Often people email me, write me or speak to me about giving Barack Obama a chance. They glance at me, somewhat askance, because I so vociferously defend the U.S. Constitution and this beloved nation of mine, the Republic of the United States of America and ask me: “Why? Life’s not so bad. America’s not in danger. The Constitution is fine. All is well, Candace, just relax.” So I’ve spent the last weekend looking over the course of my life.
As a child, certainly life was easier although we were not wealthy, or even comfortably well off, by any stretch of the imagination. But I had a mother who valued reading, books, education and country life. She taught us to love reading, value books as a source of information, inspiration and motivation. She taught us the value of gardening, farming and taking care of yourself, your family and others in need. When she divorced my biological father, she taught us the value of taking a stance and accepting the consequences, no matter what they may be. When she married the father of my heart, she taught us about taking a leap of faith, believing and trust in a loving God and the power of having a righteous, perpetually good yet imperfect man in our lives. My sweet mother shared with us the joy of a beautiful flower in bloom, a young baby goat vigorously nursing from a milk bottle as we cradled these newborns in our arms. She taught us the joy of romping with puppies in the yard, because that is what she did. She taught me how to cook, care for a home, take a stand, continually educate my mind, trust in God and to believe in myself at all costs. Yes, my life as a child was a good one filled with laughter, love and family.
Then I became an adult. I underwent open heart surgery in August of 1981 and by late October of that same year I entered college and began the continuation of my education. When I finished at Ricks College I went on to Brigham Young University. College was fun, sometimes the classes were hard and other time I couldn’t get enough knowledge from the teacher to satisfy the thirst I had for that subject. But in essence, my college years were easy and life was good.
When I entered the workforce, like others, sometimes I had a good job and sometimes I had a bad job. I constantly pursued knowledge, skills and experience all to one end, launching my own company one day, and yes, I am almost there. But life was easy and good. I lived in America where I was able to pursue my dreams and goals with the understanding that if I would work hard enough, carefully plan my future and pursue those dreams and goals with an unwavering focus then those dreams would become reality. And yes, many of those dreams and goals have been accomplished and met, and others are still to come. Again, life was easy and good.
Many years later I married my college sweetheart. His health hasn’t been great, but we have had great times and also extremely difficult times. There were days when I wondered if this man I loved so much would walk this mortal path with me much longer. As his health worsened, days became tougher but we approached them with absolute faith and devotion to God, and thus kept our eyes on our eternities rather than this mortality with seemingly insurmountable mountains and the unbelievably low valleys. Alvin’s health improved and he’s doing better now than he has in many long years. This life was good because we lived in this great nation, belonged to God’s church and remembered to appreciate the little beauties of life along the way.
September 11 of 2001 happened and life, as my generation, knew it changed. Over the last 8 years the memories of Americans have faded as year after year went by and no attack happened on U.S. soil again. But my consciousness was awakened, an event to which I am certain my ancestors rejoiced. I begin to study anew the history of America. Cleon Skousen’s “Making of America” and his “The 5,000 Year Leap” were eyeopening, to say the least. As I became immersed in understanding and participating in the political process, which is a great privilege of each American citizen, I began to understand more and more the slippery and dangerous slide we began into socialism beginning with Frank Delano Roosevelt. As I studied the words of Ezra Taft Benson, former Secretary of Agriculture I began to see the danger awaiting future generations. And yet it did not fully come home until the presidential campaign of 2008.
I thoroughly researched each of the candidates and came away with terror growing in my heart. I believed Americans would understand the beauty and power of a republic, the form of government established by the founding fathers. I believed they would not embrace a candidate who spouted Karl Marx and clearly indicated he would destroy America as it stood, and rebuild it into a socialist, even a communist, nation. But as the weeks and months went by and this candidate spouted “change” at every turn, very few Americans asked Barack Obama what change he was talking about until the waning days of the campaign where people had already stopped listening. Life wasn’t so easy anymore.
I begin to write article after article and blog after blog about the dangers of what this man was offering America. I studied more and more, I researched voting records. I read books and listened to interviews and I learned. The more I learned the more concerned I became. As hate mail began to pour in and more and more my name and reputation were besmirched by those who espoused socialism as the answer to America’s problems, the more I began to stand firmly as I had been taught.
I studied the founding fathers, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and I launched a political email list sending my articles and blogs out to the world. Life could be easy no more. Than Barack Obama took office and the America I knew and loved was quickly dismantled with the rapid stroke of a pen. I could not sit with my head in the sand, sipping ice cold lemonade and floating along. The economy was tanking and decisions being made in Washington D.C. were making it worse. The president of the United States then reached beyond his constitutional powers and took over private enterprise in the auto, banking and insurance industries. He spent with a madness unchecked by the judicial or legislative branches and still people asked me why I was so worried. Unemployment numbers continued to climb until we are now at a staggering 9.4% unemployment rate. And Washington D.C. said, “We have to spend more money. We have to or the American economy will be destroyed.” The logic of it escaped me completely.
When the tea parties began to be thrown I suddenly saw a way to start fighting back that didn’t involve violence. I saw a way to unite Americans in a single cause … to take America back and restore the republic. I saw a path to defend the Constitution and restore it in its entirety. I knew this was a battle I had to join and one I could never surrender. And the hate mail grew. The snide comments of racist and extremist were thrown at me. My problems with Obama are not that he’s black but because he is a communist. So racist doesn’t fit, for I have never been nor will I ever be a racist. Rightwing extremist? Well, if loving America, defending the Constitution and bucking the communist Obama administration is a rightwing extremist, then I embrace it wholly and completely. I will never pick up a gun, but I will not stop speaking or writing until America is once again Ronald Reagan’s shining city on a hill.
So no, I cannot simply sit back and wait and see. The destruction to America from within has been great and it is a lack of education that allows any American to sit back and say, “All is well.” All is not well, America. It is, in fact, in dire straits. These are times for Americans to arise and say, “No more will we tolerate a government who does not listen to the people. No more will we tolerate corruption and direct attacks on the U.S. Constitution. We cannot carry the tax burden the Obama Administration has placed on the American people. I personally cannot carry that tax burden which is growing (See http://www.usdebtclock.org/) and I tremble at the thought of how much of our income will go to Obama and his minions. There are socialist nations paying almost 60% of their income to their government to pay for socialized medicine, welfare, etc.
How long can the American worker carry the lazy on their backs? How long can the wealthy, who can no longer turn a profit because of the tax burden, pay for those who will not work? Just until the money runs out and then nobody has anything. The only system that works is a system of free enterprise and capitalism. It is the only system that can sustain itself. Although it requires self-control, honesty and integrity, as James Madison said, to keep itself from decaying from within. Greed has no place in free enterprise. Hard work, perserverance and integrity are what can make a society successful, eating your young only destroys.
And so to those who want me to stand down and enjoy life while Obama and his “ignorant, tax evading peeps” destroy this nation I love so much, I answer, “No, I will not.” To those who want me to give Obama a chance I answer, “He destroyed that chance before the sun set on his first day in office.” To those who want me to let the republic die without a whimper I say, “Not as long as I draw breath upon this earth.”
I cannot take the easy path to destruction, but must fight the fight of the patriots who have gone before me. I support and uphold the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. I do, without equivocation:
…Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, One nation, Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
I cannot, nor will I ever, betray the sacrifices of the men and women who have fought the wars of this nation since its inception. From the Revolutionary War to this very day my family has bled and died for this nation and I will not denigrate their sacrifices by spitting in the face of liberty. I cannot, nor will I ever, allow the mocking laughter, insults and false accusations of racist ever to deter me from my course of liberty and justice for all.
Candace E. Salima
27 October 2009 - Orem, UT Mark L. Shurtleff, Utah State Attorney General and author, will be joined by Lynne Jackson and recording artist, Alex Boye’, on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Salt Lake City’s Gateway for the national launch of his new book, Am I Not a Man; The Dred Scott Story, published by Valor Publishing Group.
