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Rampant pornography, sex-education without morals, desecration of the family and the sanctity of marriage, forced psychiatric screenings, loss of liberty to choose health care, to defend home and family, to teach correct principles in public places.
I really ought to do something! But I am one insignificant voice among millions who are loud, strident, better connected, more eloquent, better educated, have more time, have more money.
Nonsense!
“Times and Seasons”? Uh-uh. It's a cop-out. We are being waylaid by the adversary. He benefits immeasurably from our silence, our reticence, our lack of organization and our busyness. You and I are children of God. We have pledged ourselves to the defense of righteous principles. What are we doing about it?
One young mother, a good friend of mine in California, called ten friends, each of whom she asked to call two more friends. The message was to call their state senator and ask him to oppose a certain piece of legislation that he was currently favoring. Later in the day, the young woman took time to call the senator herself, to make her own request that he change his vote. The senator replied: “You know, I have had 30 calls today on this one issue. If I get two more calls opposing this bill, I will change my vote.” He got the calls and he kept his word.
Imagine to the force for righteousness we could be if each of us were to be vigilant in following at least one issue and alerting others as action is needed!
How can it be done with everything else we have to do?
20 Minutes per Week
Choose at least one issue that is important to you and spend at least 20 minutes each week educating yourself and informing two other people.Subjects you might be interested in studying: The NEA agenda for public schools; textbook fraud; protecting marriage and family; protecting the United States Constitution; pornography; hate crimes legislation; candidates and ballot issues in your area.
Subscribe
Inform yourself on the issues by subscribing to one or more of the following email alerts. These alerts generally give you background and contact information on the issues they discuss.Sign up for legislative alerts at Concerned Women for America.Use the “Subscribe to Email” link in the left navigation bar to get alerts from Family Leader. Get regular notices from Eagle Forum by using the “Alerts” button in the top navigation bar. Two sources for thoughtful, entertaining commentary on current events are:
Thought Cops
Patriot Post
If you're in Utah, take a look at Utah Policy, to keep up-to-date on the latest political moves.
If you want to study issues in depth on your own, you can explore any of the above sites, in addition to subscribing to their newsletters. Here are some additional sites you might want to explore. The first is conservative. The final two examine the issues from all political perspectives:
Find Your Reps
Once you are informed, find your federal representatives and other important information at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Find your local legislators by Googling “[Your State] Legislature.”
Contact Your Reps
Contact your representatives and at least five other people whenever your issue is being discussed.If the issue you have chosen deals with the local school board, attend their meetings and bring a friend. Get to know the members of the school board and encourage your neighbors to do the same. Then, start making your voices heard.
Rules of Engagement
When making your voice heard, always be calm, courteous, and rational. Keep your messages short and to the point. Put the main point at the beginning of your phone or email message.
Now is the time and this is the season. You and I are desperately needed. Let's become a force to be reckoned with!
Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.
Awesome, awesome, awesome!! Thanks, Kristen. I was already signed up with a few of those sites, but was unaware of some of the others.
I second that! Very informative…and a great reminder for all of us to do our civic duty.
Kristen is our newest author. As you can tell, she’s very involved and on top of things.
If you ever want to email your Congressman/woman or Senator go to:
http://www.senate.gov
http://www.house.gov
And then click on the “Find my Senator/Representative ” link. Some people have on-line forms you can fill out and send, or you can just email too.
I’ must write my two senators and representative at least once a month on various issues, I know they know me by name. And our representative won’t even talk to me any more because he knows I will always hold his feet to the fire—chicken!
I’m really thankful that you wrote this Kristen, I also feel really strongly about getting involved in the community at some level. I think our politicians have grown comfortable with the notion that they can do whatever they want because the public is not paying attention. This has got to stop, we have to pay attention. For example, right now in the US Senate they are trying to pass parts of the summer’s “Comprehensive Immigration Reform”–that failed because of public opposition and calling/writing in campaigns, as piecemeal legislation by amending parts of the failed legislation to the war budget, education budget and so on. They are hoping that no one will notice and this legislation will slide on thru. “The Dream Act” as it is being called is basically giving amnesty, reduced college tuition, access to health care programs w/o paying into the system. full social security benefits w/o having paid into the system and so on, to the illegal immigrant.
