Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people! Jeremiah 9:1
For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me. Jeremiah 8:21

Human slavery was by no means abolished in 1863. Nor did it cease in civilized nations, including the United States of America, nearly 150 years ago. It continues to this day, unabated, even within the borders of this American nation.

The trade is not limited to men, women, and children with dark skin, for purposes of forced labor. Modern slavery has taken a more ghastly, dispicable, and nefarious face: the majority of those who are slaves are women and children, who are forced into lives of prostitution. The statistics are horrific:

* A child is trafficked every 30 seconds. – UNICEF
* The average age of entry into commercial sex slavery in the United States is 13 years old. – United States Department of Justice
* Human Trafficking occurs in 161 out of 192 countries. – The United Nations
* Pornography is a 96 billion dollar per year industry. – The Internet Filter Review
* Up to 96% of women in prostitution want to escape but feel they can’t. – United Labor Organization
* Human Trafficking is a 32 billion dollar per year industry. – The United Nations
* In some countries it is estimated that 70% of men purchase sex. – Victor Malarek; The Johns
* Over 27 million people are enslaved around the world. This is more than double the number of Africans enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. – Kevin Bales; Free the Slaves

(Source: “The Cold Facts of Modern Slavery” http://nefariousdocumentary.com/learn-more/)

This slave industry is global, but most of the victims are brought here — that’s right, to the United States of America — to be exploited. Exploited by whom? According to statistics, more than 80% of the buyers of slaves for purposes of prostitution are American businessmen. Europe is also a major destination for victims of human trafficking. That is unspeakably disgusting.

Although forced labor is a part of global human trafficking, the greater majority is that of forced prostitution. How sick! We gasp at how 200 years ago, Africans were sold and bought, and treated most degrading manner, to be subjected to forced labor all their lives. We wonder at how our ancestors, not even a full 2 centuries ago, could be so brutal to another human being.

But now, there are even more slaves today than there ever were in history at any one time. It is not the need for labor and hired hands that is fueling this multi-million dollar industry. The majority of slaves are being obtained and sold, not for the purpose of picking cotton or harvesting sugar cane, but for the purpose of gratifying the carnivorous appetite of a man who feels like being a pervert that day.

This problem is in no way far removed from even middle-class citizens. We are continually bombarded with immoral propaganda, on purpose. Even the shopping isles and grocery store tabloids shamelessly display the very things which fuel human trafficking. Sexual gluttony is not just inappropriate; it is costing millions of women and children, almost none of whom chose this kind of life, their lives and souls. And every single person who patronizes the businesses that promote this kind of behavior — either through viewing porn, clicking in internet adds, subscribing to slimy magazines, or anything else — bears the burden of responsibility for these people.

And the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Genesis 18:20-21

God hears the cry of those who are oppressed, and He executes righteousness and justice on their behalf (Psalm 103:6). God does not take that cry lightly, and neither should we. When He comes to visit, He should find out that the hands of His people are clean of this great iniquity, and are standing on the side of justice, ready to move at His word.

Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save;  Nor His ear heavy,  That it cannot hear.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. Isaiah 59:1-4

Why does not God move? Why does God not powerfully intervene in this situation, and turn this whole wicked industry to dust? Because no one calls for justice. We don’t care, and our hands are just as defiled with sin as our neighbor’s. If there was zero perversion in “Christian” circles in this country, I am confident that a lot of wicked causes and businesses and industry would go bankrupt. After all, don’t professing, church-going Christians make up the majority of people in this country?

There are some very, practical steps that we can take to squash this squalid traffic in this country, and hopefully, worldwide. There are a number of excellent Christian organizations that you can partner with, and help the cause of liberty, but the two groups I would like to highlight are Pearl Alliance, led by John and Lisa Bevere of Messenger International Ministries, and Exodus Cry, a ministry led by the International House of Prayer, based in Kansas City. Both organizations raise awareness about the truth of human trafficking, and they work to rescue those caught in it. What is great about the Exodus Cry ministry, is that they understand the indispensable importance of prayer in this fight against slavery; hence they do not only appeal to men, but to God, and angels and demons move in the spiritual realm, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

Below are two video clips by these anti-human trafficking ministries. If you possibly can, share these videos with others, and get the word out about this cause.

