Category Archives: American Character

March 24, 2014 · 4:20 pm

Who will defend our castle?

“No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character”

– John, Viscount Morley

Being sort of squeamish and abhorring violence, I’m not a fan of war movies, but one of my favorite movies, oddly enough, is The Big Red One, the 1980 Sam Fuller WWII epic. Being a lowly private in the Army, stationed in southern Germany in 1980, our movie theater was located across a parking lot, behind my barracks. My kaserne, perched atop a picturesque southern mountaintop, was a vintage German army post and the Germans built their posts in a consistent, orderly fashion, with the companies neatly arranged around a parade field in the center and all the lesser support facilities beyond that tight circle.

There wasn’t much to do on small kasernes, like the one I was at, but being a little country girl, I found everything new and interesting. I could imagine I was Heidi in the Alps (well, okay, the Swabian Alps), following the footpath down the mountain to the town proper or let my imagination run wild, gazing out the large window at the end of the female hallway, where a view to rival the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, greeted me each morning. My view, a lovely old monastery perched upon another mountaintop in the distance, fueled my ever-fluttering flights of fancy. Of course, I took several trips to that old monastery to explore it close-up.

Now, having a movie theater within walking distance seemed a luxury to me, because the nearest movie theater, where I grew-up in the mountains of PA, was 10 miles away. I would always ask a few of the guys to go to the movies with me and first we’d go to the snack bar, next to the movie theater, for ice cream, because I loved eating my vanilla ice cream first. These uncomplaining young men, in gentlemanly fashion, usually insisted on buying my ice cream too.

I met many wonderful young men in that unit and as an aside to this tale, gentlemen were still in plentiful supply in the US Army in those days. Back to my story, the only drawback to our movie theater was the same movie played for weeks on end, until something new arrived from the States. I watched The Big Red One over and over and each time I came away remembering some new details I had missed before.

JK sent me a link to a fascinating WWII story, The Battle for Castle Itter, which reminded me of a line from The Big Red One, that has stuck with me all these years. I’ve spent decades thinking about war and wondering if this endless cycle of human behavior can ever change. I’ve wondered if we’re destined to continually build up human societies, only to demolish them through corruption and then outside conquest. I’ve wondered, as the line in The Big Red One, will we ever find a time when, “der krieg ist vorbei.”

The almost farcical nature of the characters and events in the battle for Castle Itter provides a quirky, yet almost emblematic view of how in the unlikely circumstance of fighting for their lives, this castle’s curious mix of inhabitants, like people everywhere, can put aside national and personal loyalties, to unite in moments, because not much else mattered, except surviving.

The story centers on VIP French prisoners, whom the SS kept imprisoned in Castle Itter during WWII. As the Americans advanced across Europe in the waning days of the war, a young American first lieutenant, John C. “Jack” Lee, Jr., made the mistake of volunteering to go secure the castle, after a surrendering German major arrived to tell the advancing Americans about the VIP prisoners held prisoner in nearby Castle Itter. The young American officer sets off with 8 volunteers, plus 5 soldiers from the African-American Company, along with the surrendering German major and a truckload of his German soldiers. The French VIPs, upon seeing their small rescue force, were unimpressed that such a paltry band of soldiers was sent to rescue their grand personages. But quickly the scene changed as the castle fell under attack from SS troops. The squabbling French VIPs (which included two French generals, who despised each other) and the surrendering Germans all turned to the young American lieutenant to take charge of their castle defense. To get the full impact of the absurdity of the events, read the full story of the battle for Castle Itter (here’s the link again).

In history, certain moments in time become the leitmotif, that subsequent generations warn us identify a bellwether event. Glenn Beck, aside from drawing complex charts, in which he connects the dots, in ever-widening and distant circles, prognosticates often about what he refers to as “the Archduke Ferdinand moment”, harkening back to the assassination of the Austrian heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne in Serbia, which led to the outbreak of World War I. History doesn’t replay like watching old reruns on TV, it’s more nuanced and runs along in patterns that require looking at human history from a wider perspective than awaiting a single, harbinger of doom event.

Times do change and while history is replete with enough strange coincidences to give one pause, it seems more useful to step back and take a big picture view of history, if seeking a more useful predictive model. As events in the world overtake our national security folks in the Obama administration’s collective strategic-thinking ability, America seems adrift in the world. America, with President Obama, leading us from behind, forces his national security team to play defense (rather poorly), reacting in ever-disjointed fits and starts. The US flails about, wantonly widening the decades old strategic-vacuum the US fell into when the infamous “end of history’ mentality took hold after the Soviet Union imploded and we sat on our laurels just floating along in a dangerous world, believing we could bail water faster than anyone else in the world, safe and insulated from the geopolitical waves around the globe. Sadly, our lifeboat went to sea without strategic life-vests, part of the new fly-by-the-seat-of-our pants, not so grand strategy. The always erudite and eloquent, G. Murphy Donovan (here), assessed the Obama administration’s policy,The Brennan Doctrine:

“There is no evidence that the Brennan doctrine supports prudent near or long-term strategy. Strategic appeasement has now produced a generation of catamite tacticians, leaders that assume a defensive crouch after each indignity, hoping that the next atrocity will not hurt as much as the last.”

In numerous past posts, I’ve bloviated on and on and on about this President’s dangerous lack of geopolitical acumen (here, here, here, here), an endless broken record playing the same old tune. To begin to understand history it starts from the little picture human building block – trust. Believe it, because it’s true! No matter how enlightened, how educated, how many fancy degrees and terminology you conjure up, at the end of the day, trust determines our fate, from the smallest human endeavor and interactions to the big picture moves by countries on the world stage. To repeat from my “B.H. Liddell Hart Echoes through time” post last year, (from his short book, “Why We Don’t Learn From History” – free download here):

“Civilization is built on the practice of keeping promises. It may not sound a high attainment, but if trust in its observance be shaken the whole structure cracks and sinks. Any constructive effort and all human relations – personal, political, and commercial – depend on being able to depend on promises.”

