What has happened to "We the People" of the United States? Have we lost hope? Has America finally "tapped out" not only here at home, but abroad? It was once believed we the people of this country were a driving force in the world.
Where have we gone? Jimmy Carter once stated that we lacked confidence. My fellow citizen, it is not confidence, but courage we lack. What was once a staple of the American spirit at places like Concord Bridge, Iwo Jima and most notably, Nor¬mandy, sits dormant now in the face of partisan politics and economic session here at home.
Citizens, will we give in to political ideologies and figureheads that tell us, we the people, that they are indispensable through the vote here at home? They tell us because we mingle and com¬promise with the "opposition" that we are closed-minded "traitors." That as a Republican or Demo¬crat we must destroy "the other side!" Excuse me, Uncle Sam, but it is those same Democrats or Republicans who have had an equal share in defending this country from its infancy through¬out the last 240 years from enemies domestic and foreign.
It is uniquely American, courage. It is this qual¬ity that makes us the last best hope for mankind. It was not the Europeans who negotiated a peace during the Balkan Wars of the mid 1990s. Was it Churchill airlifting food supplies to Europe under the Marshall Plan? Were we not the first nation to overthrow a superpower in the face of tyranny? Were we not the last great opposition to Stalin, Khrushchev, Gorbachev and the slavery of uni¬versal socialism? Did we, America, not project our power in the Space Race? Now I ask, where is our courage?
Abroad we are being challenged by non-state actors, and Iran in the Persian Gulf who continues to rattle the sabers of war. Only doing so because that government believes America is now on her knees. How we go about this episode will define us as a people. Peace is, and should always be, the goal of any nation. Yet, war is sometimes a necessity to maintain peace. Will we, as Americans, be able to stom¬ach that reality? Some will say we cannot afford to, that we simply do not have it in us anymore. Liberals who are more contemporary and some conservatives will say it's time we lay down the mantle and give up the title of super power be¬cause we are not as strong as we once were. I say, no! What consequences would there be in a world with America in second?!
Would you have the autocratic governments of Russia and China expand their influences to Africa, Eastern Europe or south of our borders to Mexico and Latin America? Should we defer to a Europe who has repeatedly fought with one an¬other? Who are bound by social economics that we here in America do not agree with, whose econo¬mies are too intertwined to ever sustain longevity?
Who, aside from our brothers and sisters in Great Britain, would rather see America fail on the international stage, so that their institution the European Union gains more prestige. A Europe who so quickly forgets that on that Western Front they were losing before we came over, who after the war depended on the American economy and dollar for its survival and protection from its ever close Soviet neighbor.
Yet as quickly as Europe was grateful they be¬came thankless when, due to the collaborative ef¬forts of America and Great Britain, brought Com¬munism to a halt for good, and thus iced America from European affairs. Only to come running back to the bosom of America in the mid-nineties for help with the mass genocide in the Balkans.
In these times, we must remember that cour¬age, courage through a civil war that divided us, a depression that crippled us and world wars that needed us, that the American identity was forged, with courage as our staple.
Courage put the world on notice of who we were, who we are and who we should forever be. A courageous nation, built on principles of com¬passion, compromise and determination, not that of weakness or appeasement. We will always be on post, always on our guard and always ready to defend not only our own citizens, but also those of the voiceless and defenseless. We cannot afford to become a nation of com¬placency. For if we do, if we go down the dark and easy road, the autocratic governments of this world and those who wish to enslave and destroy democracy will have won.
People long for the days of old, to feel "The American Dream" and be a part of that "City on a Hill" where anything is possible. They simply ask, "Where has it gone?" I respond by saying it has not gone anywhere, we have to believe that that dream still exists. We as a people must remember that America is the last best hope, that once again we can be great. When that happens, the world will know the sound of our Liberty Bell; terrorists and tyrants alike will fear America and her allies. No longer will they believe our stomachs too weak and our minds too tired to pursue justice and liberty for all.
