14 November 2009

America's Once and Future Creed

There once was a time in America when drafting contests were held to judge who wrote beyond compare about America.  During one such competition in 1917, a man named William Tyler Page won the contest with “The American Creed.”  A creed is a system, a doctrine, an oath, an article of faith, as well as a summarization of one’s overarching ideological beliefs.  Individuals who stand by the American Creed base their identity on its core values; more importantly, our creed codifies individuals within our country as members of a nation of people who identify themselves—despite trivial differences and minutiae—as Americans; something greater than themselves.  If you live in the United States of America, and identify yourself as an American, it will be impossible to avoid shivers and goose bumps while reading the American Creed; those uncontrollable sensations that remind you of your morality and mortality.  Breathe it in my Brothers and Sisters, and take heart:

“I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”

Did you feel that?  I hope so.

In merely one hundred words – a feat in itself – Page powerfully summarized both the American political tradition and the responsibilities of every citizen to his or her government.  The American Creed uses passages and phrases from America’s Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and Daniel Webster’s reply to Robert Y. Hayne in the Senate in 1830.  When Page was asked about what he had written, he said that “It is the summary of the fundamental principles of the American political faith as set forth in its greatest documents, its worthiest traditions, and its greatest leaders.”

Being an American has a different meaning for every person.  What does it mean, to me, to be an American?  Well, by being naturally born in America, you are an American.  That’s a label though, not an explanation of what it means to be an American.  It means so much more than being born here, and I think that people have lost that understanding, due to America’s prosperity in the twentieth-century.  In being an American, you and every American are, above-all-else, free; master of your own destiny within limits of the law; nothing can be forced upon you.  There is value in American freedom; every American is valuable; no man is naturally above the rest.  We are “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

The American Creed is something we can believe in, something we should believe in; even more so now than ever before.  The platform of “change we can believe in” appears now more like ancient hieroglyphs for which the key’s been lost.  It was at a time understood, decipherable within the context of the situation.  However, the American Creed is a lasting oath which gives the citizens of this great nation a perspective.  Without its perspective, we’re forced to live in the moment with no ties to the past.  Our nation’s momentum has lost its touch with the perspective granted by its foundations.  How can I, you, we, or America, move forward without a perspective; sans the American Creed?  America does not need change, it requires stability; the strength envisioned in our creed.

The Sophist, Gorgias, founder of classic rhetorical theory said that “If everyone, on every subject, had memory of the past and knowledge of the present and foresight of the future, speech would not do what it does; but as things are, it is easy neither to remember the past nor to consider the present nor to predict the future; so that on most subjects most people take opinion as counselor to the soul;” if there is a more relevant insight in history, I’m yet to find it.  The foundations of rhetoric have not lost their efficacy in over two millennia; should the foundations of America lose theirs, in less than three centuries?  Was the beating heart of our nation – and the creed for which it stands – drowned-out by the charismatic, rhetorical phrases of the future president?  It’s possible, but persuasion is only persuasive when an audience is willing to accept it.  Americans are losing their willingness, and now is the time to remember; believe in what America has—and will—stand for in the future.

What has happened to us, in contrast with previous patriotic generations: our grandparents and great Americans their senior?  Why don’t Americans believe in the future of America today?  Where’s our creed?  Where’s our leader; our Captain America?  Why are we standing idly by while the once experimental form of government known as Democracy, which was predicted to fail, is in front of our eyes being slowly subjugated by the catastrophic politics of yesterday?  What originated our tolerance for failure; a word which I am hesitant to use because it isn’t in my vocabulary, and at a time it wasn’t in America’s either.

11 November 2009

God bless our men and women in the armed forces--both past and present--and may God bless America


"With malice toward none; with clarity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." - Abraham Lincoln 


There has been enough hatred and enough bloodshed to satisfy anyone's thirst for revenge.  




09 November 2009

Political Cartoons

These graphics - from the Economist.com - speak for themselves.







