"A Cheap Knock-Off!"

Have you ever heard the term “knock off”? A “knock off” is a look alike product that, shown to someone with an untrained eye, will be a perfect duplicate of the originally designed item. Purses, watches and clothing are common items to be “knocked off”. Swap meets and garage sales are common places to find items like these. I know some people who have told me they bought a Rolex watch for $35.00! I didn’t want to hurt their feelings, so I smiled and said “Nice watch” politely, and walked away. I watch some of the “Pawn” shows on television, and I’ve seen people who were deeply disappointed to find out their “antique” items are only elaborate copies, and are really worthless. Counterfeit items are a big business, and people lose tens of thousands of dollars a year on “a deal that is too good to be true”.

One hundred and six years ago, a portion of the people of America “purchased” a really bad “knock off”!

On February 9^th of 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected President of the Confederate States of America. Now old Jeff wasn’t a bad guy, but he was in rebellion to the lawful government of the United States of America when he accepted his new position. Jeff was no Abe, he was only a “knock off”. On this same day, the Confederate Provincial Congress declared that all the laws under the Confederate Constitution were consistent with those same laws in the United States Constitution. If that were true, then the Confederacy had no reason to leave the Union! I think there must have been a flaw in the “knock off”!

We are presently living in a time where some factions of the country want to “alter” what our Constitution says. The words “living document” are thrown about quite frequently by those who object to the written precepts of this great document. If we rearrange words or phrases to please a pressure group, we are taking an “original” and turning it into a “knock off”. We have seen the “Bill of Rights” twisted into more curves than a pretzel as anti-gun lobbyers do their best to revise a citizen’s right of self protection. We have seen the right to worship twisted into a position that makes worship some type of a hate crime.

We now see our President, Barack Obama, turning into a “knock off” of himself, as he seems to be reinventing himself on a daily basis. Two years ago, he didn’t attend the annual prayer breakfast; this year, he is the “faith president”. After the election, he was out to get the rich; then he was a friend of big business; then he was a friend of the rich; and then he was against the rich again! Are you getting a little confused yet; I am! In 2008, he was against same sex marriage; yesterday, he said he is “re-thinking” his position. The real question is: Can any of us trust what Mr. Obama is selling to the American people? Is he a President or a “CHEAP KNOCK-OFF!?”