It’s never too late to get involved, and we all must be involved or special interests, and people with less than honest and honorable agendas will get their agendas passed into law.
Kristen, great post! It’s SO easy to say, “I’m too busy, I’ll let someone else deal with it.” And in tonight’s very inspiring general RS broadcast, Sister Julie Beck said it was our responsibility to defend the family and Satan’s attacks on it. I took it to mean that we needed to stand up for those things in the world that might break down the family. We must be politically active. I wish I could quote her better than that, but it was really dark and I can’t read my notes! Guess we’ll have to wait for the print version…
Thank you for the nice comments, ladies. 🙂 I’m so glad that so many are already involved. Keep up the great work!
Kristen
This was a good primer. I’ve always thought I should do something about this but didn’t know where to start (kind of like genealogy). Now I have somewhere to start. Thanks so much.
Chan Jo, I’ve enjoyed your comments on different threads. I felt like this was a good primer for me, too! I learn so much from these ladies. Can I make one small comment about your thought on genealogy? That was how I felt about it, too, until I got the calling to TEACH family history. I remember my first class included members of the bishopric and their wives and a well-reknowned genealogist and her husband. Talk about intimidating! I felt like I was teaching Filmmaking 101 to Steven Spielberg. 🙁
When you start your genealogy, start with YOU. Write down your (1) full maiden name,)2) your sex, (3) your date of birth and birthplace, (4) your baptism date and place, (5) your endowment date and place, (6) your sealing-to-parents date and place (or write BIC if you were born in the covenant of your parent’s temple sealing,) (7) and your marriage and/or sealing-to-spouse date and place, if those things apply.
Then record those same things for your spouse.
Then record those same things for each of your children and grandchildren, if you have them. (Some people have their genealogy traced “clear back to Adam,” but they haven’t recorded a grandchild’s baptism date! We who know them best must do the recording for future generations to have.)
Then do your father, then your mother, then your brothers and sisters.
Then do your 2 grandfathers and your 2 grandmothers.
Then do your 4 great-grandfathers and your 4 great-grandmothers.
Then do your 8 great-grandfathers and your 8 great-grandmothers. It doubles every generation. You can do THEIR children as you go, or you can come back to it later. I think it’s best to start simply.
(For past generations, also add the death date and place.)
The first question you can’t answer concerning those items is where you begin your research, talking to relatives first to get what information you can from them. It can be overwhelming, but keep praying for the Lord’s help. I have seen more miracles regarding family history work than any other work in the Church; Heavenly Father REALLY wants you to succeed at this. It’s one of the main reasons we came to earth, to seal families together forever. It isn’t easy, BUT IT IS SO WORTH IT. We who have the tools and the technology in these last days before the Savior comes have such a responsibility!
For each person you record, you are looking for BEPS: BAPTISM, ENDOWMENT, SEALING TO PARENTS, AND SEALING TO SPOUSE. For each person you encounter, ask yourself those questions: has this person been baptized? endowed? sealed to his parents? sealed to his spouse? The whole point of family history is to make certain that each of the people on your list have each of those very necessary ordinances performed for them; there is no other reason for doing genealogy.
The computer program the Church uses to record this information is called Personal Ancestral File. There are many other computer programs that can do it, but since this is the one used for temple submissions, it makes sense to start with it. You can buy it or download it for free from the Church’s website. You CAN record your information with a pencil and paper, but the Church won’t accept it in that form any more. Wish I were there with you! I’d help you walk through it. They do have online tutorials that can help you, if you don’t have a ward family history consultant that can teach a Sunday School class about it. (If your ward doesn’t have a current family history Sunday School class, go to your bishop and request one.)
