User:Gaytan

Wikipedia Contributions

 * Began editing in the Wikipedia Community in November 2004
 * Current Wikipedia Efforts:
 * Editing of California Proposition 8 (2008)
 * Editing of Founding Fathers of the United States
 * Editing of George Washington
 * Editing of George Washington and religion
 * Editing of Benjamin Franklin
 * Editing of Thomas Jefferson
 * Editing of Abraham Lincoln
 * Editing of Great Seal of the United States
 * Editing of Communism
 * Editing of Religious communism
 * Editing of Christian communism
 * Past Wikipedia Efforts:
 * Editing of Deism
 * Editing of Matthew Tindal
 * Editing of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
 * Editing of Free will
 * Editing of Michael Savage
 * Editing of various articles falling under Mormonism
 * Editing of Thomas Muentzer, Protestant reformer
 * Editing of Huldrych Zwingli, Protestant reformer
 * Editing of Pelagius, ancient Christian monk
 * Editing of Synod of Whitby
 * Editing of Celtic Christianity
 * Editing of Northwest Ordinance
 * Editing of George Wythe

Religion

 * I am what some would call a Mormon, or more correctly stated, an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 * I consider my belief in Latter-Day Saint doctrine so deep that I readily admit that I actually view the world through a "Mormon" lens. Literally speaking, I try to make sure that I view everything in life with an eternal perspective.  Therefore I believe that all choices in this life will have some impact on our next life in eternity and that God, our Heavenly Father, is actively involved in everything that goes on on our precious little earth and each one of our own little personal spheres.  For that we must acknowledge every one of His blessings and chastisements that occur in our lives and constantly plead for His guidance and protection in all that we do.

Family

 * I am a diligently working on being a better father and husband to my family which includes my wife, three sons and one daughter. Our kids range in age from 9 years to infant.
 * I believe that:
 * raising a family is first and foremost in this life and the next.
 * a person's mind cannot be completely developed or balanced until they have had an opportunity to raise a child of their own; and the more children one has raised and nurtured, the wiser they are for it. After this opportunity has been had, then the necessary light will be given to them by God in order to attain an appropriate stance on personal philosophy, morality, politics, and a whole host of other issues (this does not mean that all those who have raised children are perfect--we're still working on that, nor does it mean that they all have actually taken advantage of that light God has offered to them).

Politics

 * I am what some would call a right-wing American conservative.
 * BUT, this does not mean that I am a Nazi, skinhead, racist or a member of the KKK.
 * RATHER, I strongly support:
 * American patriotism
 * Protection of the American Constitution
 * Abolishment of the Federal Reserve, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Education, Department of Energy and the plethora of federal agencies which are well beyond the scope federal authority authorized by the Constitution.
 * Return of the Gold Standard
 * Correct interpretation of the First Ammendment thereby allowing religious tolerance within government, moral leadership based on religious values in government, the teaching of the Ten Commandments in public school (to those who wish to participate) and reinstitution of prayer in school (according to religious preference and desire)
 * Abolishment of the ACLU and all other communist front groups
 * The struggle against communism, socialism, Marxism, and any other related -ism that I failed to mention.
 * Pro-life (The choice of whether to have a baby or not came prior to the one-night stand or the wild night out; after that, adoption is the only choice left. God sent you that baby whether you planned it or not.)
 * Pro-gun (protect the Second Amendment); the Founding Fathers specifically put that amendment in there to allow the people to protect themselves against a corrupt government
 * Pro-family (raising morally strong children and leaders)
 * Anti-illegal immigration (legal immigration is great as long as its strictly and selectively controlled)
 * Anti-affirmative action (affirmative action is nothing more than reverse discrimination; that is discrimination against Caucasians)
 * Small government with strong military
 * Last but not least, a complete overhaul of the welfare, Social Security, and Workman's Compensation systems, currently in place in the U.S. The new systems would be based on a "you reap what you sow" system (no more hand-outs: put the whining, life-sucking, couch potatoe, parasites to work on all the jobs that the left-wing socialists claim Americans won't take; thereby eliminating the so-called American dependance on illegal alien workers)
 * I am growing more and more discouraged with politics in that I am coming to the realization that most, if not all, U.S. politicians (Republicans and Democrats) are simply in it for power and "filthy lucre"; they have no true desire to serve the people for whom they were elected to serve. This phenomenon is running rampant throughout the world.
 * For this reason I am an Independent. But in the U.S. Two party system, the voice of the outsiders to that system are simply ignored and supressed while the majority of Americans are swindled into joining one of the major parties every election.
 * I believe capitalism has its flaws and is far from perfect but is necessary to preserve freedom and to usher in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
 * I believe that a capitalistic society based on love will be the type of economy that the government of Jesus Christ will reign over; it will be very similar to Mormonism.
 * This Mormon government will be a form of theocracy but it will never infringe upon the individual freedom or Free Agency (AKA Free Will) of its citizens.

Education and Career

 * BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego.
 * Employed as Electrical Engineer for over 10 years.

Ethnicity

 * To the suprise of some, I am and American-Mexican, as I prefer to label it. That is, citizenship is first and foremost, next comes race or ethnicity.
 * This does not make me a "white-washed Mexican" as some may assert
 * Rather, it shows that my priorities are straight; country of citizenship comes before my cultural background. If I were to place the priorities in reverse order, then I should just as well pack my bags and move to Mexico, shouldn't I?
 * I speak and write fluent Spanish and visit Mexico at least twice a month. I keep in touch with my relatives in Mexico and visit them at least 2 weeks out of the year (my visits to Mexico have dramtically decreased due to the increasing government and drug violence)

Interests

 * Mormonism
 * Family
 * Government, Politics, and Philosophy
 * American, European, Western, Religious History, and World Religions
 * Science vs. Religion

Government

 * "Even this nation will be on the verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground and when the Constitution is on the brink of ruin this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction.” (Joseph Smith, Jr.)
 * When Joseph Smith was asked how he found it easy to govern so vast a people (the Mormons), while others found it difficult, he said: "I teach the people correct principles and they govern themselves."
 * "The general Constitution of our country is good, and a wholesome government could be framed upon it; for it was dictated by the invisible operations of the Almighty..." (Brigham Young)
 * "By and by, you will find they will tear the Constitution to shreds, as they have begun now; they won't have to begin; they have started long ago to rend the Constitution of our country in pieces; ...but we will stand by and maintain its principles and the rights of all men of every color, and every clime." (John Taylor (1808-1887))
 * “No nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be.” (Thomas Jefferson)
 * "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? (Thomas Jefferson)
 * “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” (Thomas Jefferson)
 * "Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." (George Washington)
 * "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible" (George Washington)
 * "The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained..." (George Washington)
 * "I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my Official life, by commending the Interests of our dearest Country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendance of them, to his holy keeping." (George Washington, Resignation Speech, December 23, 1783)
 * "It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains." (Patrick Henry)
 * "Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom." (Patrick Henry)
 * "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." (Benjamin Franklin)
 * "I have lived, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" (Benjamin Franklin)
 * "If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it." (Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Paine)
 * "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship... The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.” (Alexander Tyler - Authorship is disputed; but whoever the author is, it's a great quote)
 * “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us... It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the Offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” (Abraham Lincoln)
 * "All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reaches us, it must spring up amongst us. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher." (Abraham Lincoln)
 * "...inequality would exist as long as liberty existed, and . . . it would unavoidably result from that very liberty itself." (Alexander Hamilton)
 * "Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot. Religion is much more necessary in the republic . . . than in the monarchy . . . it is more needed in democratic republics than in any others. How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?" (Alexis De Tocqueville)
 * "Men are unqualified for civil liberty, in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity; in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." (Edmund Burke)
 * Critically speaking of political parties, in the context of separation of powers and checks and balances as provided for by the Constitution of the United States, James Madison warned about the centralization of power:
 * "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

Faith

 * “Faith precedes the miracle." (Thomas S. Monson)
 * "Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject." (Joseph Smith, Jr.)
 * “Does it remain for a people who never had faith enough to call down one scrap of revelation from heaven, and for all they have now are indebted to the faith of another people who lived hundreds and thousands of years before them, does it remain for them to say how much God has spoken and how much He has not spoken?" (Joseph Smith, Jr.)
 * “We have what we have, and the Bible contains what it does contain; but to say that God never said anything more to man than is there recorded, would be saying at once that we have at last received a revelation: for it must require one to advance thus far, because it is nowhere said in that volume by the mouth of God, that He would not, after giving what is there contained, speak again; and if any man has found out for a fact that the Bible contains all that God ever revealed to man he has ascertained it by an immediate revelation, other than has been previously written by the prophets and apostles.” (Joseph Smith, Jr.)
 * "Lay down true principles, and adhere to them inflexibly. Do not be frightened into their surrender..." (Thomas Jefferson)

Love

 * “Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.” (William Shakespeare)
 * “There is no remedy for love but to love more.” (Henry David Thoreau)
 * “Love is not blind - it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.” (Rabbi Julius Gordon)
 * “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” (Aristotle)

Science

 * “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” (Albert Einstein)
 * “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is all comprehensible.” (Albert Einstein)
 * “We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.” (Albert Einstein)
 * “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” (Albert Einstein)

Education, Character and Morality

 * "Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil." (C.S. Lewis)
 * “The wise are instructed by reason; ordinary minds by experience; the stupid, by necessity; and brutes by instinct.” (Cicero)
 * “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” (Aristotle)
 * “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” (Martin Luther King Jr.)
 * “Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.” (Confucius)
 * “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” (Mahatma Gandhi)
 * “He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason.” (Cicero)
 * “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” (Lao Tzu)

War

 * “We make war that we may live in peace.” (Aristotle)
 * "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling, which thinks that nothing is worth war, is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." (John Stuart Mill)
 * "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. ... Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." (Barry Goldwater)

Evils of Communism (or socialism)

 * "I have obviously made a decision to make sure the economy doesn’t collapse. I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system." (George W. Bush)
 * "Capitalists will sell you [communists] the rope with which to hang him." (Vladimir Lenin)
 * "Democracy is the road to socialism." (Karl Marx, on the complicity between democracy and socialism)
 * "Religion is the opium of the masses." (Karl Marx, the atheist)
 * "The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism." (Karl Marx, the despot)
 * "The state is nothing but an instrument of opression of one class by another - no less so in a democratic republic than in a monarchy." (Friedrich Engels, the anarchist)
 * "To read too many books is harmful." (Mao Zedong, the oppressor)
 * "There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel." (Vladimir Lenin)
 * "Destroy the family, you destroy the country." (Vladimir Lenin)
 * "We do not have time to play at 'oppositions' at 'conferences.' We will keep our political opponents… whether open or disguised as 'nonparty,' in prison. (Vladimir Lenin)
 * "A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie." (Vladimir Lenin)