Response to Sentinel: A Fractured Brainstorm

I stated something on here a few days ago concerning Missouri and revealed I'd been at a Joyce Meyer conference. Let me expound here...this is where it will get weird...skip this part if you don't believe in Fairies, Leprechauns or Unicorns...

Of all things to do on a honeymoon, we chose to attend a Joyce Meyer Ministries conference in North Charleston. I had been watching Joyce for several years and she had really helped me to liberate myself "religiously". For those of you who do not know of Joyce Meyer, here is one of her "preaching quotes": "Going to church doesn't make you anymore a Christian than standing in the garage makes you a car". Joyce's husband and God himself actually were the stars of Joyce's conference to me:

At any rate, the conference is three days and each night Joyce takes a humongous sling shot and shoots t-shirts out into the audience, about 8 each night. After the first night I'm really pumped and saying how it'd be cool if I caught a t-shirt out of 10,000+ people. Blah blah blah right? By the last night I'm saying "Oh well, if God wants me to have a t-shirt, I'll get a t-shirt"...(never mind this had been a very uplifting and precious conference, God's will was certainly in it but I was all about the t-shirt.) So we're at the wind-down, Joyce is shooting t-shirts and POW...here comes one straight towards my unwitting husband who'd bent down to grab a Kleenex at that immediate moment...it bounced off the fingertips of a group of four clamoring, blabber-mouthed conference-usurpers above my husband and landed as the meat in my stadium seat sandwich. :) God wanted me to have that t-shirt. :)

I don't remember which night it was but Joyce's husband Dave took the podium and talked about the Constitution and a lot about our court system. I'd have to look at my notes to tell you what he said specifically but he was earnestly pleading with the audience to learn and defend their rights and fight injustice. Basically the memory of it is like a colonial flag painted by Monet, it was so eloquent I can't grasp it. Needless to say, he sold out every one of the pocket Constitutions he offered and I was "re-awakened" to the injustices I'd long ignored. So I got a jolt from God from a couple of angles at the conference don'tcha think? To the F.L.U. (fairy/leprechaun/unicorn) debunkers I have to say I've had way too many weird things happen in my life that are super synchronicity...I believe God operates outside of the realm of time and peeps in on us occasionally, one only has to believe to be able to "catch it".

So I'm digging along, a newlywed, things are groovin. I'm back home, studying the Constitution getting all reminded how the law is restraining the people and not the government, and on the Internet, I come across a picture of Ron Paul's office a la desk plate -- "Don't steal! The government hates competition" and I was smitten. I had to find him. I started shouting about this man from the rooftops! Wow, was I met with disinterest. Strangely enough, South Carolina was more or less "guilted" early on into supporting McCain due to some prior SC McCain bring down in a prior election. A few months later, I sat here, by myself, watching the Iowa speech...pounding the floor and raising my hand in "Testify!" style when Ron Paul was speaking yet feeling my state was a lock for McCain. Still, I went about yelling from the rooftops and like many of you, "lost" a few friends along the way. Oh some of them aren't "lost" forever per se, they just continue to talk about petty things that make your eyes glaze over. Finally I've just had to say "I don't know what to tell you anymore, my mind cannot process what you're talking about because my brain is on fire over this xyz injustice"...I'm hoping at some point I'll hit their funny bone with something that strikes them the wrong way.

I never understood how Meet-up worked, I think SC is bass ackwards or more likely it's me. I called a sign wave and 7 people were there in the center of Spartanburg at the Chamber of Commerce. But it was probably one of the more gutsy things us 7 have ever done. This place has been a Ron Paul ghost town of sorts. Surely y'all can imagine. I'm envious of those towns that have "open arms policy" for Ron Paul. I've seen small signs that a mighty bear is finally awakening here in South Carolina and have always known that once you get us in the fight, we're in it to win it. I don't think y'all would disagree but I suppose I may have a F.L.U. syndrome for my state as well ;)

I did eventually get to meet Dr. Paul in Spartanburg and Greenville. For all the things I wanted to say BOTH times all I could manage was "We Love You Dr. Paul!" like I just "came on down" on The Price is Right. I did manage to give him a note from my mother that I imagined sliding around in his left coat pocket all night.

I went on to do a kazillion things we all did: Gave to the campaign, talked my head off, sent letters to the editor/congressman/attorney general/pastors/celebrities, wore the t-shirts, had the yard signs and I suppose I didn't realize it at the time, but now own the mill hill "terror van" with my load of Ron Paul and Campaign for Liberty stickers. I made cutesy Ron Paul posters, distributed "A Letter to the American People" and tried to get involved in local politics (without much success). I am not giving a list to edify myself but hopefully to fend off the "Is that all you did for the Republic?" question.