Exodus Cry: The Mission Briefing

Exodus Cry: The Mission Briefing from Exodus Cry on Vimeo

The A21 Campaign: Maria’s Story

From the American Revolution Center, which conducted the survey:

The survey questions addressed issues related to the Revolutionary documents, people, and events, and also asked attitudinal questions about the respondents’ perception of the importance of understanding the Revolutionary history and the institutions that were established to preserve our freedoms and liberties. The survey results highlight the importance of, interest in, and lack of understanding of our Founding.

The specifics of the poll, and their results, can be viewed by viewing the PDF file available from the American Revolution Center’s website, here.

The average score was 44%, and nearly 83% of those surveyed failed to get a passing grade, meaning that they failed to get more than 16 questions correct on a 27-question exam.

The survey showed that by far, the majority of what Americans know about the Revolution and its principles comes from what they were taught in the school system. That statistic alone should account for the rest of the results of the survey. Hence the question posed in the title of this post: Why are we so surprised? Why are we so surprised that

Sixty percent of Americans could correctly identify the number of children in reality-TV show couple Jon and Gosselin’s household (eight), but did not know the century in which the American Revolution took place.

What?! Is 1776 such a hard date to remember? Or is this the result of a confusion over which century the 1700s were? (It was the 18th, and not the 17th century.)

Many more Americans knew that entertainer Michael Jackson sang “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” than knew that the Bill of Rights is part of the United States Constitution.

The survey also showed that the second most popular source of information concerning the Revolution, its leading figures, and its principles (again, this statistic is not a surprise), comes from books written on the subject. That can be good. However, given the kinds of books that are the most popular these days on the subject of the American Revolution and the Founders, that can also be bad. If one examines the kinds of books that are most popular today on the Revolution and on the Founders, books written by popular authors, it is pretty clear that these books, in general, tend to (A) market their works to popular audiences, and (B) add to/reinforce what the reader most likely was taught in school (not surprising, since most of these popular authors are professors at public universities and colleges).

Now, these two attempts are not bad in and of themselves. However, marketing to popular audiences is wrong when one tries to appeal to the baser passions of the people, by accentuating the grotesque and the negative to make the material sensational, in an attempt to add to the work’s “popular appeal.” Reinforcing what has been taught in the schools is also dangerous when the schools are bent on impressing the minds of the students with humanistic philosophy, and not the truth.

And the third greatest source of information concerning the Revolution is (again, no big shock here) the television. Most of what is televised on the Revolution is drama and documentaries, but we really do not seem to have much on the Revolution in either category. And of course, it is no big surprise that Hollywood would *gasp* play fast and loose with the facts, all in the name of “creative license” and “entertainment.” If you think that popular books debase everything to add to their “popular appeal,” dramas and even documentaries do it to a much greater extent, and much more effectively. Therefore if someone is interested in learning more about our Revolution, ah, the boob tube would be the last place to get such an education. Most likely it will not inform. It will deform, twist, distort, until it has molded a false and graven image of the Revolution, its leaders, and its principles, into the minds of as many viewers as possible.

However, the part of the survey which is the most astonishing, is that although a majority of Americans believe that the Revolution’s principles apply today, and that many of the rights, privileges, and protections that we enjoy under our form of government — freedoms which our American forefathers fought and died for — are important, enough Americans do not believe that those rights are important to make one shudder. See the image below (click to enlarge), from which these statistic are obtained, to view how American opinion has changed for or against these rights and protections within a year.

And now for the figures, which speak for themselves:

14% said that although the right to a fair trial was important, it was not essential to American liberty.
18% said that although the right to practice the religion of your choice was important, but not essential.
22% said that the right to privacy was important, but not essential.
28% said the right to “speak freely about whatever you want” was important, but not essential, and 2% said it was not important at all.
23% said that the right to practice no religion was important but not essential, and 10% said that it was not important at all.
29% said that the right to march, protest, or petition the government is important but not essential, and 6% said it is not important at all.
32% said that the right not to have your property searched or seized is important, but not essential, and 6% said that it was not important at all.
35% said that the right to own firearms was important, but not essential, and 19% said that it was not important at all.

OK, a little disclaimer needs to be added here. The “rights” of “speaking freely about whatever you want” and of “practicing no religion” are not rights, nor did the Founders fight to protect them. You do not have the government right to speak about whatever you want. Speaking profanity, obscenity, or insulting the Christian religion and Jesus Christ were viewed as serious offenses to the Founding Fathers.

