A Nation in Peril
It is reported that during a 1985 summit in Geneva near the height of the Cold War, President Reagan asked Mikhail Gorbachev, “What would you do if the United States were suddenly attacked by someone from outer space? Would you help us?” To which Gorbachev responded, “No doubt about it.” Reagan replied, “We too.”
It’s hard to believe that it was only 35 years ago that two global superpowers, who hated each other with a burning passion because of their ideological differences, each with the power to destroy the planet and end life as we know it and poised on the brink of nuclear war, could so readily agree to help one another in time of crisis, while we in America today cannot even agree on something as simple as the use of surgical masks, despite the fact they have been in use by medical professionals around the world for well over a century, the efficacy of which had never been questioned or challenged by anyone, until the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, when the politics of the last five years caused these very masks to become a symbol of the deep political divide which exists in America today.
In 1838, Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying: “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide” and it appears as if our nation’s impending collapse may well indeed be by suicide, encouraged and fostered by radical politicians and those who daily exhort Americans to take up arms to subvert the very Democratic processes on which we were founded.
Accretion is the process by which growth or enlargement occurs by a gradual buildup, and we have seen this insidious process at work over the last five years in this country, promoted by people motivated by fame, notoriety or money to betray the values that made America great by manipulating the minds of Americans through disinformation and outright hate. The increase and acceptance of bad manners, infantile behavior, name calling, disrespect for others, lack of common decency, divisiveness, hyper-politics and racial discord is truly revolting. At no time can I ever remember anything remotely resembling the hate and divisiveness I see or read about on a daily basis; most of which is wrapped in the American flag or cloaked in faux patriotism.
A patriot is not someone who invents, spreads or promotes false, unsubstantiated stories of rigged or stolen elections, or storms our nation’s Capital in an attempt to stop the certification of that election and create an Anocracy because their preferred candidate lost. A patriot is not someone who advocates for armed insurrection or Civil War. A patriot is not someone who calls for a National Divorce or who says voters from other States should not be allowed to vote. A patriot is not someone who fantasizes about killing other Americans or the violent destruction of our government. A patriot is not someone who calls for the outgoing Vice President to be hung for following the law, or the public execution of one of our top military leaders for doing all he could to maintain peace, and a Patriot is certainly not anyone who promotes or participates in efforts to restrict the voting rights of even a single American based on their race, gender or political affiliation. These are the acts of radicalized partisans, NOT patriots.
Just because each of these were committed in the last year by people carrying or symbolically wrapped in an American flag does not negate the fact that each is an example of someone who is a traitor to our country, our Constitution and our American way of life. Most of these acts are in fact the textbook definition of Sedition, a Federal crime under 18 U.S. Code § 2384, and punishable by fine and/or twenty years imprisonment.
A patriot is not someone who is willing to destroy his own country simply because he can’t have everything his own way. I have said it before, and I’ll say it again: A true Patriot is someone who understands and appreciates that this country is made up of a disparate group of people, and who works, by word and deed, to keep this country together; who seeks to open dialogue and is willing to compromise for the sake of each and every one of us, and who believes in the union that is the UNITED States of America.
