What Is Wrong With Us !?

A few years ago I wrote a column entitled, “I Don’t Recognize My Country Anymore”. When I wrote it, I believed America was headed for tough economic times, I believed policies were being implemented that were harmful to our country and it’s citizens, I believed our foreign policy was dangerous for us and the world, but I believed we could turn it around. I never imagined, for a fleeting second, that we would be fighting for religious liberty in America……..a country founded on religious liberty……a country that has always held religious liberty in the highest esteem. I never believed we’d be fighting for the soul of America.

I wake up every morning now fearful of the next assault on our liberty. Saul Alinsky said to overwhelm your opponent and keep overwhelming them. After last week’s Supreme Court rulings I feel emotionally beaten and bloody. I am reeling, desperately trying to find my footing. I feared things could get this bad but I didn’t really believe it. I believed there were fundamental beliefs we all held, that couldn’t be shaken. I believed all of us would defend free speech to our last breath. I believed we would reject censorship in any form (Look how hard pornography has been defended). I believed religious liberty was sacrosanct. And, silly me, I believed the Supreme Court would uphold the Constitution, after all, that IS their only job. I was wrong.

What has happened to us? We don’t just disagree, we hate those who disagree with us. We are fighting about everything and if you don’t agree you are destroyed. Not just criticized………destroyed. As I write, the Left is organizing to completely destroy Donald Trump………and a United States Congressman is urging them on. They aren’t satisfied with NBC and Macy’s severing their ties with him, they want to destroy ALL his business ventures. Why? Because he said some illegal aliens are criminals. Is this not true? Obama called some “gang bangers”. It’s OK for Obama but not Trump? I’m not a fan of the Donald but he’s done nothing to warrant being destroyed.

I just heard George Takei, of Star Trek fame, calling Justice Clarence Thomas, “a clown in black face”. Where is the outrage over that? If Takei were a Conservative he’d be Tarred and Feathered. He said Thomas shouldn’t serve on the bench. Why? Because Clarence Thomas said it was an unconstitutional decision? Apparently, Mr. Takei doesn’t care if the decision is Constitutional or not, as long as it’s in his favor. There is no Constitutional guarantee to marriage, traditional or otherwise. The Supreme Court just made one up out of whole cloth. The court has no authority to make law. The three branches of our government have separate, enumerated duties. Legislation (laws) come from Congress, NOT the Supreme Court or Executive Branch. They did the same with the Healthcare law. They should have said it was a badly written law (it was), sent it back to Congress and told them to fix it. Instead, they rewrote it.

Takei was particularly incensed that Thomas said government can’t confer dignity. Takei said there was no dignity in slavery or Asian interment. Thomas never said there was. He was speaking about the God given dignity of human life. The behavior of those enslaved and interned demonstrated their dignity, regardless of what others did to them. In fact, in my opinion, those who endure and survive unimaginable circumstances have far more dignity than those who have not. But, although, Takei got exactly what he wanted, he’s still mad and won’t be satisfied until we all acquiesce or are punished.

The Left is outraged and offended about everything. When Phil Robertson said, as poor White trash (his words, not mine), he worked alongside Blacks in the fields. He said they sang and were happy, they had strong families and were very religious. He was vilified for recognizing their ability to rise above their conditions and demonstrate their human dignity. Apparently, personal experience and facts aren’t acceptable anymore if they don’t fit the narrative. I guess we’re not to marvel at the dignity of people that can, not just endure, but flourish. Why would Blacks not take pride in their ancestor’s ability to rise above their circumstances? What is wrong with us? We used to accept factual information. We used to give people the benefit of a doubt. We used to give people second chances. We used to accept that not everyone would agree with us. These days we give murderers a second chance but not Conservative and certainly not religious Conservatives.

The very people who demand tolerance are the most intolerant, vindictive people I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen the level of intolerance we are seeing now. Takei got what he wanted, but it’s never going to be enough. When did believing in traditional marriage mean you hate gays? It doesn’t. That isn’t even a logical argument, but logic isn’t recognized anymore.

When the good people of Charleston forgave an insane young man who murdered nine innocent church members and couldn’t be persuaded to riot and burn down their city, the agitators turned to the Confederate flag. They couldn’t let this crisis go to waste. First, the flag was removed from the state capitols, then stores refused to sell the flag, manufacturers stopped manufacturing them, now, “Dukes of Hazzard” has been taken off the air, “Gone with the Wind” (a CLASSIC) taken out of circulation. GONE WITH THE WIND! Seriously? Seriously? This is what we’ve come to?

There are demands being made to take down monuments and statues. Calls to rename streets. What is next? After all, Washington owned slaves. Should we rename Washington state and DC? Take him off the dollar, off Mount Rushmore? Where does this purging of our history end? And how does it change history? Will hiding the Confederate flag mean it didn’t exist? In my opinion, all our history should be preserved and taught, warts and all. When did we stop believing censorship was wrong? I didn’t get that memo.

Most of this outrage is coming from Leftists on both coasts who don’t know or understand the South……..or fly over country, for that matter. Apparently, they want to erase the entire history of the South. Blacks in the South haven’t been demanding the Confederate flag be banned or statues be taken down. It is the media and Hollywood behind all this banning……apparently, encouraged by the White House. I have to ask Hollywood how this is different from McCarthyism? I thought they believed McCarthy was a shameful time in our history. But now they are black balling people who don’t support their world view? Really?

