I Love This Country

I love this country – these United States of America. I was able to serve in both the Army and the Air Force. My time spent in those organizations was not always pleasant, but despite any adversities and ideological differences there was an underlying patriotism within me that, if necessary, I would sacrifice so much as my own life to preserve the freedoms, principles and morals so dear to the population of this Nation.
What now? How might we define any principles and morals upheld by our very own government? Sure, we can attend the churches of our choice, we can have open conversations with friends and acquaintances about our personal values, but political correctness seems to obstruct the free expression of feelings by anyone in or seeking public office. Special interest groups have so amassed themselves with their outspoken agendas that politicians are afraid to speak whatever they might truly stand for or believe.
How can a country with the foundations of this one have allowed a select few to prevent prayer in schools, invocations at ballgames and even the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in school? We send young men and women into foreign countries to defend the fundamentals of democracy, yet the very country for which they battle has turned from a democratic society to one frequently governed by a court system. Yes, there are provisions for our Congress to overturn decisions made by our courts that are totally contrary to the foundation of our Nation's beliefs; however, the positions of the two parties supposedly representing the people are so polarized that they refuse to work together to accomplish anything of substance for the good of all.
It appears that a quote attributed to Joseph Stalin was prophetic in its pronouncement of collapse from within. "America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within".
Just how might someone with great wisdom define "the Republic for which it stands" as stated in the Pledge of Allegiance? For what do we stand? Shall we increase the amounts taken from those who are determined to educate themselves and work hard and give more to those who choose to allow the "government" to provide for them? As we are forced to remove any references to God from public places along with tributes representative of faith from public locations because they are "offensive" to a tiny minority, shall we not have to ultimately destroy our churches to pacify those same malcontents? Is it to be incumbent upon our society to give privilege to those who classify themselves as minority – whether defined as race, sexual preference, or gender? Shall we allow a federal government, whose powers are specifically limited in our constitution, to determine what freedoms we may exert and to control every facet of our lives despite the fact we have the alleged power to vote?
I truly wish and pray there would come a resounding groundswell of enthusiasm to find individuals willing to espouse their true feelings, willing to run for public office and actually able to succeed in becoming elected. Stalin's predictions can be overcome. I hope that within my lifetime the ground begins to quiver from other than a quake!

Worthless time

The effort is probably no longer worth it. The state of the union, meaning what once was a great nation, stinks. The people have allowed elected idiots and appointed judges to destroy every value upon which this country was founded. The complete lack of respect for God, the total loss of moral values and the absence of good sense is attributable to our elected officials who care for nothing but their re-election and their power. Shame on them for allowing the greatest society in history to fail. Certainly an "F" would be the grade given to virtually every facet of our federal government and by far the majority of state and local governments. Just as a student has failed a course in school, sometimes lessons are learned and a passing grade might later be earned. Unfortunately, I don't see anyone studying their lessons. I see blame for all ills in this country being leveled by all elected officials at their opposition party. Occasionally someone will make the statement "I accept resonsibility for....". Define that. Does change come about or does the responsible party receive punishment? Nothing but empty words. Federal judges, appointed for life, have far exceeded any boundary imaginable in their ridiculous interpretations of our constitution. The constitution is very well written and easily understandable and needs no interpretation - it says what it says - and for judges to broaden the meanings of what is written was never imagined by the founders. The federal government is empowered to do certain things- everything else is reserved for the states and simply because a judge determines otherwise is absolutely unconstitutional. BUT, when rulings are taken to appellate courts or sometimes even to the supreme court, the judges are unwilling to genuinely use the exact wording of the constitution and discard rulings made by lower courts far beyond their intended reach. Are you kidding me - one or two people can file a lawsuit removing prayer and the pledge of allegiance from schools and some idiotic judges grant the wishes of a miniscule minority above the desires of the vast population? The supreme court judges, sitting under Godly wording, uphold the removal of God from public places - who do they really think they are? Easy answer, they believe themselves the true deity and abuse their powers beyond imagination. Like I say - an earned "F" in every category. Until the people of this nation realize the ruiness course on which it is headed and wipe out the elected politicians and replace them with genuine people, an "F" is the best that can ever be expected and the consequences more dire than imaginable.