First Principles: If Destruction Be Our Lot, We Must Ourselves Be Its Author and Finisher. As A Nation of Freemen, We Must Live Through All Time, Or Die By Suicide

If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. – Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln spoke these words in the 1838 Springfield Lyceum address that the Democrats would rather us not be aware of or its more popular paraphrase of this speech. This speech may be found here:

Speech to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield (1838) | Constitution Center

Lincoln’s words speak to the unity and vigilance necessary to protect and preserve our fundamental freedoms. We, the People, are the final repository of our own freedom, liberty, principles, and foundational rights. The Democrats are upset currently because the Republican party is seeking to protect these rights by ensuring fair protections are preserved concerning voting. Those aspirations that so offend what was once a fair and decent opposition are that those voting do so legally. This requires citizenship, adequate identification, the ability of each person to only be allowed their legally mandated one vote each, and the fact that those voting are alive. These reasonable standards have governed this republic since universal suffrage has been in place in our nation. Suddenly, some Democrats would call this out as somehow unfair. It is the only way to preserve fairness in our voting process.

Posted in First Principles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thought For the Day: Jazz Is the Only Music In Which the Same Note Can Be Played Night After Night But Differently Each Time

“Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time.” – Ornette Coleman

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

With His Grace

With His Grace
by Michael Doyle

I walk my life in honesty
Thankful for what God's done for me
Repenting now, I begin to turn
Attentively finding things to learn

Loving God with my deepest desire
My fervent faith burns like fire
Walking away from culture's toxicity
I have found God's love in its simplicity

Love for love is beautifully spoken
He never gave up on my spirit, brutally broken
Giving me my conversion by way of immersion
I decided again on spiritual baptism

Once I lived my life spiraling out of control
I now find a renewed purpose for my soul
A servant in every step that I walk
I've found that faith is more than talk

That God would save a sinner like me
Has transformed into my living testimony
With every step, I feel God's loving embrace
My soul is filled with His loving grace

(c) October 16, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

First Principles: We Are, Heart and Soul, Friends To the Freedom of the Press… It Is A Precious Pest, and A Necessary Mischief, and There Would Be No Liberty Without It

“We are, heart and soul, friends to the freedom of the press. It is however, the prostituted companion of liberty.” – Fisher Ames (1807)

Posted in First Principles | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thought For Today: Most of All, Perhaps, We Need Intimate Knowledge of the Past. Not That the Past Has Any Magic About It, But Because We Cannot Study the Future

“Most of all, perhaps, we need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods, and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion.” – C.S. Lewis

Why precisely we must defeat the global movement, but particularly in the United States, to eradicate so much of our past history.

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nine Lives

Nine Lives
by Michael Doyle

It wasn't exactly love at first bite
But it took an encouraging invite
She wanted a man who loved her brain
At long last, the search wasn't in vain

It was a love affair made for a few
It was time to sink one's teeth into
Some say it was in the interest of science
I really don't know if they had a conscience

It will take more than lives
For any of us to stay alive
We'll need them because Hell has poured
The dead among us in these hordes

Optimists say that we'll always find our way
But this isn't what's meant when they say
That love is blind, yet, well find our way
Who knew that Haiti would lead to that way

All these secrets kept too late
As though science determines our fate
One bite and you are gone
With nothing left to think on

It will take more than lives
For any of us to stay alive
We'll need them because Hell has poured
The dead among us in these hordes

The scientist wants to open every door
But not often does he ask what for
One bite and all is tragically done
Even before the setting of the sun

Families are ripped apart
In a world filled with broken hearts
Living through disaster on top of disaster
It's hopeless and one gets what they're after

It will take more than lives
For any of us to stay alive
We'll need them because Hell has poured
The dead among us in these hordes

We search for a grain of hope so long
Telling ourselves we have to be strong
Searching to build our new tomorrow
We seek to ease our pain and end our sorrow

Everyday is a struggle to go on
We find some sense of humor to hang on
Humor and lies join to protect us from grief
As we desperately cling to our beliefs

It will take more than lives
For any of us to stay alive
We'll need them because Hell has poured
The dead among us in these hordes

(c) October 15, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

First Principles: If Your Actions Inspire Others To Dream More, Learn More, Do More, and Become More, You Are A Leader

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

Posted in First Principles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thought For the Day: When There’s No More Room In Hell, the Dead Will Walk the Earth

“When there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.” – George Romero

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Seeking the Ways

Enchanted Winter Solstice - Seeking Wisdom
Seeking the Ways
by Michael Doyle

Seeking the ways I can improve
I know that God is going to move
I can't help but chase it around
The power and glory that I've found

Life lived in all its harmony
There in the notes that surround me
You know that I'm singing about the King
Come know the joy that He brings

Walking the talk that I'll rock
Now I walk the glory that I talk
I raise my praise into a shout
It's Jesus that I'm talking about

While I've something frightening
My heart rejoiced at Satan being struck by lightning
This, then, is my worship and testimony
Coming together knowing that God loves me

Here is my sacred, healing heart
I know that God finishes what He starts
I'm not dead, and He is not done
I've surrendered my life to the Father and the Son

(c) October 14, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Onyx Orchards Winter Fest 2019 - The Wise Still Seek Him

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thought For the Day: To Be Nobody But Myself – In A World Which Is Doing Its Best, Night and Day, To Make You Everybody Else – Means to Fight the Hardest Battle Which Any Human Being Can Fight, and Never Stop

“To be nobody but myself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting. “– E.E. Cummings, poet (14 Oct 1894-1962)

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment