not too late

  I'm thinking the disappointment of aging is when you realize the future has rejected your plans. That is what America is experiencing at this very moment. We the people are becoming frustrated, disillusioned and disappointed. When Franklin was asked, what kind of government have you given us Dr, his response was, a Republic if we can but keep it. The Republic is slipping away from us at an alarming rate. It is the everyday people, the commoners that are the most aware of this because they are the most connected. It isn't much different than what it was two hundred and fifty years ago in that regard. The call for change came from those people. They were the shop owners and tradesman. The very wealthy were quite content, until it began to impact their business.

 The future is rejecting that republic, the land that I grew up in. I remember as a child reciting the pledge of allegiance in my classroom. I remember going to the parades with my parents and watching the veterans proudly marching in formation. I remember wearing a poppie to honor and remember those long gone. The flag would come by, and all the men stood at attention, removing their hats and the ladies standing tall in silence and respect. I remember when America being exceptional wasn't considered a bad thing. In this future I hear that we should not be exceptional, we should be inclusive, like everyone else. But that isn't what I was taught and what I want for my nation. The United States of America should lead the world, should be feared and respected as the leader! That certainly isn't the case under our current leadership!

 It has been said that an empire lasts about 250 years. Scholars have debated whether the United States is considered an empire and like most things it is really a matter of semantics. It our ever-changing use of language and what we mean to imply what that language, it is debatable. But the principles of our republic were never to be an empire. In fact, just the opposite. We are anti-imperial, self-sufficient, and stress individual liberty. Those are hardly the qualities of an empire. Today, if asked, what form of government did Franklin give us the most common answer would be a democracy. Franklin would be appalled! That isn't what the constitutional convention and ratification process that spanned 5 years and nine months to complete established. No, it was a republic. 

 Rural America is in contradiction to Urban America. The commoners at odds with the city folk. Those folks in the cities do have a different mindset. Having become conditioned to live with crime and overcrowding, focusing on themselves and their needs they have become jaded. We call them liberals. They have abandoned the republic in favor of a more autocratic form of governance. The irony being their feeling that each individual is that autocrat! The individual replacing the majority. Many of our colleges and universities are teaching this new dogma of self. They are failing to teach that self-sacrifice and self-denial are the cornerstones of a republic. 

 But the republic is in decline no doubt about that. Perhaps it began when our representatives became paid political pawns. The original idea was for our representatives to represent us, not the interests of the wealthy. Our representatives were farmers, lawyers, prominent men of the community and represented the interests of their neighborhoods. It wasn't an occupation to them; it was a solemn honor and duty.   Perhaps that decline began as soon as it was established. The first ten amendments were added to the original document just three years later. The bill of rights. A protection for the people against government. That is what concerned James Madison and others and precipitated those amendments. Additional amendments have been added since and some grant more power to the government. And today there is a call to repeal the second amendment altogether. The need for that amendment is just as relevant today as it was in 1789. 

 Perhaps the decline began when it was decided that the separation of church and state meant the separation of belief in a higher power. Our representatives were not to consider any moral implications to legislation, to place no weight on moral considerations. It's just business! But not in my America it isn't. And that is where I find myself. I see the future rejecting the America I grew up in and came to love. I served in the Navy for twenty years and was always proud to an American wherever I traveled in the world. Yes, I am an American and yes, we are exceptional. And when you are exceptional there are no exceptions! And that is how we can preserve the Republic! As Walter may say, "and that's the way it is" 

Remember when you vote in November what is at stake. I can't bring myself to believe it is too late to save the Republic. I believe in America. I always have.