How did it go? -- Update to preceding entry

The first of the scheduled fourteen part Loyal to Liberty, live interactive Webinar series hosted by Alan Keyes is now officially in the books. Even after having procrastinated until the eve of the first session to register for the meeting, only then to learn that there was a problem with my paypal account which prohibited me from completing the registration process initially, I did finally manage to get myself registered and was in attendance, a full fifteen minutes early, for the meeting. Several individuals, however, were not so fortunate as I.

At the scheduled start time for the meeting (9:30pm ET), there were only about four or five people present as I recall. In order to accomodate the majority who had not yet logged on to the meeting, Dr. Keyes extended the start time by about fifteen to twenty minutes, during which time most of the remainder of the people who were ultimately in attendance came straggling in one at a time. Although a few others came in as much as 45 minutes to an hour late. My understanding is that several people actually never showed up.

There was time made prior to the intitial presentation by Dr. Keyes for the participants to check their microphones and become familiar with the various features of the forum. Which was a good thing since this is a rather new technology, or, it's at least new to most of us laymen I would suspect. Some people were obviously having trouble getting their microphones to work, I being one of them even though I'd tested it before entering the forum.

In short, there were obviously some problems during the maiden session, most of which were related to a lack of familiarity with the service and its functions. Those kinds of problems will tend to disappear over time, and I expect a much smoother second session.

All of that aside, Dr. Keyes gave an initial presentation which probably lasted upwards of thirty minutes in which he shared a number of insights. I jotted down a few notes during the presentation, and I'll try to transmit them to you in a way that is coherent (I'm a rather poor note taker).

The subject of last night's conference was, of course, Preserving the Constitution. Dr. Keyes started his presentation out by saying, according to my notes, that the challenge would not be an easy one because our people and our leaders no longer appreciate our form of government. He then moved naturally into a short dissertation on the need for Balance, or a balanced understanding of our Constitution and the form of government that it, in fact, establishes. Of course this was music to my ears, Balanced Constitutional Government being a main theme on this blog (see post label "Balanced Government"). My next note has to do with a six-hour-long Alexander Hamilton speech mentioned by Dr. Keyes, under which I have written that Hamilton discussed "the problem with government itself," and "maintaining a stable democratic system." A final note on Hamilton's speech I have written in my notes is that he basically broke people down into two classes, 1) The Princes, or the ruling class (people who have an ambition to rule over others), and 2) everyone else (people who hail from a range of backgrounds and possess a great variety of talents and giftings, but who have no particular ambition to rule over others.). I have no further notes on Hamilton's speech written down, but if memory serves Dr. Keyes carried this discussion forward relating that Hamilton discussed in the speech, again, how to strike a proper balance governmentally between the two classes so that the ruling class couldn't gain an improper ascendancy over the non-ruling class and vice versa, and the general need for both as essential parts of a balanced system. Dr. Keyes then went on to talk about the inherent instability of democracies, using the African country of Zimbabwe as a prime example (I can't speak to that, not being familiar with the history of Zimbabwe.). According to my notes Keyes's presentation ended on the subject of Zimbabwe and a limited discussion on its transition from a government run by the few, or an oligarchy which enjoyed economic success at the expense of justice, to a mob-rule style democracy in which everything was lost [For a clearer understanding of Dr. Keyes's position on the problems with Zimbabwe and how he relates it to America, see Dr. Keyes's new article Zimbabwe in America's Future?]. Dr. Keyes then invited the participants to join in a Q&A session.

Unfortunately for me only a few minutes into the Q&A session we had a thunderstorm pass over causing my internet connection to fail, and I spent the vast majority of the remainder of the meeting trying to reconnect to the conference. So, I missed most of the Q&A session, as well as the open discussion session which followed. The only note I have written down from that portion of the meeting is a notation concerning Dr. Keyes's mention of the scriptural admonitions that Christians are to be as salt and yeast, which Dr. Keyes spoke to a bit pointing out that both salt and yeast, although when added have significant effects, are added in very small proportions to the whole. I had, prior to losing my connection, indicated that I had a question for Dr. Keyes, but as fate would have it the thunderstorm prevented his giving me the floor. At this point I don't recall why the question came to me, but I intended to follow it up with a question about Balanced Constitutional Government as well. I jotted the initial question down as the last entry in my notes:

"Will a society based on Biblical-Christian principles and values reflect a particular form of government, and if so, can you speak to what form of government such a society will generally reflect?"

Overall I thought the first session went relatively well, and I'll certainly be in attendance at the next one. If for no other reason than to see whether we've made any progress in the way of preparations, successfully logging on, and learning how to properly use the functions of the webinar service. I hope to see you there too!