Well something happened on the way to freedom: About this time last year, I was hit out of the blue with emergency gall bladder surgery. About 10 weeks after my surgery, I woke up one morning with "double foot-drop"...I could no longer feel my legs or feet properly, could not point my toes up, a few of my fingers went numb and I suffered from a Labyrinthitis of sorts. I was diagnosed with mononeuritis multi-plex, which is a complicated way of saying "If this happens again, it's MS". I became a shut-in somewhat. So I really went to work for Ron Paul behind my computer but kept my stealthy ghost status much out of fear of embarrassing myself. Heck, half the time I felt like I was levitating, y'all should be glad I restrained myself from posting. Still I kept at my secret purpose, liberty. The "march" came along and I looked at my noodle legs...no march for me. In spite of the fact that my husband undoubtedly knew I could not make it to the Rally for the Republic, he gave me the money to purchase 5 tickets and I made plans....I sat and cried and cried that day, at home, behind my computer, I guess I always knew my legs would not move but I wanted my family's place there to be counted among patriots. It makes me sad to think about it now. When I get down in the dumps, I look up at a cutesy poster I made of Ron Paul when McCain attacked him in the CNN debate regarding "That kind of thinking Sir..." -- y'all remember that look Ron Paul had? I'll never forget it, it's as if I felt a lifetime of injustice all at one moment. I took it upon myself to add "YOUR MAMA!" as a thinking bubble to a still photo of Ron Paul's look that night, so I sit and stare up at that photo when I try to regain my calm. How humble and decent Ron Paul is, he would never shout "YOUR MAMA!". I hope to emulate him but fail miserably.

This "mess" has to be purposeful in my life...no one should possess the ridiculous amount of "freedom information" as I've collected. I have no idea how all this will pan out but I certainly don't want to be the one who did nothing. So finally, I’ve somewhat healed and I’ve gone on to do what was necessary to secure the executive committee chairman's seat in my precinct. I'm led to believe this is where the rubber meets the road as far as community voice is concerned. Now I’m healthier, smarter and better prepared to make my voice loudly heard. Working with the tools we have available is how I choose to strive toward freedom; I think that’s all Dr. Paul really ever asked of us.

However something else happened on the way to freedom: I read that ridiculous MIAC report and then I read what that person said about Sentinel and I finally had a to say something more than my usual sarcastic quips. I hope I'm making some sense here. I guess what I'm screaming is this: Now after all this learning, working, hoping and praying I've done over our country, I'm to be branded a "terrorist" and "cultist"??

One thing I have learned from Ron Paul that has endeared me to him so is his ability to be "un-anti". Southerners might say Ron Paul has the ability to "unsquirrel". How often have you heard Ron Paul respond to a question by unfurling the questioner’s position? Rather than saying we're "anti" something, let's talk about what we are for instead. Someone told me a really great reply to the old half-glass full/half-glass empty theory that applies to Ron Paul. If your glass is half-full or half-empty, this would depend on whether you just poured something in the glass or you just drank some out of the glass. Ron Paul pours something in the glass. He always has an upside in his thinking. I hope that all of us try to flip circumstances to the positive. While it may seem irrational to apply this thinking, I don't find that to be the case. We've all driven behind someone going 10 mph and we're in a hurry. We can't possibly understand what is wrong with this slowpoke right? Well apply this idea: Perhaps Granny has a vicious leg cramp right now this minute you're behind her. I'm mean, surely this is plausible. Have some mercy. Now, go even further if you will, and suggest this circumstance may have also prevented you from being smashed by a runaway train up the road? I mean, it is plausible. Why not apply this type of thinking? It sure keeps you from overstressing the small stuff. In the world of unknownish stuff, why turn to the "anti"? Why not look instead to the plausible even if it appears ridiculously improbable? Why not use the tools that we DO have to work with? (A floundering GOP for one.) I don't feel this is "fluff" thinking but I use it to keep me from going berserk. :)

So I'm not going to tell you what I'm "anti”. I’ll tell you what I am going to keep “unsquirreling” despite brainwash blowback: The message that the Constitution was written to restrain the government, not the people. – This one quote often is enough to crack open the zombie mind. I’ll keep my bumper stickers and add a stack of my C4L pocket Constitutions to slide out through my barely cracked window, should I be pulled over. Perhaps the MIAC was a wake-up call for us to calmly confront our local peace officers and really drill them down on their understanding of the Constitution and the oath they took to protect and defend it. At this point, civilians are doing a much better job at the task of Constitution preservation than those sworn to defend it. If this qualifies us for the “Constitution Cult” so be it.

Sorry this is so wordy and not well put together, this was a dam bursting brainstorm brought on by Sentinel’s post.

Sentinel: If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning. I'd hammer in the evening. All over this land. I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out warning, I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters, all over this land.

If I Had a Hammer - Peter Paul and Mary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UKvpONl3No

Oh well Sentinel, this too shall pass, at least you won't be counted among those who "did nothing once they realized their liberty and wealth were in jeopardy".

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-- If your out-go exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall --