What is the temperature? No, I mean ... our National pride temperature? 

For decades, many foreign nations have characterized the US as a nation of "cowboys" after the nature of John Wayne, a kind of Americanized Don Quixote. The arrogant, gritty, my-way-or-the-highway kind of people, but also the rather uncivilized, undisciplined, and unpredictable nation.

I was in the Army for three short years, '75 - '78, and had the opportunity to see the Iron Curtain that ran through Europe.  I had the opportunity to cross through security in Berlin.  It was one of the most deeply significant events in my life.  It shook me to be so vulnerable.  I suppose many of you weren't even born when the wall came down in '89, but I sat in front of the TV and wept for those dear, brave people who had been fed such lies and endured such hardships for a lifetime and now ... they were getting their first taste of freedom.  Perhaps, it is a shame every American couldn't experience "the wall".  Perhaps, if we did, we might appreciate our freedoms a little more. 

We lost our innocence in the 60's.  Between Viet Nam, the assassinations, the race riots, the Cuban missile crises, then Watergate, more riots ... We ceased to be the Don Quixote of the world and began to evolve into  ... something known elsewhere as "the Ugly Americans".   

"We hold these Truths to be self-evident,

that all Men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -

that to secure these Rights, governments are instituted among Men,

deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,

that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends,

it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it,

and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation

on such Principles and organizing its Powers in such Form

as to them shall seem most likely to effect

their Safety and Happiness." 

(Declaration of Independence - portion underlined by me)

Dissent is not a problem unless it's just talk. 

When the Founding Fathers drafted our Declaration and Constitution, there were a couple things they assumed.  One was that the people would actually take an interest ... an ACTIVE interest in how they were governed.  They designed a government structure in detail, providing and enumerating the checks and balances therein.  They divided the governing power into FOUR, yes FOUR branches, though we rarely hear about the fourth. There is the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch.  But, as we can read in the excerpt above, it left all this power in the hands and consciences of the PEOPLE.   WE are the fourth branch of our governement without which, the other three are impotent and destined to dysfunction.

I don't know about other states, but PA recently had its primary election. Now, granted, it is not a Presidential election this year, however, we had an unusually HIGH turnout at ... 13% of the local population! 13% of the people earned the right to protest our government's actions. Do you see that it is the "Consent of the Governed" (that's us, people) that are given the Right and the Obligation to manage the other three? Along with freedom comes responsibility. This is what the people of Iraq need to learn, and apparently, it is what the people of the US need to re-learn.

If our government is out of control and has lost its direction, we have no one to blame but OURSELVES. It's not Bush's fault. WE elected him - twice. It's not Clinton's fault - We elected him ... It's not Reagan's fault ... or Kennedy's fault ... or Roosevelt's fault ... it's OUR fault. It's also up to US ... up to We, the people, to do what we can to steer the nation back to where we believe it should be. If we fail to uphold our obligations as the managers of the governing power, we have no room to squawk!

Our mentality has become so “dysfunctional” that we blame everything on someone else. Well folks, this is OUR mess. The violence that rules our city streets – OUR mess. The poverty that refuses to allow for progress – OUR mess. The educational system that is training clones – OUR mess. Iraq, Iran, Korea, Afghanistan ... OUR messes. AIDS – OUR mess. Ignorance – OUR mess. Bigotry – OUR mess ... and the list goes on.  What are we going to DO about it ... besides complain?

So, on this Memorial Day eve, I suggest we get busy. This is OUR country ... my country.

The words to a popular folk song written in 40. Lyrics by Don Raye & music by Al Jacobs.

I was unable to find it sung, strangely enough, but here are the words.

This is My Country

Chorus:

This is my country! Land of my birth!

This is my country! Grandest on earth!

I pledge thee my allegiance, America, the bold,

For this is my country to have and to hold.

Verse:

What difference if I hail from North or South

Or from the East or West

My heart is full of love for all of these.

I only know I swell with pride and deep within my breast,

I thrill to see old glory paint the breeze!

Chorus:

This is my country! Land of my choice!

This is my country! Hear my proud voice!

I pledge thee my allegiance, America, the bold,

For this is my country to have and to hold.

~ B