Even though they were unable to uncover any fraud in his record, he was told that they would take him to trial as a co-defendant with the buyer of the practice and would convince jurors that he had knowledge or turned a “blind eye” to the other doctor’s activity. And that eventually he would end up in federal prison if he did not plead guilty to a federal offense in connection with the $180 discrepancy. Not wanting to put his family through so much trauma, he accepted their deal and was sentenced to a one-year house arrest and a $300,000 fine. I am convinced that the judge in the case knew my friend was innocent, and at sentencing made a point of saying “none” of his net worth and success in real estate had any connection to this case, and that he was confused. The result of all of this is that an outstanding American citizen who did everything by the book — who is one of the most ethical people I know and an extremely generous humanitarian — is now a felon who cannot vote. He is giving serious consideration to moving to another country.
I know of other examples of severe government abuses, but I don’t want to give the impression that I think government is bad for us. We must, however, find a way to control excessive and inappropriate government intrusion into the lives of innocent, law-abiding citizens who currently have little or no defense against a bully that is supposed to protect us.
HOW REASONABLE ARE OUR FREEDOMS?
Recently, the United States Department of Justice decided to defend a Muslim teacher in Chicago who had less than one year of seniority and wanted to take off three weeks in the middle of the school term to participate in a religious activity. She was denied the time off but decided to take it anyway and was consequently fired. The lawsuit alleged that the school violated her right to freedom of religion.
This is a complex case with many legal nuances, and I certainly believe that freedom of religion is one of the important founding principles of our nation. However, making reasonable accommodations for one’s religious beliefs should be just that — reasonable! In this case, the religious requirement could have been satisfied at any time during one’s life, which means the teacher could have worked long enough to accumulate adequate time off and could have arranged far in advance for adequate coverage of her absence during the school term. Again, this is simply applying common sense, which seems to be rapidly disappearing from our society. Far too often, instead of looking for reasoned, rational approaches to our problems, we play the race card or the religion card or some other card in an attempt to evoke an emotional response. Have we become a nation moved more by emotion than logic when it comes to our governance and legal judgments? In this case, by forcing the school system to accommodate this teacher’s demand for special treatment to accommodate her religious beliefs, the Justice Department has created a slippery slope with no end to subsequent requests by others for special treatment.
This is an important case, because not only do the rights of the teacher have to be considered, but if one wishes to be fair, the rights of the children being taught and the rights of the school who planned on having a teacher for the entire school year have to be considered. I understand the attorney general’s desire to make sure that the teacher’s rights are not trampled, but if our government is to be successful, it cannot have a myopic view of cases with such profound ramifications.
That same myopic view by our Justice Department resulted in the dismissal of three of the defendants in a voter intimidation case against the new Black Panther party in Philadelphia. The case was widely publicized because the incident was captured on film and distributed on YouTube, showing them verbally abusing voters and brandishing weapons. Would the Justice Department recognize such activity as voter intimidation if the perpetrators wore white sheets and burned crosses? I have a feeling that we may find out the answer to that question sooner rather than later if we continue to tolerate legal myopia justified by emotionally based, politically correct prejudices.
I am not accusing anyone of anything other than failing to look at the big picture when dealing with important legal matters. Some will say that I am advocating a conservative approach to the two cases we just discussed, but I would strongly disagree and would say that this is neither a conservative nor liberal view, but rather a practical and logical one. If we can just tone down the rhetoric and discuss things like rational human beings, applying justice equally and not based on some political philosophy, we will validate that phrase at the end of our Pledge of Allegiance, which advocates “justice for all.”
LIBERTY FOR ALL — AND PRIVACY FOR SOME
We could write an entire book on the concept of “liberty for all” found in our Pledge of Allegiance, but I will concentrate on one related problem that threatens to severely derail our entire system of government. We frequently hear the question, why do many of the brightest and most accomplished people in our society refuse to run for public office? The answer is simple; they do not enter political contests because they know that their lives will be scrutinized and privacy and consideration for their family will be nonexistent. If some unsavory incident from the person’s past is uncovered — or even suspected in the case of someone that the biased media does not like — a feeding frenzy occurs.
I do not believe this was the result our forefathers envisioned when they fought so hard to establish freedom of the press. Such freedom should be coupled with common decency and not serve as a license to be obnoxious and inconsiderate of fellow citizens one disagrees with politically. I do not believe that the press should be restricted, but it would be very helpful if our leaders would provide consistent commentary about the role of the press in politics. It is quite immature to favor the press that agrees with a leader’s political philosophies and shun the press that is critical of a leader’s positions.