Over the weekend, while reading a favorite blog, Diplomad2.0, that’s a regular stop on my blogging routine, I found a link posted in the comments section, by Sundling, obviously an historically-inclined poster, that left me wondering why no one in my history classes had ever mentioned this brilliant paper before: “Fate of Empires and Search For Survival”, by Sir John Glubb. Published in 1976, this 26 page paper blasts away at studying history through a series of memorization of isolated, unconnected events or from a lopsided view from one country’s or time period’s perspective. Glubb implores us to step back and take a long view of history as a study of the human race. A short search of Sir John Glubb’s bio and you will find a man who traveled extensively, read extensively, and a man whose ideas moved beyond the island of his birth to encompass the world and humanity, in its entirety:

“To derive any useful instruction from history, it seems to me essential first of all to grasp the principle that history, to be meaningful, must be the history of the human race. For history is a continuous process, gradually developing, changing and turning back, but in general moving forward in a single mighty stream. Any useful lessons to be derived must be learned by the study of the whole flow of human development, not by the selection of short periods here and there in one country or another. Every age and culture is derived from its predecessors, adds some contribution of its own, and passes it on to its successors. If we boycott various periods of history, the origins of the new cultures which succeeded them cannot be explained.”

Glubb’s short paper breaks down the life of empires as falling into an amazingly similar pattern through history, which he divides into 5 distinct ages of an empire. The last age is the Age of Decadence, which he describes as :

“The Age of Decadence.

(e) Decadence is marked by:

Defensiveness
Pessimism
Materialism
Frivolity
An influx of foreigners
The Welfare State
A weakening of religion.

(f) Decadence is due to:

Too long a period of wealth and power
Selfishness
Love of money
The loss of a sense of duty.

(g) The life histories of great states are amazingly similar, and are due to internal factors.

(h) Their falls are diverse, because they are largely the result of external causes.”

For a fuller understanding of his views, read the short paper. I’m not Glenn Beck and I won’t pretend to be the harbinger of doom, but I must say, at the very least, this paper caused a few ripples of uneasiness as I digested Glubb’s analysis of the life cycle of empires, once again, published in 1976.

Watching the events in recent years play out, with American military adventurism, in pursuit of transplanting democracy in inhospitable arid desert sands during the Bush years, then moving to knee-jerk, reactionary gambits under Obama’s shaky trigger-finger, trying to force regime change on the cheap, with bluster and poorly applied military pressure, it’s clear to see that America desperately needs, if not a grand strategy, at least a coherent strategy. The Battle for Castle Itter serves as the perfect metaphor for how the world understands a calm, strong American taking charge of a dicey situation and even a passel of troublesome French notables, to include two generals, quickly fell into line and followed. A group of surrendering Nazis, likewise sized up their situation and cast their lot with the unflappable young American commander, who without hesitation led from the front. And at the end of day, sadly, 1st Lieutenant Lee, came from another American generation, far removed from the Choom-gang, drug haze of Obama’s youth.

The Battle for Castle Itter also shows how a whole bunch of competing interests can spin wildly out of control and create an international conflagration in moments and sadly we don’t have a calm, collected American commander to defend our castle. We’ve got, leading-from-behind Obama, war-protesting, medal-throwing John Kerry, yes-sir, yes-sir Chuck Hagel and drone kill champ Brennan, nudged by the likes of Samantha the genocide pixie, Susan the ever-faithful political handmaiden, and always hovering nearby, bossy-pants Valerie, keeping watch that none dare stray from her approved narrative (fabrications)…

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Filed under American Character, American History, Foreign Policy, General Interest, History, Military, Politics

February 27, 2014 · 6:00 am

America in need of humility….. a daunting challenge

Dr. David J. Bobb wrote a book, “Humility: An Unlikely Biography Of America’s Greatest Virtue”, which I started reading last week. Admittedly, I haven’t finished it yet, but I am going to recommend it anyway. Browsing late last night, I came across a YouTube video of him, discussing his book. It runs almost an hour, so grab a beverage and nestle down in a comfy chair before clicking play.

His speech was at Hillsdale College (of which he’s an alumnus, hope I got the case right, never having studied Latin…. yet) and I’d like to direct you to their free online, not-for-credit courses. Each lecture, just like Dr. Bobb’s video, runs about an hour, followed by an optional quiz. I’ve listened to several and intend to get back and listen to some more. He talks about Benjamin Franklin’s self-improvement regimen, of which “humility” became his greatest challenge and I remembered reading about that in Franklin’s Autobiography (a must read on our founding fathers)

The Gates Foundation funded a free adult learning endeavor late last year called, The Big History Project, which is worth checking out too.

That’s it for this morning – time to get ready for work 😦

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Filed under American Character, American History, Education, General Interest

November 25, 2013 · 12:45 pm

Why America needs gentlemen…. and ladies too

The other day I posted a link to a blunt article on feminism’s ruinous effect on boys written by Fred Reed (here), so now I’d like to take a few minutes to wax on about manners and child-rearing, which maybe, is the one topic where I have some real credentials, after spending 18 years as a homemaker. Children come into this world completely dependent on adults to care for all of their needs and they also come devoid of all those finer virtues, upon which civilization depends.

The ancient Greeks kept their cardinal virtues to four: temperance, prudence, courage, and justice, but with the advent of Christianity, the list grew to seven: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. Of course, many other cultures and religions around the world offer up some varied assortment of similar virtues, although there are some examples, if you care to be an honest observer, where the cultural norms seem to be a mishmash of extremes, allowing barbarism to return and life for the weak in these places becomes a precarious struggle, fraught with danger.

Being the mother of two sons and two daughters and spending many, many hours amongst babies and small children (my own and many others) let’s agree that despite all the feminist bullshit to the contrary, boys and girls are very different and not just in the obvious anatomical sense. Boys and girls react differently to the world, they play differently and they think differently.

