Still Proud To Be An American!

Today is one of those days when I don’t have to think too much.  My post today is mostly written by a friend of a friend.  We were having a discussion on Facebook about being an American and whether or not we were still proud of that title.  One person said he’s no longer proud to be an American but still proud to be a Constitutionalist with its ideals.  I had to disagree with him because I’m still proud to be an American.  I just don’t like the direction in which America is heading.  A couple of other friends echoed my sentiment.

Then, a friend of the man who opened the topic posted something that said it all so well that I asked his permission to reproduce it here so I can share it with as many people as possible.  He agreed.  His words are profound and so true.  The only edits I made were breaking it up a little to make it easier to read and adding a comma or period here and there.

Thank you, Jeremy Langley, for your words of wisdom.  I hope everyone who reads them shares them with another person. 

“I still consider myself American and I'm proud to be one of the few of us Patriots left. I am proud of this country in the sense of what this country is. I am not proud of what my fellow citizens are doing to this country.

I call them citizens because I do not believe they are Americans. To me an American is more than just being a citizen of this country.  It's a feeling and sentiment that must be felt deep down in your bones. You have to truly understand the principals of this country and know what Freedom, and Liberty really mean.

Being an American involves knowledge of our history and truly understanding the work , sweat, blood , and tears that went into building the greatest country on earth. You have to be able to feel the work that went into carving towns out of a wilderness and respect the ingenuity of building new machines to help with building wealth.  You have to respect the courage of the men who stood up to tyranny and organized a country to resist against huge odds and drafted documents to assure that their dreams of freedom and liberty could live forever if the people followed them. 

You have to feel the fear our men have felt many times over when they lined up against the British and stared down the barrels of thousands of guns; when handfulls of men stood down armies of Mexicans in a ragged old Fort; when thousands of men stormed the beaches of Normandy fully knowing the odds of living through it were against them; the men who fought in Korea; and even the ones in Vietnam who didn't agree with the fight but still answered their country’s call.

If you don't understand what it has taken for you to be here then you can't really call yourself an American.  It pisses me off when our Liberal countrymen try to paint us as self-centered people who don't care about others.  The true socialists are us.  The great men of this country have worked, bled,and died not just so they could have freedom, but for the greater good of us all to have freedom. The part that many of today's progressive socialists don't understand is that in order for us to have freedom to do what we want with our lives and the freedom to pursue greatness we also must have the freedom of failure and the freedom to starve to death from our own laziness. When we remove someone’s accountability for their actions we in turn remove part of the freedom we all say we want.  

Americans have always helped each other.  We don't need for it to be mandated and controlled by tyrants in the government. We help each other through bad times not because we have to, but because we have always known that when one of us fails we all suffer a little. We have always understood that people make mistakes and accidents happen.  We just don't stand for people who make a career out of failure.  Welfare has not helped America. It has simply divided us and made us resentful of people who take that which is not freely given.  We must get this country back on track and educate people in history so they understand the true meaning of being an American if we are to survive long as a country.”

I asked Jeremy what he meant when he said "The true socialists are us."  Here is his response:

"What I meant is while the socialists of today claim to be doing things for the "greater good" of society, all they do is legislate from the safety of an office, protected by men with guns. They write laws that deprive hard working people of the fruits of their labor to hand over to unworthy people who make a career out of living off the labors of others. 

We are the ones who have given our sweat, blood, and tears to give everyone the greatest things in life, Liberty, and Freedom.  Socialism by definition is the mentality of thinking of the greater good of society over the individual.  I contend that the people who have faced tyranny and sacrificed everything, including their lives, for us all to have Freedom and Liberty are the true socialists. These men, like many of us toda,y were not just worried about themselves.  They did all this to build a country that allowed everyone to pursue greatness according to each one's desire.  If that isn't putting the greater good of society above yourself I don't know what is. 

We are the true socialists.  Our implementation of the ideals are just much different than the socialists of today. Unlike them, we believed in something we were willing to die for while they believe in the safety of legal robbery with a pen and disregard personal accountability."