Don't Be a Hyphenated American

In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American….There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.

Theodore Roosevelt, 1/3/1919.

What America Once Was

America was once a nation of free-thinking individualists priding themselves on the constitutional idea that God ordained and endowed each person as an end unto himself with rights to think, act, believe, and behave according to personal thoughts, conscience, and individual interest. According to the Declaration of Independence, those “inalienable rights” include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Therefore, because government’s power is derived from the consent of the free, the job of those running the country is to “secure,” not undermine those rights and freedoms.

Jeannie DeAngelis, The Brainwashing of America

The Star-Spangled Banner

I have a complaint as to how it [National Anthem] is sung at today’s sporting events. This song is history, yet it is massacred by self-aggrandizing yodelers who think they can improve on it.

Debby Hyson, Letter to the Editor, The American Legion Magazine, December 2022, pg.8

Will You Fight?

If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival.  There may even be a worse case.  You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm.

We NEED Informed Patriotism More Than Ever

An informed patriotism is what we want. Are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world?” 

Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn’t get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties.

But now, we’re about to enter the [1990s], and some things have changed. Younger parents aren’t sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. . . . We’ve got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It’s fragile; it needs protection.

So, we’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion but what’s important—why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, four years ago on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who’d fought on Omaha Beach. . . . [S]he said, “we will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did.” Well, let’s help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are. I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. 

Excerpted from President Ronald Reagan’s farewell speech, January 1989.

God Is the King of America

War May Be Necessary for Freedom

In his essay "The Contest In America," 19th century libertarian philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote, "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”

It is that "decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling" which accounts for why so many "miserable creatures" have downgraded Memorial Day to nothing more than a date to exploit for commercial greed and avarice. While America's Armed Forces stand in harm's way around the globe, many Americans are too preoccupied with beer, barbecue and baseball to pause and recognize the priceless burden borne by generations of our uniformed Patriots. It is also why such "miserable creatures," are found in abundance today among leftist cadres on college and university campuses, in the leftist halls of the Capitol building and in the slums of their Leftmedia echo chambers.

The Patriot Post, Memorial Day.

Memorial Day Denigrated

Today, Memorial Day provides a stark contrast between the best of our nation's selfless Patriot sons and daughters versus the worst of our nation's selfish culture and consumerism. Astoundingly, some businesses actually promote a "Memorial Day Sale." But Memorial Day is NOT for sale. Millions of Patriots have already paid the full price.

Amid the reverent observances honoring the sacrifice of millions of American Patriots who defended Liberty in accordance with their sacred oaths "to Support and Defend" our Constitution, it is unfortunate that too many venders have commercialized Memorial Day. Indeed, Memorial Day has been sold out, along with Washington's Birthday, Independence Day, Veterans, Thanksgiving and Christmas Days. And no wonder, given that government schools now substitute grossly adulterated and revisionist history for the civics courses which used to inform young people of their duty as citizens.

Further eroding the meaning of heroic sacrifice, the word "hero" is ubiquitously applied, and often grossly misapplied, to anyone serving others in any capacity — most often by those who have little context for genuine heroics. I spent five years in law enforcement, serving and protecting others, but I am no “hero."

The Patriot Post, Memorial Day

Paratrooper

It was the old story of the men with the maroon berets who never worry about odds.

Stanley Maxted, War Report, March 1945. Cited in “The Last Drop: Operation Varsity, March 24-25, 1945” by Stephen L. Wright.

Real Americans

Patriotism American Style

Patriotism in America means loving limited government. It is that simple. You love that America has a constitutionally limited government, or you do not love America.

Jesse Kelly

What SHOULD Hold Americans Together

What has traditionally held Americans together is the idea that each of us is made in the image of our Creator and endowed with certain unalienable rights. But not only that idea. We are also held together by the culture that emanates from the intermingling of dynamic peoples and unchanging principles. To combat identity politics, we must emphasize an American nationalism based on both a commitment to the ideals of the American Founding and a shared love of our national history and culture—a history and culture of individual freedom and religious pluralism, resistant to centralized authority and ever expanding into new frontiers and new possibilities.

The American people are united by our creed of freedom and equality, and also by our habits, our manners, our national language, our territorial integrity, our national symbols—such as the National Anthem, the Flag, and the Pledge of Allegiance—our civic traditions, and our national story. We should tell that story forthrightly and proudly; we should continue our traditions of local government and patriotic displays; we should guard the symbols of our heritage against attack; and we should recognize that the needs of our citizens take priority.

Matthew Continetti, The Problem of Identity Politics and Its Solution

The Making of an American

[From] Jean de Crèvecoeur’s 1782 Letters from an American Farmer:

He is an American, who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. . . . Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men.

Cited by Matthew Continetti, The Problem of Identity Politics and Its Solution

Religion and Morality are Indispensable

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.  The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity.

Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ?

And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

George Washington, Farewell Address

Today’s Times Again Try Men’s Souls

These are the times that try men’s souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us that, the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

Thomas Paine, 1776

Dissent is NOT Disloyalty

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.  When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.

Edward R. Murrow, cited in Special Features on DVD of “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

America is Dying

This country has held a unique position in the world as a place where all could worship freely, while becoming complete Americans.  Ironically, that is only because America had a strong sense of who she was.  Immigrants learned the language and the culture, and in doing so integrated themselves into American society.  When we dictate that American society must fit itself into each citizen's culture and religion so as to offend no one, we have signed the death certificate for this country.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, "America's Real War," pg.117

America Is the Greatest Country

What should we tell out children?  We should say that America is the greatest country on earth, but it is not because Americans are brighter, more competent, stronger, or luckier than other people.  No, the credit must go elsewhere.  America is what she is because her founders chose to follow the Word of God.  America is as successful as she is because of the Christian system of values our founders implanted in this land.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, "America's Real War," p.73


[America is fast throwing away this legacy as we become more and more corrupt with our government -- AND citizens.]

America Has Ceased to Be Great

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers—and it was not there…in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there…in her rich mines and her vast world commerce—and it was not there…in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there.  Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.  America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.

Attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville and cited by Chelsen Vicari in, “Distortion: How the New Christian Left is Twisting the Gospel & Damaging the Faith, p.31

Heroes

We all can't be heroes; some of us have to stand on the sidewalk and clap as they go by.

Will Rogers