I abhor violence and I refused to buy my sons toy guns when they were very young, thinking that teaching them not to fight is a good thing. Well, how did that work out? My sons, even as toddlers, turned everything, even their sister’s Barbie dolls into a weapon of some sort, gun or club, it mattered not. Boys like actively interacting with their world, often in surprising and destructive ways.

Quickly, I realized my idea had little real merit and as they began to play with other children, it dawned on me that sometimes fighting is the right course of action, especially when confronted by barbarians who lacked parenting and behaved like bullies. So, my “no fighting” idea needed some refinement and the trickier moral lessons weren’t as simple to teach as I had originally thought.

Sometimes you should fight back. Finding this point on the scale, between complete pacifism and barbarism, where civilized behavior holds culture’s high ground position and barbarism falls to an outcast behavior, reviled, shunned and unaccepted by the majority of citizens, isn’t etched in stone, but we must agree on a small range on this scale for civilization to advance (or survive in our own sad case). The sociologists refer to this informal, commonly accepted range of acceptable behavior, as social norms. –>

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Filed under American Character, American History, Culture Wars, Food for Thought, Politics

October 24, 2013 · 1:06 pm

“Love and Peace”

Often the thought crosses my mind, “I wonder what foreigners think of America watching American TV shows, movies and reading the stories that make front page news?” Even closer to home, I’ve often wondered what immigrants to America think about us and for the purpose of this post, I’m not going to veer into the political hot potato illegal immigration patch. Instead, I want to talk about immigrants, people who move to our country and don’t know us yet.

Working in a big box store offers an opportunity to meet all sorts of people and years ago when I worked in the fabrics and crafts department, my store utilized recent immigrants to handle the floor-cleaning and overnight maintenance. We had a Bulgarian cleaning crew of three people, a couple and one other very tall man. They worked diligently with never a fuss, starting before my evening shifts ended. They avoided eye contact as they passed through the fabrics and crafts area every night. One evening I decided that I was going to meet them, so I began a halting conversation with the very tall gentleman. His English was not good. I don’t know any Bulgarian and through a few words I realized he spoke Russian, but I couldn’t remember more than a few words from my high school Russian classes. He quickly introduced me to the couple and I began chatting with them whenever I saw them in the store. The couple had been professional people in Bulgaria and they had a middle school age daughter. The tall gentleman, Lubomir, had been a Soviet-trained Bulgarian army officer. He was saving up money to bring his wife and son to America and besides working on that, he was studying English and studying to be able to become a truck driver, which would pay more and offer more opportunities to reach his goals. Often, I watched in dismay as some ignorant co-workers would mock his halting speech and ask him what his name was and treat him like the village idiot. He would patiently tell them his name was Lubomir and invariably they would ignore that and call him “Big Lou”. Lubomir seemed surprised that I knew where Bulgaria actually is, as most times when he told my co-workers that, it was met with, “Never heard of it!”

As Christmas drew near I decided to bake an assortment of Christmas cookies and take it to the apartment where they lived. I love baking, so I happily mixed and baked away and I had a large round metal Christmas tin can awaiting my cookie assortment. Then one of my sons came in the kitchen and I chattered away about how I was going to take Christmas cookies to my Bulgarian friends from work. Quickly, he started casting doubt on my gift idea. It started with questions like, “Mom do you realize that Bulgaria has quite a few Muslims and you don’t even know if these people are Christians?” He went on to fill me in on all the reasons why I shouldn’t presume they celebrate Christmas. I began doubting my project. Finally I told him I am not trying to convert them, I’m merely giving them a gift to let them know I value their friendship. His stream of over-thinking a simple goodwill gesture permeates how American society operates though, but he did have me wondering if my cookies might offend them.

I drove over to their apartment and the young daughter answered the door. She told me her parents were sleeping, which I expected as they worked the overnight shift in our store. This young lady possessed gracious manners, spoke impeccable English and offered the warmest smile when I told her I was friends with her parents at work. I didn’t want her to wake up her parents, so I just handed her the can of Christmas cookies and she said with just the slightest accent, “Thank you very much!”

Several thoughts struck me as I drove home. I thought about how we brag about how by the second generation immigrants assimilate and mainstream into American society and this young lady seemed well on the way toward that. Then I thought, why do we settle for the second-generation of immigrants assimilating – why not make it a commitment to assimilate new immigrants to America and turn as many of them as possible into American success stories. Why accept that it’s natural that the first generation toils away on the outskirts of American society, never really finding their way to being a real part of American society? I’m not talking about new federal programs, merely suggesting we start noticing the immigrants in our own communities, try to get to know them and treat them like neighbors. Assimilation into a community doesn’t come about through federal programs, it comes by making friends and accepting people into your group. It doesn’t even have to cost as much as a can of cookies – it can be as simple as talking to people and letting them know you’re willing to help them.

That conversation with my son came to mind last night when a friend mentioned cutting off aid to drug addicts and turning our backs on them until they clean up their act as part of the remedy to deal with that problem. As one who doesn’t think federal hand-out programs solve problems, I have no problem with eliminating many of these programs, as they fuel dependency and vicious cycles of poverty. In our communities though we, especially those of us who do celebrate Christmas, still need to try to find ways to help people in trouble, even though it would be easier to cast them aside as not part of our neighborhood. And on a lighter note, my Bulgarian friend’s name, Lubomir, means “love and peace” and if that wasn’t a good sign that my Christmas cookies would be welcome, I don’t know what is;-)

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Filed under American Character, Culture Wars, Food for Thought

October 23, 2013 · 4:13 pm

Where every child really does count

Yesterday my post highlighted a Thomas Sowell article on the race-hustling industry in America and today he presented the second part, “Race-Hustling Results: Part II”, at Townhall.com and it’s also on National Review Online with a different title, “The Business of Being Offended”. He offers one of the most honest takes on the results of decades of grievance politics, determined initiation of programs to keep minorities enslaved to state programs and aligned to the political hand that feeds them, and a culture that gravitates toward the lowest rather than aspiring toward the highest. This paragraph sums up where we are at:

“Young blacks are especially susceptible to the message that all their problems are caused by white people — and that white society is never going to give them a chance. In short, they are primed to resent and hate individuals they have never seen before and who have never done a thing to them.”

All sorts of studies abound about the racial divide and from decades of this area being a political tinderbox, for every statistic purporting one fact, you’ll find some determined politically motivated folks conjure up statistics stating the exact opposite. The one thing, numbers aside on black women compared to black men in college, that is irrefutable is the large number of black men in prison. Beside that trend is the irrefutable fact that more than 72% of black children are born to single mothers and this leads to a large number of women and children trapped in a cycle of poverty and government dependency.

It’s very easy for white middle class and above people to cast judgments and get behind all sorts of broad-stroke welfare reform programs, like drug-testing before benefits or making welfare dependent on seeking employment, but few people want to look at this national problem close-up and personal and actually see that these are individual Americans, whose potential seems destined to be unrealized from birth. We should commit that every American child should be able to reach for the stars.

For some reason in America, we always look to government solutions for problems that require committed social action (being good neighbors), that finds expression in community action and used to be most commonly found in our churches. Unless and until we get enough people to stop dividing America into raging factions, where the only ones who benefit are the race-hustlers and politicians, we will never be able to bridge this gaping cultural divide and have one America, where every child really does count. This type of commitment starts at the most basic level – one on one communication and building trust. It starts with one person daring to offer a helping hand.

Gladius is a committed conservative, but what he emailed me a couple days ago goes beyond politics, it cuts to the what is ailing America – a lack of moral courage:

“Bottom line is that nothing occurs in a vacuum. It is a cliché but it is true: If we have strong individuals, we can have strong families; with strong families we can have strong churches; with strong churches we can have strong communities; strong communities beget strong states; strong states a strong nation. We are at a loss for strong individuals. Moral courage has been trained out of too many through a corrupt and liberal education system. Principles are deemed narrow-minded bigotry rather than honorable. Greed is rampant. And, through it all, the rot of individual integrity is sapping our strength.”

Dr. Sowell and Gladius expressed the problem a little differently, but they both traced it back to the roots – a breakdown of our communities, because our families have fallen into disarray. While it would be nice to believe that money can solve this problem and that with a few more determined social-engineering programs and millions more in tax dollars tossed at the problems, we would have our solution. Decades of widening income and social gaps, decimation of largely black urban inner-cities, sky-high incarceration rates of young black males, so many single black moms trying to go it alone clearly show that governmental band-aids can’t stop this hemorrhaging. It’s going to take lots of committed helping hands to pull people up in communities all across America, resuscitating an American spirit that seems to be almost on it’s last breath.

We need to focus on helping individuals in our own communities, mentoring, truly being good neighbors and investing the time to make sure we don’t forget to rescue those who keep falling through the cracks. To even begin the process takes finding a way to talk to each other as neighbors first, not as political opponents. Our out-of-control politicization of every issue in America, which often seems deliberately motivated by various factions, will end up destroying our Republic, unless we commit to a drastic course correction. I’ll harken back to President George Washington’s Farewell Address to our young nation on the dangers of letting political factions burn out of control;

“It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection”

For more on George Washington’s timeless advice to keep our Republic strong and united and how he helped me form my American character, here is my “The duty of a wise people” blog post from back in May. I’m searching for the Livy (that old Roman historian) quote on how the virtues of a Republic can be restored by the example of one man and will add it to the bottom once I locate it, because it speaks to where we are at with our own Republic.

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July 24, 2013 · 11:15 am

Good Citizen Solution Starts With You

As the race-hustlers, liberals from academia, left-wing politicos and even the Occupy Wall street and communists join hands to march for “justice for Trayvon”, I’m going to offer up a few links to some excellent commentary on crime in America and the startling facts on the real racial divide in America’s criminal justice system. At National Review Online, Heather Mac Donald penned, “The Post-Zimmerman Poison Pill”. Mac Donald brings to the table facts from a long history of writing well-researched pieces on a variety of police issues, the criminal justice system, homeland security, welfare and immigration at the Manhattan Institute think tank. Her research always deals in reliable statistics and avoids the inflammatory flame-throwing. Also on National Review Online, Andrew C. McCarthy, details the fine points of the legal maneuvering by the Obama administration in the Zimmerman case and now in escalating racial tensions in his latest piece, “The Obama Administration’s Race-Baiting Campaign”. At PJ Media, Rick Moran wrote a very good assessment of the big picture of this trial and how it’s being manipulated by the Obama administration, the far-left political activists, much of the mainstream media and the professional civil rights profiteers, like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in a piece titled, “Zimmerman Verdict: Race, Guns, and Baloney.

Even the Huffington Post headlines a take on race relations in America by Howard Fineman titled, “Far From The Mountaintop: Black America Still Reaching For MLK’s Dream”. Fineman offers some interesting quotes from US Congressman, Elijah Cummings, who represents a district in Baltimore that has been hard hit by crime, unemployment and social decay. I know what downtown Baltimore is like, my late mother-in-law and father-in-law lived there (rough neighborhood). Fineman relates a story that Cummings told of taking his mother, a Pentecostal preacher, to meet President Obama and how this event of having a “black President” (who conveniently ignores his white heritage completely) was the best day in her life. Fineman delves into Trayvon’s death with this amazingly untrue statement -“The 2012 shooting and the 2013 verdict divided the country, but united Black America around the reasonable fear that no black child — especially no black male — is safe from the assumption that he is somehow a threat to the civil order on any street he walks.” Really, he thinks it’s a reasonable fear, when every FACT on crime in America indicates exactly the opposite.

The safest places to walk for anyone, black, white and every other ethnic mix you can name, in America are in predominantly white neighborhoods – that’s just a fact. The crime that decimates our black inner-city neighborhoods stands as a testament to the dismal failures of the liberal social experiments to make life “fair” in America, which Congressman Cummings champions. It’s always an us vs. them within the professional civil rights industry, which Cummings is a part of. Now, how they think fomenting anger, racial distrust and encouraging young black men to take to the streets of America, while they fuel more racial resentment is going to change the tenor of race relations in America or really change the grim everyday living conditions for way too many black children being raised in fatherless homes escapes me. They’re widening the racial divide.

Being the victim of injustice doesn’t give you the right to abdicate your duties as a good citizen in America. How ridiculous is it for the President of the United States of America (the leader of the free world) to stand there whining about some white women clutching their purses nervously when a black man gets on an elevator, as so horrible for black men to deal with – really some minor ignorance like that causes lasting scars? Here’s a fact, some people will hold racist views no matter what you do. This is America and they’re free to believe whatever the heck they want and if some white woman fears black men, well, then so be it.

You can’t eliminate racists, idiots, or ignorant people by more legislation – sometimes you just need to ignore some things. As long as there are laws to protect equal access to opportunity and equal protection under the law, then the little stuff that President Obama mentioned is just “rise above the ignorance stuff”. Listening to this President makes me sad for the smallness of his visions on race and yes, I think he’s a racist. He glories in pegging white people as racists, narrow-minded and intent on keeping the black man down. So much for uniting America. Instead of encouraging young black men to take to the streets to demand “justice for Trayvon”, which this President knows he can’t have a redo on the trial to get the outcome he desires, his definition of “justice” is rather murky and really he’s using this black rage to push his far-left political agenda – just a shallow political ploy on the backs of angry, young black men.

Even white people sometimes fall victim to being wrongfully accused, profiled and having their rights violated. I’ve experienced injustice in my life and I’m considering writing about something that happened to me many years ago. I never received justice, that’s for sure, because I couldn’t prove any of the crimes committed against me. In fact, I couldn’t even get those closest to me to believe me, because what happened seemed unbelievable. By sheer luck, I did win the most important legal battle, which was my freedom. I have had to keep silent, because I still can’t prove it happened. My story is about how lies can snowball out of control and how people with power can go to extremes for political survival. In the aftermath of this serious injustice I experienced, I know what rage feels like and I know what it feels like to think your rights don’t count. What helped me survive was to go get a job after being a homemaker for 18 years. Hard work helps you find a way to release some of that rage – put your anger to something constructive. And whenever I feel ready to quit, I fall back on the simple lessons that my short Army experience taught me.

Sometimes you have to just ‘”suck it up and drive on”, because other people are counting on you. And here’s the real key to persevering in life, whenever you are out of hope, and out of options, take a little time to “back up and regroup and then you can fight another day”. Life is like that too, so never forget everyone is part of a team, whether it’s your family, your school, your church, your country – we need to rebuild the American team and work together. Now, my job is just an ordinary retail job, which lots of people think is beneath them, but putting your hands to some sort of real work would better serve so many unemployed young black men – it really would.

The solution to not only black Americans’ social problems, but all Americans’ social problems is building bridges of hope, not bridges built by federal programs leading to nowhere. Strong families and dedication to individual achievement, good citizenship girded by a clear understanding of not only our civil rights, but our civic duties as good citizens will restore American communities and provide real hope and change. If you really want to help young black men, here’s the answer black men – start being good fathers and sticking around to be a good role model for your sons and yes, this advice goes to all American men – stand up and start being responsible husbands and fathers. This is the real solution to America’s social decay and to improving racial harmony too. And you know all this effort is being expended to organize marches and protests, which is of course their right, but imagine what could be achieved if all this anger in young black men was turned to doing actual work in some of the worst neighborhoods in America. The community-organizer-in-chief should be promoting civic action that gets inner-city young people rebuilding their communities.

At work I observed two women filling up several shopping carts of school supplies and I asked if they were buying for a school. They told me that their little church from a nearby very small town gives away 350 backpacks filled with schools supplies to children in need. I observed them handing empty boxes to their kids and telling them, “here count out 300 more erasers and put them neatly in this box” and “we need 100 more of those pencils.” That’s one small church and these two ladies smiled and told me they are blessed to have a very generous congregation. If you would look at the millions upon millions of federal dollars spent on ineffective federal programs to address the problems within America’s inner-cities, where people like this President gain political power and hold great sway, and instead expended that energy toward encouraging the residents of inner-cities to begin taking responsibility to help rebuild their own communities, we might see more real change, less violence and offer real hope to these young black men.

Last night I watched Bill O’Reilly talk to a black reverend and from the back and forth, it seemed to me that this black reverend doesn’t much care for white people – that was my perception. He huffily made some comment that the black inner-city community doesn’t need other people to come in and fix their problems, but he does want tax dollars and lots of federal money from these other people. I know this angry pride from growing up in a poor, rural area, where the locals looked on city people moving in with distrust and disdain. Here’s a quote for the reverend: Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”

We need to move beyond the flying into fits of anger and directing our energy toward dividing people into hostile camps. Instead of buying into this distrust, perhaps we need to open our hearts a little and try to get to know each other as individuals first, strive to find that common ground. And truly that saying, success is the best revenge”, puts all those purse-clutching, racist white women in perspective – they aren’t what matters, because now here comes one of those hard lessons in life – you can’t control or change what anyone else thinks or believes, the only person you can control and change is yourself. Focus on being the best person you can be and you just might inspire a few other people to follow your lead.

“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”- Martin Luther King, Jr. ( I Have A Dream speech, August 28, 1963), I was a toddler and here we are 50 years later still retracing our steps, trying to realize this dream. Instead of letting our hopes be dashed over a local tragedy of two young men brawling in the street one night, we’ve got to set our sights on getting to that mountaintop where freedom rings for every American child and hope rises above being a political slogan. Hopefully, in my four children’s lifetime this dream will become reality.

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Filed under American Character, Culture Wars, Politics

May 23, 2013 · 9:02 am

The duty of a wise people

George Washington captured my imagination and heart as a child, with his humility, his love for the land, his willingness to take on public duties when all he truly wanted to do was return to his farming at his home, Mount Vernon. In the darkest days of the Revolutionary War, his army in rags and struggling to survive a cold winter encamped at Valley Forge, PA from December 1778 to June 1779, General Washington, didn’t toss up his hands and say, “they don’t pay me enough to put up with this misery!” He didn’t pack up his gear and head south for the winter. He suffered right beside his troops and spent many hours writing letters (excellent site here), often pleading for funds to arm, feed and clothe his ragtag army. In those dark days, he still took the time to handle mundane and routine personal business matters, keep in touch with his wife and family, while dealing with some of the toughest challenges of leadership. He tackled starting an army from scratch, with no experts and limited military experience, he forged ahead, always placing the highest importance on principles over expediency. He paid attention to not only the big problems, but he made time to deal with the little problems too. George Washington didn’t wait for someone else to solve his problems.

He had learned early in life to think for himself. He didn’t have a fancy education or access to as many books as most ordinary public schools contain today. What he did have was character honed by the strength of his convictions. Early in life he copied out by hand (no cut and paste option back then) “rules” to live by that had been used by Jesuit tutors for generations, as Richard Brookhiser explains in his book, “Rules of Civility: The 110 Precepts That Guided Our First President in War and Peace” (here). What is so lacking today is what George Washington used to guide his life- a belief in ideals. There’s a quote that I had taped up from the time I was a teenager that helped guide me and to this day challenges me to never lose sight of the values I believe in, “Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. but like the seafaring man on the deserts of waters; you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny.” – Carl Schurz. George Washington helped me build my character, by setting an example worth following. Some Jesuit teachings helped him find his. Our children need to be taught to find some worthy ideals to emulate. George Washington believed so much in our American future that when he finally did return home, he changed the orientation of his home from east to west, believing America’s future lay, not in it’s English past, but in the uncharted America that lay westward. He inspired a fledgling nation then and he still inspires many of us today.

George Washington was so revered by the American people that, had he chosen to grasp those reins of power, he could easily have become America’s first “king”. He reluctantly took on the first executive task to try and unite a new nation, serving two terms and then peacefully handing over power to another President, with very different political views and the leader of a rival political party. Washington never joined a party, but his views aligned with the Federalist Party. In his farewell address (full text here), he warned of the dangers of factions and partisan politics. The entire speech runs well over 7,000 words and offers up memorable quotes on a wide range of issues vital to a free people committed to popular government and preserving our Republic. Every American should take the time to read this speech sometime. Here are a few paragraphs on the danger of factions and political parties:

“I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.”

We should listen to his wise counsel whispering to us on the winds of time.

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Filed under American Character, American History, Food for Thought, Politics

May 22, 2013 · 9:54 pm

Lessons From The Village

In the past week the Obama scandals seem to be multiplying faster than rabbits. Benghazi blazed back to life, the IRS scandal hadn’t even crested, when the AP and FOX news reporters phones and emails being monitored by the Obama Justice Department hit (here, here, here). Then, the Oklahoma tornado pretty much sidelined all other news since yesterday and the White House got a slight reprieve from the media barrage. Obviously, these scandals will pick up steam and more will assuredly come to light as the abuses of unchecked power of bureaucrats in the executive branch swell beyond the administration’s ability to spin (LIE) them away as right-wing conspiracy witch hunts. Some of those witch hunters should invest in sturdier brooms to sweep this bunch of dirtballs out the door, but sadly way too many Republicans in Washington get too caught up in the partisan politics rather than scrupulously following the law and keeping this about upholding the Constitution rather than setting the stage for the 2014 election cycle. Upholding the rule of law should be the paramount concern. The truth should matter.

The partisan divide, where both political factions spend more time trying to take down the other side than they do trying to actually govern in a positive way, leaves us stuck with a country fractured and bleeding and having fewer and fewer shared values to patch our wounds. The distrust of President Obama propelled gun and ammunition sales off the charts. The reports of Homeland Security and other federal agencies stockpiling ammo, makes one wonder if this distrust cuts both ways. Comments by Obama officials about radical right-wingers, potentially dangerous soldiers and Christians demonstrates that the distrust runs both ways and makes one wonder where this will all lead. Then the recent reports about the military targeting Christians as potential extremists hinted at a planned purging of the US military officer corps, had me wondering if we’re in for a drastic attempt at politicizing and radicalizing our armed forces, where far-left kooks set the policies.

To survive, our country needs to find it’s way back to some shared values and if we can’t do that our Republic will not survive as the great beacon of hope it has been. For me, the Constitution always served as the keystone of my American value system. Being from PA, well, we are big on the “keystone” rhetorical device, lol. As a child growing up in a rural village (yes, I know more about village life than the official “it takes a village” expert of America), the turmoil of the 60s and 70s pretty much passed us by. We did have some hippies move into some old farmsteads and try the back to nature living. I remember one communal group bringing their kids to our vacation Bible school and I had a few of their children in my preschool class ( I got the youngest group – because no one wanted to deal with all that crying and constant having to use the bathroom). We weren’t sure what to make of folks living in a commune and they sure seemed uneasy about us. What happens when people distrust each other is the misunderstandings, exaggerations and fabrications about the other group multiply and spread. I remember hearing fantastic stories about the orgies, drugs and nefarious doings of this particular group. After talking to several of these mothers over many months, I realized that they were a Christian group trying to live a simple life in the country. They named their children Biblical names. And after getting to know them, I realized these fantastic stories weren’t remotely true. Even more dramatic was when we had the first black families move into our area – once again more distrust, wild stories, etc., because they came from inner-city Philadelphia (those dreaded “city” people) and it was several families living together and oh my, they were “black” (which to some locals made them as threatening as the whole Soviet Army). These children rode on our bus and I wanted to learn about our new neighbors, so I talked to them and found out that they weren’t threatening in the least. The one certain thing I knew was they were scared to death at first getting on a bus with all white kids. Life in a village taught me (as I’ve repeatedly said) that getting to know people matters more than all the “I heard” or “I have it on good authority” or “everyone says” in the world.

