Do Americans Truly Care About Freedom Anymore?

Yes we have reached another Memorial Day Celebration, and soon it will be time to Celebrate our nation’s independence. But, as I look around I must seriously question do we as Americans truly care about what is freedom? What makes our nation so exceptional and great? Or do many of us ever honestly and truly stop to comprehend and appreciate the significance of either.

We often hear the it said how it is the United States military that fights to defend our freedoms. But I believe that an argument can be made the it is the American people who have fought and daily fight to defend our freedoms and liberties individually. From the Revolutionary War to the present it has been each individual American who fights to protect their freedoms and liberties from all threats, both foreign and domestic.

But, here are some disturbing, and curious, recent poll results;

What may be even more telling of our extreme misplacement of national priorities according to Pew Research more Americans care more about the discovery of four Cleveland, Ohio women who were supposedly held captive for more than 10 yrs than about the economy [28%], or the Benghazi [23%] or I.R.S corruption hearings [20%]. While the Cleveland women story attracted a whopping 40% of the populace attention.

I’m confused, how can nearly half of Americans favor restricting Constitutional protected rights for some Americans, whether it be to forbid one’s ability to protect themselves, or stop one from speaking or doing something that you may not like, or the confiscation of one’s property to be given to another, and yet believe in the Constitution? And the fact that an astounding number of us do not know how America became America, particular regarding the next generation, is more concerning. But, it somewhat makes since when I see that more Americans care about the rescue of four women in Ohio whose lives will have absolutely no consequential effect on anyone elses  lives but those directly connected to them then whether or not we are being governed by a U.S Administration who consciously left Americans to be slaughtered in Libya and uses the federal governments powers, via the I.R.S, to intimidate Americans based on their political preference, and that has developed a culture of extreme indifference to the American people and the Constitution.

If you were to ask a hundred people to defined what freedom is to them you will more likely to get a hundred different answers. More than likely it will center around their self-interest, not how it affects freedom and liberties as a whole. Its getting so that many of us say its ok to take someone else’s rights and liberties, but leave mines alone. It brings to mind a famous quote of World War 2 period German pastor Martin Niemöller when he said, “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

So too many of us today have a severely contorted notion that everything is a “right”- I have a “right” to healthcare, a “right” to education, a “right” to fresh air, or I have a “right” to be prosperous. This just clearly proves that there is a critical defect in the education and comprehension of the true principles of the Constitution for too many of us. Basically a true right is something that we already posses or can do without taking the same from another. Period. But, if we are someone who has a distorted or misunderstood view of freedom and rights than we may also not realize that the true threat to our rights, liberties, and freedoms comes from not without our nations borders, but from within, by us. Couple that with the insatiable thrust for power and control of the government, we have BIG problem. The biggest threat to our freedoms comes from us not knowing what they truly are and understanding that the confiscation or restriction of one American’s Constitutionally protected rights or liberties is a threat to those protections for us all.  Lets remember, the Constitution places limits not on we the people, but the government.

Furthermore, if the government should ever become so brazenly careless and arrogantly dismissive with its constitutional relations and obligations, and even more so with its relations to the American people it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to know to check it and correct it. But, that task becomes most problematic when we are ignorant of what is the proper role and functions and the what limits of the government are. Frankly stated, if we do not know what the government is supposed to be doing, how can know when it is doing what it should not be doing? If we do not know our nation’s history of how we became what we are, what makes us what we are, or the reason why we are truly an exceptional nation, how can you be expected to effectively defend those values and principles? And if we do not know what our inalienable rights and liberties truly are, how can be we honestly boast or celebrate that we have them or know when they are being taken away? It becomes a deceitful and hollow charade if freedom and liberty is not grounded by truth, education, and moral principles. As Founder Samuel Adams prophetically stated, “No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.”

Is Hollywood Trying To Tell Us That America’s Dominant Era Is At An End?

I recently saw the movie “Olympus Has Fallen” and found it very scary.  Not in the scary since of Halloween.  But then I saw that there is another similar movie upcoming with Jamie Foxx called, “White House Down”.  What I find most disturbing about both of these films that they both depict the symbol of our nation’s strength, identity, and greatness being infiltrated by foreign enemies and physically destroyed.  I personally can not recall movies in the past so graphically showing the White House being destroyed.  In the Bruce Willis movie, Live Free or Die Hard, showed the White House being destroyed, but it didn’t actually happen.

