Note: I originally wrote this column two years ago, but I didn't publish it at the time due to its political content. However, since that time I've decided that I do believe in that sage advice that, "If you don't speak out on a problem, then you are part of that problem."
I'm getting tired of sitting on the sidelines watching my
country torn asunder by fools and incompetents in Washington and
elsewhere. Now I'm going to start
speaking out on our problems and, if you don't like it, at least I've done my
part. Welcome to the debate.
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We just celebrated one of our most important holidays,
Independence Day, but some of us only know it as “The 4th of July”
and its significance has lost all meaning.
It has become an excuse to buy and set off fireworks and fire up the
grill for a picnic. Some people wish that it would become another of those
holidays that is always celebrated on Monday so that we get an extended
weekend. To too many, those are the
only benefits they see in this celebration.
That is truly sad.
I again watched a very disturbing video this week. It featured radio talk-show host Dennis
Prager on a panel discussing American exceptionalism. His take of it was that America is no longer exceptional, but not
because of current politics and policies, not because of the controversial
actions of Barack Obama, and not because of our dependence on imports to fuel
our stagnant economy.
No, the reason Dennis Prager gave for our decline is that we
have not passed on what it means to be an American. The greatest generation did not teach this generation what
Americanism is. It goes back a hundred
years to the age of “modern” education.
We have incrementally changed our teaching from the three-Rs to a social
hodgepodge that doesn’t even include history anymore.
Exceptionalism has been replaced by humanism, equality of
birth—when we allow birth to take place—has been replaced by equality of
result, charity has been replaced by entitlement and morality has been replaced
by civility. None of these changes has improved us as a nation, they have only
leveled the playing field so that everyone is less than they can be or should
be.
The melting pot that was once America has slowly but surely
become a nation of many camps. They are
not physically at war with one another, but they define themselves in exclusive
terms by ethnicity, skin color, politics and ancestral nationality. The hyphen has taken on a new significance
in America. Everyone is now a
hyphenated being. Even I have a hyphenated appellation; Red-State-Conservative.
No one is just an American anymore. We are African-Americans, Italian-Americans,
Irish-Americans, etc, etc, etc. We are gun-toting, pro-life and
anti-establishment ... and that is only
a partial designation for my side.
The late Rodney King was famous for his saying, “Can’t we
all just get along?” Well, I hate to
break it to you, but no, we cannot all just get along. Too much is at stake, even if America has
begun to fade into the scrap heap of history.
There are still a lot of people who want to restore America to its best
years, and they are more than willing to fight to achieve that end.
I am glad that I won’t be around to see or participate in
the civil war that is coming. This will be a true civil war, not a North/South
conflict like we fought 150-years ago that was not really a “civil” war at
all. It had clearly defined
boundaries. This one will be a
street-to-street, house-to-house combat that well might destroy whatever is
left of our once-great nation. I hope
you’re prepared for it, because I fear that it is coming and coming soon.
You may well ask,
“Do I love my country?” My
response is, "Yes, I do," and I am appalled by what I see happening
in all my travels. But I am especially
appalled by what I see happening in Washington, D.C. We are no longer a nation of laws because the laws on which this
country was founded are scoffed at and overridden daily.
I know that some of my friends and even some of my family
will be offended by this column. I
understand that, but I pity you as well.
You are lied to, misled and yes, even brainwashed into ignoring those
who present the facts that our media-mavens cover up.
Example – Andrea Mitchell’s out-of-context, edited clip of Mitt
Romney prior to the 2012 election that made it seem like he was “amazed” at the
technology that enables him to order food at an ATM-type screen, and then her
refusal to admit the truth in the unedited video that showed Romney was
“amazed” not by the technology, but that government cannot adopt private sector
innovations like the touch screen and instead relies on old and failed devices
and policies that are inefficient and expensive. Ms. Mitchell didn’t even apologize for her too-clever ruse to
belittle Romney and never played the entire clip for her audience.
More up-to-date, the New York Times published an
article this week under the byline of one Monica Almeida about the protest at
Murrieta, California. Her lead
paragraph reads:
When the three busloads of immigrant mothers and children rolled into town
for processing at a Border Patrol station this week, they were met by
protesters carrying American flags and signs proclaiming “return to sender” as
they screamed “go home” and chanted “U.S.A.” Fearing for the safety of the
migrants and federal officers, immigration officials decided to reroute the
buses to San Diego, an hour south.
This is patently false, as those were not "immigrant
mothers and children." The
women were escorts for and with
unaccompanied minors, hired earlier this year by the Federal Government, and
were not even related to the children they were with. And those "mothers" were not any immigrants, either.
They are all most likely United States citizens. Leave it to the NYT to let a Hispanic writer lie for them.
I regret that I am throwing water on your fireworks and
barbeque grill, but I hope I can inspire you to spend some time
post-Independence Day thinking about, and maybe even reading about what has
made America great and exceptional.
Maybe we can become that nation once again if enough of us care.
Oh, and one more thing.
I hope they never move Independence Day to a Monday holiday. It is a
special day like Cinco de Mayo is to the Mexicans or Canada Day (formerly Dominion Day) is to the Canadians, that cannot and should not
ever be used as an excuse for a three-day weekend.
