A Call to Reason

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry

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“A Call to Reason”

Last week one of the people reading my columns called me to task for writing about the problems in this country but not doing enough to solve them. I thanked him for his words and responded that trying to motivate people to keep up with the events of the day and to stay involved was response enough in my opinion.

This was before the events in Austin, Texas. As you are no doubt aware, a man crashed his plane into the side of the building where the IRS has their offices. I am familiar with that building and those offices. I have had dealings with the IRS for a number of years. The IRS employee who was killed in this event was the husband of the collection officer our case had been assigned to. Our prayers go out to her and her family.

So what’s my point? Well, are we called to act against our government in the same manner as the guy who flew his plane into the building? I don’t think so. Did he (the pilot) have a legitimate gripe with the IRS? He certainly thought he did, but then so do I and I would image so do a lot of other people in this country. Have I ever thought about actions such as this guy took? No, never, it’s totally unthinkable. The IRS manager (along with his wife) were doing their jobs, the same as we do ours. They didn’t make the rules, anymore than I made the laws when I was a cop. Argue all you want, but paying taxes was addressed by Jesus in Matthew 22, when He said… “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.” We may not want to do this, but if you disagree… take it up with God, not me…..I didn’t write the bible.

In church today, I found out that this husband and wife IRS team had gone to our church several years ago. The people who remembered them did so with words of kindness. He didn’t deserve to die just because he worked for the government. They were Christians as is our family. We are not called to murder people, but to love them even though it may be hard. The widow has already issued a statement that her family forgives and is praying for the family of the dead pilot. There is an example of Christian love.

The reason for the title of this piece is simply this….does violence and retribution against the government work for or against our conservative philosophies? I think it works against us. Already the liberal media is jumping onto this dead pilot as being some sort of ‘right wing tea bag’ nut and that his actions are condoned by all conservatives. Well, they aren’t for me, and I suspect not for you as well.

In the past year we have seen and passed among us cartoons and jokes of the current president in disrespectful items. You know what I mean, you’ve seen them. Let me remind us all of one thing. President Harry Truman did not fire General Douglas McArthur because the general disagreed with Truman. He fired him because he was disrespectful of the office of the president of the United States. We, conservatives were outraged over the cartoons and jokes that went around about George W. Bush, I would suspect there are those on the left who are equally upset by what has been passed around this past year.

Disagreement with the current administration is one thing. Disrespect for the office of the President of our country is another. We are above this type of behavior; we do not need to stoop to these depths to get our points across. We need to voice our opposition with our words and our actions in a civil and respectful manner. We do not need to become violent and cause destruction of our institutions and to our citizens just because we do not agree with them.

We are Americans; we can do better than acting as savages or terrorists. Let’s stop the crude and rude e-mails and jokes and get serious about our mission. Keep writing those letters to your congress men and women. Keep talking to your neighbors, keep listening to the media, keep aware of what is going on and speak out with your opinions. We are making a difference; we do not need to be identified with mentally deranged individuals who want to operate outside of the law. There are better ways for us to enact change in this country.

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