Hollywood very often presents things that either actually happened already, is happening, or will happen.  Examples of its futuristic presentations maybe, The Minority Report, the 007 movies, and the Buck Rodgers movies.  We now have “low impact weapons” being used by the military and law enforcement, such as teasers, we have personal GPS devices, and we can ever communicate virtually via computers.  A lot of times Hollywood speaks to the public in metaphoric or non-literal terms, but there is a message that it is trying to communicate to us. Hollywood generally doesn’t roll out a wave of such provocative subject matter, unless it truly feels that we, the public, will be accepting of it.  Remember it’s in the business of making money.

Even Time Magazine asked in an article in March of 2011, Are America’s Best Days Behind Us?” The author makes a couple of interesting and pointed statements in first stating, The decisions that created today’s growth — decisions about education, infrastructure and the like — were made decades ago. What we see today is an American economy that has boomed because of policies and developments of the 1950s and ’60s: the interstate-highway system, massive funding for science and technology, a public-education system that was the envy of the world and generous immigration policies. Look at some underlying measures today, and you will wonder about the future.” and, Many of these changes have taken place not because of America’s missteps but because other countries are now playing the same game we are — and playing to win.”  I dare say that such comments and thoughts would have been unthought of, least than spoken or displayed so front and center in the popular media some 20 or so years ago – or even 8 years.  Not to say that America’s decline just started recently, but what is it that Hollywood sees and maybe is trying to alert us to – or condition us for?

I find it most interesting that these two movies have a couple of intriguing ingredients that are new. One being that the bad guys have intricate knowledge of the inter-workings of the U.S government and it’s people, even at the most protected building in our country, if not the world, the White House; there is a traitor portrayed who is in the inner circles of the government; and that the White House and the Capital Building are physically destroyed unable to be defended by some of the world most technological counter-measure systems.  These all can be taken as metaphors of a nation that was once seen as undefeatable from external forces destroying itself from within by someone who’s disenchanted with our nation’s principles and ideals.


There are many of us who look to the man in the Office as the problem to the nations decline.  But just as the Times article points out, “the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), our 15-year-olds rank 17th in the world in science and 25th in math. We rank 12th among developed countries in college graduation (down from No. 1 for decades). We come in 79th in elementary-school enrollment. Our infrastructure is ranked 23rd in the world, well behind that of every other major advanced economy. American health numbers are stunning for a rich country: based on studies by the OECD and the World Health Organization, we’re 27th in life expectancy, 18th in diabetes and first in obesity. Only a few decades ago, the U.S. stood tall in such rankings.” America has been on the slide for a long time.  And being a representative republic-democracy, the government only reflects the people of the nation.  Either by affirmative actions, i.e., voting, or silent acquiescence, blatant apathy and or political and civic disengagement, we have the government, which includes whosoever occupies the Office, we the people chose and deserve.

When the nation was centered around morality and character the nation’s leaders reflected that.  Because we the people demanded it of ourselves.  There used to be three loves of Americans – love of God, love of family, and love of country [America]. Not necessarily in the order.  But today it is mostly love of me.  To boldly proclaim or profess devotion to America and Americanism is to open one’s self to being called an extremist, anti-immigrant, or racist.  Today to express our nation’s fundamental connections to Christendom and God today is most aggressively shunned and discouraged. This certainly isn’t our grandparent’s America.  What is more alarming is that these characteristics and negative effects are most present in the nation’s next generation. 

In a 2006 report by CIRCLE [the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement], stated as a consequence of American youths disengaging from politics, “in addition to civic disengagement, contemporary critics have also decried a closely related phenomenon—the excessive individualism of contemporary American culture that has created a society which is increasingly polarized and fragmented, with little sense of being united by shared values, or of participation for the commonwealth. Goals of personal advancement and gratification dominate the younger generations, frequently at the expense of broader social, moral, and spiritual meaning….Today’s young adults are less politically interested and informed than any cohort of young people on record.”   And it said of our societal foundation, “During the past generation, our families have come under intense pressure, and many have crumbled. Neighborhood and community ties have frayed. Many of our streets and public spaces have become unsafe. Our public schools are mediocre for most students, and catastrophic failures for many. Our character-forming institutions are enfeebled. Much of our popular culture is vulgar, violent, and mindless. Much of our public square is coarse and uncivil. Political participation is at depressed levels last seen in the 1920s. Public trust in our leaders and institutions has plunged.” Though the report is more than 10 years old, can you honestly look around and dismiss its fundamental findings?  And all of this came way before Mr. O proclaimed to “fundamentally transform this nation [America]”.  We have been undergoing an incremental silent transformation for some time now.

