America at the crossroads
On May 23, 2013 President Obama laid out his American foreign policy vision- near-sighted, delusional and dangerous in it’s breathtaking lack of understanding the “fundamental transformation” gripping the Muslim world (full text here). This speech will be pulled up by historians decades from now and pegged as the Neville Chamberlain “peace in our time” moment. In trying to define this “struggle” against Muslim-driven terrorism, President Obama completely misread the events of the past decade and by asserting victory, while leaving an enemy still fighting on the battlefield, so to speak, he has set the course for emboldening not only al Qaeda and Muslim-driven terrorists, but also all our other adversaries in the world. This speech serves as a delusional attempt at pretending that by saying something is true, it makes it true. Certainly, we don’t want to keep large numbers of troops engaged in nation-building across the Muslim world, in the hopes that we can buy loyalty and cooperation. But we must remain vigilant and flexible in taking the fight to Muslim extremists, both terrorist actors and the many state sponsors of Muslim extremism. Alarmingly, President Obama has aligned himself with Muslim Brotherhood leaders, whose stated purpose is to advance the very same goals as Al Qaeda and it’s affiliates.
President Obama states, “So America is at a crossroads. We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us.” No truer words have ever been spoken and therein lies the rub. We have never defined this struggle, because out of misplaced political sensitivity, President Bush and President Obama perpetuate the misguided “Islam means Peace” trope and refuse to ever define this struggle in the real world terms of “enemies” – those people or groups intent on defeating us. An ideology, benign or violent, will never threaten anyone. It takes that human factor to bring an ideology to life and it’s the humans who embrace and act based on an ideology whom pose a threat to us. Enemies are always people. Islam, as preached and practiced, by a substantial number of Muslim clerics, falls far from a religion of Peace . We have groped around trying to find suitable terminology to differentiate “peaceful Islam” from the radicalized form, but this whitewashing effort is purely a one-sided effort, because for most of the world’s Muslim clerical experts – there is only one Islam and that Islam is the one that embraces Sharia law, reestablishment of a Caliphate and a world controlled by Muslims. It is a totalitarian political doctrine, wrapped up in the trappings of a religion. Until we have the guts to define this struggle as a political struggle against a totalitarian movement, we will continue to lose.
Al Qaeda is not dead, in fact, it has been breathed new life by the Arab Spring revolutions and these Muslim Brotherhood dominated countries will aid, fund, arm and utilize these al Qaeda groups to do their dirty work. They will find plenty of work to carry our the black ops for actual states now. It’s ridiculous to believe our government’s constant refrain that we’ve neutralized al Qaeda, because we’ve killed so many of it’s top leaders and at the same time believe the many years our government was explaining the challenge of defeating al Qaeda was because it wasn’t a hierarchically run organization (no top down leaders) – no it was tentacles of terror – lots of loosely aligned groups of like-minded radicalized nuts.
The major foreign policy failure of our time is our reliance on “experts” from academia and think thanks, who conjure up fancy sounding theories and rationales for events unfolding around the world. We’ve revamped and restructured our intelligence operations in the wake of 9/11, yet we seem more clueless and misguided than ever at actually understanding world events and understanding unfolding events. It’s because we allow agenda-driven hacks to formulate our policy rather than paying attention to the events unfolding and listening to what these adversaries and enemies say. Al Qaeda and it’s many affiliates give rambling speeches to recruit followers and to let the world know this is their “mission”. And here’s the stark reality, no blinders on view – they have a clearly stated mission, that has not wavered. We have wishful thinking on our side.
Filed under Foreign Policy, Military, Politics
The Life of George Washington
John Marshall wrote a five-volume set on “The Life of George Washington”. The first volume covers America’s history of early European attempts to settle in the New World. The entire set is available from amazon.com for 99 cents, but each volume is available individually for free (here is the list).
Filed under American History
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.
Filed under American Character, American History, Food for Thought, Politics
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?
Filed under American Character, Food for Thought, Politics, The Constitution
American Propaganda Masters (ignore that man behind the curtain)
The numerous scandals brewing finally woke up a hypnotized mainstream media, but I want to talk about something else. During the Clinton impeachment drama, their spinmeisters hit the media – print and TV (lacking only to dominate talk-radio) with a relentless wave of media manipulation efforts. They floated deceptive language and phrases to try and confuse the American public into accepting that lying under oath was no big deal depending if the testimony pertained to personal sexual behavior. Along with the “it’s just about sex, sex, sex” line, they also used the “vast, right-wing conspiracy” as a diversionary tactic to convince the American people that Bill Clinton was a “victim”. Rehashing this old scandal is meant to illuminate a problem in America, that trickles down from the highest reaches of our government. Americans, by and large, take their personal liberty and the many blessings of living in a free society for granted.
