Dear Americans:
This is the first of a series of articles in which we will talk things over—the average issues (and the not-so-average issues, too) that affect everyday Americans. It will be a column for the John and Jane Does, written simply and in plain language, with an occasional injection of sarcasm. It will, I hope, give you hope: hope in, and hope for, our nation.
Right now, the first thing I want to talk over with you is a thing called patriotism. I’ve been listening to some spine-tinglingly patriotic music lately—in particular, a song from a James Cagney film, Yankee Doodle Dandy. This film comes from the good old days . . . when they would pull out all the stops with a blast of fireworks and Red, White, and Blue. When folks sang “God Bless America” without thinking or being told that this was a “square” thing to do. When the Stars and Stripes was flying from every porch across America.
These days are somewhat different. Our congressmen are waving Ukrainian flags in the chamber where they make our laws. A good percentage of the things we buy are stamped with “Made in China” rather than “Proudly Made in the U.S.A.” And now we practically have to go to a ballgame to hear the national anthem.
It’s no secret that a good chunk of the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington are trying to kill the American spirit. If they succeed, they kill our America. They are already getting their guns out. Recently, they fired at the WWII photo of the sailor kissing the nurse. We won that battle, but we haven’t yet won the war.
Frankly, it’s pretty gruesome stuff. This isn’t what those boys falling down on Omaha Beach thought they were dying for. They thought they were bleeding and dying and watching their buddies get blown apart because of one simple, fact: That they were helping to make a better, stronger, freer, America.
How is it that people used to get goosebumps about America, her flag, her heroes, her people, her president, her military, her everything, and now it’s all as stale as yesterday’s five-dollar coffee from Starbucks?
Here’s the punchline and here’s where we come in: Patriotism has gone out of style, but we can bring it back. We have to bring it back into our culture. There are still patriotic Americans out there. We’ve got to keep our chins up—and, in the words of the song I am listening to at this moment, be “Yankee Doodle, do or die”.
– N. M.
