The Conservative View: 'Sleeping in History Class'

This week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner Russell Turner (R-Stilwell).

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

Sleeping in History Class

Earlier this week I saw the news report on the court decision that will force the people of Haskell County in Oklahoma to remove a monument from their court house lawn in Stigler. For the people who do not know, the monument had some very objectionable inscriptions on it. On one side the Mayflower Compact was carved and on the other side was the most objectionable inscription, the Ten Commandments. For those that are so offended by the Ten Commandments being in public view on county property, evidently they were asleep when they were in American history class while in school.

All of western law is based upon those simple Ten Commandments. Our country was not founded upon the Koran or any other religion. Unlike other religions, the God that gave us the Ten Commandments allows us the free will to accept or reject the code of conduct in those simple ten rules. Our country is very young compared to other societies; in less than 250 years our nation achieved a level of prosperity that no other nation ever came close too. Other nations have been in existence for many hundreds or thousands of years, fortunately our founders had the wisdom to see the flaws of those countries.

In many countries the people are led to believe that the rights and freedoms that the citizens have come from the government or some religious leader. In our country it is clearly stated that all men are endowed by the CREATOR the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I assume that the people that are so offended by the monument in Stigler would want to remove all aspects of the principles on which our nation was founded. Do they want to destroy the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution? Do they want to stop the practice of having a president being sworn in while his or her hand is on the Bible? Do they want to remove the words “IN GOD WE TRUST” from our currency?

To me it seems so strange that we are willing to spend all kinds of money and time fighting a losing battle on the war on drugs and all of the other crimes that our citizens are committing at an increasing rate. Would the monument in Stigler cure all of those ills? Probably not, but I can say for sure that the monument wouldn’t make the situation any worse.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.