America's Freedom DNA

We cannot help that our experiences, both painful and pleasant, shape our view of the world. I am working on a book tentatively titled Echoes of Eden. It tells the story of my growing up years in Ohio in the fifties and sixties. Though not without heartache, my childhood and youth were relatively pleasant. I had a good, solid home life. My folks were model parents. And my memories of those years are sweet.

In elementary school we learned about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We learned of Nathan Hale and Paul Revere and Molly Pitcher. We pledged allegiance to the flag and we even prayed the Lord's prayer in school. On our classroom wall hung a cardboard replica of the Ten Commandments. We sang patriotic songs. In later years we studied the Constitution.

I realize, with much sadness, that that America is not the America of today. But that is the America that is in my heart. And it will always be there. I cannot let it go. I WILL not let it go. I will give my life if I have to to recapture and restore it.

Not that my grandchildren could ever enjoy the same childhood as I did. Too much has changed. But I do believe that my grandchildren can yet know the same joy, the same freedom, the same patriotic pride as did I in my youth.

Deep down, I believe that most Americans are good, decent people. I think that many Americans have lost their way, become swept up in popular culture, and abandoned the Judeo-Christian principles that made America a great nation. Many have not been as fortunate to see America through eyes like mine, eyes that see the good, eyes that saw America as something to rejoice over, even with her flaws. Sadly, many have been blinded to that America by their education, by popular culture, and by that hideous human sin called selfishness. And our land is now awash with the putrid swill of immorality and godlessness.

But there are enough folks out there who still love this country, who instinctively know that something is not right. There are millions of people, right now, in denial, heads buried in the proverbial sand, not wanting to look at and witness the train wreck that is happening right before their eyes. One day, and we hope soon, these people will wake up and say, "Wait just a minute, here. This is not right. This is not America."

There will at some point be a revolution, bloodless we hope, but perhaps not. Actually, it has already begun. And some of us may be asked to lay down our lives.

Freedom is in the American heart. We may have it stripped from us for a while, but freedom has a life of its own. Freedom is our DNA. It cannot be destroyed.

Freedom is likely not the DNA of the Iraqi people, or the Afghan people. There is no long history of freedom and self-government in that part of the world. Our type of self-government has a slim chance of surviving in those places. Look what happened to Russia in just a few short years. They had great opportunity to build a free and self-governing nation. But they have stumbled and stumbled badly. Look at how quickly Europe succumbed to socialism, just a generation after American armies liberated Europeans from Hitler's murderous scourge. Even Great Britain, the root from which we sprang, has not had the internal fortitude to pay the cost to remain free.

There is a reason that America is the last to stand. Though freedom's branches are withering, though the outer shell is decaying, beneath the surface, America's freedom-roots still pulse with life.

We have stood while all around us have surrendered. And though presently faltering, we will not go down easily. We will not go out with nary a whimper like so many other nations. If we go down, we will go down fighting. And I plan to be there. I trust you do as well.