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Thursday, April 03, 2008

Are we destroying ourselves?

I got an e-mail from a friend the other day with the following quote in his signature. This illustrates what I've been telling people all along, that we are a country destroying themselves from the inside out...

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it is because we destroyed ourselves. - Abraham Lincoln

I tell people all the time that our country, or rather the liberals, are playing right into the hands of the enemy in the Middle East (and in this country since these same liberals won't let us close our borders because someones feelings might get hurt) by dividing ourselves. See, the first rule of war is this: divide and conquer.

Yes, we have a huge problem with Al Qaeda. They hate us and the ironic part of that is we are hated for being capitalists. Uh, isn't Bin Laden an oil millionaire? Isn't THAT capitalism? But, I'm going off on a tangent.

By dividing ourselves as a nation, we are making the job of the terrorists exponentially easier. Now, the primary focus of the liberals screaming we pull out of the middle east is that there are military members dying. I think anyone can agree that one death is too many, and were it someone I loved, I might feel somewhat differently, but the sad truth about any war is that people die. I don't like it and I wish it didn't happen but it does...

Anyone who knows me well knows I LOVE American History. This is a particular passion of mine and about five years ago my husband and mother took me to Gettysburg Battleground for my birthday. My birthday is July 1st so this was actually the 4th of July weekend (though it was on my birthday, it was just the first day of the long weekend) and the graves were all decorated for the holiday. We bought from the gift shop the CD for the driving tour and when we got to Devil's Den it all came together for me. I had a Great-Great Grandfather, Anthony Ross, who fought in the Civil War as did his cousin/brother-in-law/business partner and friend, Isaac Sperry. They fought with the 73rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry and Isaac died the second day of the battles.

I went to the top of Devil's Den and stood where General Meade stood as he directed the Union forces over three days. Standing there, seeing the battlefield as it might have looked that day seeing as it was the same weekend, I was overcome with both pride at what my country had accomplished in such a short time and a sense of futility that it had come to this, the battles that comprised the Civil War, to get men to come to their senses on an already dying institution, slavery. Over the course of those three days, over 50,000 men died on that battlefield. After touring the battlefields, I went to the cemetery and stood over Isaac's grave. I wondered if he felt his dying was worth it? He suffered from a gunshot to the lung for two days before succumbing. I'd like to think he believed in what he was doing. His wife, my GG Aunt, Hilda, never remarried and his daughters grew up without him. I also saw the grave of former President Nixon's Great Grandfather, in the same unit as my GG Grandfather. He also died at Gettysburg but not before he dragged his wounded body out to the middle of a field to save an injured man because no one else would.

Does that kind of bravery still exist today? Would I be able to show that kind of bravery if presented with the same circumstances? I know I would for my family, but for a stranger? I don't know. But our soldiers, both male and female, in all branches of the military, probably do that every other day.

This country is on the verge of another Vietnam. During that "police action" congress caved to the demands of the tree hugging liberals and shut off all funding to Vietnam. While it assuaged the hurt feelings of the uninformed liberals out there, the military members are the ones who suffered for this decision. If today's liberals get their way, something similar could happen. They don't care about the military members, they just want the war to stop. Something they don't stop to think about is - so do the military members. They'd love nothing more than to go home with the knowledge that our country is safe again. They'd love to sleep in their own beds instead of a cot or less. They'd love to have air conditioning, to drive down a street without worrying about whether or not there's an IED around the next corner. They'd love to watch their kids grow up, they'd love to be there for the little things in life as well as the big ones. As much as the liberals want the war to end, it's the military that wants it more.

We need to stop being so divisive as a nation. It's as Benjamin Franklin said at the signing of the Declaration of Independence -“We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

I guess there's not much else to say about this except, I love my country, warts and all. I support my military AND my government, no matter which way they lead me. It's their business to take care of this country's safety and they know better than I.

But who am I? This is just my two cents...