Posted on 01/08/2009 10:52:48 AM PST by jazusamo
I happened to be reading two books, and I was struck by their interrelationship. The first book is titled The Failure Factor: How Unelected Democrats and Big Government Republicans are Undermining America’s Security and Leading Us to War.
It’s by Bill Gertz of the Washington Times. One of his major points is that our national security and survival are imperiled because so many of the hate-America “Blame America First Crowd” are the bureaucrats with a strong presence and influence in many of our government agencies, including those dealing with defense and security. These bureaucrats often think they can overrule even the President and often do. Mr. Gertz writes this infestation of hate-America types has serious consequences: “This crisis is leading to weakness, a lack of national purpose and ultimately to war…”
The other book is The American Patriot’s Almanac: Daily Readings on America by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb. It has an opening chapter on patriotism, and it made me wonder again how we can have so many Americans who hate this greatest country in the history of the world that has given the haters and all other Americans endless opportunities and advantages that would be unavailable anywhere else in the world. And I found one of this almanac’s point very compelling — that we have a duty to make this great country work and to love it. The Almanac states: “Without patriotism, there cannot be a United States. It falls upon us — you and me — to take care of this miraculous American democracy, to make it work, to love it.”
Messrs. Bennett and Cribb are right when they say without patriotism we cannot survive. And we now see how that lack of patriotism and that hate-America spirit is becoming dangerously common. As Mr. Gertz shows, it infects our government and thus endangers our security and our very survival. As David Horowitz documented in his book, The Professors, it infects our colleges and universities. It is also a disease of our mainstream media and the liberal wing of our political thinkers so maybe it’s a good time to see what Messrs. Bennett and Cribb have to say about patriotism, its nature and necessity.
Patriotism means love of country. It comes from the Latin pater meaning father. The love of country is as natural as the love of one’s father or mother. Just as it’s a virtue and a commandment to honor thy father and mother, it makes sense to honor your country.
The authors write that patriotism involves far more than you would imagine at first blush:
“Patriotism involves all sorts of ties and attachments. We love our country because it’s the place where family and friends are. We love it because it’s where we have so many things in common with others: the language we speak, the history we share, the holidays we celebrate, the government we elect, even the sports teams we cheer and the television programs we watch. The land itself stirs deep feelings — as the song America goes, ‘I love the rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills.’”
But America has much more than that. It was founded on the basis of freedom and liberty and justice. It guarantees freedom of speech and religion. It guarantees equality before the law and the dignity of every individual. The Almanac states, “Such ideals, more than anything else, make us one nation indivisible. American patriotism is largely about some shining principles and the spirit it takes to make them work.”
You might then ask, why should we be patriotic? The Almanac answers out of gratitude for the overflowing bounty America offers everyone. We Americans are free to criticize our country in every and any way, but we should not forget to give it the praise and love it is more than entitled to.
We should also love America for its achievements. The U.S. has brought freedom to its own people but has brought freedom to the world. We saved the world from Nazism, from Japanese Imperialism, from Fascism, and from Communism. This saved the world from descending into a totalitarian Dark Age. We also delivered freedom to millions who were welcomed to our shores. We delivered the bounty of the most productive and innovative economy in the history of the world. If you can’t love the United States, there’s something wrong with you … not the United States.
When you consider our founding principles of freedom, liberty and equality, and their implementation under the Constitution, you know this country is good and noble, and by loving America, you become part of something that is good and noble.
But this cornucopia of all that is good is not free. America requires more than those who enjoy its environment. It requires those who can stand up for America and if need be, defend America. Since the beginning of this nation, there are those who would challenge it and attempt to destroy it. This has never been more apparent than it has been since 9/11/2001. Freedom and liberty come with a price, sometimes a high price, but always worth paying.
We can understand and respond to our enemies from abroad, but what is more difficult to digest and understand is our home-grown enemies, our home-grown detractors, our home-grown hate-America blame-America types, which are all too numerous.
They are hard to overcome, but we might start by defeating the notion of some that patriotism is not cool, that it is quaint and perhaps even embarrassing. The Almanac cites an Associated Press story dated a few years after 9/11 that said the war against terror had brought “fallout — patriotism, paranoia, propaganda, and plotting.” This is a view of patriotism as a mental disease. But I’d respond to that view that the mental disease can be found in the brains of those who hold that view of patriotism and of America.
Jimmy Cagney playing George M. Cohan may have summed it up in one of his speeches from the movie, “Yankee Doodle Dandy”:
“It seems it always happens. Whenever we get too high-hat and too sophisticated for flag-waving, some thug nation decides we’re a pushover all ready to be blackjacked. And it isn’t long before we’re looking up, mighty anxiously, to be sure the flag’s still waving over us.”
With irresponsible and irrational America bashing at an all time high, we need patriots with the know-how and ability to set the record straight. Despite any mistakes and slip-ups, when the whole record of America is observed it still comes out with an A+, and when it is compared to any other nation in the world, America is still at the top of the list, the shining city on a hill now and forever.
But if I’ve just waxed too boastful, the Almanac has some words to calm me down:
“Patriotism doesn’t mean obnoxious boasting. It’s not about bragging that our country is the best in the world, but it does involve taking pride in our country’s achievements, sticking up for its principles, supporting its efforts, and cheering it on at times. It means offering respect to our nation and its institutions.
“Patriotism requires we not only love this country, but also work to improve it within the limits of our ability. But it doesn’t require blind loyalty. It doesn’t even require what the naval hero Stephen Decatur called for: “Our country…may she always be in the right, but our country, right or wrong!” The Almanac prefers the formulation of Carl Schurz, a German immigrant who became a Union general and later a U.S. senator: “Our country right or wrong — when right to be kept right, when wrong to be put right.”
To make that happen requires more than saluting the flag and flying it. It requires all the duties of citizens, from voting to understanding the issues and making your voice heard to government officials. It means obeying the law, and helping move the country forward. That involves such things as helping your neighbors and helping others through your volunteer work and contributions.
The Almanac suggests the acid test of patriotism is when self-interest comes into conflict with national interest. It notes the signers of the Declaration of Independence faced that conflict. They were wealthy men, who could have continued to live in comfort if they did nothing. But they risked their lives and fortunes for something beyond themselves and in conflict with self-interest.
Of course, the ultimate examples are the heroes of the military, who now put their lives on the line for their country. The Almanac is filled with the stories that translate these generalities into the concrete realities. One of my favorite stories is that of Martin Treptow, a barber working in Chippewa Falls, Wis., when World War I broke out. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and was sent to Europe. He was killed in the Chatteau-Thierrey area of France on July 29, 1918. His dairy was found on his body. It read:
“My Pledge: America must win this war. Therefore I will work. I will save. I will sacrifice. I will endure. I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.”
Treptow gave us an example of patriotism that has exemplified America and its military from the very beginning. But he also gave us a great piece of moral advice. On important matters, act “as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.”
Another of the powerful stories involves Pat Tillman. He was right at the beginning of his career as a superstar in the National Football League. He turned down a $3.6 million contract and enlisted in the Army during the war in Afghanistan.
He told family members that he was thinking of his great-grandfather who had served at Pearl Harbor. Tillman said, “I haven’t done a damn thing as far as laying myself on the line like that.” He did go on that line as an Army Ranger and was killed by friendly fire on April 22, 2004 while on patrol in a terrorist infested area. One of his coaches said, “The spirit of Pat Tillman is the heart of this country.”
The Almanac writes,
“The stories, symbols, heroes, and famous words in this book are important because they help tell us who we are as Americans. They remind us that we’re all a part of this wonderful common enterprise called the United States. The long winter at Valley Forge. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planting a flag on the moon. These events and images are part of what Abraham Lincoln called the ‘mystic chords of memory’ that unite us as a people and connect us with the past we all share. They help us understand the ideals we stand for and appreciate how hard it has been to preserve them. They help us know our country better and love it more.”
But perhaps the most important advice of this wonderful volume is this:
“The United States, with all its might, isn’t likely to be conquered from the outside anytime soon. If American liberty loses its luster, the dimming will come from within. It will be due to our own lack of attention and devotion.”
I regret to report that the hate-America, blame-America types are putting us in the early stages of that dimming. As I was writing this column, I happen to notice a television report showing a huge demonstration of leftists in support of the genocidal murderers and terrorists known as Hamas. Those demonstrators made it clear they were for genocide and terror and against U.S. and Israel. That suggests that the left with its army of hate-America and blame-America soldiers might be our most dangerous threat. So American patriots better start fighting back with their full force and devotion. Perhaps they should follow the advice of our hero Martin Treptow who said he would act as if the whole struggle depended on him. That has some of the moral magic of the Golden Rule.
Herb Denenberg is a former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner, and professor at the Wharton School. He is a longtime Philadelphia journalist and consumer advocate. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of the Sciences. His column appears daily in The Bulletin. You can reach him at advocate@thebulletin.us.
CHARGER’S WIN, period
Thanks
Looks good.
Thanks for the link. The Blame America crowd are raging psychopaths. Blaming the victim is what psychopaths do.
ping
Thanks for the link.Will catch it later.
I seem to remember one of the goals of the Communist Manifesto was to infiltrate the government in this fashion.
In my opinion, more of the blame rests with the psychotic blackrobes we call judges for a lifetime.
Great line from Yankee Doodle Dandy.
There’s no doubt they share the blame.
“The Blame-America Crowd Can Destroy America If We Don’t Counterattack”
Counter-attack with what weapons? When the truth carries no weight, no importance, we are a long way down the path to being defenseless.
Right-thinking Americans have been disarmed, slowly and insidiously, over the last 50 years. The insanity of the Left has become the norm in virtually all aspects of our society. We see it and we can’t believe it - but there it is.
Exactly and it seems they’re having some success.
This is a strong argument to scrap the Civil Service ans return to the spoils system.
We need to begin hiring and electing men like Lee Atwater, here is what the MSM says about him:
“For Atwater, politics wasn't personal; it was just about winning by disemboweling your opponent and then desecrating his grave.”
This kind of competitor (pushed by MSM as a bad thing), has become conventional wisdom for Republican/Conservative voters, we have litmus-tested our way out of power with this incessant need to push candidates that have a lifetime of righteous holiness, and who fight like girls.
All for fear of criticism from the MSM/Hollywood/Academia/DNC war room.
And as soon as our candidates and officeholders are sliced by the MSM, we dump them for a new a shiny one.
These deadly habits must end.
This YouTube link has been posted before, but here it is again. It’s an interview with Yuri Bezmenov, a former KGB agent, talking about the introduction of the “hate AmeriKKKa” logic and other Communist tactics.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x32cxf_yuri-bezmenov
A major Blame America bunch are the Chuck Baldwin, L Ron Paul & Bobby Barr who believe 9/11 was blowback for our policies.
Some on FR are sucked into this Third Party cult and don’t have a clue.
No, they do not.
Amazing << Hear this. Feel this, and tell me that this isn't music.
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