If we as a nation no longer knows what there is to appreciate and give thanks to about our nation and that we should never settle for mediocrity or stop playing to win; we no longer know our nation’s history, our Constitution and other founding documents; we have no knowledge of the true relationship between the government and the people, have no knowledge or respect to the relevant place that Christian morality and principles has for our nation; nor knows what it is that makes America exceptional or that being an American with our uniquely cherished liberties and freedoms are fragile and delicate blessings, than if our nation is to fall, it will be only our fault.  Just as Ezra Taft Benson stated, “If America is destroyed, it may be by Americans who salute the flag, sing the national anthem, march in patriotic parades, cheer Fourth of July speakers – normally good Americans, but Americans who fail to comprehend what is required to keep our country strong and free, Americans who have been lulled away into a false security.”

Just as the government may reflect the people who it serves, the Entertainment Industry reflects what we have been, where we are, and what we may become.  Gone are the days when the U.S was always shown as the unquestionable good guy and indestructible.  Gone are the days when young men and women said yes ma’am and no ma’am. And gone are the days when those in the highest offices of government are expected to be of high moral and ethical character.  And if that is so, we have only to look in the mirror, own it, and make a change for a better future.

The Benghazi Tragedy Is An Unprecedented Tragedy Of The Lost Of U.S Credibility and Governmental Vigilance of the American People

This past week the United States House of Representatives held what can only be described as the most comprehensive and damaging view of not so much as to what was said as to what happen on September 11, 2012, but what didn’t.  Not so much as how on one side, the Republicans, were seriously attempting to bring to light why four Americans died while the U.S government stood by and then went for months producing and presenting a blatant lie of a “spontaneous” protest was all due to some unknown You Tube video by a lessor known American film maker. And on the other side, the Democrats, doing their best to divert focus totally on a supposed lack of budgetary funds.  But, what maybe the more damaging is the nearly deafening silence from most of the Establishment Media and that of the American people, at least until recently.

I can remember during the Water Gate Congressional Hearings there was nearly wall to wall coverage by all three national news broadcasters, ABC, NBC, and CBS.  During the Iran Contra Congressional Hearings there was big news coverage.  Even the O.J Simpson murder trial got extreme news coverage.  But during a hearing to clearly examine why Americans were left to die in the most gruesome manner, in a country that the U.S government supposedly just freed from the Devil reincarnated, and who gave the stand down order to the military to not come those American’s aide, and why was there such an extravagant cover up and act of deception and manipulation enacted by the  Administration for more that 2 months that included the passionate false proclamation by the President of the U.S standing before the world at the United Nations, even Fox News turned away their broadcasting of the hearing to broadcast a verdict of some lady in Colorado who was charged with killing her boyfriend.  Really?.

What these latest Hearing exposed is that the Administration deliberately put into effect a mass production to cover up the real story behind the tragedy as reported even by liberal news agencies such as, ABC News and the NY Times, there was a Stand Down ordered to prevent area U.S military resources to come to the aid of the besieged Consulate in Libya by someone at the very top of the military chain of command. There was no protest outside of the Consulate that led to the attack as fervently proposed by Mr. O and his Administration.  And even more concerning is that a recent poll shows that only 46% of American’s believe that there is a cover-up.   Maybe if this was a story on TMZ about some big entertainment mogul wanting to put all reality and talent contest shows on pay TV it might get more attention of the American people.  But, it being just a story of the President of the U.S treating the American people like hogs and feeding us slope its a non-story.

