The other day I heard someone say, "You know, America is in real trouble." It's true. Old Glory has never fallen so close to the earth. Our embassies are being stoned. Our diplomats are often in fear for their lives. And we're involved in a half-dozen nameless, winless conflicts spilling American blood on foreign soil. Our young men are dying for ideals that don't seem to mean too much to Americans anymore.
The truth is America's real trouble doesn't lie in the rice paddies of Vietnam, in the masses of Red China, or in the diabolical intrigues to the south of us. The real trouble lies in the playgrounds of St. Louis, the hillside mansions of San Francisco, and in the slums of Chicago. A disease which is slowly eating away at the heart of America lives in the small southern towns, the fishing villages of New England, and in the hot dusty streets of the midwest.
This is the age of the American cynic. The year of the unbeliever. The day of doubt. We've killed all the sacred cows and destroyed all the images. And there's nothing left to respect. Old fashioned love of God, country, and family is passe. We stare at our shoelaces when they play the national anthem. We wouldn't want to be seen at a political rally or a town hall meeting. And we don't want to be caught with our eyes closed during public prayers. We've decided the only way to get into public office is to buy it. Our heroes are the fast guys who get away with things. Patriotism, the old hand-over-the-heart, flag-waving singing patriotism has been condemned. Think about this. Patriotism. When you tear away the fancy phrases and crepe paper, it's plain and simple pride. It's a new car-prettier girl-bigger house sort of pride in country. Somewhere along the way we've lost it. Our form of government is the same. We still say America stands for the same things. But next time you're at a party, ask someone to sing "America the Beautiful", and see what happens.
The basic ideals and structure of America haven't changed. We have. You and me. Our enemies know it. They've seen the newsreels of the discontented marching around the capitol. They've distorted and blown up our mistakes. They've been putting steel wedges in the cracks in our wall of solidarity. The new idea is: Don't attack America; wear it down gradually; it'll eventually fall under the weight of its own corruption. And did you know, it's working? This sneering complacency, once stamped out by the bloody feet of a tattered Continental Army in 1776, once drowned beneath the keel of the U.S.S. Arizona in Pearl Harbor Bay, has risen again. This deadly "Let George do it" attitude lights the way for the Viet Cong in the swampy jungles of Vietnam. This "Better red than dead" cancer is more feared by the American soldier than all the communist mortar shells. It kills the vitality and spirit of America. Democracy is a frail and fragile instrument. Made of hope, prayer, and Yankee ingenuity. It is held together by a fourth-of-July flag-waving patriotism. And we've almost exhausted our supply of it. Try this test. Lift your eyes to a flag, then sing out as loud as you can that old out-worn antiquated freedom hymn you learned so many years ago:
For purple mountain majesties (for purple mountain majesties)
Above the fruited plain (above the fruited plain)
America (America)
America (America)
God shed His grace on thee (God shed His grace on thee)
Now if you feel a little pride welling up inside of you, if you feel a
little mist in your eye, then, thank God for you, mister, you're still an
American!
Tell me do you think it's better to be red (stands for communism which is a form of socialism) than dead?|||Welcome to what communists have said for 90 years, "give me 10% of your population and I'll take over your government" The kiddies that have grown up under "progressive" education in America are taken over; they are of the10% flavor and don't even know it, one only needs to look at the people B-Ho has appointed. The democratic party is a pathetic apologists for the same. Republicans are fiddling as Rome burns...The new face of Communists is painted as successful Chinese (thank you Nixon and Wal Mart) and the Michael Moore's of the world are painting the same. So, yes we are in trouble, but know this: the majority of Americans are starting to understand that something is happening and they don't like it or even understand it. November 2010 will decide if the 'folks' take a stand or continue to accept the socialistic sewer. The B-Ho is the Manchurian candidate. Fifty years ago he would have been tried for treason and sedition. People today think we live in a democracy and government has the solutions. The morphing of America has been slow and silent, but the rate has accelerated to warp speed and that has caught our attention.|||You seem to be living in the past.
I prefer to live in the present and improve our future.|||I am so over you.|||I did not read your paragraph. But I glanced through it. What is wrong with America Is this and it is simple and true. Putting money before human life and greed is the problem. That is why we are in the hole that we are in. There are some that call Obama an elitist and other ridiculous names. And they are the ones talking about taking this country back and yet when it comes to helping a fellow American with health care. These so called patriots get so angry that they accuse their president of being a non citizen. They create hate groups and fake grass roots movements. They carry guns to town hall meetings where children and our seniors attend. They do everything to distract from the real problems that we need to solve.|||i agree with the first two who answered. they make valid points.
and i'll tell you something else... i'm a patriotic liberal who volunteered to serve this nation in the armed forces several decades ago. i've had it up to my eyeballs with being called a treasonous, seditious, america-hating scumbag by uber-right-wing conservatives young enough to be my grandchildren, ungrateful little bastards that they are.
just because i look around me and see all the areas where america needs to improve... providing for the elderly, sick, and poor among us; stopping domestic violence that used to be swept under the rug in the halcyon days of the 1950's that you seem to long to return to; trying to make sure every child who's brought into this world is wanted and cared for.... these things do not make me a communist, an atheist, OR a traitor.
i offered to give my life to protect my nation because i felt it is the obligation of the strong to protect, defend, and support the weak. because i CAN fight, it was my job to do so for those who couldn't fight for themselves. i did these things because i believe in america and i will NOT stand idly by while hallucinatory theocrats with delusional senses of nostalgia attempt to throw high school science teachers into prison for teaching science!
now put that in your corn-cob pipe and smoke it.
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