05 November 2009

Conservative Reboot: Ctrl + Alt + Democrat

It has taken less than a year for the American people—Liberals, Conservatives, Democrats, and Republicans; the life-force of our great nation—to become outraged; unable to stomach Obama’s overt attempts to subvert the foundations of American society by constructing an outrageous platform, which is if nothing else, markedly unconstitutional.  Throughout the ebb and flow of 2009, I have waded waist-deep through the digital muck, searching for the credible, educated voices of Conservatives in America.  They are out there, and their voices are becoming more audible with time.  All of Obama’s fumbles in 2009 have sent increasingly nerve wracking shockwaves through his followers; even Liberals don’t like an offense who fumbles the ball; whether it’s by the quarterback, halfback, or receivers.  Nine months of turnovers, and the mounting tensions felt by Democrats have been realized.

The momentum I have been anticipating became fact yesterday, the 3rd of November.  I put my proverbial ear to the ground in an effort to internalize the quakes caused by Conservatives out east.  Here in Colorado the tremors were barely perceivable vibrations, but the Republican victory in New Jersey, the landslide in Virginia, and the race in New York’s 23rd district, will undoubtedly have lasting effects.  “Conservatives’ disgust with the status quo has been heard and felt.  They have been silent too long.  They will be silent no more.”  I have been thinking along those lines for some time now.  Before the 3rd, only momentary flashes of light broke through the fog confusing the Conservative movement in America. 

These victories, which were largely ignored by Liberals—specifically “O-man-child” himself, reportedly playing basketball while results were coming in—will be framed as trivial in the coming days and weeks; however, they are not.  Conservatives have a much stronger foundational, ideological lineage in American politics.  The opening week of November 2009 marks the beginning of a necessary disruption; an encouraged commotion; the formula for a future force in the political ideology of America.

Remember, remember the beginning of November,
Dawn of Conservative thought,
I can conjure no reason,
How the political season,
Could ever not be got.

The initial political scrap is in the books.  Conservatives routed the Democrats in a seemingly fated clash.  There are many contests on the horizon, but this first KO is not to be taken lightly by “O and the Jokers.”  Conservatives are back, we never went away, and we’re training to go the distance in the title-fight of 2012.  It is three years away, but we’ve learned something: the more we bleed in practice, the stronger we’ll be in battle.

Obama’s campaign for president, tailed closely by his inept administration—some assembly required—has constructed a human-pyramid using “hope” for load-bearing supports, “change” as uncured bricks, and “hopey-changey” voters as both structural base and mortar.  The binding power of the mortar is weathering nearly as well as Elmer’s paste.  The base of the pyramid is weakening due to the top-heaviness natural to the Democrats’ Party.  Sleep-voters from the college student demographic are individually being crushed awake by spontaneous moments of clarity; a “voter’s remorse,” if you will. 

One year ago, I couldn’t walk more than fifty feet on CUs campus without seeing an Obama t-shirt or hearing someone talking about how much change “they thought” was needed.  I haven’t seen a t-shirt for at least a month now, and the Obama-chatter has been drowned out by, “are you guys hiring?”  They lost their unified voice while screaming for hope and demanding change.  Their screams and demands have been ousted by a much more sobering realization; hope that there is enough change in the couch to buy lunch.  The once well-fed student body is quickly losing ideological weight; they’re hungry and a ration of Conservative principles, “and the pursuit” of them, will be heartier than whipped-up words and puffy phrases. 

There is no questioning the fact that a resurgence of Conservative principles and thought have already—after only nine months—become powerful ammunition for Americans disenchanted by the direction that America’s leadership is taking.  Daniel Webster said, “It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions.  There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern.  They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.”  Americans are not followers; we are a nation founded in leadership.  A crucial step required in the next three years is the establishment of Conservative principles in the educated youth.  The door is open more now than ever before.  We have the tools and the drive to create the future force of young Conservative Americans.  A defensive position historically has the advantage in a battle; obviously however, Democrats have not even been able to dig foxholes in the true Conservative soil which America was built on.  


Knight takes King: Checkmate.  Who's with me?

04 November 2009

Watch the "House Call to Pelosi"

"Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason,
Why the gunpowder treason,
Should ever be forgot."


"House Call to Pelosi" - Happening 5 November 2009



"Conservatives' disgust with the status quo has been heard and felt. They have been silent too long. They will be silent no more."