I thought ALL Americans understood the value, the vital importance to our liberty, an unbiased, objective media was. We know the media has had a Liberal bias (voting for Democrats has never dropped under 80%) but nothing like we see today. The media isn’t just supporting the Liberal agenda, they aren’t reporting anything that conflicts with it. There isn’t even a pretence of objectivity anymore. And when proven wrong, they won’t admit it. Several years ago when Fox warned about a coming Islamic caliphate, they weren’t just criticized, they were mocked unmercifully. The media is talking about the caliphate everyday now but they have never admitted Fox was right and they were wrong.

For example, the Rolling Stone story that accused the young men of UVA of being gang rapists. Even when it was proven there was no rape, we were told we should believe the alleged victim regardless of evidence to the contrary (move on, nothing to see here…) because rape IS rampant on college campuses. The Columbia University Mattress Girl was also proven wrong (she admitted she had consensual sex several times with the young man) but was invited to the State of the Union by Senator Gillibrand and held up as a hero. The young man she accused has been deeply negatively affected but she is held as a hero by the media. Apparently, falsely accusing our young college men of rape is heroic, but accusing criminal illegal aliens of rape should result in your destruction. What is wrong with us?

The media descended on Alaska like locus and went through every email Sarah Palin sent or received (and found NOTHING) but they are entirely uninterested in Obama’s background or associations…….completely uninterested in Valerie Jarrett’s radical parents and associations. Truth just doesn’t matter anymore. Where are the investigative reporters? Oh, we know, ask Sharyl Attkisson. Are you not alarmed about the few actual journalists being intimidated and censored? We have our government controlling the media. They tried to plant classified documents on Sharyl’s computer to ruin her reputation. She wasn’t a Conservative, she was just an honest, objective journalist. We are being lied to everyday by this administration and the media never calls them on it. You can keep your doctor and your plan……Benghazi was caused by a video……..we knew nothing about Fast and Furious…….the IRS did nothing wrong…….we can’t find the emails………no one knew Hillary was using a private server………..Bowe Bergdahl served with honor and distinction…….ISIS is the JV team………..ISIS is not Islamic……….I believe marriage is between a man and a woman………and on and on. I knew things like that happened in other countries but I never thought they could happen here…..or that any American, Liberal or Conservative, would not be outraged by it.

This Fourth of July weekend we are being told that the terrorist threat has never been higher since 9/11. Terrorist attacks have become more and more frequent since 9/11. ISIS is recruiting lone wolf terrorists right here in America. And, in spite of them being of Middle Eastern descent, we are bringing in more Middle Eastern immigrants and refugees than we’ve ever had in the past. Does that not seem unwise, at best and suicidal at worst? What happened to common sense?

When Seal Team Six was shot down, and their bodies arrived back in America, although none of them were Muslim, an Imam prayed over their coffins. In front of their families, an Imam damned their loved ones to hell. This administration has required an Imam as well as a Chaplin at military funerals. Why? Why not a Rabbi? Where is the media on this? Why is no one in the media incensed that an Imam damned members of our military to hell? This is, yet another, story they are ignoring. I get the media protecting the “first Black President”. I get them propagandizing the Liberal agenda. I don’t get this. This is something I would think we all would agree on. How do these people sleep at night?

The world has never, in my lifetime, been in such chaos. As Marco Rubio so accurately pointed out, our allies no longer trust us, and our enemies no longer fear us. The Middle East is on fire. We are still negotiating a treaty with Iran as they chant “DEATH TO AMERICA” and promise they will never allow inspections. WHY? As ISIS continues to take more territory across the Middle East, as they crucify children, burn people alive, drown them in cages, behead them on television, this administration has completely gutted our military so that if we have to get involved we won’t be prepared. As Iran grows closer to a nuclear weapon, we are disarming ours. As Greece faces financial collapse, we are following them down that road. With 93 million Americans out of work, American companies replace American workers with H1B foreign workers. And to add insult to injury, they make the Americans train their replacements. As the Middle East explodes and Greece implodes, we are banning the Confederate flag. REALLY?

The Left wants us to think we’re alone. They want us to feel defeated. They want us to give up. And the media will do everything they can to help. Every night I hear someone say the polls show people have changed their minds about same sex marriage. NO, they haven’t. First of all, polls can be worded to give you whatever results you want, but if people are saying they’ve changed their minds it’s because they’ve seen bakers and florists driven out of business, they’ve seen CEO’s fired, they’ve seen people lose their jobs and they’re afraid to say what they think. I ask people everyday if they have changed their minds and I have yet to find anyone who has.

I believed as things got worse, more and more people would wake up and fight back. I thought freedom was in our DNA and the more our liberty was taken from us, the more we’d fight back. But what I see is fear, denial and ignorance. What’s wrong with us? We were the pioneers, the explorers. We left a civilized society with all the creature comforts and sailed across an ocean to an uncivilized, primitive land. We started from scratch. We fought the strongest, biggest military on earth for our freedom. We built the most successful, wealthiest, most powerful country in the world. Are we just going to lay down and give up now?

We can’t allow ourselves to be censored. We must defend free speech and religious freedom. They are the foundation of this country. Without them we have no country. As Dietrich Bonnhoeffer cautioned, “not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act”.