There used to be a time in America the morality and character was held as a litmus test for not just who one’s daughter would marry, but who should be elected to office, and even who should vote.  But, today leaders have shown a huge streak of contempt for moral integrity.  There has been a concerted effort and agenda to remove any degree of moral absolutes not only in the interaction of citizen to citizen, but more importantly citizen to government.  Too many of us have lost the willingness to boldly question the actions of the government.The actions of the government are no longer viewed with any high moral expectations or through the context of right and wrong, but whose team is the politician on, Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal.  Coupled with the fact that more Americans are getting their view of the world via the Entertainment Establishment. So whatever the Establishment media tells them is virtually gospel.  According to a recent Pew Research Study that states 52 % of the respondents look for sports news and 47 % look for entertainment or celebrity news for information. And 78% of respondents stated that they watch local news and 73% saying that they get their new from one of the national network – ABC, CBS, OR NBC – or cable news channel – CNN, Fox News or MSNBC.   So as a result, to many of the American populace, if it is not said by an entertainer, athlete, or a member of the Establishment Media, it’s not happening or it’s not relevant.    Just let me get back to eating from the trough.

What may be the most overlooked aspect or consequence of a government that so blatantly works to deceive and manipulate its own people, is how it causes other nations to more pointy question the intentions and motives of it in their relationships and dealings. 

In the past examples with Water Gate, Nixon resigned, and as for the Iran Contra issue, Reagan apologized to the American people for his error.  But for this tragedy that caused the lives of four Americans the sacking of a U.S Consulate, and the nation’s credibility, Mr. Obama chooses to brazenly and arrogantly lie to the face of the American people and the world.  Today, as a nation, the U.S is more hated and mistrusted then respected by members of the world, even some countries who use to be friends for years.  Can you blame them?  As President of the U.S, Mr. O is the sole international representative of the American people. If this is the one obvious untruths and act of deception that has been exposed, how many others have not that may have not been so obvious?  Even after Mr. O is gone from the seat of the Presidency the stain of his vacant character and ethics will leave an imperishable scare on the this nation that may not so quickly go away.

But, at day’s end history will once again bear witness to how the people of
America abandoned the cherished covenant of liberty and freedom which comes from self-governance to embrace government dependency and let loose the government chains of which is the one true threat to our freedoms. Daniel Webster prophetically stated,
I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe … Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. — From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing…”


If the government of the United States has lost its way morally, than so to have the American people.   By being the creators of the government, it can only behave as we wish.  America’s vacantness of right and wrong must be retained if America is be the special and respected nation that generations before inherited.

The Fundamental Re-Education of America Rages On Un-Abated

As the debates over same-sex marriage and the illegal-immigration of Mexicans are visible as lead distractions, there is something troubling that intertwine these issues that’s going unbeknownst to most of the American populace.  From the man who was to be crowned U.S president promised “to fundamentally transform this nation [America]”, things appear to be proceeding to that end. 

A couple of things have caught my eye that by themselves may seem innocuous, but combined not so much. A recent Rasmussen Poll shows that only 35% of likely U. S voters believe that the nation is going the right direction. A Pew Research Survey reports that incredibly 30% of American adults under 30 years of age now identify themselves as having no religious affiliation – In the last five years alone, there has been an increase from aprox. 15% to 20% of all adults.  And in 2009 in the Muslim nation of Turkey Mr. Obama proclaimed, as the President of the United States and the representative of the people of America, that, “We [Americans] do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.” Really? Isn’t that something inappropriate for a U.S president to say while on foreign soil?  Or is it just me?

What these three indicators detail is bubbling crisis that is threatening our nation’s fundamental social structure – our basis of belief, values, and identity.  While the majority of us clearly recognize that there is something very wrong with the country, we feel powerless to do anything about it.  Too many of us have become helpless spectators to the most significant dismantling of an empire since Ancient Rome. And in so doing have left the most vulnerable amongst us to the whims of the tide of political and social disorder – the nation’s next generation.

It is said that the greatest trick of the Devil was to make others believe that God never existed.  Would the day come when Americans showing no evidence of the existence of God or morality in their lives, or do not reflect the existence and relevance of the founding documents such as the Constitution in their lives be even more remarkable and stunning?  I would say yes!  And would too say that the He is getting ready to take a bow.

