I heard the following quote from Dennis Prager. Its not an exact quote, but its pretty close. You could look it and listen to the video. The greatest threat to America is not Barack Obama. It is the failure of each generation to teach the following generation what it means to be American. This quote moved me. I listened to some discussion related to it afterward and it got my mind going. I agree with this. I had so little education in my home about politics, policy making, and so forth. We never discussed American Exceptionalism at the dinner table. We never discussed, I dont think one time, our divine nature as humans or the divine plan for America. We never discussed equal by birth and but result by effort. We never discussed Americas role as an exemplar to the world in humanity, charitable behavior and so forth. We never discussed the evils of large government, the innate temptation for corruptness of politicians. We never discussed the difference between party affiliation and espousing values that withstand the test of time. We never discussed the ideological differences that were once the core of America and why they matter in our personal lives. We never discussed America as something to protect and nurture rather than a resource to use up before the next guy came along. So many things we did not discuss. I dont blame her. She was a good mom in every way she could be. I was raised by a single mom who was grateful to serve dinner via a crockpot and sometimes be there for dinner with us. And for sure, I was part of a latchkey phenomenon that consumed America at that time and still does today in many areas. And I cant help but wonder if that didnt play a role in a generational failure to teach what it means to be an American. Yes, the erosion of the core family unit has led to the erosion of core American values. Many other things played a role as well, Im sure. But certainly this had a part in my own failure to truly espouse these principles until much later in life. American values have shifted beneath us as European models have been introduced into the water well of life. We invited this. We bought the products that sponsored the programs that spewed these ideas that have evolved slowly and changed the core of what America is. We filled our universities with an alphabet soup of professors that indoctrinated ourselves and our children with ideas that cannot sustain the greatest nation on earth. We have paid millions in tuition to send our children to these universities that, with few exceptions, not only fail to remind our youth of American core values, but do their best to remove them from their thought process. We allowed our founding documents to be perverted in the courts. We allowed passions of the day to create precedent. We sat an allowed ourselves to be entertained and sat, complicit to the changes that were going on around us. We started bargaining with our values, allowing our enemies to present us with incompatible alternatives. And slowly, we devalued life, we devalued marriage, we devalued personal responsibility and reward. I feel a certain responsibility for not having been more involved. I have voted, yes, contributed occasionally, but have never knocked doors, run myself, or gotten my hands dirty. I suppose Ive never been inspired to, with that feeling that I could make a difference, that the sacrifice would yield a measurable gain. That I could handle the criticism, the swarm of harshness that surrounds any political candidate. I suppose fear overcame me. The false assurance that someone else would take care of it. I watched the current version of the so called guardians of American values battle it out over the last few weeks, months, years I suppose. But this instance of a budget battle was the most grotesque failure of leadership Ive witnessed in my life. Republicans feigning concern over the ACA and how it will destroy our economy, so they refused to fund it, knowing that such a move would lead to the shutdown of the government. Which actually turned out to be another dog and pony show where members of the greatest generation could be manipulated by each side for show and political gain. And such dog and pony show ultimately harmed our economy. And all the while, they knew, we knew, a can would be kicked down the road and an agreement would be made. But they did it anyway, because it serves them in their very narrow and short-sighted goals. I saw Democrats, in particular our President, stand on a piece of legislation that is nothing more than a tax for those who can but wont, and a subsidy for those who refuse to, but want to be rewarded as if they did. He stood on that, which he had the right to do and which, many Americans who no longer embrace the value of keeping what you earn, of growing your own and being allowed to choose to be charitable, encouraged him to do with their vote. Our President stood on that legislation victorious, not over Republicans, but over his part in the battle to change America and what it means to be American. His victory over the hearts and minds of a majority of Americans who no longer see what America was and could still be yet. A masterful politician, a pied piper leading us off to the great abyss of sameness (not equality), dependence (not independence), and a host of other ailments that equal the eradication of all those things my mother never taught me. And so, while I suppose this began as a simple lamenting of the state of my country today, I feel it ends with an apology. An apology to my children because I fear I was here when the end began. And my apology that I wasnt smart enough or connected enough to stop it. My apology that I had obligations to feed and cloth them and that I couldnt just stop it all, hit the streets and change the world. Im sorry. May God Bless America
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 19:25:46 +0000
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