to our nation. It is not. It has been happening since the beginning of time. The ambitious claim they have the answers to all problems. Their answers are answers that will eventually enslave all to them and give them the riches and power they seek. They will dismiss the teachings of the Bible, which in fact has all the answers, and these are the answers that promote a free and prosperous society.