When you have reports of an actual “ex” anti-American terrorist, Bill Ayers, who has actually been allowed to teach as an Illinois State College Professor before thousands of American students, who is a long-time friend and mentor of  Mr. Obama, unabashedly boasts before a crowd that its good that America is on the decline; that the federal government’s regulation and management over the lives of it’s citizens and Americans are at unprecedented levels; and read repeated stories of the increasing disengagement and apathy of many of Americans, in particular the youth, in the affairs of politics and the workings of the government you would have say WTF?.  It is as though someone has spike the air over our nation to cause the incremental dismantling of the nation’s foundations of religious principles, family values, and the strong sense of self-responsibility and self-governance not directly by any foreign force, but by our very own hands. 

There is a silent battle for the minds of the young of America in the government schools and through the Media.  The evidence is in full view even for the most passive observer.  It didn’t just began with Mr. O’s claim to “Fundamentally transform America” on the eve of his first election. And it is not just about transforming our economic system, or even our political system, but transforming what we believe in – pride in our history, our traditions, or culture, or belief system – that which makes us what we are.

At a time in which the U.S government is in more than $16 Trillion in debt, is spending more than a Trillion more than in brings in annually, and the Federal Reserve is printing out more than $200 Billion daily, thus further weakening America, Mr. Obama appears to have no serious will or desire to work to correct these critical issues.  But, what he has sought is to be the flag bearer and point man with all the vigor and fortitude of General Sherman through Georgia  to create the notion of “free” healthcare, bring homo-sexuality statutorily on par with heterosexuality, diminish or destroy the traditional American principle of personal responsibility and Christian foundation, and the make America unexceptional.

Irregardless of what Mr. O says, the fruits that his actions and governance has brought forth and ignited upon this once great nation an era of unprecedented government dependence and lack of self-governance, severe resistance to fundamental Christian and American traditions, and the quickening of America’s long-term domestic and international economic value of which may not be quickly, if ever, reversed.

What Mr. O has undoubtedly realized and has come to understand, just as other past historical observers of America, is that America is not great because of our great military, our even financial institutions, but our moral foundation, our Constitutional governance, and our social infrastructure, i.e., our family moral values, that makes us exceptional as a nation of people.  We our morphing into a nation of no societal absolutes, where any action is just simply based on how it makes us feel.  Matters of ethics and right or wrong are irrelevant.  Where 200 plus years of history as a nation which has withstood the test of time and prospered beyond imagination, stubbornly grounded in Judo-Christian principles, has been the shiny light on the hill welcoming nation-people from all over to be free, stood as a nation of laws not men, and believing that one should be able to work hard for what he wants and desire with limited interference from government, is now to be considered to be passé’?. 

There is a new norm developing where traditional American moral and social scales are said to be not only wrong, but unjust and almost criminal. But, it is and has always been our nation’s grounded morality that has given us providence. Have we floundered at times?  Of course just as all nations of Man.  As we shall do so again.  But in all of the nations today, what of them would not want to change places given not of decrepit current state, but of our underused and unrealized promise of liberty for all that is the foundation of our nation’s existence?

As for the question of if we are a Christian nation, I say this, in all of my readings of America’s founding I can see nothing speaking to anything but Christianity and “Divine Providence”.  I see no mention of Buddha, Mohammed, Judaism, or any other Prophet or religion as a guiding principle. When I read the Constitution and Declaration of Independence I see no other religion basis other than that of Christendom. And when I visited our nation’s capital all I see are references to the Judo-Christian theology as our nation’s guiding moral principles.  So if it not Christendom that we as a nation are to use as our basis, than what?  Why are we to say that having a stern moral and religious compass is no longer relevant or extreme?

Just as a few great people of our past have taken accounting of the extreme importance of a stern moral grounding such as the nation’s first President George Washington said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest prop of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge in the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle… Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it?”  and as Douglas MacArthur said prophetically, “History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”

Our nation’s history is still being written by us. We can have it tell of how a nation rose to great economic heights by Divine Providence to crash as one with no moral societal absolutes.  We can choose to have it tell of how the oldest and only Constitution that distinctly recognizes Divine authority and governance proclaiming that all men are to have their right to their life, their liberties, and their pursuit of happiness is now irrelevant and immaterial.  We can choose to have it tell of how we were passive witnesses to the destruction of the greatest experiment of human self-governance or of its rebirth. It matters not what Man is called president, Governor, or Senator, the choice is ours – people of America.