I See... the Theft of Faith, Family, and Freedom

The Mormon Third Eye for the past several months has been deeply pondering core principles of faith, family, and freedom.  After several more weeks of rewrites and reviews, I was finally ready to post a powerful and marvelous masterpiece so magnificent in scope and inspiration that it would cause legions of readers to weep tears for years. Imagine then, how angry I became when upon listening to several of the speakers at last week’s Republican National Convention, I discovered they had beaten me to the punch and delivered several moving missives on the exact same topics. This happened at least once before a few years ago, when the MTE, via thorough, painstaking research, concluded that a person’s last words tended to be their most inspirational; an internet search, however, revealed that a polished LDS author had already figured this out and wrote a classic book about it, “Last Words for the Last Days.”

So, with my apologies to the legions of readers who rabidly await original, witty, and often artfully composed words to ponder every Sunday, I offer some pithy quotes on family, faith, and freedom from the Republican National Convention last week. I plead with you to remember, however, that all of the ideas suggested in the quotes below are seen in the vision of the Mormon Third Eye; for the sake of efficiency, I’ll let them do all the talking:

Family

“And that’s how it is in America. We look to our communities, our faiths, our families for our joy, our support, in good times and bad. It is both how we live our lives and why we live our lives. The strength and power and goodness of America has always been based on the strength and power and goodness of our communities, our families, our faiths.”

“My mom and dad gave their kids the greatest gift of all – the gift of unconditional love. They cared deeply about who we would BE, and much less about what we would DO. Unconditional love is a gift that Ann and I have tried to pass on to our sons and now to our grandchildren. All the laws and legislation in the world will never heal this world like the loving hearts and arms of mothers and fathers. If every child could drift to sleep feeling wrapped in the love of their family – and God’s love -- this world would be a far more gentle and better place.” Mitt Romney

“The greatest lesson Mom ever taught me, though, was this one: she told me there would be times in your life when you have to choose between being loved and being respected. She said to always pick being respected, that love without respect was always fleeting -- but that respect could grow into real, lasting love.” Chris Christie

Faith

“Our different faiths come together in the same moral creed.  We believe that in every life there is goodness; for every person, there is hope.  Each one of us was made for a reason, bearing the image and likeness of the Lord of Life.” Paul Ryan

“As president, I will protect the sanctity of life. I will honor the institution of marriage. And I will guarantee America's first liberty: the freedom of religion.” Mitt Romney

“We are special because we've been united not by a common race or ethnicity. We're bound together by common values. That family is the most important institution in society. That almighty God is the source of all we have. Special, because we've never made the mistake of believing that we are so smart that we can rely solely on our leaders or our government. Our national motto is "In God we Trust," reminding us that faith in our Creator is the most important American value of all. And special because we've always understood the scriptural admonition that "for everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required." We are a blessed people. And we have honored those blessings with the enduring example of an exceptional America.” Marco Rubio

Freedom

“Wherever men and women rise up for their own freedom, they will know that the American president is on their side.  Instead of managing American decline, leaving allies to doubt us and adversaries to test us, we will act in the conviction that the United States is still the greatest force for peace and liberty that this world has ever known.  I was on my own path, my own journey, an American journey where I could think for myself, decide for myself, define happiness for myself.  That’s what we do in this country.  That’s the American Dream.  That’s freedom, and I’ll take it any day over the supervision and sanctimony of the central planners. “ Paul Ryan 

“The American Dream is our story. It is a story of human struggle, standing up and striving for more. It’s been told for over 200 years with small steps and giant leaps; from a woman on a bus to a man with a dream; and the bravery of the greatest generation, to the entrepreneurs of today. This is our story. This is the America we know because we built it.” Mia Love

“The America we all know has been a story of the many becoming one, uniting to preserve liberty, uniting to build the greatest economy in the world, uniting to save the world from unspeakable darkness. Everywhere I go in America, there are monuments that list those who have given their lives for America. There is no mention of their race, their party affiliation, or what they did for a living. They lived and died under a single flag, fighting for a single purpose. They pledged allegiance to the UNITED States of America.” Mitt Romney 

“This is the American way. We have never been victims of destiny. We have always been masters of our own.” Chris Christie