- 10,832
I used to lament the old days of America. I'd look through my grandparents photos from the WWII era, and think about how they came home from the war, victorious, settled down and started their families in the late forties, like so many did, and felt proud to be American and to have defeated Japanese and German tyranny and agression. I thought that there was nothing worth fighting for anymore, and I watched as America became decadent, complacent, and more and more Socialistic. I was too young to understand the Cold War and Communism as I do now, after it's end. I even leaned far to the left, when I was a student. I remember one instance in particular, which serves as an example to me to this day. I was poor, as most students are, and my phone had been turned off for non-payment. I complained and whined about how unfair it was that me, a philosophy major, a thinking person, had to be inconvenienced with such plebian minutia like paying bills. I believed it was unjust and that my government should provide things like that for me. I theorized that telephone service was a need, and because of that, no building should be constructed without working phone service; no person should be deprived of a telephone because eveybody needs one. Surely a rich and powerful country like America could provide for the needs of it's citizens. My phone remained off for a month or more while I complained and spent my limited resources on CD's, unecessary clothes, expensive food, girls, and pot.
When George Bush Sr. invaded Iraq I was fully ready to leave the country. I didn't know that Canada sends draft dodgers right back where they came from nowadays, but the principle was still there. I had no comprehension of the necessity of that war. I was too busy reading lofty books and patting myself on the back for being so smart. How could I dirty myself with yucky things like politics international affairs?
Then I started supporting myself. I got married and realized I had a responsibility to another person to make sure the phone stayed on, that the rent was paid, then the mortgage. I learned that my actions directly translate into how my future plays out, that chance plays a role, but that self-determination plays a more important role. I learned that deciding what I want or need, setting goals to achieve those things, planning for it and working on that plan will get me what I decided I must have. I learned that I am not entitled to anything but the opportunity to work for what I want. I learned that when I chose, planned, worked, and achieved I felt a sense of acomplishment which I wanted to repeat, and that if I did repeat this basic system of work and achievement I would have a good, comfortable life chosen and built by me, for me, and now for my family, too. I remembered how I used to think I shouldn't have to bothered with it, that I was simply entitled to everything because I existed, as if that meant anything to anyone but me. I contributed nothing and expected everything. Some will say that Socialism is government ownership of industry. I guess that is one symptom of it's extreme, and I'd call it Communism. But at it's core it is the sense of entitlement that makes people expect something for nothing, that it is "fair" to foceably diminish one to enhance another. I was poor. I made it without a shred of government assistance other than it's original, essential promise: to preserve a nation where everybody has the opportunity to succeed. We do not need liberal institutions to feed a bloated sense of entitlement. We need goals. We need to work hard.
The most fundemental goal we need to keep alive is to protect, preserve, and enhance the promise of America. Without that everything else is impossible.
On September the Eleventh, 2001, I was in shock, and that shock lasted a long time. I couldn't believe what I saw. I couldn't believe how many people died, and I coudn't believe how anyone could be so malevolent. I did not ask myself, "what did we do to deserve this?" I knew... we did not deserve it, despite the fact that I'd not had any first hand experience of such pure evil (and evil is what it is). I realized, over time, that although I'd been redeemed from a bitter life of unfulfilled whining and arrogant entitlement, my complacency had remained mostly unchanged. I took the great promise of America for granted. I assumed it was invincible. And it might be, but what must be done in order for this to remain true is hard, and I'd rather not have to think about it. I'd prefer a world where freedom required no wars, a world where nobody has to protect anything. But there are bad people who want to kill and hurt, who are pleased with suffering. America has to protect itself. This responsibility extends beyond our borders insofar as any threat has the potential to extend within them.
Institutions like like the UN, the World Court, and the IMF, however well intentioned, do not take into the consideration the promise of America, which is unique in the world. They do not take into consideration America's singular purpose: let freedom be. America did not create freedom, it only lets it be. Freedom only has meaning at an individual level. Countries are not free, individuals are. When we say "free country" we mean "where individuals live free". Thanks to America, there are more countries where this is the case than ever before. And there will be more. America will not yield to violence, but will overcome it the only way it can be overcome: greater violence. We are capable and willing.
The greatest threat to America right now is not Al Qaeda, or Saddam, or even Iran or North Korea... it is from within. It is Michael Moore, John Kerry, liberal thinking. It is the desire to meld America with other countries, the willingness to sacrifice America's promise for a false sense of safety in numbers. It is the willingness to coddle other government's corruption in order to justify our own. It is belief that free-lunch will purge violence and depravation from the world. It is an unwillingness to protect and defend America. It is the belief that America should apologize for succeeding, that we should be ashamed of our advantage. It is the fact that so many Americans can't remember what the promise of America is, if they ever knew at all. It is any desire to silence a fellow American no matter how strongly they may disagree. Even those who are wrong have the right to be so.
