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Proud to Be an American
Townhall.com ^ | July 1, 2021 | Jackie Gingrich Cushman

Posted on 07/01/2021 5:42:35 AM PDT by Kaslin

I am proud to be an American. Yes, I know that our system of government is not perfect, but I firmly believe that it is the best in the world. We are an exceptional country not because our people are exceptional, but because we have a different -- and exceptional -- structure of government. I am grateful that I was born an American.

We declared our independence from Great Britain this week 245 years ago. It happened after years of an overreaching rule by King George III and Britain's insistence on taxation without representation. We had had enough. We were pushed into action over time. And act we did -- finally.

The taxation began in the 1760's; the Boston Massacre occurred in 1770; the Boston Tea Party in 1773; and the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April of 1775.

Patrick Henry's call to action: "Give me liberty or give me death," made in the spring of 1775, was the first strong public statement that proposed we would have to fight Britain if were to be free. Before that, we believed that we could negotiate with Britain, and that somehow, we could make it work without confrontation.

It was not to be. Henry stated it clearly. Our choice was liberty or death.

Our founders chose to take the challenge and declared our independence from Britain on July 4, 1776. When they signed the declaration, they knew that they were putting their lives at risk. They would be seen by the British as traitors. Yet they signed. They risked their lives for their freedom and for ours.

Our Declaration of Independence declares that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

The declaration of these so-called self-evident truths sets us apart. Other nations are founded on power belonging to an individual (dictatorship) or the government (communism). That individual or the government then gets to determine what rights are given to the people.

In our country, it is the exact opposite: All rights belong to the people, and we loan them to the government. But it is up to each generation to ensure that the government does not overstep and overrun individual rights. When our Declaration of Independence was signed, not everyone was part of the new political process. While we declared our country's freedom from Britain, it took a civil war for President Abraham Lincoln to emancipate those held in slavery, a civil rights movement to ensure equal rights and civil demonstrations for women to receive the right to vote.

Today we are closer to perfection as a country than we were 245 years ago; however, we are still imperfect. But for some, this lack of perfection results in hatred of our country. This quest for perfectionism has led to a dismissal of those deemed not perfect, a censorship of speech, an inability to debate issues without emotions and the stance that disagreement is treason.

We are not a perfect country, nor can we ever be a perfect country because that's left to heaven; but the goal of a more perfect union is important.

While our imperfect system of government might cause some to not feel proud of our country, I take pride in the fact that our structure of government allows each of us to participate in the governing of our country; we just have to step up and make sure our voices are heard. Today, when many are seeking to silence those who disagree with them, we should instead find a way to more clearly articulate why arguments are valuable, why freedom of speech is at the core of who we are as a country and how, together, we can learn how to disagree but still work together. This hand-to-hand combat is not done through systems but through imperfect people -- one on one. To be successful we must focus our eyes on the prize. Just as our Founding Fathers fought for our freedom over 200 years ago, we must continue to fight to ensure that our government remains ours and our freedoms remain intact.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: america; freedom; gov; progress

1 posted on 07/01/2021 5:42:35 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Maybe I’m being too optimistic but I have noticed more and more people have been outspoken about this as well. Going to restaurants, standing in line or wherever I strike up a conversation it seems people are fed up with the “American hating “ BS.


2 posted on 07/01/2021 5:46:12 AM PDT by mikelets456
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To: mikelets456

Speaking of

The Declaration of Independence

My tv had a close call with death.

I saw a new PSA type commercial

Libtard

It’s celebrates, who consecutively

Recite a

New Screed

that starts with , you guessed it

” We hold that these truths to be self evident,,,
, that,,blah blah blah ,,,woke,,,,blah blah blah,,,
buggery,,,,hypocrisy,,, blah blah blah,,,
socialism,,, blah blah blah,, secular humanism .,
, blah blah blah.,,, communism ,,,
blah blah blaj,,,abortion,,, blah blah,,perversion,,,, anti americanism,,,, blah blah,,
climate change ,,,,blah blah blah,
, conservatives suck,,, blah blah,,
,progressives are good little subservient
globalists”

Yup, tv had a close call.