Our leaders need to start agreeing on some simple common values to build trust in our institutions again and also in each other. If we continue to let partisan politicos send us rampaging about one hot button issue after another, we’re doomed. We can’t continue to play dangerous, divisive political games where we pit various groups of Americans against each other for political advantage. The village expert of America, Hillary Clinton, perfected this evil vast, right-wing conspiracy hysteria and we now have a Homeland Security department profiling former servicemen and tea party types as “dangerous”. We’ve got some right-wing talk radio types who fuel the conspiracy theories about the federal government. It’s way past time for average Americans to stop letting themselves be played like this. It’s hurting our country! We’ve got to agree on some common values – like respect for the rule of law, the belief that everyone counts in America, the belief that the strong must protect the weak, advocate for being a good neighbor in both word and deed. These are simple values that should not be controversial, regardless of your race, ethnicity or religious views. If we spent half as much time teaching our children to treat other people with respect and basic manners, as we do with all this politicized diversity claptrap, green agenda and endless causes, we might make some progress at restoring order to our classrooms. Really, treating other people with respect and taking the time to get to know people – how controversial is that?

Time to spare

President Obama delivered a speech yesterday at a memorial service in Waco, TX for the first responders who perished in the fertilizer plant explosion last week. (here) His speech writers prepared a warm, cozy speech with all the high notes of honoring the fallen, offering hope for the living and fleshed out with lots of examples of individual courage, but somehow his speech just didn’t sound like it came from the heart. President Obama waxing on about the virtues of “small town America” rubbed me the wrong way, because frankly I don’t think he respects “small town America” and from his unscripted remarks in the past it’s obvious that he holds these very people in complete contempt. Good manners dictate just praising him for making the effort to show up to offer his condolences, but in the back of my mind, I was remembering, “they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” Guess we can add “clinging to past insults” as part of this Pennsylvanian’s backwoods mentality too.

Just what are these “small town values” his speech writers thought would sound the proper chord for this solemn occasion in Waco? Perhaps, one of the most important values that shines in small towns is the belief in civic duty, where good citizenship still carries a great deal of clout. Now, President Obama places his faith in more governmental programs to solve social problems, while when you travel to these tiny nooks and hollows, far away from urban and suburban America, vestiges of the self-reliant American spirit still flourish. The people of West. TX, like so many other “small town” locales, rely on volunteers in their own community for many of their services and civic needs. It’s a place where the fire department is strictly a volunteer undertaking, as 12 of those who perished in this fertilizer explosion last week were volunteer firefighters. The President starts his civic duty definition with what the government owes you, but to rebuild the American team requires nurturing the seeds of democracy that still bravely take root in these tiny enclaves all across our great nation. Those seeds are the seeds of individual commitment to the American ideals of being a good citizen, knowing that our strength comes not from having the fanciest ‘”infrastructure”, but from building good character in our citizenry. It’s about what the people can do for themselves and their community, not about what “government” can do.

As a child, I marveled at how many people stopped by our home bearing everything from fresh garden produce to hams and bottles of whiskey at Christmas time as thank-you gifts to my Dad for “favors” he did for them (of course the whiskey sat gathering dust at our home, as my parents weren’t drinkers). My Dad made helping people part of his daily life, with no mention of it and certainly no desire for anything in return. Often, neighbors or friends of friends would call my mother when a loved one died at home. My mother, being a registered nurse, made her the go-to person to call to prepare the deceased for the undertaker. Day or night, my mother would go and bathe the deceased, to spare the immediate family from having to deal with that. My mother explained the importance of treating the deceased with as much respect as you treat the living. Just comparing my mother’s values to that horrific disregard for human life on trial in that abortionist, Kermit Gosnell, trial in Philadelphia, well, it could easily be summed up as the difference between good and evil. My parents believed in good citizenship in practice, not from the political soapbox.

When my father passed away a couple attended the service and they expressed their great admiration for my father and told my siblings and my mother about how many times my father helped them with things around their house, This couple were newcomers to our community and I assumed my mother knew them, as I had years before moved away from home. Later as my family sat discussing the services, one of my sisters asked my mother about this couple. My mother said she had no idea who they were and she thought one of us might know who they were. My Dad’s brand of quietly doing “favors” for people could sure put us on the right path to rebuilding the American team and his “small town values” still serve as my personal model on how to treat other people. Often when I queried why he did so much for other people, his usual response was, “Well it didn’t cost me much except a little time and everyone has a little time to spare.”

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Filed under American Character, Culture Wars, Food for Thought, Politics

January 4, 2013 · 11:05 am

The Quest For American Leadership In The 21st Century: A Few Home Truths

I came across this piece I wrote a few years back, so it’s a bit dated (just like me), but the sentiments still apply today.

The Quest For American Leadership In the 21st Century:
A Few Home Truths
by libertybelle

Ronald Reagan once said, “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.”, a simple statement of trust in the great, good sense of average Americans to hash out the pressing politics of the day. One of the saddest commentaries in recent years on the state of America, came from pop culture icon, Oprah Winfrey, who devoted an entire show to teaching American parents the importance of finding time for family dinners. Despite the statistics on divorce, out of wedlock births and the steady mass media messaging, the importance of the American family emerged on Oprah, with a host of “experts” on hand, to teach us about family dinner time. Millions of Oprah followers, I am sure, began talking amongst their friends and just as they buy the books she recommends, most assuredly many started trying to fit family dinners into their weekly schedule. How do family dinners and the quest for American leadership fit together? In our fast-paced, multi-tasking society, few common threads strengthen the waft and weave of our national fabric, so perhaps the family dinner table emerges as the place to begin this quest.