If I was drafted I would willingly go. If I had no son I would've volunteered already. My complacency is gone. I have become a Patriot. I love America and any hatred of it merely enhances this fact. I look at my son and know that to die for America is to die for his future, one free individual whom I brought into this world.
When George Bush Sr. invaded Iraq I was fully ready to leave the country. I didn't know that Canada sends draft dodgers right back where they came from nowadays, but the principle was still there. I had no comprehension of the necessity of that war. I was too busy reading lofty books and patting myself on the back for being so smart. How could I dirty myself with yucky things like politics international affairs?
Then I started supporting myself. I got married and realized I had a responsibility to another person to make sure the phone stayed on, that the rent was paid, then the mortgage. I learned that my actions directly translate into how my future plays out, that chance plays a role, but that self-determination plays a more important role. I learned that deciding what I want or need, setting goals to achieve those things, planning for it and working on that plan will get me what I decided I must have. I learned that I am not entitled to anything but the opportunity to work for what I want. I learned that when I chose, planned, worked, and achieved I felt a sense of acomplishment which I wanted to repeat, and that if I did repeat this basic system of work and achievement I would have a good, comfortable life chosen and built by me, for me, and now for my family, too. I remembered how I used to think I shouldn't have to bothered with it, that I was simply entitled to everything because I existed, as if that meant anything to anyone but me. I contributed nothing and expected everything. Some will say that Socialism is government ownership of industry. I guess that is one symptom of it's extreme, and I'd call it Communism. But at it's core it is the sense of entitlement that makes people expect something for nothing, that it is "fair" to foceably diminish one to enhance another. I was poor. I made it without a shred of government assistance other than it's original, essential promise: to preserve a nation where everybody has the opportunity to succeed. We do not need liberal institutions to feed a bloated sense of entitlement. We need goals. We need to work hard.
The most fundemental goal we need to keep alive is to protect, preserve, and enhance the promise of America. Without that everything else is impossible.
On September the Eleventh, 2001, I was in shock, and that shock lasted a long time. I couldn't believe what I saw. I couldn't believe how many people died, and I coudn't believe how anyone could be so malevolent. I did not ask myself, "what did we do to deserve this?" I knew... we did not deserve it, despite the fact that I'd not had any first hand experience of such pure evil (and evil is what it is). I realized, over time, that although I'd been redeemed from a bitter life of unfulfilled whining and arrogant entitlement, my complacency had remained mostly unchanged. I took the great promise of America for granted. I assumed it was invincible. And it might be, but what must be done in order for this to remain true is hard, and I'd rather not have to think about it. I'd prefer a world where freedom required no wars, a world where nobody has to protect anything. But there are bad people who want to kill and hurt, who are pleased with suffering. America has to protect itself. This responsibility extends beyond our borders insofar as any threat has the potential to extend within them.
Institutions like like the UN, the World Court, and the IMF, however well intentioned, do not take into the consideration the promise of America, which is unique in the world. They do not take into consideration America's singular purpose: let freedom be. America did not create freedom, it only lets it be. Freedom only has meaning at an individual level. Countries are not free, individuals are. When we say "free country" we mean "where individuals live free". Thanks to America, there are more countries where this is the case than ever before. And there will be more. America will not yield to violence, but will overcome it the only way it can be overcome: greater violence. We are capable and willing.
The greatest threat to America right now is not Al Qaeda, or Saddam, or even Iran or North Korea... it is from within. It is Michael Moore, John Kerry, liberal thinking. It is the desire to meld America with other countries, the willingness to sacrifice America's promise for a false sense of safety in numbers. It is the willingness to coddle other government's corruption in order to justify our own. It is belief that free-lunch will purge violence and depravation from the world. It is an unwillingness to protect and defend America. It is the belief that America should apologize for succeeding, that we should be ashamed of our advantage. It is the fact that so many Americans can't remember what the promise of America is, if they ever knew at all. It is any desire to silence a fellow American no matter how strongly they may disagree. Even those who are wrong have the right to be so.
If I was drafted I would willingly go. If I had no son I would've volunteered already. My complacency is gone. I have become a Patriot. I love America and any hatred of it merely enhances this fact. I look at my son and know that to die for America is to die for his future, one free individual whom I brought into this world.
