"God Bless America", "America the Beautiful", My Country, "Tis of Thee", these are songs that we used to sing in school. Every morning. We would stand, face the American Flag. there was one in every classroom, and recite the"Pledge of Allegiance". We studied American History, from Columbus, through the Pilgrims, the Revolution, the Civil War, all of it. Our country became part of us.
My earliest years of memory were during World War Two. In those days patriotism was a point of pride, not something to be denigrated as uncool. To speak the truth, cool never gained anyone anything except an inflated image of their own place in the world. Everyone sacrificed because they knew that to do otherwise would hurt the war effort. And that was the most important thing on everyone's agenda. Besides, the small sacrifices made here at home could not compare to the sacrifices made by the young men that were sent to fight.
Finally, the war ended. There were parades and celebrations. Once again America had kept the world safe. We were the only country that had the capacity to supply the free world with arms and materiel to wage a war on that scale. We did it and we were proud. We were Americans and half the world wanted to come here and be American too. We welcomed them. Sign up. Get your name on the list. You'll get your chance.
Time marches on, ( No pun intended.) Five years later we had the war that wasn't a war. Believe me, it was a lot uglier than you would think it was by watching MASH. Then the country was subjected to that horrid mess in Viet Nam. That was the war that should never have been. Suddenly it seemed to be acceptable in many colleges and universities to find fault with America. To put every imperfection under a magnifying glass and exploit it for fame and fortune.
Many professor made their careers as America haters. Unfortunately, the mush minded undergraduates that they taught bought their line and swallowed it, bait, hook, and all. It became cool to rip the country that gave you the freedom to rip your country. Remember what I said about cool.
Well, those mush minded undergraduates grew up in body, if not mind. Since they never learned any career skills in school, the got into politics. Either directly or as part of the hyena pack that politicians attract, looking to grab what they can. But still they rip the country that allows them to do this.
I, for one, am damned tired of it. I like to think that there are more of us that are like minded then there are of them. We have an election coming up in the next year. We must look at every politician on the ballot and ask, Is this person making this country better or doing harm? If they are doing harm, dump them. I do no care what their political affiliation is. I don't care if they have a pleasant smile. I don't care if they are the greatest orator that ever lived. And I most certainly don't care if they are cool. If we all can do this and save America, then we are all patriots.
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