What have we become

WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?

Have you ever felt that the world was a joke and you are one of the very few people who are in on it? Well, I hate to break it to you, but that is exactly what is happening. Here in this country we haven’t had a president here that has had to make a serious decision about national security from a nation or group outside this country was name was Kennedy. Prior to that it was Harry Truman, and before him it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

You know, my first 3 years of military service were from 1979 to 1982 and I clearly remember very vividly seeing the Drill Sergeants Badge emblazoned on every door to every building, and above that was the motto “Duty, Honor, Country”. Today, I can imagine seeing blank doors, and above those doors the motto “Abandon hopes all ye who enter here.”

We have become an amoral, apathetic and superficial nation. There are almost 50 million people in the United States who are living below the poverty line. There are almost 1.5 million veterans who are in danger of becoming homeless. This statistic and many others about the status of veterans can be found on the following website: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/military/news/2012/03/06/11201/veteran-poverty-by-the-numbers/

A fellow soldier asked me recently if I had ever heard of the practice of “winning of hearts and minds?” the following was my response “Yeah that worked so well for us in Vietnam. You remember Vietnam? The winning of hearts and minds was more instrumental in the taking of the lives of the people we sought to keep free. We are throwing good money after bad with all we send to other countries. How about we use it to strengthen our own economy? We can throw all the money we want anywhere we want in the world and they still seek to destroy us. Iran, Libya, Somalia, and any other 3rd world country where we have aided their government all want to see us fall. So why should we give them what they want and financial aid to boot?”

This led to his comment about Vietnam being over 40 years ago and do I have any current arguments. To him I say “So what” the length of time does not in any way alter the facts that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. It sounds to me that you are one who hasn't learned from history. Just look around the world. After the attacks on the towers and our Pentagon and the Pennsylvania field, a country we helped free from the jackboot of the Nazi Army refused to let us use their airspace to begin operations against Al Qaeda. Winning of hearts and minds has only continued to build enemies who are jealous of our wealth as a nation. The wealth that is supposedly belonging to this nation has now become in large part a myth. Who owns the majority of America's foreign debt? What do you think they are waiting for? The fact of the matter is that this nation has become apathetic and demonstrates a weakness to defend our way of life because so many of our fellow citizens have given up hope of things ever getting better. Why, because we keep sending money to nations who would rather see us fall when this same money can be used to strengthen our own nation’s economy. So, as a wise man once said I would rather live on my feet than die on my knees. Try as you might I will not be silenced, because if my voice is stilled there are others who will find the courage to stand up and take my place. Current arguments, read a news paper, watch world news or CNN and all of my arguments will be made for me. Open your mind and you will see that I am right. Isolationism is not what I am after here. What I am after is the ability to defend ourselves from all enemies both Foreign and Domestic. As I see it our greatest enemy is a domestic problem. Protecting what we have can be defended inside our borders. Who decided it was our national duty to create war in order to develop peace? Besides fighting for peace is kind of like fucking for chastity, the two just don't work. PEACE IS MY DREAM; HOWEVER, WAR IS THE REALITY. Don't insult the little intelligence you give me credit for having. Ask yourself this question MSG: Why do we need to have a foreign policy? How does this protect us from attack? The truth of the matter is that it doesn't!

Today, well the government seeks to censor those who would speak out against it. Any individual today who stands up and challenges the status quo is censored, or labeled harshly as some sort of subversive seeking to destroy the country from within. Believe me when I say this is not what I am. I am a citizen who sees his country falling apart from within and is willing to stand up and say the unpopular with the purpose of trying to create a spark among the masses.

 

I believe the above sentiment is where we are at today. Life in these United States has become one sad joke. We have been sheep far too long, we as individuals must now become the wolves and take back the nation we all love.

1% of the people of this nation control 99% of the wealth. 14% of the people of this nation have the power to tell the other 86% of us to sit down and shut up. The sad thing is; that 85% will do what the 14% tell us to do! In what world is this right? This world; and why that is you may ask, because we have allowed it to happen. It didn’t happen overnight, this has been slowly creeping up on us for over 100 years.

I am first and foremost a believer in God, a patriot, the defender of my family and my faith, and finally the one who will stand alone in front of the whole world if need be and at the top of my lungs from the highest mountain top in this great nation scream ENOUGH!

These things you can better believe that I will defend until my final and dying breath:

1: My God
2: The Constitution
3: My Country
4: My Family
5: My Guns
6: And the rights of some people to be stupid (Usually Politicians)

This will not be an easy struggle, but as Thomas Jefferson once said “The tree of liberty must from time to time be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” In my heart I believe that the time has come for this to take place. Peacefully if possible, but I fear this will not be possible. The last country that sought to control the press, military, and guns wound up with a leader who was responsible for the deaths of millions of people due to the apathy of many of the world’s nations.

Gandhi said “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” Courage comes from within; it is not the brave man who runs towards the sounds of battle, rather it is we who have been warriors who in fact know that we fear not what is in front of us, we fear for and fight to preserve what we left behind us at home. No true change ever begins with the sound of gunfire and cannons roar, but with the will of the people to say that a change needs to be made.

