My America (Independence Day Post)

OK, I’m one of those people who is constantly harping about the evils of materialism and consumerism and railing on the way the US has become one Big Tool of multinational corporations and all that. I’ve challenged people with the fact that the people we think are the bad guys think we are the bad guys and are just as convinced as we are. I remind people of what we did to the American Indian and remind them that the abortion holocaust in the US numbers three times that of Stalin and Hitler combined. I’ve made the parallels between the modern US and Rome Before The Fall. But I’ll tell you this God bless it: I work part time and live like a king. I’ve never had to worry about food, drink, or shelter a day in my life. I take my kids to the park and they run free. Free of charge, free of worry, with bright, promising futures. It is for that reason that I stand up straight when I see the Stars and Stripes, that I make eye contact with and smile at all service personnel I see, that I cry when I hear the national anthem. So yes, at the end of the day, I love my country and think it is the greatest nation on Earth. It is, of course, for this very reason that I challenge the forces that would destroy it from the inside (secular ideology, materialism, consumerism), which are probably greater than the threats from the outside. But we are in a time when even we critics need to assert our right-minded patriotism. Furthermore, I am not so selfish as to want Liberty and Justice for my own kids, I want it for all kids from the American Samoa to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between—including Iraq.