Please do it, Chan Jo, and everyone else that is reading! I don’t think some people in the Church are aware how strictly accountable we will be held for doing or not doing this vital work. Better safe than sorry.
I’ll climb down from my soap box now. :bigsmile:
hee hee. you would get along with my friend sarah! she is a geneology junkie!
I’d like to meet your friend Sarah! And I’d like to meet you! You’re not passing through Idaho any time soon are you?
my friend Sarah is a nut! but I love her to death!! I wish that I could be in Idaho, BUt alas, I live in California, and have very limited travel options at the moment! (hubbie inthe police academy, an infant and 3 kids, and 4 extra people staying with us makes it hard to go anywhere here in town, let alone out of state!)
I really love Idaho though, I went to Ricks before it was BYU, and that’s where I met my husband, 8 years ago. He served his mission in Pocatello, and then went to Ricks afterwards. I come from Canada and so Idaho was just like home! (REALLY COLD!)
Sorry to bring this back to politics, but…
Your help is needed right this minute to stop ENDA (H.R. 3685):
This bill will force employers to hire employees without discriminating against any form of sexual deviancy. (Imagine a cross-dresser at Deseret Book.) This is up, in the House (202-225-3121), on Wednesday, along with the DREAM Act, which is in the Senate (202-224-3121) on Wednesday. Please call on both today.
Kristen
“If signed into law, ENDA would place “sexual orientation” into a category similar to race, gender and age and FORCE employers and even Christian businesses, Boy Scouts, universities, schools religious radio and television stations and daycares to violate their religious beliefs by hiring applicants whose behavior is [deviant].”
American Family Association
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA): ENDA passed out of the House Education and Labor Committee late last week and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), pandering to the homosexual activists, is keeping her word to move it to the floor quickly. The House is now scheduled to vote on this Wednesday, October 24. In addition to spearheading efforts to get this to the floor quickly, Speaker Pelosi has also promised homosexual activists that an amendment by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) to include “gender identity” will also be considered. Please call your Representative at 202-225-3121 and urge him to oppose ENDA and the Baldwin amendment. Also, if you know business owners with more than 15 employees, please have them call their Representative as well. It is crucial that Congress hear from business owners who are opposed to ENDA before Wednesday.
Concerned Women for America
Thank you for your help!
Here is some information on the DREAM Act, which is up for a speedy vote on Wednesday. This bill has been added to a handful of appropriations bills in the last several weeks. Because it has failed to pass that way, Senators Reid and Durbin have decided to run it through under “Rule 14” (no committees; no discussion) in order to pass it without our having a chance to protest.
I am all for legal immigration, but I believe in the rule of law. Illegal is illegal. People who break our laws to come here are unlikely to respect our laws in any other sense. Please help stop this legislation.
Thanks,
Kristen
*S. 2205 would do what all amnesties do — entice millions more people to become illegal aliens here. The word across the world would be that immigration crime pays.
*The DREAM Act amnesty doesn’t just offer U.S. citizenship to illegal alien teenagers, it also provides amnesty to the parents of most of them. Once the amnestied teens become citizens they can obtain an amnesty for their parents.
*S. 2205 provides for no extra enforcement to help ensure that families around the world don’t risk their teenagers’ lives by forcing them to enter the U.S. illegally across the deserts. Passage of this amnesty likely would increase deaths of illegal aliens in the desert as more and more people attempt to get into the country in preparation for the next amnesty.
*Many of the advocacy groups pushing the DREAM Act amnesty openly say it is intended as a way to break the barrier and then to push for several more amnesties and rewards for illegal aliens.
*Many of these teenagers weren’t brought to the United States illegally by their parents. Rather, many of them came on their own and found illegal shelter with legal immigrants who were from their country.
