What we have to lose

Unfortunately, we Americans have become complacent. This complacency is the result of our success. We have enjoyed an almost 400 year win streak. Sure we have had a few bumps, bruises and set backs. We have always figured out how to persevere and advance no matter the obstacle. This has caused us to get comfortable and soft. We also are an optimistic people, we like to see the good in each other because, we as Americans, are a good people regardless of what others think. We have traditions of helping each other in times on need and peril. We always root for the underdog because we began as an underdog nation in 1776 when, as a ragtag group of 13 colonies that were still mostly wilderness, took on what at the time the worlds most powerful nation. A true global Empire, Britain. The most terrible by product of our success, complacency, has it's own by product. Forgetfulness.

We have forgotten the history of man.

We have forgotten that man is evil by nature.

We have forgotten that man wishes to absorb power and control.

We have forgotten that there are men, who through their own conceit believe that their fellow man is too stupid to care for themselves. They they and they alone know what is best for all and that they should have the reins of power. They believe that this power is a birth right, their destiny, no matter how many of their fellow humans they destroy or kill. The ends justify the means.

The history of man for as far back as it has been recorded is one of War, famine, pestilence, slavery and subjugation.

A woman's life or intelligence were not valued, she was but a brood mare, a second class citizen, a beast of burden to be traded, bought and sold. She was a burden to the family she was born into, her only value was that she could be used to cement alliances between families, tribes or nations by being given. To this day, we have traditions that still hearken back to the dowries that had to be paid in order to have a daughter, a burden, a mouth to be fed, accepted into a new family. Many died in child birth, or from exhaustion.

Children were not the special joy they are today. Many did not name their children until the age of three or four so that when the died, they could forget more easily. Families would have as many children as possible in hopes that enough would live and be male in order to work the land. for many centuries if two or three live to adulthood, families were considered lucky.

Old age was not a matter years, but a matter of if you could still work and be useful. once your body broke down to a point that you could not produce, you were expendable. If your station in society was low, that could be as early as your mid thirties or early forties.

Ladies and gentlemen, we Americans live in a dream. The dream of mankind for thousands of years. To be free, to profit from the labors of our work and intelligence. To own our own small piece of ground. To be free of hunger, want or sickness.

This human experiment, The United States of America, changed the world. Is it hard to imagine what the world would be like if America as we have known it never existed? No, it is not. The world was a cruel and despotic place when the USA was birthed through the labors of many men. Those men sacrificed much to ensure that it would not be still born. They, like man through out time were not perfect, but for their time they were a guiding light to humanity. Without the USA, man would still live in darkness. With out the USA, most humans would still be illiterate. With out the USA, most countries would still be ruled by Monarchs and despots. With out the USA, most children would die of disease.

The USA was an example of how man could live and prosper if left to his own devices. Our frontier culture proved the worth of woman. She was not a burden, she was a partner, a friend a confidant. Other countries of the world resisted emulating the USA, and their citizens fled in droves to come here. THIS was the fabled promise land. A unique place were no matter what your father or mother's station in life. Through hard work, you could be rich, you could be a success. In this land, the poor of the world told each other, that the streets were paved with gold. If only you could get to America, life would be good.

We who were born here, we who matured here have taken her for granted. We have ignored those among us who believe that power is a tool. We have believed that because our founders eschewed power and only accepted the trappings of power in order to serve not to control, that we Americans were different. We have had that tradition, and believed in it. Fortunately our founders did not trust man because they knew the truth about man. When they established this experiment, they attempted to put in place checks and balances in order to keep power from being centralized. They designed Government to be weak by design. They wished the power to reside with the people at local levels. Over the years, as we became more and more complacent in our comfort, we allowed men to slowly amass more power. This was for "emergencies only". This was to "Level the Playing Field". We wanted to be more "Fair". These evil men used our spirit of good will and benevolence to amass power. They have now enough power and have broken down the checks and balances to the point that we are at risk of losing it all.

We are now at risk of despotism, slavery, and subjugation. Am I saying that Barack Obama is a despot? No, but the power he is amassing can be used to destroy our Constitution and thereby our way of life. Even if he was a man of good intentions and character, which I doubt, the power he is collecting into the Presidency could be used by a successor to plunge man back into darkness.

There are those outside of our country who are also taking advantage of our benevolence in an attempt to subjugate us. We have a tradition of "Freedom of Religion". This came about because many of our early colonists were religious refugees. Therefore we as a people squash any perceived religious persecution. Islam, is not a religion, it is a way of life encompassing Politics, Religion, and Commerce. Many of it's followers just adhere to it's religious component. Many not only embrace it all, but push it's acceptance through religious tolerance. Islam as a whole, if allowed to flourish, will plunge us back into the dark ages where it was born.

We are facing these two challenges to our existence. We have been given a dream, the dream of man. We must fight to ensure that it does not once again become a nightmare.

When you see your children, when you see your grandchildren, you see the future of the USA. Do you want your legacy to be that you did nothing? Do you want to be part of the generation that allowed the dream to die?

Do you want the USA, America as we have known it, to become a rumor, a myth that is told to children at night by candlelight?

Once upon a time, there was a place, a shining place where the streets were paved with gold. Where little boys and little girls could grow up to be anything they wanted. Where men and women were free to do as they pleased as long as it did not injure another. They could live and work where and for whom they desired.

This far off place was a paradise... A paradise lost...