Posted by Jacob Roecker on July 18, 2009 under Inspiration | 
9 Principles 
1. America Is Good.
America is the greatest nation that has ever existed in the history of mankind. It has been the source of the greatest liberties, the greatest inventions, the greatest medical breakthroughs and the greatest military army. Instead of using our military might to conquer and take over countries, we have only used our military when we have had to displace dictators and despots and to defend weaker nations that were being threatened by bully nations. If it weren’t for America we would probably all be speaking German and there would be some races that would have been totally eradicated. We even helped rebuild Japan and much of Europe after WW II. We have no reason to apologize for this great country. America is not perfect, but because of our faith in God our creator who has endowed us with “…certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…” and because of our Constitution we are the closest thing to perfection that has ever existed in the governing of men
2. I believe in God and He is the center of my life
I had a profound life-changing encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ in 1981 and have followed Him ever since. Prior to accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior, I was a selfish and self-centered individual who had no purpose in life. I was a user and a taker. Ever since my spiritual rebirth, I have learned to love God, to love myself and then to love others. I now have a purpose for living and it is to serve others while living by the 10 Commandments and the golden rule. Even though I am a Godly man, I still have feet of clay like everyone else and the knowledge of that keeps me from becoming self-righteous. I may not like the action of others, but I am to love them with the love of God.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
Honesty requires a moral framework and America’s moral framework comes from it’s Judeo-Christian beliefs. Honesty is one of the greatest attributes we can possess. It defines who we are. It let’s others know whether we are trustworthy. A dishonest man is a liar and cannot be trusted. It is a sad commentary on our nation, but the truth is that there are very few men and woman in the United States Congress who are trusted by the American public. I live my life everyday as a man of integrity and honesty and if elected to Congress, I pledge to help restore American’s faith in Congress.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
I have five children from ages 10 to 19 and my children do not look to the government for their authority they look to me. The primary role God has given me is to take care of my children. To feed and clothe them, put a roof over their heads and to protect them. But more then that, I am charged by God to give them the love, nurture, guidance and discipline they need to grow up as healthy human beings. So many children today have skewed and misshapen personalities because of the lack of Godly caring parents in their lives. Our juvenile centers, jails and prisons are full of them. Even though I am divorced, I am a single parent to my three youngest children and I take that responsibility very seriously. I give you my word that I will never vote on legislation that in anyway encroaches on the life of you and your family.
5. If you break the law, you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
We have the greatest legal system in the world. And even though it is not perfect, it is still the best. I will always fight to see to it that the law remains blind and that it provides equal justice for all. It bothers me that there are so many men and women in the banking industry and on Wall Street who broke the law and are responsible for this economic meltdown that is affecting our entire nation. As a U.S. Senator, I would fight to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those responsible for this economic disaster.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
The Declaration of Independence says “…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Even though we are all created equal, and we are all guaranteed the same Rights, we are not guaranteed equal results. The results will for the most part depend on our skills and abilities and our willingness to work hard and to save and invest. The degree of our success also has to do with the favor of God.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with whom I want to. The government cannot force me to be charitable.
I do believe in a strong work ethic. I also believe in sharing with those who are less fortunate. I wouldn’t be where I am today if others had not willingly invested in my life. The saying that it is better to give than to receive. But the government has no constitutional authority to determine if or how much I give. That is one of the fundamental problems with the 16th amendment. The government is taking part of my income and then giving it to others who I do not believe deserve it and in some cases it violates my conscience. That is why I believe we should implement the Fair Tax then repeal the 16th Amendment.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
The First Amendment to the Constitution gives all Americans the Right to freedom of speech; of the press; of peaceable assembly and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievance. This is one of the most important rights we have and yet more and more we see the government infringing on these rights with the concept of political correctness and with the racial double standard that exist is this country. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright is a perfect example of this double standard. He can spew vile racist remarks from the pulpit with impunity yet if a White pastor were to say the same thing about Blacks they would be arrested for hate speech and lose their tax-exempt status.
9. The government works for its citizens. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
We are reminded in the Gettysburg address that ours is a government of the people, by the people, for the people, and yet how quickly do our elected officials forget that they work for us, not the other way around. Most of them do not have the spiritual or emotional maturity not to succumb to the intoxicating allure of the power that has been entrusted to them and before long they have become obstructions to the Rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The Declaration of independence goes on to say “That to ensure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundations on such principles and organinizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
12 Values
1. Honesty: Honesty is one of the most fundamental of all human values. It determines whether we are trustworthy or not. It is sad to say that we live in a time when honesty among our political leaders is a rarity. Instead of people saying what they mean and meaning what they say, all we get out of Congress is spin and political correctness. I pledge to the American citizens that I will always be a man of my word and that they can always depend on me to say what I mean and mean what I say.
2. Reverence: Reverence toward God is foundational. It is the wellspring from which our other values flow. When we reverence God then we respect his authority and we desire to live by his Commandments.
3. Hope: Hope is a joyful, confident expectation of our future and it is based on a belief in a loving God and the belief that god will conquer evil. I have hope that regardless of the darkness of this hour that America is facing, that the men and women of faith will pray and be willing to take a stand for righteousness sake.
4. Thrift: Thrift is a basic fundamental of prosperity. Congress has become so corrupt that they have abandoned these very basic principles of prosperity. Consequently we have a deficit of over a trillion dollars and our national debt which exceeds 11 trillion dollars. I pledge to reign is spending and do everything in my power to eliminate the deficit and the national debt. By mandating immediate national energy reform to include, nuclear, drilling for our own oil and natural gas, wind, solar etc., we can save the 600 billion dollars a year that we give to our enemies and we can create many jobs that will help revitalize our economy.
5. Humility: Humility is a word that has lost its meaning in the U.S. Congress because only those who truly believe in God almighty can evidence a spirit of humility. From the day that I bowed my knee to the King of the Universe, I understood true humility. I understood that I am nothing without Him but that with God on my side that nothing was impossible and that in the end He is the only one worthy of praise, glory and honor. I pledge to always humble myself under the mighty hand of God and to consider it a divine honor to serve Him and His people.
6. Charity: I believe that it truly is “…more blessed to give than to receive.”and we are instructed by the Holy Scriptures that “Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver.” It is the individual’s responsibility to give to the need of others and not the governments responsibility.
7. Sincerity: It is important that leaders demonstrate that they are sincere in wanting to truly serve their constituents. They can do this by spending time with their constituents and really listening to them and their suggestions. Then they can show their sincerity by working hard to accomplish the greater good for those they represent while staying true to their core principles and the Constitution of the United States.
8. Moderation: I believe in living a moderate lifestyle. As leaders, we are to live our lives as examples to our children and to the world that is constantly watching us.
9. Hard Work: I believe in hard work and it is obvious that Americans are some of the hardest working people on the face of this earth and that is one of the reasons whey we are the most prosperous nation on earth. The free market economy rewards hard work and creativity allowing us to pass on to our children a quality of life. From the time I was eight years old I was working selling newspapers to make money. My mother instilled in me a hard working ethic. As your U.S. Senator, I pledge that I will work as hard or harder then any Senator in Congress for my constituents and my country.
10. Courage: I have survived one of the harshest environments on the planet. I understand what courage is all about and there is no one I fear but God almighty. I will stand and I will confront evil wherever I find it whether it be an individual, a party or a special interest group. I pledge to fight to my last breath to defend the constitution of the United States.
11. Personal Responsibility: I absolutely believe in personal responsibility. As your U.S. Senator I want you to hold me personally responsible to do everything in my power to fight for the freedoms guaranteed to us by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the Amendments. I believe that every able bodied American should be responsible for themselves and that it is not the government’s role to take from one person and give to another.
12. Gratitude: I love the United States of America and I cannot express in words how grateful I am to have been born a citizen of this great country. Not only because of the freedoms to which my citizenship entitles me, but to the hope that it gives to the billions of people all over the world who hunger for such freedom.
Posted by Jacob Roecker on July 6, 2009 under Inspiration |
Not long ago, I was introduced by a friend to Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Project which is, in his own words, “designed to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001.”
“The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the greatest nation ever created.”
I read the nine principles, distilled from the 28 founding principles of America described in the book “The 5000 Year Leap,” and 12 values of the 9/12 project and thought to myself, “This is what I believe.”
A patriot named Jacob Roecker came up with the idea of making the 9/12 principles and values into a pledge that candidates would be asked to sign, thereby committing themselves to upholding its contents in the exercise of their public duties should they be elected. I signed the pledge immediately and put a banner on my blog to show my support for Jacob’s efforts.
He has asked each of the candidates to present their 9/12 platform as a confirmation of what the principles and values mean to them. I hope this gives you some insight into what I believe and why I am arming myself for battle in 2010.
Glenn Beck encourages us by saying the liberal elites who disrespect our nation’s founding principles are not the majority:
“Do you watch the direction that America is being taken in and feel powerless to stop it?
“Do you believe that your voice isn’t loud enough to be heard above the noise anymore?
“Do you read the headlines everyday and feel an empty pit in your stomach…as if you’re completely alone?
“If so, then you’ve fallen for the Wizard of Oz lie. While the voices you hear in the distance may sound intimidating, as if they surround us from all sides—the reality is very different. Once you pull the curtain away you realize that there are only a few people pressing the buttons, and their voices are weak. The truth is that they don’t surround us at all.
“We surround them.”
The 9/12 Principles
America Is Good.
In recent decades, it’s become fashionable to find fault with America and reject her unique place in world history. Our current president is the personification of this fault-finding. Every atrocity committed against us or others is offset by some sin America committed to prompt the initial atrocity. American exceptionalism is denied in the name of “world citizenship.”
To quote Newt Gingrich at the recent Maryland Red, White and Blue dinner, “I am not a citizen of the world. I am a citizen of the United States of America.” We are not a perfect nation, but there is no other nation on earth where people can worship their God with abandon and without fear, where the central founding principle is the dignity and worth of each individual, and where the practice of personal and economic liberty has unleashed a flood of unprecedented wealth that makes even our poor the envy of millions around the world.
We are a magnet and a beacon to people around the globe, not because we are like everyone else but because we are unlike anyone else. I have always been proud of my country, I was honored to serve and represent her as an officer in our armed forces, and the identity politics I choose to practice labels me an American and a patriot.
I believe in God and He is the center of my life.
What we put first in our lives governs everything that comes after it – our thoughts, our words, our deeds, the way we interact with and make sense of the world. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and made him the Lord of my life, so he is first, last and everything to me.
I know that’s not a popular stand to take these days and some might even consider me intellectually or mentally deficient as a result. I’m fine with that because I allowed my mind and heart to be open to the evidence that Christ is who He said He is, and He revealed Himself to me. No one can take that away from me. He gives me peace and purpose in this life and eternity with Him in the next.
That said, people of other faiths and non-believers have nothing to fear from me or any of my fellow Christians for that matter. From the beginning, our God was and is a God of liberty; we are free to accept or reject Him for He wants our love for Him to be genuine, not programmed or coerced. Christians honor and defend our liberty because it has allowed our faith to thrive in America unlike any other place on earth. I believe other faiths would agree that America is a haven for them as well.
I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
Today’s citizen is justifiably cynical about politicians and their honesty. The years I’ve lived prior to my first run for public office have shown me the value of authenticity and, no matter what else is said of me, I hope people will say that I’m real, that there is no pretense about me. Authenticity requires less energy to maintain because it’s who you are, not who you pretend to be.
The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
The trilateral construct of the family – mother, father and children – is the foundation of civilization. While I will always have compassion for those who, through no fault of their own, do not enjoy the benefits of having both parents in the home, I will defend the family against deliberate efforts by government or society to undermine its authority and viability.
I am empowered to make the choices for my family, especially my children, and the state will not raise them nor teach them the selfish, hedonistic, and rudderless so-called values so prevalent today. That is a task assigned to me by God and I take it seriously when government tries to interfere with my familial duties.
If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
Leviticus 19:15 says, “You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.” I believe in justice that places the rule of law above mob rule, the tyranny of the majority, or favoritism toward or bias against a particular group of people because of who they are or their station in life. The rule of law is fundamental to our system of government because it is what ensures the minority in our country of equal protection.
I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
There is no liberty without life, and the pursuit, not the guarantee of happiness, is the reward of liberty. That means I will defend life at all its stages so every human being has a shot at living in liberty and pursuing their dreams.
Family, faith, charity, commerce and community exist to support our pursuit of happiness and also to help us when we fall to get back up again. Government should confine itself to national security, public safety, public infrastructure and the administration of justice. If it did only a few things but did those well, we would be a better and freer nation for it.
Life was never meant to be without failure or adversity, for it is in failure that we learn and grow stronger, and in adversity that we learn the value of community. The heavy hand of government and its insistence on equal outcomes disrupts the natural process of maturity, sentencing us to childlike dependence and mediocrity born of a lack of motivation or incentive.
If I am beholden to someone else for my well-being, I no longer have liberty and that makes me a slave. I refuse to exchange my liberty for security because even security can be taken away once I’m at the mercy of someone else.
I work hard for what I have and I will share it with whom I please. Government cannot force me to be charitable through complicated schemes for distribution of wealth.
Studies consistently show that we conservatives are exceedingly generous compared to our liberal counterparts who fully believe charity should be forced upon us by government. They accuse us of being greedy for wanting to keep more of our own money but the facts are 1) it’s ours in the first place, not the government’s and 2) we understand the value of charity and community in a free society and give more of our time, talent and treasure to worthy causes than anyone else in the world.
Besides, private charity is more effective, efficient and compassionate at the point of individual need than a bureaucratic, inefficient government for which charity is an inappropriate function and one for which it is ill-designed.
The fact we choose the causes that are deserving of our gifts, and that those choices might not be someone else’s, is yet another benefit and consequence of liberty. Perhaps if liberals gave to the causes they believed in rather than demanding government extortion of their fellow citizens, they might find more personal satisfaction and their causes might actually thrive.
It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinions.
