I Pledge Allegiance!

Many years ago when I was in grammar school, one of the first things that we learned was the "Pledge Of Allegiance". Every morning we stood by our desks, faced the flag, (there was one in every classroom), and recited as one the Pledge. None were harmed. We were taught to love our country in those days. The founding fathers were super heroes. They with a bunch of farmers wielding muskets wrested a tiny colony from the grip of the mightiest empire in the world. 

With only the power of their intellect they wrote a constitution that is the frame work of the greatest republic and the freest people that has ever existed in the history of the world. To pledge allegiance to that country was a moment of pride for all of us and it is a pride that I have never lost.

America has always been a country of dreams. No matter who you were, no matter where you came from, you could head for that "bright light on the hill" and know that your future was in your own hands. You may succeed or you might fail. There was never a guarantee of success. What there was was a guarantee of opportunity. And not just one opportunity. If you failed on your first try you could pick yourself up and start all over again. As many times as you wished.

That freedom of opportunity was and still is enough to bring people from all over the world to come here and take their chance at something better they could ever have hoped for in their homelands. They bring with them skills and ideas and sometimes a different way of seeing things that have made this country better and stronger.

We are at a point in history where that freedom of opportunity is threatened as it has never been before. We have a federal administration that sees equality of results as more important than the freedom to try. They are entranced with the ability to regulate and control. This over regulation precludes the little guy from trying to start a business as it makes it too expensive and complicated. Little kids can't even open a lemonade stand any more without some ham handed government yokel having his hand out for some ridiculous fee.

The people that control this behavior in Washington live in a bubble. They never hear the voices of the working people out in "flyover country". But we are fed up. People were sold on hope and change and all we got was hopeless change. But nothing is forever. Eventually we will get our country back. More hard times are coming because those in charge don't understand the problem. But I still pledge allegiance.