A young, single mother, with two young daughters, asked me a question this past Christmas that left me stunned for a moment. She wanted to know how to start family traditions. Growing up in a large family, in rural America in the 1960s, our family life ran like clock work and I never consciously thought about family traditions; they were just there. Sheltered from the turmoil and social upheaval of that decade, our family and community life continued relatively unscathed. My father, a blue collar worker, taught us by example, putting a value-based education in simple terms, “if you give your word; you keep it”. My mother enforced discipline, family dinner at 5 p.m., with the table set properly, cleaning the house from top to bottom on Saturday morning, with her assigning tasks with the efficiency of a drill sergeant and marching us to Sunday school in crisply ironed clothes and spotless shoes. My mother, placing high value on proper attire, shined shoes for all six children, when we were young, teaching us along the way how to do that task ourselves.

This young mother works hard trying to provide for her children, with the father providing child support on a sporadic basis. Her mother, with a chronic drug problem, offered no secure foundation for her to learn how to build a strong family. Multiply her situation, to hundreds of thousands of American children growing up without learning basic values, bereft of the security of a stable family life and the social chaos in America comes as no surprise. So, perhaps the Oprah dinner time show provided a public service. In lieu of parents instilling basic values, a mass-media produced line of “experts”, flashing ivy-league credentials or pop icon celebrity status, fill the void. Why on earth would anyone turn to Suzanne Somers for medical advice or Dr. Phil for advice on family problems?

The election of President Obama, the Tea Party movement and soaring popularity of Glenn Beck indicate millions of Americans yearn for a better America, divergent as their messages may appear. President Obama ran on a message of transforming America, leveling the playing field, expanding opportunities for all, and beating down the status quo. Those on the right of the political spectrum, calm down, I am speaking about the message, not the reality. The Tea Party movement appears to be a genuine populist uprising, with a few common themes of smaller government and fiscal responsibility as their message. Due to a lack of a national platform or organizational structure, I suppose we will see every type from good ole sweet tea to herbal concoctions, of course, we will probably be spared a green tea group.

Where to start with Glenn Beck, let’s see, his chalkboard antics aside, his message centers on a demand for honest government, a return to the original intent of the founding fathers, as encapsulated in The Constitution. His call to read about our founding fathers and our original founding documents definitely deserves praise. However, I urge people to tread lightly at accepting the simplisitc bows he ties all his theories in, targeting, those nefarious Progressives with the blame for all that ails us.

Discontented with unresponsive national leaders, Americans increasingly are losing faith in the two-party system, providing an opportunity for grass roots populism to flourish. Before jumping on any political bandwagon, prudence requires serious study, reflection, and most of all stepping back and thinking for yourself. Learning to evaluate events and politics, free of media-fueled, partisan flame-throwing should be the starting point. Now, back to the family dinner table, a few family dinner time conversations will quickly cure you of a belief that one political shoe fits all. Promote civil discourse, at home, among friends and in public forums. Civil discourse requires listening to opposing opinions and ideas, not shouting down the other side. Be an American first, remembering we can always find room to squeeze in another point of view at our political table. Including dissenting voices into the national dialogue, rather than shouting them down, as demonstrated by those disgraceful Congressional town hall meetings last summer, offers the path to forging consensus and building national unity.

President Abraham Lincoln stated “Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges. Let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in the courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation.” Few would argue that our leaders should be men of good character. Defining what constitutes good character, a task that should be simple, will produce a confusing array of answers, if you do a quick survey of your friends. Going back to my father’s, “if you give your word; you keep it” belief, demanding our national leaders possess basic honesty, propels us further in this quest than dissecting political platforms, plank by plank, ever will.

The challenges facing America, from the war against radical Jihadists to our escalating economic crisis, demand leaders willing to build renewed faith in our governmental institutions; to find solutions and protect our nation or we face the very real possibility of massive civil unrest and collapse. Machiavelli, endlessly quoted for his “the ends justify the means” line, offered advice for republics too. He stated, “A republic may, likewise, be brought back to its original form, without recourse to ordinances for enforcing justice, by the mere virtues of a single citizen, by reason that these virtues are of such influence and authority that good men love to imitate them, and bad men are ashamed to depart from them.” We need to demand that type of leader in this century.

The quest for our 21st century American leaders starts with you. Step One: Think for yourself; move away from being swayed by political partisans hurling talking points at you. Take the time to study issues, candidates and find your own moral compass. President George Washington, my favorite founding father, wrote a list titled, Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior In Company and Conversation”, 110 rules covering everything from admonitions not to clean your teeth with the tablecloth to don’t run in the streets. He ended with #110: “Labour to keep alive in your breast that Little Spark of Celestial Fire Called Conscience.” That should be your guide.

Step Two: Be the leader of your own destiny. Don’t be a follower of populist movements. left or right, unless you have completed Step One. Before becoming a political lemming, allowing professional media figures to press your political hot buttons, calmly discuss issues with family and friends. In our 24 hour news cycle, internet-connected world, misinformation, disinformation and outright lies can circle the globe in minutes. Don’t let these control your political reasoning, refer back to Step One.

Step Three: Follow the rules. President Lincoln’s call for reverence for the laws provides the keystone to rebuilding a stronger America. When political aspirants lack personal integrity, obfuscate on public issues, or find excuses for not following the rules; move on and continue your quest for worthy leaders. To honor those who sacrificed all, to secure our blessings of liberty, at the very least we all have a duty to become informed citizens, who demand men and women of character to lead us in this century.