Who in his wildest dreams ever thought we would see a headline reading, China Urges U.S. to Protect Creditors"?
For those of us who grew up in an America that was the undisputed leader of the free world, an America that waged war against the communist East, an America that was the largest manufacturer and largest creditor in the worlds economy -- to those of us boomers who played a part in that particular piece of American history, these are indeed sad times.
If youve ever been to a tea party rally or if you grew up in America before it became politically incorrect to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all," then you know what Im talking about.
In a world still run by kings, empires, and tyrannical despots, we as a nation believed in an objective justice that wasnt swayed by birth or purchased by fraud. For more than 200 years this honorable standard was our goal.It wasnt always perfectly applied, and it was sometimes cruelly circumvented by prejudice and avarice, but it was at least our goal. The statue of Lady Justice wears a blindfold so that she is not influenced by appearances.
Martin Luther King called us to be more than we had been and all that we can be when he said our children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. That this call was not for something new but instead a fulfillment of our original design is shown in Dr. Kings plea that America, live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. This was the light, which shone from the beacon held by Lady Liberty: freedom to rise above our birth, liberty to rise to the level of our efforts, and justice for all.
Today the "progressives" have shackled us to a creed of political correctness that for the first time in our history makes Americans fearful of the penalties for what they say, write, and think. The progressives' dedication to the end of American Exceptionalism through globalization and their worship of the myth of man-made global warming has created a toxic atmosphere where justice has no blindfold and her scales are tipped by the corruption of political power, crony capitalism, and interest groups on steroids.
In the face of these assaults on who we are and what we can do, the American people refuse to give up! In the face of the best government money can buy taxing us to penury and spending us to poverty, the American people continue to produce, work and hope.In a world where our progressive leaders have elevated robbing Peter to pay Paul to national policy, the American people have refused to go quietly. On the day taxes were due, thousands upon thousands of dedicated Americans gathered in city parks, town squares, and fields to proclaim America is still the home of the brave and the land of the free.
This is the American way. We have faced adversity many times.We have stood up to be counted when kings and emperors sought to squash the freedom of man under the weight of their divine right. We have shouldered the burden when dictators sought to clamp their totalitarian yoke upon the neck of the world and we will stand before these self-inflated ideologues that seek to smother freedom under a centrally planned economy and a regimented society.
Other countries have shown when you rob Peter to pay Paul, eventually Peter changes his name. Moreover, in the face of a stacked deck against, most will only pretend to work as long as the government pretends to pay. There is an uprising. In America today millions are saying, we will not let this nation drown in its own debt, nor limit its power. We will not leave a broken dream to our children. We will work tirelessly to preserve truth, justice, and the American way. Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Robert Owens, Constitution scholar and tea party patriot, teaches history at American Public University. He is the author of "The Constitution Failed Dispatches From the History of the Future."