Everyone has made mistakes in the past that they would prefer to keep private. If criminal activity went unpunished or there is a character defect relevant to the public position being sought, full disclosure and discussion is warranted, but if — as in most cases — it is just a juicy tidbit, the media should resist the urge to exploit it and concentrate on issues relevant to the job. I personally would be skeptical of someone who had never made mistakes, because they would probably have difficulty identifying with the rest of us. I realize that I’m asking a lot of the media, who now have twenty-four-hour news cycles and have to find a way to fill the time. There are numerous positive and uplifting stories about incredible people in this nation and throughout the world that could easily fill the time and provide inspiration. By the same token, it is totally irresponsible for the media to ignore glaring warning signs from a candidate’s past just because they agree with his political philosophy. We should certainly not be surprised, however, when our children are mean and unfair to one another if we continue to provide them with such examples of hostility toward those with whom we disagree.
SHOWING KINDNESS TO THE POOR
When it comes to liberty and justice for all, the Bible makes it clear that we have a responsibility to be kind to the poor among us. As the famous old Chinese proverb points out, it is better to teach a poor man how to fish than to give him a fish. America did not become a great nation by encouraging people to feel sorry for themselves and seek handouts from others.
If we really want to eradicate poverty, we should allocate significant resources and personnel toward providing education and opportunity for the poor. And if we are to provide assistance to our able-bodied citizens, it should be attached to a requirement for work or acquisition of education and/or skills. Not only will this improve self-esteem, it will prepare those individuals to participate in an increasingly sophisticated workforce. Work projects could also contribute to the maintenance of our national infrastructure and beautification, if the right kinds of jobs are assigned as a requirement for benefits.
If they have to work anyway, many people will put real effort into finding the kind of job they want as opposed to collecting unemployment benefits and being assigned to work they consider undesirable. Some conser
vatives would say that we should leave such people on their own to sink or swim because we cannot afford to keep supporting them, while some liberals would say that these people already have enough problems and that it would be unfair to require anything of them that would add to their stress. I reject both of those positions and simply say the application of logic once again will prove most helpful in the long run to our fellow citizens experiencing financial misfortune.
IN FAIRNESS TO ALL
Every citizen of the United States should be expected to contribute to its welfare, which requires a fair system of taxation. We currently do not have such a system, because our tax code is so complex that those with good tax attorneys or accountants can find numerous loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. For instance, one well-known celebrity owns a very expensive mansion on a large piece of property in the Northeast, but pays very little in the way of property taxes because he raises honey bees on the property, which provides a little-known but gigantic tax benefit. I could go on for hours with similar examples, but the point is that given our country’s financial crisis, the creation of a new and fairer tax system is urgently needed. The cries of “tax the rich” in the face of such a hypocritical tax code is, frankly, quite laughable. I do not believe that the rich are unpatriotic because they take advantage of loopholes, but I think we as a nation are smart enough to come up with a system of taxation that eliminates the need for slick accountants and lawyers, and that allows everyone to contribute proportionately to the financial health of the nation — just as God designed for us in the concept of the tithe.
Although I have pointed out many problems that we currently face as a nation, I have also made it clear that the principles upon which our government was founded are solid. In order to take advantage of the ingenious document known as the United States Constitution, we need outstanding, nonpartisan leadership with a vision that can unite the various political factions into a positive driving force, inspiring us and creating an atmosphere in which liberty and justice do flourish, allowing all to succeed.
— CHAPTER 13 —
WHAT’S GOOD
ABOUT AMERICA?
IT IS A TESTIMONY TO ALL that is good about America and the opportunities available here that a friend of mine was able to start out as a short order cook in a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and, from there, through hard work and carefully observing the values that lead to success, established his own national chain of fast-food restaurants. As with any good rags-to-riches story, however, his life wasn’t always easy.
Born to an unwed mother he never knew, he was adopted after six weeks. His adoptive mother died when he was five, and his father went in search of work around the country. From his family, my friend learned the value of hard work and perseverance, and in his early thirties, this young entrepreneur was given the opportunity to use his restaurant experience to take over four Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in need of help in Columbus, Ohio. He was able to completely turn around those restaurants, and four years later he sold them back to KFC, making approximately $1.5 million. That was just the beginning of his success, as he went on to found his own national fast-food chain.
