President elect Obama will not be "my" president…

[Don Loper]

Now that the electors voted to elect Sen. Barack Obama to be the President of the United States, I know there are many conservatives who are uncomfortable with calling him "our" president.

I agree.

President Obama will not be "my" president. In fact, whoever would have won would not have been "my" president. This "my president" talk reveals an inner desire to be lorded over by a king, a little imperialist inside nearly every American just trying to get out.

Even religious liturgy prayer’s read: "To direct and defend our president/king/queen and all in authority; to bless and protect our magistrates and all our people."

Now, I'm not opposed to praying for the head of state, in fact, we should be praying for him all the time. And in these United States, that head of state would be the President of the United States. I will have no qualms about praying for President Obama - but he isn't "my" president. Even if my candidate had won, I would not consider him to be "my" president.

A president is one who presides over something. President Bush doesn't preside over me. He presides over the executive branch of the federal government. He presides over federal employees within that sector. He is "their" president. In fact, to the members of the U.S. Senate (which is obviously not in the executive branch), their president is not George Bush, but rather Dick Cheney (who is the President of the Senate, and who is addressed as "Mr. President" when he wields the gavel)! The President of the United States is not the President of the Senate (rather the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate).

Remember, the founders gave us a republican form of government. These men are not gods. They are executives who oversee a department. Bill Gates is not "my" CEO. The pope is not "my" bishop. Drew Brees is not "my" quarterback. None of these men are part of my chain of command.

We are citizens, not subjects. Neither President Bush nor President-Elect Obama are kings. They are not "our" lords, but if they are "our" anything, they are "our" employees. But that's not the implication when we refer to these men as "our" presidents. The implication is that they are exalted, something other than simply men with the job to preside over a group of people in the government. That's all they are supposed to be. It perverts the Constitution to turn the presidency into some kind of cult, or to treat his office as though he were the king of the world or the master of the universe.

This is why the founders chose such un-lofty, functional titles for these men, and why we not only resist speaking of the President of the United States as "your excellency" and such, but also prohibit all American citizens from holding royal titles, such as "Sir" or "Lord."

Similarly, we do not have a commander-in-chief. When I say "we" I mean we civilians. If you are in the U.S. military, George W. Bush is "your" commander-in-chief. Civilians are not part of that chain of command. The President of the United States gives orders to everyone in the military forces from the Secretary of Defense and the generals and admirals all the way down the chain to the private soldiers, seamen, and airmen, but not to civilians - at least not as long as the Constitution has anything to say about it.

In a republic, we civilians and citizens don't have a commander-in-chief. I do think government workers at every level of government need to be reminded of this fact from time to time. They all seem to get too big for their britches.

If my history is correct, if the above is not true, or if I ever get confused about the subject above, I am reminded of our beginnings.

If the “king’s” power is derived from god, and therefore the citizen’s freedom is given by the king was the common belief and enforced upon many a nation, and people in history.

If this were true, than those who fled from such a king, would not have had any moral grounds in doing so, but in fact would be denying gods moral law. Given there would be no “higher” moral authority to justify their actions.

How marvelous though, our founders proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence was historically radical and indeed these very men were awakened by the “laws of nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,” that King was not the source of their liberty. The king was of a “separate and equal station” like us all.

For the first time in history a nations birth was formed, whose freedom was not given from king, but from their creator! In that, “these truths to be self-evident, 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.”

How free men secure these rights is the reason why “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

We the people, employ and elect for our good purpose a President to the executive branch, who answers to us, (citizen/civilian) his employer. Those in the executive call him president. I don’t. He is my employee, hired to the position to supervise the executive branch.

Our leaders have forgotten this, our teachers have avoided teaching this, instead we have a system of “idol worship” as if our leaders were grown in Washington and picked from the magic garden of kings, lords, stars, and lifted to some unheard of pedestal in which we bow? The employer, bow to employee in helplessness?

Our elected leaders are “home” grown, and we citizens pick them! If corruption abounds, just look at your own city and state in which they were grown and picked! But I must save this for another time.

If you want a commander-in-chief, join the military. If you want the President of the United States to be "your" president, get a job in the executive branch of the federal government. And if you can't bring yourself to call Obama "your" president, that's just fine. You don't have a president, he is your employee.

The founders said we citizens answer to a higher government, that being “natures God” and “their Creator”. This is why they could morally break their bonds with a king. This is why many in history have suffered, even death, as lawbreakers of government rules that were un-moral, though legal in the eyes of the nation.

For our founders served, and answered to a higher authority and king, and his name is Jesus Christ.

Presidents are not messiahs, kings, lords, Hollywood star worshipped, idols, nobles, dukes, aristocrat, master, or barons!

Until we teach our children otherwise, …..






(I'm sure liberals are now rolling in thier seats, how can they feel comfortable with all this freedom they enjoy from such noble a cause of understanding! Yet, these liberals today use courts and laws to "restrict" these freedoms, remove all evidence of the cause above of that freedom, to which end they want not to be free unless it IS derived from a socialist government (king). Sadly, they must do so by falsehood.)

[Don Loper]

Phil,

I like it!

[Phil Dedrick 3% OKer's]

Gary, I call the big O his new initialed name as NMP=Not My President and when I address any post now a days, this is exactly what I post. The BIG O is NMP!!!

[GARY POLING]

Charlton Heston was my president! Gp

[Don Loper]

Thank you both for the kind words.

Kay, concerning Drew Brees, we will especially intensify our prayers for him! (smile)

[WTPUSA]

Don, amazing insights. Thank you so much for this post. I think we all have to remember that everyone in government is OUR employee and, as such, we should act accordingly.