*If there is a compelling story for giving amnesty to any of these high school students, it should be told only after the rule of law has been restored, including a fully functioning entry/exit system at the border and mandatory verification of all new hires by all businesses, governments and non-profits.
More on ENDA:
Please be aware that your congressman’s office may try to tell you that this has nothing to do with hiring sexual deviants, that it just puts sexual orientation in the same protected group as religious affiliation, race, gender and such.
DON’T LET THEM FOOL YOU! There is much more to this:
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/13852/CFI/freedom/index.htm
ENDA would force all Americans who prefer to live within the realm of reality to pretend, by force of law, that a man is a woman that an apple is an orange, simply because that apple thinks it ?s an orange (awkward, fruity pun not intended). It ?s The Emperor ?s New Clothes ? meets George Orwell, and even if you ?re the Mary Lou Retton of mental gymnastics, you land flat on your keister on this one.
ENDA is portrayed by proponents as a panacea against workplace discrimination a mere extension of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They claim it simply insulates people against employment discrimination based upon sexual orientation ? (i.e., gay ?) or gender identity ? (i.e., cross-dressers). But instead, the legislation would actually violate the Civil Rights Act by codifying the very thing it purports to prevent workplace discrimination.
This bill pits the government directly against religion which is unconstitutional on its face. As mentioned, it would force employers to check their First Amendment guaranteed civil rights at the workplace door by not allowing them to consider sexual morality in any way while hiring or firing. It would make federal lawbreakers out of Christian, Jewish or Muslim business owners who honor their faith and would require that newfangled gay rights ? based entirely upon an individual ?s chosen sexual behaviors trump an employer ?s enumerated constitutional rights.
Furthermore, proponents falsely claim that the bill contains a religious exemption. But it ?s entirely illusory. At best, only churches and essentially pastors could be exempt from the provisions of ENDA, and that ?s not even guaranteed. All other faith-based organizations even those which are tax exempt would be discriminated against under this bill. Groups such as Christian schools, Christian camps, faith-based soup kitchens and Bible book stores would be forced to adopt a view of human sexuality which directly conflicts with fundamental tenets of their faith. ENDA would ultimately give liberal judges the authority to subjectively determine who qualifies for the exemption. It ?s the goose that laid the golden egg for homosexual activist attorneys, and it would open the floodgates for lawsuits against employers who wish to live out their faith and even those who don ?t.
Finally, the bill legalizes sexual harassment. It states that denial of access ? to workplace facilities such as restrooms and dressing rooms based on gender is only allowed for shared shower or dressing facilities in which being seen fully unclothed is unavoidable. ? This means that female employees would have to endure both systematic sexual harassment and a hostile work environment by being forced to share bathroom facilities with any male employee who got his jollies from wearing a dress.
But other than that, ENDA ?s great! In fact, it may not go far enough. I mean, while we ?re at it, shouldn ?t we include protections for people based on species identity? ? If a man gets in touch with his inner horse and wants to run in the Kentucky Derby, let ?s force Churchill Downs to make it happen. It makes as much sense.
Matt Barber is one of the “like-minded men” with Concerned Women for America. He is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law and serves as CWA’s policy director for cultural issues.
Thanks, dear. Don’t be concerned that people aren’t responding. I, for one, found a lot to chew and swallow in this thread–all great stuff! thanks so much–and it will take a while to digest and come up with some sort of intelligent response. I’m sure others feel the same way.
Thank you. 🙂
To be honest, knowing this only frustrates me. There is little or nothing I can do about any of it, short of becoming Amish.
Are the Amish exempted from U.S. employment laws? I guess not many cross-dressers would want to hire on at an Amish wood working facility. 😉
YES! There is something you can do about it! Every person who calls to say “vote NO” is one more reason for the reps to “vote NO”. They often (except in the cases of Barbara Boxer and Orrin Hatch) 🙂 try to serve their constituents. They are beholden to you. If you and 100 other individual voices speak out, they just might listen. Even if they don’t listen, you will have stood for what was right. Righteousness will, finally, triumph. But I often think that the important thing along the way is not that we win every battle, but that we are actively involved on the right side of the issues. It is an opportunity for us to show what we’re made of. It isn’t too late to call.
Your help is needed right this minute to stop ENDA (H.R. 3685):
This bill will force employers to hire employees without discriminating against any form of sexual deviancy. (Imagine a cross-dresser at Deseret Book.) This is up, in the House (202-225-3121), on Wednesday, along with the DREAM Act, which is in the Senate (202-224-3121) on Wednesday. Please call on both today.
If you’ve never done this before, here is the basic scenario:
Call. Ask the operator: “Could I have Senator Bennett’s office, please.” Then, when the receptionist answers, say: “I would like to leave a message for Senator Bennett.” She/he will either take the message or transfer you. The message will be something like: “Please tell Senator Bennett I would like him to vote no on the DREAM Act.” Then, they will ask for your home town or your zip code or maybe your name; they will say “thank you” and you will both hang up.
Go for it!
Well, the problem is that I don’t think I know enough about what is going on in any situation to intelligently suggest a vote one way or the other. I’d feel more burden to educate myself if I thought it was even possible. See, most of these laws are so subtle and gray that it is impossible for someone not versed in such things to really know what would be the best choice. I don’t feel comfortable throwing my weight behind something I know I don’t fully understand. What’s more with these “hot button” topics, people are so incensed and biased one way or the other that real information is nearly impossible to find.
That is why I am not more involved.
Maybe Antarctica will take me.
this is why I like being Canadian, and only a resident of California. I don’t have to make any decisions, lol! I know that I need to be up on the issues, but I kind of let my husband do that. (I know, how very ostrich like of me)
I don’t mean to be caustic, SilverRain, but are you saying that because we aren’t all unbiased lawyers who fully understand every nuance of every issue we shouldn’t be involved?
In case anyone would like to know, the DREAM Act did not pass today. That is great news from my perspective.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21456667/
I’m saying that I don’t feel comfortable fighting for or against things I don’t understand.
What “we all” should do is up to “we all”.
I have to admit that I sometimes feel the same way that SilverRain does. I know we are told to vote responsibly and be active citizens, but even at the local level, it’s very, very hard to cut through all the clutter and get to the core of the issues and what people really stand for. And the system is so messed up that it frustrates me to no end.
But there are some things that are more defined like certain bills and such and I really appreciate when people make me aware of them. So keep it coming! Thanks!
Incidentally, it’s in part because of this frustration that I am considering Ron Paul for president…because he is willing to challenge the system entirely. Everyone else will just play within the system. I am still trying to figure out what is best: is it best to work within the broken system and just do the best you can, or to try to overhaul it all like Paul wants to do?
Thoughts?
I agree that it DOES need an overhaul– but I wouldn’t trust Ron Paul to do it if someone paid me $100,000 !! 🙂
His basic ideas– that some things need to be ‘overhauled’ are good ones- but he doesn’t have a way to FIX them either.
I love to learn about the issues and spread the word where I can, if I can understand what is being said (which isn’t often!).
We just had our elections last weekend here in Louisiana. There were several constitutional amendments and propositions that I tried to really study out before voting, but I swear I spent hours reading over them and could not understand what a vote “yes” would mean and what a vote “no” would mean (and while some might disagree, I don’t consider myself an especially stupid or uneducated person, lol!). You almost have to just read the “dumbed down” (meaning “plain English”) version in the newspaper and just hope they got the summary right.
But I do appreciate those who spread the word and help to get us involved. I do care, and I do what I can…sometimes I just feel so confused!
I’m saying that I don’t feel comfortable fighting for or against things I don’t understand.
What “we all” should do is up to “we all”.
You’re right, SilverRain. I was trying to encourage you (“many hands make light work” and all of that), but it is obviously your call.