See for example, the case of The People v. Ruggles (1811), which was brought before the Supreme Court of New York State, and the opinion of the court was delivered by Chancellor James Kent. Kent was a contemporary and close associate with such notable Founding Fathers as Alexander Hamilton and John Jay (and no, the majority of Americans couldn’t identify those two figures either). Kent is known as one of America’s two “Fathers of American Jurisprudence” (the other is Kent’s contemporary Judge Joseph Story), for his authoritative Commentaries on the United States Constitution. Kent, in the case in question, made this declaration:

The people of this state, in common with the people of this country, profess the general doctrines of Christianity as the rule of their faith and practice; and to scandalize the Author of these doctrines is not only in a religious point of view extremely impious, but even in respect to the obligations due to society is a gross violation of decency and good order. Nothing could be more offensive to the virtuous part of the community, or more injurious to the tender morals of the young, than to declare such profanity lawful. (SOURCE)

We do enjoy freedom of speech, but that is not the same as enjoying the right to “speak freely about whatever you want.” If it was the intention of the survey to inquire as to how Americans view the importance of freedom of speech, as specified in the Bill of Rights, then they misinterpreted it with their question, making a whole new “right.” If I had taken the survey, I would have answered as the minority above answered it.

And as for “having no religion” — that is not a right. It is something that is not within the sphere of government, so you might say that because the government is not allowed to interfere in that matter, it is something you enjoy under a free system of government. However, that does not automatically make it a “right.” Nor did the Founders specify it in the Founding Documents as a protected right.

So as for those two questions, I think I can understand the reasons for the minority’s answers. At best, those two questions are poorly phrased. However, the rest are as plain as they need be, and we have considerable numbers of people saying that they are not essential? The right to bear arms (i.e., the right to defend myself, defend my family and property, the power to defend the innocent) is not essential? The right to peacefully assemble to petition the government for a redress of grievances is not essential?

Maybe I good question to ask the people who took this survey would be this:

WHAT ON EARTH IS ESSENTIAL?!?!?!

By looking at the ways in which the majority of the surveyed Americans excelled in knowledge, they think that television and entertainment is essential. As the survey PDF will show its readers, most of the Americans surveyed say that they have a desire to know more about the Revolution, until now they think they have a fairly good understanding of the basics, and they expected (at least the majority did) to excel, and they did not. Maybe this would make a good illustration of “good intentions” versus “good actions.”

So that is where we are at, America. We are enjoying ourselves to death. Literally. As the country fantasizes over the things that entertain it and tickle its whimsical fancies, our liberties are being ripped apart piece-by-piece by those who hate this country and everything for which it really stands. This survey is not all bad news, but if the body of the American citizenry is not awakened to a sense of real danger and real urgency, our tiny steps toward improvement will mean nothing, as our destruction makes huge strides.

Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you.
Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.
~ Proverbs 4:5-7

But in the mean time, I would like to share with my readers a four-part video series of the first day (er, evening) of the Inaugural Colloquium of the Alexander Hamilton Institute, which took place on April 10th, 2008, which is based in Clinton, New York. It was a great privilege and honor for me to attend this particular gathering, as a guest of Professor Robert Paquette, and to witness the workings of this new but wonderful organization directly. I will post more extensively on this event, but in the mean time, you may enjoy the following videos, and read a descriptive blog post by my blogger friend, Mrs. Mecomber, who also attended the event, and shot some beautiful photos.

Inaug. Colloq. – Pt 1 from Alexander Hamilton Institute on Vimeo.

Inaug. Colloq. – Pt 2 from Alexander Hamilton Institute on Vimeo.

Inaug. Colloq. – Pt 3 from Alexander Hamilton Institute on Vimeo.

Inaug. Colloq. – Pt 4 from Alexander Hamilton Institute on Vimeo.

I am very much looking forward to reading the correspondence between Smith and Fitzhugh once it is published. This discussion sparked many questions, which ignited interest. Maybe I will blog on my reading of that too when it comes out (and when I attack the other numerous items on my reading list!)

You can learn more about the Alexander Hamilton Institute, the colloquium, and their past and upcoming events here. I have blogged about the founding of the Institute on another blog of mine here.

UPDATE: The audio sessions of the remainder of this colloquium (which lasted for several days) are now available in mp3 format at the website of the Alexander Hamilton Institute. I encourage my readers to listen to these stimulating discussions. I will blog about them more extensively later.