The mass media manipulations (propaganda) will hit full-force as another corrupt administration tries to survive a series of scandals. The DNC, the Clinton political machine and President Obama with his army of far-left kooks and Chicago-type political operatives will feverishly work to contain these scandals. The Republican partisans will mobilize to capitalize on these scandals and make as much political hay as possible. Seeking the truth will not be the ultimate objective of either side’s efforts. Political objectives will fuel both sides. Even during President Reagan’s second-term, Iran-Contra marred his legacy and it pained me to see some of his cabinet testify using slippery language and, in my view, lie. Both political parties fall prey to lying way too often.
President Clinton’s poll numbers were touted by the Clinton mouthpieces endlessly during the impeachment saga to neutralize and derail the impeachment efforts. He governed using a finger-to-the-wind approach rather than from firm principled footing. To this day much of our news, from all political angles, is presented with polling data as the benchmark on issues. From impeachment to the present-day gay marriage – issues are sold to the American public, not on the merits of the issue, but on polling data. Once over 50% of the public can be cited as “supporting” that viewpoint, the media accepts that polling data as a reflection of the “will of the people“. What we’re being duped into believing is that if you can deceive, trick, and use mass media manipulation techniques (propaganda) effectively, then the end polling results are a true representation of the mainstream public’s position.
The merits of issues should be debated and argued, but to accept the end result of mass media manipulation campaigns, rather than demanding straight facts and the truth, jeopardizes the very foundation of our liberties. Polls reflect nothing more than the effectiveness of the propaganda efforts in America these days. It’s reached the point where reporters talk about the administration’s “narrative” without raising an eyebrow or murmuring even a few probing questions. We should demand the truth and facts, not settle for some slickly packaged “narrative”. An administration that can utter explanations such as the white girlfriend that President Obama talked about in his autobiography was a “composite” of white girlfriends, with no media alarm bells being sounded, highlights how bereft of principles both this administration and the media are. We can’t trust a mainstream media that is so blinded by partisan politics. And the Frank Luntz type of finding the “pulse” of America by how people “react” to certain phrases in speeches provides nothing more than data to be utilized by political propagandists. We need to try to get the American people to THINK about issues, which requires some time spent studying the issues and pondering the merits of both sides of an argument – not gauging superficial “reacting” on a second-by-second basis.
We need some calm, reasonable voices to remind people to put the partisan politics aside and demand to get to the ground truth facts, wherever they fall. Polling numbers reflect nothing more than the barometer of political polarization efforts being fueled by partisan political operatives. Polls do not reflect anything vital and we should demand that those in the media stop relying on polls as the determining factor on issues of great public import. Polls are about how people “FEEL‘”, not about what people “THINK” and hopefully we can get Americans to react less and think more. An informed opinion rests on taking the time to gather as many facts as possible, making a free press a vital link in the process. Maybe if we’re lucky our press will go back to demanding, “the facts” and let the political chips fall where they may.
Filed under Culture Wars, Food for Thought, Politics, The Media
Just the facts, please….
Long ago in America we had three major TV networks from which to glean our news. As a child of the 60s, I remember watching all three networks and truly the choice of which news network to watch depended on personal preferences on the news anchors, not the political angle of the reporting. Each network covered pretty much the same stories and the competition seemed to be on which network would hit the airwaves with the story first.
The Benghazi saga illuminates a bigger picture problem than just the potential cover-up of the events that transpired September 11, 2012. When cable news networks try to bury news stories for political reasons, obfuscate or “spin” (LIE), then more is at stake than just a public disservice to the viewing public.
Living around the Army my entire adult life, I became a compulsive channel-flipper when big news stories break. Boy, during Grenada, CNN had come into existence by then, so there was an added news source, beyond the big 3 and the initial Reagan black-out on reporting had me glued to the TV hoping for some news. Grenada affected my life personally, because my husband had deployed with the 82nd Airborne Division. Once news dribbled out and the Reagan administration provided news updates, well, all the networks provided pretty much the same facts. Grenada was over quickly, but I did receive a letter in the mail that my husband wrote on the back of what looked like a C-ration box and honestly I don’t remember when MREs replaced the C-rations (which I thought were much better truthfully- just a side note, lol). This mail was brought back to Fort Bragg and stuck into envelopes and mailed to our homes, courtesy of the Army. As time went on, I remember Desert Storm living with no TV news, because we were living in Germany and my husband deployed from there. We lived in leased military quarters and had no AFN and my German is lamentably bad, so German TV news was useless. I listened to AFN radio and relied mostly on much slower press accounts of the war.