“Only in America,” he was once quoted as saying, “would a guy like me, from humble beginnings and without a high school diploma, become successful. America gave me a chance to live the life I want and work to make my dreams come true. We should never take our freedoms for granted, and we should seize every opportunity presented to us.”1
His name of course is Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, and my wife and I were among his first houseguests after he built his dream home in Fort Lauderdale prior to suffering a fatal heart attack. The effect that he has had on America has been overwhelmingly positive. Adopted himself, he went on to found the “Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.” He claims his decision to drop out of high school was his biggest regret, and so not only did he go on to get his GED at around age sixty, he started the Dave Thomas Education Center to help other adults complete their GED.
Dave Thomas’s success is not rare in our country because of the freedoms we enjoy, and like him and so many others, I am incredibly thankful to call America home. I have been privileged to travel the world and visit all of its major societies, but to be born in a land of opportunity for anyone willing to work hard is an unfathomable blessing that should never be taken for granted. As I learned growing up, even with all the economic turmoil that surrounds us today, entrepreneurial opportunities still exist for anyone who is willing to work hard and think innovatively.
The more stories I read about the success of people who applied themselves to make their lives better, the more motivated I am to be one of them. Knowledge really is power, and when I became a voracious reader, my confidence and grades improved accordingly. I needed little in the way of pep talks by adults, and today it is my strong belief that if you can just get children to believe in themselves and understand that when they achieve academically, they are the ultimate beneficiaries, they will do what is necessary to become a successful contributor rather than a drain on society.
God has opened many doors of opportunity throughout my lifetime, but I believe the greatest of those doors was allowing me to be born in the United States of America.
STEADY AS SHE GOES IN A SEA OF
WORLDWIDE TROUBLE
Growing up, I heard many complaints from those around me about poverty, but visiting such places as India, Egypt, and Africa has provided me with perspective on what poverty really is. Hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people in the world live on less than two dollars a day. Many of those living in poverty in this country, in fact, would be considered quite wealthy by poor people in other countries. Also, here in the US, there is no caste system to determine one’s social status, so there are many opportunities for people to escape poverty without resorting to a life of crime. You are much more likely to be judged in this nation by your knowledge and the way you express yourself than you are by your pedigree. I’m not sure we realize how good we have it on this point.
As I mentioned earlier in the book, racial identity has also become significantly less important in many segments of American society today, which is quite astonishing considering how strong racism was when I was a child. Considering the fact that prejudice is borne out of ignorance, I feel very optimistic about the future of race relations and diversity in America — something that in many countries around the world is worsening. This land was originally occupied by Native Americans, who were largely destroyed by European diseases to which they had no immunity. Hispanic populations then became the majority, followed by people of European ancestry. If you throw in the effects of slavery, East Indian and Asian immigration, and our lack of southern border controls today, you have a formula for perhaps the greatest human diversity on earth right here in the United States. That diversity, however, is a strength, because every group brings its own particular set of strengths to the table, and all have made very substantial contributions to the growth and development of our country. It is essential that we recognize these differences as the blessings they are.
When you look around the world — particularly at the Middle East right now — violent political turmoil is everywhere. Regime change in other parts of the world is often accompanied by bloodshed and severe upheaval. In 2008, our country experienced a radical political change of direction without firing a single bullet or taking a single prisoner. The ability to make such monumental changes without civil war is a mighty testament not only to our founders, but also to our current political leaders in all parties. If, in the future, our political leaders begin advocating violence to get their way, we should abandon them in droves and do everything possible to diminish their influence. Our system of representative government allows the people to periodically dismiss those elected officials who no longer represent their views. It is perhaps the most important civic duty of every citizen to inform themselves about the issues of the day and cast educated vot
es for people who truly represent their views. One should never vote for someone simply because they recognize their name or because of party designation. It is better to vote for no one at all than to cast an arbitrary vote. If all citizens take this duty seriously, there will be far less chance of our lifestyle and that of our children being hijacked by smooth-talking politicians.
FREEDOM TO MIND OUR OWN BUSINESS
Have you ever thought about how fortunate we are to have the right to privacy in such a technologically advanced society? Since 9/11 it has become increasingly important to monitor all suspicious activity in an attempt to prevent further terrorist attacks. One of the results of this monitoring has been the discovery of some unsavory habits and characteristics of many otherwise outstanding citizens. To its credit, our government has not disclosed those findings or prosecuted the involved individuals because we still respect the right of all of our citizens to privacy as long as they are not infringing upon the rights of others. I realize that many “holier than thou” conservatives and even some liberals think we should use all gathered information about people they don’t care for, to discredit them. If and when this begins to happen, our country will become a nightmare akin to George Orwell’s novel 1984. We must jealously guard every American citizen’s right to live as they please, again as long as they are not interfering with the rights of other Americans to do the same.
America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great Page 22