Liberals are taking hypocrisy to new heights by attacking us for our criticism of President Obama. “We’re not giving him a chance to prove himself,” the narrative goes, “particularly given the mess of the past eight years he inherited.” It’s the tail end of that comment that illustrates their audacity.
The left has been screeching with veins bulging from their necks about President Bush since the Supreme Court halted the recount in Florida, and the terror attacks of 9/11 gave him only a temporary respite from their vitriolic attacks. They can’t even let go now that he’s gone; everything they’re dealing with was “inherited.” Give it a rest, OK? Every President inherits the workload of his predecessor, the good and the bad.
Besides, this President has spent more in the early part of his term that any President in history and is projected to add a breathtaking $9 trillion to the debt. All the previous administrations combined contributed over $11 billion to the debt so he is destined to be the single biggest spender ever to roam the White House by several orders of magnitude.
He is dictating industrial policy, firing CEOs and determining executive pay, and taking ownership of our auto industry and financial institutions. He is rewarding the unions with the remains of the auto companies they helped run into the ground. He is using government to sanction the killing of unborn children worldwide. He is pushing hate crimes legislation to create a protected class of people based solely on sexual orientation, making them “more equal” than others. He is traveling the world apologizing for America while the blood of her children cries out from the soil of Europe, Japan, Iraq and other nations we’ve saved from tyranny and placed on the road to liberty and prosperity.
And we’re supposed to keep quiet? I don’t think so. Disagreement with authority is enshrined in our Declaration of Independence and protected in the First Amendment of our Bill of Rights. You will have to pry the microphone out of my cold, dead hands before you take away my right to express myself freely.
The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
Our elected officials look down on us and that’s backwards. They depend on us for their livelihood and influence and I will not tolerate them treating me or my fellow citizens like serfs. Government is our servant, not our master, and it’s time for us to push back and assert our authority over those we grant the privilege to govern.
12 Values
Honesty – Be true to yourself and others. Say you don’t know if you don’t know. Don’t tap dance.
Reverence – Love God, love your neighbor as yourself, and see the divinity in both. Show devotion to your country and its ideals.
Hope – Policy must always appeal to our innate optimism and can-do spirit, not our fears. Too many of us are cynically manipulated to look at the past and present with bitterness rather than to the future with hope.
Thrift – Spend no more than you take in, spend wisely and monitor for predetermined outcomes that deliver the most good for the most people. Kill programs that do not work. Protect the taxpayer and let him and her keep as much of their hard-earned family funds as possible.
Humility – I am a servant of the people. I will show them the utmost respect and deference and will not succumb to the temptation to behave like a pompous jerk just because I have a title.
Charity – The secret to a life well lived is not to hoard its blessings for yourself but to pour them out onto others. God will continue to bless you as you bless others. Be generous with your own money, but stingy with the taxpayer’s money.
Sincerity – Be authentic and always approachable.
Moderation – Conservatism is, at its heart, prudence and restraint over impulse and emotion. Go slow – every policy you enact has unintended consequences and an impact on real lives.
Hard Work – A campaign is an extended job interview and an election is the offer letter extended to the best interviewee. Don’t be a bust on the job. Give the people your best so you can leave office knowing you left it all on the field.
Courage – Courage is being afraid and pressing ahead anyway. Don’t let fear of reprisals or being disliked keep you from doing the right thing.
Personal Responsibility – Liberty isn’t possible without self-government, and self-government isn’t possible without continuous learning, situational awareness and active involvement in your community and the affairs of state. My responsibility is not only to my liberty, but to the liberty of others.
Gratitude – We can’t change the past, nor can we predict the future. We have the miracle of the moment and we should be thankful we are alive because it means God still has something great for us to do for Him today. We should be about His business.
Posted by Jacob Roecker on May 24, 2009 under Inspiration |
Jakob Roecker
I think it’s important for this organization to publicly state how grateful we are to the citizens who have given their lives for our liberties. One of the reasons for organizing in this setting is that their deaths on behalf of our freedoms are treated irreverently with marketing research on voting trends, gerrymandering, stupid party rules, and cost analysis voting. I don’t believe that’s the America our patriots died for, and I don’t believe I’m going to step into the grave without doing something to fix it.
Our rights were granted by God, bought with blood, and preserved with honor. There is a sacred reverence required when representing your fellow citizens. That reverence demands the pledge of one’s sacred honor. Nothing less will suffice. Nothing less will preserve for our children the nation purchased with so much blood.
On this day I think personally of walking through Arlington to visit the headstone of my grandfather who chose his final resting place to be with those whom he called his brothers. I think of my name, Jacob Roecker, and how it comes from Jakob Roecker, a German immigrant who served in the Civil War, was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, and who I believe may have been in attendance when President Lincoln gave his famous address. For this day, I will post the entire address on this site.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate… we can not consecrate… we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government : of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
