Who Are WE?

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What ever happened to righteous indignation? I'm only %@ damn years old, but I remember a time when a man's word was his bond. If a man looked you in the eye and shook your hand, you took him at his word and you held him to his promise. If he did not deliver, he wasn't just hurt in your eyes; the whole community knew that he was not trustworthy. I remember a time when our country would stand up for what is right. Clearly, we can never police the world, nor would we be wise to. But in cases when we couldn't, at least our leaders words were unequivocal. We stood for liberty and we condemned evil. Then we took whatever measures we could to support the oppressed. In neighborhoods across the land, people took care of each other. If a bad element moved in, we watched them like a hawk. We called the law every chance we got. We watched our neighbors property when they weren't around. This is what good people do. This is what decent people do. This is what righteous people do.

We seem to have lost an important section of our soul. Some prefer to blame it on technology; we're so engrossed in our gadgets that we don't pay attention to each other any more. Some blame it on the pace of society and that we all work too hard. Some blame it on the 'other' guys whether this ideology or that. Some say that this nation has lost it's soul, that it has strayed from the foundation of it's social and political structure; the word of God. Personally, I fall into this last camp for the most part, but it is more complicated than that.

Regardless of where your character is rooted, what is important is that you have character. There was a time when we confronted abhorrent behavior with righteous indignation. Whether you call it evil or just bad behavior or genetics, it doesn't matter. Good people used to rally together and condemn, revile, chastise and confront those that would tear down our society either from without or within.

So what has happened? What have we lost? Why is it so hard to come together against obvious evil? As hard as it is to understand, the answer is quite simple. We have lost it because there is a portion our brethren who have been actively working night and day for a century to make sure we lose it. As hard as it is for us to fathom or comprehend, there is a sizable portion of our own countrymen, who not only do not believe that America is great, but indeed believe that America is evil. They believe that they need to bring it down in order to rise it up in another image, an image of communal harmony that exists only in the mind of the dreamer and the pseudo-intellectual. They marched on Washington on October 2, 2010 and were quite transparent for a change. Usually they obfuscate and hide their real intentions behind slick marketing phrases such as 'Hope and Change' or 'Workers Unite' or 'Make the Rich Pay their Part' and any other of a plethora of catchy phrases that mean nothing. They are, however, critical to dividing the nation so that one group can be pitted against the other for the express purpose of dragging down the national psyche. It is only a depressed and disgusted public that will revolt. Therefore everything they do is intended to depress and disgust you. Never point out the good in America, always put America down, always depress the masses so they will be ready at a moments notice to revolt against America. You see my fellow Americans, we have been played like a West Virginia fiddle on Grandpa's porch. They WANT you to be depressed.

It is time for this nation to rise to calling of it's founders. It is time to accept the responsibility of a nation founded on the mantle of freedom given to Men of character, honesty and prudence. it is time to regain our posture amongst a world rightly jealous of our success but nevertheless respectful of our righteousness. Regardless of what they say; they know we are right. They know we are good. They know we are free. They know we are virtuous. They know we are right. At times it rubs them the wrong way. But they ALL come here. Make no mistake, they ALL come here. WE may have forgotten that America is the promise of freedom and Liberty around the world, but they have not. That is why they come my friends. Every day. Every night. Legally. Illegally. They all come here. How sad that WE are the ones who have forgotten.

America. Yes, I'm talking to you. You the union man. You the artist. You the professor. You the line worker. You the laborer. You the teacher. You the professional. You the student. You the youth and promise. You the wisdom and aged. Every single American out there. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Put aside your differences for this one thing. America stands for freedom and liberty. Think very hard and very long. Is your party supporting freedom and liberty? Is your legislator voting for freedom and liberty? Are you supporting others who want freedom and liberty? More importantly, are you willing to steal the freedom and liberty of others for your own purposes?

You will either be judged by your fellow man or by God. Regardless of which you believe; is your life a testament to freedom and liberty for others? Is your life a testament to righteous indignation to all who would steal liberty from your neighbors? Are you willing to die for your neighbors freedom? If you will not lay down your life for the liberty of others then you cannot expect them to lay it down for you. In that case what is your life worth? You know as well as I. Nothing. No human soul deserves the fate of a worthless life. What is the worth of YOUR life? What will be written about you? What will your grandchildren and great-grandchildren say about YOUR life? Did you stand in these turbulent times? Or did you cower in the comfortable corner of your materialistic existence? Clearly, we live in extraordinary times. Times that require a greater measure of dedication to the principles in which our nation was founded. Times that require righteous indignation for ALL that would divide this great nation and prevent us from rising to the apex of the American spirit.


by: Keith D. Rodebush