Bittersweet Birthday Boy

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It is a cool morning in central Texas, only 76 degrees F as my coffee brews. The birds are ringing in the day, insects appearing from their shadowy hideaways nervously taking advantage of the respite from the oppressive heat of late. The dappled sunlight peaking through the live oak is welcomed on the face for a change. What a beautiful day to be alive and be American. And yet, it is a bittersweet day for me this September 5th, Labor Day. The day my mother, Julia Rodebush was in labor 52 years ago. That means that I'm old enough to have witnessed the greatest decline in American society in over a century.

I can only imagine that the lead up to the Civil War was a far worse time in our nation, I wouldn't dare to compare. But certainly since the turn of the 20th century we are living through an inexplicable loss of the American spirit. Always the optimist I concede the surges of greatness witnessed by our fine troops, a younger generation heeding the call. The group of Americans who found themselves for the first time in their lives, painting signs and hitting the streets to take their turn at protesting not against America, but FOR her. The many youth groups mostly religious based who defy modern youth culture and devote themselves to lives of charity, hope and love.

These remnants of America past are not enough, however, to assuage the confused horror that accompanies the daily reminders that we are no longer the nation we used to be. Remember when the Empire State building was built in one year? Remember when a nation came together and fought the enemies of freedom with pride and fervor? Remember when a man would refuse a handout and pull himself up and work even harder than usual to care for his family? Remember when pride and spirit of the American flag were unwavering? Remember when belief in God and country was respected and expected? Remember when children would say, "Yes sir." and "No Ma'am"? I do. A long time ago when being an American was a source of unflinching pride.

This morning I read a headline, "Should the U.S. flag be banned in America?" Who would even write that headline in America? Why would such a story be necessary? What could possibly be the cause of such mass insanity? As we approach the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America, Ground Zero is still under construction and we debate whether we should put a Muslim Mosque next to it. The memorial in Pennsylvania honoring the heroes of Flight 93 remains unfinished amid disputes over the design mimicking Muslim symbolism. Really? As a designer I can tell you that once someone makes such a charge, if there is any scintilla of truth to it, you scrap the design and start over. Instead we litigate and tweak a bad design, have public meeting after public meeting to justify our stubborness and insensitivity dragging out the process while the families of the victims suffer unbearable pain anew at the hands of their own neighbors. We have pseudo-intellectuals redefining pedophiles as merely suffering an illness and should be understood, not despised. In days gone by we would take them to the woods and beat the Hell out of them. Now, we give them tenure and publish their drivel for world wide consumption. My disgust could not be more profound.

While we find ourselves ten years on, fighting a war against an evil enemy determined to end Western civilization, we have an entire political party that refuses to call them terrorist, but doesn't even flinch to call their fellow Americans such. Why? Because they have the temerity to suggest we balance the budget. Racist bastards! How dare they preach fiscal responsibility. What? How is it that such people are not immediately drummed out of the public sphere in shame? We the People have elected a committed Marxist, who hates America as founded, surrounds himself with communist sympathizers, publicly submits forged documents, uses the federal treasury as a slush fund for his cronies, bows to our enemies, disregards our friends, kills American business while supporting foreign business, debases the dollar and spits in the face of good Americans who dare to remonstrate.

How pray tell? Please tell me how. In all my years, thirsty for knowledge, absorbing books and studying human nature I am intellectually feeble to understand how our once great nation could descend so fast into such a detestful cesspool of selfish ignorance. There is an answer but it is impotent to describe why it could happen to us; Americans. Once proud, independent, strong, faithful and patriotic. Now weak, pathetic, skiddish, debased and ignorant. Even the so-called leaders who are attempting to turn the tide are wholly inadequate to the task. They parse their words and couch their stance so as not to offend some potential voter. Their meekness will condemn this nation to evermore tyranny should they be elected. We need no more self-centered weak kneed professional politicians, we have plenty. We need patriotic saviors willing to storm the machine gun nest at risk of life and limb to sacrifice all for the good of the nation. We need strong, smart, devil be damned statesmen willing to lay down their political lives on the altar of constitutional republicanism. We need leaders willing to speak the truth to unproductive ever offended self loathing thieves of productivity and prosperity.

Please spare me the apologetic rhetoric that we are all Americans. No we aren't. The term American does not just describe the soil upon which you stand. It includes the blood in that soil, spilled for Liberty. It includes our faith in God and His guiding hand in founding this nation and leading us to greatness. It includes our rugged individualism that refuses charity in lieu of a life of productive labor. It includes respect for our laws and our Constitution. It includes our love of good and disdain for evil. It includes our righteous disregard for the destructive and oppressive nature of collectivism. It includes our respect for the rights of the individual.

If you believe in redistribution of wealth you are NOT an American. You are an enemy of America. If you support the unconstitutional federal takeover of the powers of the States you are not an American, you are her enemy. If you believe that a judicial decision is sacrosanct even if it flies in the face of the Constitution, you are not American. If your church preaches Social Justice, a ruse of communist infiltrators, they are not American and they are not Godly. God does not justify stealing from one to give to another. That is not charity, it is theft; evil in all its forms. The enemies of America have too long enjoyed the anonymity of 'being American'. True Americans must call them out at every turn, every day, in every venue, with every breath. If you don't stand for individual Liberty, righteousness, constitutional republicanism and American Exceptionalism you are not my countryman, you are my enemy, you are the enemy of the greatest nation known to Mankind. Go from us and kiss your chains, let not a soul know that you were once our friend and neighbor, hide your face from the world lest they know your shame, seal your mouth lest your ignorance be known and your disrepute befall your genealogy. The enemy within is all the more despicable for it contains foreknowledge of what it destroys.

Happy Birthday Bittersweet Birthday Boy.

by: Keith D. Rodebush