3 posted on 07/01/2021 6:11:41 AM PDT by cuz1961 (USCGR Veteran )
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To: cuz1961

Celebrates recite


4 posted on 07/01/2021 6:12:27 AM PDT by cuz1961 (USCGR Veteran )
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To: Kaslin

:We are an exceptional country not because our people are exceptional, but because we have a different — and exceptional — structure of government.:

Sorry Jackie, I disagree.

America is exceptional because it’s people are exceptional and have been able to overcome whatever the always corrupt Goobermint threw at them.

Judeo-Christian theory and foundations from The Enlightenment and Western Civilization are what families used to make great kids, that grew into great citizens.

The Progressive push to undermine families, and their efforts at forming their kids into exceptional people, by the “March through the Institutions” is the existential threat to our “exceptional country”.

As our friends in Anarchy state all the time, a Goobermint is NOT the answer; It’s the problem.


5 posted on 07/01/2021 6:12:55 AM PDT by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuitss)
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To: cuz1961

If I had wanted a woke

Declaration of Dependence

to woketardism

i would have just moved to CNN Land.


6 posted on 07/01/2021 6:15:25 AM PDT by cuz1961 (USCGR Veteran )
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To: Kaslin

I’m proud of why this country was founded... It’s a challenge to find pride in today’s broken version of America.


7 posted on 07/01/2021 6:16:58 AM PDT by ScottinVA (Enough. Divide the country.. now. )
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To: Kaslin

Pollyannish to say the least.


8 posted on 07/01/2021 6:19:22 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: cuz1961

C e l e b r I t i e s


9 posted on 07/01/2021 6:21:59 AM PDT by cuz1961 (USCGR Veteran )
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To: Kaslin

I’m not a chest thumper so I’ll say I’m thankful to be an American.


10 posted on 07/01/2021 6:22:22 AM PDT by cymbeline
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To: cuz1961

Ok. Searched you tube couldn’t find it. Did find this

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4bBwmQQ2t9c

Smh.

The brainwashing to dis our country is disgusting


11 posted on 07/01/2021 6:28:00 AM PDT by cuz1961 (USCGR Veteran )
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To: central_va

I was looking at Old Glory flying proudly roadside on my commute home last night. I was contemplating what that meant in the post Constitutional era we now live in. I had a hollow feeling to say the least.


12 posted on 07/01/2021 6:28:42 AM PDT by lodi90
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To: cuz1961

By now-TV is like the freak show at the carnival.

It’s wall to wall misfits, disaffected, uninformed, self-loathing losers ... I only watch old movies in B/W


13 posted on 07/01/2021 6:37:20 AM PDT by SMARTY (Republics decline into democracies & democracies degenerate into despotisms. Aristotle)
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To: lodi90

Post industrial, post Constitutional, post republic post everything.


14 posted on 07/01/2021 6:45:32 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: Kaslin

The Federal government is the enemy of the American people!!!


15 posted on 07/01/2021 7:16:58 AM PDT by RobertoinAL
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To: Kaslin

>>people are fed up with the “American hating “ BS.<<

That and folks are fed-up with the feds spying on American citizen with no warrant/no probable cause.

People I speak with are fed-up with politicians weaponizing federal agencies like the DOJ, FBI, ATF, BLM, IRS, OSHA, NSA, CIA. They’ve had it!!

These agencies are supposed to be non-partisan, but they are not. They are turning against citizens and destroying their lives because they may hold differing ideological / political views.

The government is supposed to be of, for, by...ALL Americans.


16 posted on 07/01/2021 7:31:46 AM PDT by servantboy777
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bump


17 posted on 07/01/2021 8:57:28 AM PDT by foreverfree
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To: Kaslin
What is/was the secret to America’s success?

Today’s very interesting rebroadcast sermon from Adrian Rogers is one all Americans would benefit from, especially from the historical facts and references he cites …

*but don’t click on this. It doesn’t work:

The Demands of Christian Citizenship

However, this is where can be heard:

https://www.lwf.org/sermons/audio/the-demands-of-christian-citizenship-1647
*Not sure why links won’t post with this iPad anymore, but ^that^ is the address between the “quotation marks” in the above non-working html link.
18 posted on 07/01/2021 9:14:25 AM PDT by GBA (Endeavor to persevere)
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