Watching the news in the past 20 years evolve with the advent of the internet and deepening political divide in America, it’s alarming to me to flip through the channels and see the wide disparity on not only how news stories get covered, but what news stories get covered, the amount of coverage and the disparity on how some news networks choose to bury stories for sheer partisan political purposes. Long ago we used to deride Pravda (that Soviet-era propaganda tool) as a reprehensible tactic to keep a people living in darkness by political deception. Imagine my alarm when I’ll skim through the online English edition of Pravda occasionally and their reporting on many American news stories seems to offer a more honest, truthful accounting than many of our own prominent news outlets.
There’s a big picture crisis brewing in America, when we calmly accept lies for political advantage over demanding the truth. When you can get two completely removed realities at the same time, by just flipping the news channels, well, it sets the stage for political manipulation of the public on a massive scale. This rivals anything that even Stalin or other communist regimes imagined. While I’m disgusted with what looks like a Benghazi cover-up, I’m worrying more about the big picture problem of the American public’s willingness to buy into wholesale lying to fit partisan political agendas. If we the people don’t care about the truth, who will?
Filed under Foreign Policy, Politics, The Media
Christians: The Latest Obama Target
A few weeks ago I posted a piece, Equal Opportunity For Dummies, Courtesy of the US Army. Now, just in time comes a lot of reports that the Obama administration has the Pentagon meeting with a rabidly anti-Christian kook, Mikey Weinstein, who heads up the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an organization dedicated to ending Christian proselytizing within the military. Perhaps, that PA National Guard Equal Opportunity training guide on potential extremists wasn’t just some isolated misguided fluke, but just might be part of a comprehensive Obama administration attempt to dismantle the core values that have served to make our military the finest in the world. Here’s a short piece by Todd Starnes on a Fox News radio website on this latest attempt at purging our military of all who cling to their guns and traditions. Don’t fret about the enemies beyond our borders, worry about the dangerous ideologue who holds the Commander In Chief powers and intends to begin the purges of all who resist another of his fundamental transformation efforts. Gut our forces, demoralize all who cling to traditional military values, install sycophantic political hacks in all leadership positions, embroil our troops in gender issues, muddle mission with PC claptrap, impose stridently Christian intolerant policies, excuse Islamic extremism and destroy our force from within – hey, who said President Obama knows nothing about strategy – he’s got the old-time big c “Communist” blueprint memorized. All that’s lacking is a fomentation of racial discord, which always figures largely in those old Communist goals. Alas, I am just one of those PA clingers to the past – this time I’m clinging to my Cold War training and it’s disconcerting that instead of all those endless worries about how to defend against the Soviets, the new worry lies on whether we’re being defeated by willfully ignoring the truth before our very eyes.
Filed under Culture Wars, Military, Politics
Boston Marathon Bombing Questions Swirl
Decided to link to this blog piece, because it offers a “speculation” that I think needs to be truthfully answered by the FBI. If this blogger’s “speculation” is true, then we most assuredly need a top to bottom review on how the FBI handles counter-terrorism activities and some serious accountability. In addition, this administration’s policies on counter-terrorism need a serious overhaul. The blog, The Diplomad 2.0, ran this piece April 25th titled, “Paying Our Executioners, or You Can’t Spell Massachusetts without Ass”.
The details to be fleshed out are:
When did Tamerlan Tsarnaev show up on the FBI and CIA’s radar as a potential Islamic extremist?
Why so many conflicting reports among federal agencies (Homeland Security, FBI, and CIA)?
Was the FBI aware of or involved in Tsarnaev’s six month trip to Russia and how did Tsarnaev finance this trip?
Why wasn’t the FBI aware of when Tsarnaev re-entered the USA?
How many contacts with Tsarnaev did the FBI or CIA have, the dates of these contacts and the reason for these contacts?
Did the Russian government warn the US about the older Tsarnaev and if so, what actions were taken regarding this warning(s)?
Was the FBI using Tamerlan Tsarnaev as an informant?
Did the FBI’s purge of Islamic “unfriendly” training material hamper this Boston Marathon investigation (link here)?
Filed under Culture Wars, Politics
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.”
Filed under American Character, Culture Wars, Food for Thought, Politics
libertybelle diaries 