A few weeks ago, we celebrated Memorial Day 2023, and I truly hope that everyone engaged in some deep introspection and examined the reason for the celebration.  It was not about fireworks, barbeques, the lake, leisure, and time off work.  It was about the incredible sacrifice of our fallen heroes.  It was about Freedom and the incredibly high price tag it carries.  It was about those fallen, their families, and in a measure, those who suffered incredible wounds but did not die.  It was and is about Freedom, America, and Love!

I often weep as I reflect on where we are as a nation and how far we have drifted from our origins.  The lack of gratitude and awareness of what we are supposed to be all about and the sacrifices to make it a reality is alarming.  I am a Vietnam Veteran, but this is not about me.  It is about those who paid the ultimate price.  It is about their families that were left to suffer the grief and loss of their loved ones.  It is about those crippled by PTSD and other physical and mental wounds incurred in the fight for freedom.  It is about love and forgiveness.  If we miss that, we miss our purpose as America!

I have often reflected on the warning of our predecessors and founders about self-destruction.  Some today are so captivated by the abnormal, perverse, and antagonistic that they detest what we identify as normal, decent, good, and peaceable.  Some are more interested in the fight than the solution.  Some are more fixated on differences than similarities and possibilities of unity. 

We have drifted or abandoned absolutes in much of America. That condition is nowhere more apparent than in academia and politics.  It is creeping into religion and will prove far more destructive than all the others combined.  We have created a self-devouring monster in America, and those of us who are watching are horrified at the rapidity of the creeping, cancerous thinking being advanced, embraced, and lauded. 

When we allow deviant thoughts and preferences to force compliance to their deviancy, we inflict wounds on ourselves.  When we give preferential treatment to select groups at the expense of decent, hardworking, family-oriented people, we inflict deadly wounds on ourselves.  When we strip those who want the American ideals presented in the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of more and more of what they have earned, we guarantee our own destruction. 

The idea of entitlement, foreign to the Constitution, destroys incentive and encourages more deviancy in thought and action.  We inspire people to be uninspired and allow power-hungry elitist politicians and powerbrokers to shred our republic.  What do they want to replace it with?  Totalitarianism in which they are the totalitarians.  They want power and control and believe nothing immoral or unethical in achieving that goal. 

In America, every citizen is entitled to the same rights under the law.  No group, individual, or organization is entitled to special consideration, promotion, or remuneration.  The incredibly dangerous idea that no one should ever be offended is a pathway to an impossible societal condition where destruction is guaranteed.  The view of our founders that shaped our formation is that “All are created equal and have been granted certain inalienable rights by our Creator.”  The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without infringement and usurpation by the government or the WOKE snowflakes are included.

If we do not return to absolute values, biblical precepts, and moral standards and demand our politicians’ ethical behavior, we will finally inflict a death blow to the republic.  The rights of one cannot be demanded at the expense of the rights of others.  None of us have a right not to be offended.  The Bible speaks of offense and uses the phrase “takes offense.”  It is a choice to be offended, and if you value Freedom, including freedom of speech for yourself, you must also defend it for others.  Failure is to inflict wounds on ourselves that guarantee our destruction. 

The political elitists of today and the cognitive deficiency in the current president are creating a world where they are self-absorbed and isolated from the world around them.  They do not see us as co-equals but as necessary pawns to achieve their designs.  They are not public servants but public overseers and masters, in their view. 

Our Western and American culture’s bedrock is Freedom of Speech.  The founders understood that the right and privilege to think one’s own thoughts and express them peaceably was essential for the republic to survive and thrive.  If we cannot question or even criticize the government, how are we different from the despotic regimes of totalitarians and authoritarians of the world?  If speech is not free, we are not free!

The day we disallow Freedom of Speech is the day we cease to be the Free Constitutional Republic of our founding.  I am appalled at the PC Police’s power and the ability of the WOKE world to force those who disagree to have a voice.  The pronoun police insisting that we call self-described gender deviations by the desired pronoun is anathema to both America’s founding and the Bible. 

During the COVID pandemic and paranoia, we watched the devastation of Executive Fiats.  The implemented mandates destroyed lives, businesses, and relationships and weakened our republic.  The drastic measures deemed necessary crossed party lines and, rather than saving the nation, weakened it perceptibly. 

History is replete with examples of how power-thirsty rulers gained ultimate control and power.  One of the most visible was by creating emergencies and taking actions to ‘save the people.’  However, their purpose was not the salvation or safety of the people but power and control.   When these despots create their emergencies, they use propaganda and the perception of immense danger to create a situation where the people beg for relief.  They transpired by giving up freedom for perceived safety, and as Benjamin Franklin warned, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” 

Liberty and safety do not have to be at odds with each other. Still, if we cede our liberties and inalienable rights for government protection, we will discover, as did Germany under the Nazis, that we have lost both.  When we succumb to the imposed mandates without questioning and demanding more information and verification, we inflict wounds on our republic.  Self-inflicted wounds are the deadliest. 

America, will we recover our reason and revive our spirit of freedom sufficiently to restore the Constitution to its rightful place in our government, or will we continue to inflict wounds on ourselves?  If we return to reason and unite, we will survive.  If we do not, we will watch the systematic reversal of our history and our republic.  We must return to moral sanity as the Bible teaches and right behavior and freedom as described in our Constitution.

God bless you, and God bless America!