Many people have heard me say “do the right thing, for the right reason”, it falls upon each of us to decide what the right thing is and what the right reason is. I believe that what I am doing right now, putting these words on this page to inspire others to join in what I believe to be a just cause. Our Constitution has been trampled underfoot by everyone from Lyndon Baines Johnson, to George W. Bush and now Barack Hussein Obama/Soetoro.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy said it best when in his inauguration speech he proclaimed “And so my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.” This is what I am willing to do for my country. I am in no way comparing myself to those who have come before me, but believe me when I say I am willing to follow in their footsteps. I am going to borrow from what I believe to be one of the greatest movies of the late 60’s early 70’s. It is a conversation between Jean and Billy about what happens to those who seek peace in this nation.

John F. Kennedy was killed for his desire to change the status quo of the time in America.

Robert Kennedy was killed for his desire for change in the rights of all men and women in this country

Martin Luther King was also killed for seeking change in the treatment of people of color in America.

Malcolm X was killed for wanting to challenge not only the beliefs of the nation but also the Nation of Islam as taught by Elijah Mohammed.

Mahatma Gandhi was killed by a Hindu extremist because he didn’t believe that Gandhi’s beliefs would lead to the Nation of India’s separation from Britain. Mr. Gandhi believed in peaceful protest as opposed to open violence against the governmental power as it existed at that time.

It has been the course of history that those who seek peaceful change meet violent ends by or at the hands of those who disagree with the way the movement is progressing. Here in America during the Vietnam War a relatively small group of people created a movement that would set the minds of a generation on fire. Unfortunately, this movement was eventually led by people who were not interested in effecting peaceful change and the end results were riots in the streets between the races and the police and political activists who just wanted to disrupt the political process.

It is not my desire to incite the people to riot, charge blindly into the gates of national force. The Kent State Massacre is one such instance which cannot fully be understood due to confusing reports from both sides as to who fired first. By many accounts the students were staging a peaceful protest, there are numerous pictures of a young man who was engaged in this protest putting flowers into the rifle barrels of the soldiers who would shortly turn their weapons upon these students. The end result of this protest was 4 dead students on the Kent State campus.

What was their crime? Standing up for their principles? Calling into question the legality of the war in Vietnam? Challenging the power of the President Nixon? Or crossing the border into a nation that may or may not have been involved in funneling troops from North Vietnam into the south? I grew up in that era, the son of a lifetime soldier. My father served 27 years in the Army, and while I may not agree with the reasons behind the war, I understood why my father went and fought in that country. But the thing that I never have understood is why our veterans returning from Vietnam were treated so horribly? I saw my father upon his return being spit upon, heard him cursed, called names such as baby killer, and have dog shit thrown on the uniform he wore so proudly. In that instant I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and defend my country and it’s Constitution.

He passed away nearly 20 years ago, and I believe he would be proud of my actions and words. I served my country for 12 years and in many ways I am still serving my country. Maybe not with a traditional military weapon, I now serve my country with my mind. My words are now my weapons, and I call into challenge every political action that has taken place since the “Patriot Act” was enacted.

We the people of the United States of America are beginning to understand what it is like to live in a fascist state. Our 1^st Amendment right to free speech is being censored, and how long before they tell us what religion we must adhere to? The government is attempting to do away with our right to keep and bear arms which is guaranteed in the 2^nd Amendment. We are no longer free from illegal search and seizure which goes against the 4^th Amendment. If we stand on the 5^th Amendment right against self incrimination we are held in contempt of court and imprisoned. The 10^th Amendment has been so trampled underfoot that hardly anyone realizes that it is still there and still viable; it states “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Our government has grown so large that it has usurped over half of the Bill of Rights. Some of these have actually been beneficial for our citizens, the rest are simply taking away our freedom of choice to live as we will. I am an American Citizen born abroad on Clark Air Force Base, Angeles City, Pampanga Province, of the Philippine Islands which made it American soil.

Why would I do this you may ask? Because I believe in my principles, I have the courage of my convictions, and with some trepidation I believe it needs to be done. I am not without fear, but I am strong in my personal faith that I am not alone in this world. I know there are others out there with a voice needing a spark, another single voice to help them find theirs. Will it happen in my lifetime? I don’t know, if it does great, if not I hope it happens soon after my demise, because this country is in dire need of men and women who have the convictions and patience of a Saint to bring about the changes that need to come.

Someone else reminded me of something that I had neglected to mention, so now is as good a time as any to put it in. While I admit our current president has inherited a mess from his predecessor as has every president since Washington left office, our current president has only managed to carry out two missions that were put before him by said predecessor. It was on his watch that our Navy Seals attacked and subdued Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, and carry out the mission of bringing Saddam Hussein to justice in his own country. Otherwise there has been no improvement made in this country.

I have also been reminded that president Obama stated that he would do away with the “Patriot Act” yet, when the time came for it to expire instead of letting it lapse he renewed it. In some cases this could be considered to be breach of promise, yet as president we as citizens have no legal recourse. Fair or not that is just the way things are. Should he be impeached, that is a question best left for those with the power to do so. My opinion, yes he should.

I stand behind every word on these pages, I will not be silenced until after my death, and I believe that after my death there will be others who will keep my words alive. It may be a few here and a few there, but they will survive. I am in no way comparing myself to our founding fathers or those who have died for their beliefs in this country. I am a simple man who believes I should be allowed to speak my mind. If I am to be arrested believe me when I tell you that I will walk into that court room with copies of the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights in my hand to use as my defense against any attack.