One of our high profile Senators recently suggested that the horrific fires blowing through southern California stoked by the Santa Anna winds were possibly a result in some way of global warming. I'm surprised the Senator stopped short of suggesting President Bush somehow had a hand in it as well, perhaps ordering giant turbine fans into Wyoming to jumpstart the disaster!
I am not overtly political although as I get older I find myself being more passionate about what is going on in my country and the world, nor am I a simpleminded loyalist of any party or President. I try to stay informed enough to be aware of our shortcomings, missteps and problems as a country. History is a great teacher and facts are indisputable as we attempt to learn from our past mistakes and move ahead to a more enlightened future.
America has her problems. We know this and are reminded of it in graphic and sometimes unbalanced detail every single day. The laundry list of our flaws from corporate greed to overreaching foreign policy and everything in between is verbalized and debated in such detail and with such frequency that we would have to be asleep at the wheel not to get it. We do.
However enough is enough. As I watched a Code Pink member with fake blood on her hands practically assault Condoleeza Rice recently in a Senate hearing room, as I watched Ahmadinejahd speaking on our soil at the United Nations inciting holy hatred in the hearts of those who long for the day that America will cease to exist and finally one of our current presidential hopefuls suggesting that putting his hand over his heart during the national anthem did not reflect true patriotism, I had reached my limit.
I am an American and proud of it. For the life of me I am trying to understand why I should be made to feel uneasy with my national pride or ashamed of my country of birth. I sometimes feel like America is the proverbial school kid presumptuously singled out in the classroom for some rule violation, publicly humiliated and told to stand in the corner for the rest of the day. With all due respect to those who have an axe to grind against the United States, may we request permission to get out of the corner?
Count me as one of those patriotic types that believe the world in general is a much better place because of American values, sacrifice and good will. For those who suggest we have lost respect and appeal on the global stage, I would recommend you take a random poll of any immigrant attempting to get into the United States right now.
You might find them swimming across a river, walking miles of desolate acreage, clinging to a makeshift floating device or huddled in the back of a tractor trailer truck in 100 degree weather. Stop them long enough to tell them in great detail all that is wrong with our country. Pull no punches in your description of the United States as a greedy, narcissistic, and arrogant population of self indulged and heartless people led by a renegade cowboy with a gun slinger mentality.
Allow a minute or so for the impact of your words to really sink in. Then move out of the way before you get crushed by the rush of people that have enough common sense to figure out what we enjoy in this wonderful country is worth risking life or limb to have one shot at!
