THE BASIS OF PATRIOTISM
(This
is not about the President or his Party or about Washington politics.
It is about each of us and what we are responsible for causing. The
President is our elected Leader and characterizing the following in
terms of him and his actions is a legitimate current description of our
Nation and where it is heading as I write. JB)
As the President goes to foreign lands from Egypt to Mexico and apologizes for American actions.
As
the President tells foreigners that he took an oath to uphold the
Constitution BUT he will work to infringe the American right to bear
arms that is specifically guaranteed in that Constitution.
As
the President tells the citizens of a foreign country that American
guns are the reason for the carnage throughout that country.
As
the President attends a Banquet/Breakfast with Planned Parenthood while
the facts of abortion in America emerge and the public is repulsed by
the revelations in the Gosnell abortion trial in Philadelphia.
As
the President publicly proclaims that he would not want his daughters
“punished with a baby”, thereby lauding abortion while rejecting the
first Right mentioned in the core of The Declaration of Independence
that: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life”.
As
the President refuses to enforce federal immigration laws or the
legitimate Defense of Marriage Act simply because he disagrees with
them.
As
the President refuses to call Moslem Terror, that kills and maims
Americans and Christians both nationally and internationally, what it is
while allowing a known American Moslem mass-murderer to languish in
federal custody without trial for more than three years as hearings are
held about his beard before his trial for “workplace violence” even
begins.
As
the President repeatedly sets rich against poor to raise taxes and
white against black as he second guesses white police actions and
refuses to prosecute gross racial voter intimidation by black thugs.
As
the President forces religious charities, hospitals, and other
religious entities to pay for employees’ contraceptives and
abortifacients in total violation of their Church- employers’ religious
teachings and moral beliefs.
As
the President has continued forcibly increasing the range and numbers
of deadly, dangerous and destructive wolves and grizzly bears to the
great harm and detriment of rural Americans and their communities in
more than ten states.
As
the President has provided misleading answers to the American public’s
inquiries and ignored any attempts at legitimate oversight regarding
federal government actions from protecting American patriots in Libya to
distributing thousands of guns to Mexican criminals.
As
all of the above have happened and are happening, I suggest we consider
the actual results of these actions on American Society. It is
absolutely fair to say that:
- Apologizing
to foreigners on their soil for reputed American transgressions causes
many Americans to dislike America, the American government, and other
Americans they imagine did bad things.
- Telling
foreigners that the American Constitution can be changed simply by an
activist President’s desires enforces the myth that former Presidents
must have been bad men and encourages radical Americans to more deeply
dislike opponents that point to the Constitution as to why they (the
radicals) cannot have their way.
- Telling
foreigners that American guns are the reason for their murder rates
causes American gun owners to distrust and dislike their government
while encouraging gun control advocates to further resent gun owners and
their Constitutional claims to a Right specifically described in The
Bill of Rights.
- Government
participation in a Planned Parenthood soiree simply enflames the
passions of Pro-Life Americans and encourages Pro-Abortion Americans to
push for more government and medical authority to kill children outside
the womb as well as sick, disabled and elderly Americans. The results
are even deeper dislike between even greater numbers of Americans.
- A
governmental position statement that a baby is a punishment establishes
and enflames disgust among many Americans with any government that
would take such a position as well as with any fellow citizens that
support such values reminiscent of the repugnant policies of the
vanquished dictatorships of the last century.
- Failure
to honestly and forthrightly oppose Moslem Terrorist Activities is
causing great angst against government and Moslems as non-Moslem
Americans fear for themselves, their children and grandchildren in an
increasingly dangerous world.
- Setting
rich against poor and white against black simply deepens distrust and
negative feelings between all of these groups (the vast majority of the
population).
- Forcing
Churches, Ministers, Priests, Religious Employers and Religious
citizens to support and pay for heinous actions like abortion and
contraception, and forbidden actions like same-sex marriage and
propagandizing children not only makes a mockery of “religious freedom”;
it deepens resentments and hard feelings between advocates of these
things and religious Americans concerned about their children and the
values they will be forcibly exposed to.
- Forcible
imposition of wolves and grizzly bears over the vociferous objections
of rural Americans forced thereby to live in fear for their families in a
world with less economic development and employment opportunities has
caused deep resentments against government and environmentalists
responsible for the destruction of their communities and ways of life.
- Government
cover-ups and claims of transparency in the muddy waters of government
activities leads to both widespread dislike of government and distrust
of all the imagined bogeymen and fellow citizens we believe benefit from
the disinformation and what it is hiding.
How
to sum up all the foregoing? I submit that we are not just “more
divided”, we actually like each other less and less. When we like each
other (and our government) less and less; how can we love our country as
much as before? The answer is: we can’t.
If
it is fair to say the Patriotism equates with Love of Country, and I
believe it is, then Patriotism is in decline as Love of Country
declines.
If you wonder why I have written this; it is because I came across a quotation this morning that sent a chill down my back.
In one of his many great books, Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton wrote:
“Men did not love Rome because she was great.
She was great because they had loved her.”
We are becoming more like Rome than any of us can imagine or admit.
Jim Beers
5 May 2013
If you found this worthwhile, please share it with others. Thanks.
Jim Beers is a retired US Fish
& Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge
Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed
in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC.
He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on
Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish
& Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor
in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice
regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60
Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to
expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan,
Minnesota with his wife of many decades.
Jim Beers is available to speak
or for consulting. You can receive future articles by sending a request
with your e-mail address to: jimbeers7@comcast.net
