We Need to “Stand up” for America…

It has been a growing trend in recent years, especially after the 2016 election to find any way possible to disparage the country. This isn’t the usual healthy criticism America needs to hear to improve itself, but has become an increasingly one sided partisan attack! A wider trend can be seen in criticizing Western culture and civilization in general, but as far as America goes, it’s only been heating up and we seem to be at the pinnacle of it. Most reasonable Americans can see it happen pretty obviously, but for the truly uninformed, I provide some major examples:

Behind every great country is its history, both good and bad. America like everywhere else has had its good and not so good chapters and will continue to do so. No one denies that racism, sexism, discrimination etc… has made dark stains on our past in a variety of ways, but now it’s trendy to forget all the great strides we made to rectify those past mistakes and create a much better future for all Americans. In our schools, we now spend more time criticizing the Founding Fathers for views we find outdated by 21st century standards rather than focus on the enlightenment ideals of freedom and a democratic society that make up an integral part of our national identity today: A nation founded on the principles of freedom. Of course many of their views are rightfully outdated, such as slave ownership or women’s roles, but we have to remember they lived in a different time and culture and we’d be delusional to think we are at the moral zenith whereas our ancestors were backwards bigots with no gray area in between. Point is, we are ALL products of our time whether we realize it or not.

What makes a country great is not necessarily how few mistakes it makes, but how it chooses to address them and improve, and we have made immense strides in our development. I’m not old by any stretch of the imagination, yet I’m old enough to remember learning about America in a positive light in addition to not sugarcoating over the bad parts of its history. Now however, schools are teaching US history through the “woke” lens of seeing the country as a continuing cesspit of systemic and structural racism, sexism, and discrimination. Instead of focusing on the great strides made in the Civil Rights Movement, the emphasis now is on how bad Jim Crow was and white people are. Instead of focusing on the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence and the importance of the Constitution, we now have to focus on all the un-woke skeletons in the Founding Fathers’ closets then “cancel” them for being bigots! Not to mention, history is full of nuance and gray areas, and people make choices that in hindsight was the wrong choice yet if one looks, one can understand why they made that choice in the heat of the moment. Some of our less than stellar moments also arose in those circumstances, yet instead of trying to see ourselves in their shoes, we are now taught to condemn America for making hard calls that we can conveniently criticize having information they lacked at the time. It’s one thing to recognize when our country was not so great, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t done some extraordinarily great things that we can all be proud of.

Coming around to the present, is it just me, or have you also noticed that almost any expression of patriotism is twisted into unhealthy nationalism and even a “dog whistle for white supremacy” by the Left? Sounds crazy? Apparently not for those like MSNBC contributor Mara Gay who was triggered by sight of pickup trucks sporting American flags which according to her, sent the message that the country belongs to white conservatives and no one else! Sadly she’s not the only one with those views, as the mere sight of our country’s flag is enough for the woke among us to scream “white supremacy!”. Even the word “patriot” is now a code word for the alt-right according to the Leftist media. Showing pride in our country, and also those who defend it is now distorted into something ugly by the Left, who only wish to “deconstruct” everything foundational to our national identity. Even something as simple as standing for the National Anthem is now politically charged! In light of that, it’s no wonder many on the far Left even call for cancelling the 4th of July as a “white supremacist, sexist, racist etc…. nation is nothing to celebrate!” and America is only great for white men. All American apple pie apparently is also racist and nationalist now! If this sounds like a stretch, I invite you to read Left leaning opinion pieces and scroll through social media! Rightfully defending our country is seen as unjust, and some even go so far as to say we deserved 9/11! This clearly goes beyond valid criticisms of our country, instead being a one sided attack that only seeks to tear down our national pride and identity, deconstructing rather than constructively improving our remaining faults.

Perhaps even more concerning than a movement to suppress expressions of patriotism like the 4th of July, the National Anthem, displaying American Flags and such, is the Left’s various social agendas dismantling our core values. Our country was and still is known around the world as the place where you can work hard and achieve your dreams. People flock to the USA from poorer countries, war-torn countries and regimes where that simply isn’t the case. No, life is still hard and full of obstacles here too, but the opportunity to better yourself and the resources to do it are still second to none! However now to even acknowlege that is deemed un-woke as of course, we’re steeped in systemic racism and structural inequalities that make it literally impossible to overcome your odds. Yet, try telling that to the many disadvantaged people born here and abroad who came here and beat the odds! No one denies they have had to face far more obstacles, including poverty, bias and discrimination, but never the less they made it and are proud of the country that helped them succeed. The defeatist attitude that you can’t only leads to a society of people who have no motivation to better themselves and blame the system for all their obstacles rather than actively try to overcome them. Relatedly, values such as personal accountability are also under attack. If you can simply blame systemic racism, sexism, or the “cisheteropatriarchy” for all your mistakes such as your unwanted pregnancies, broken homes, unemployment, financial struggles, the fact you didn’t get the job or admission to college etc… then that absolves you of your own personal choices you could control despite other circumstances you couldn’t! Shifting the blame onto excuses of unsurmountable oppression has chipped away at our moral fiber as a nation has enabled a chronic welfare state, broken families and homes, cycles of violence and abuse and poverty, poorer health outcomes, learned helplessness, underachievement and untapped potential. NONE of which helps our country!

Of course, it can’t go without mention that the Left seeks to put America last instead of first! America first has been mischaracterized as militant nationalism and even white supremacy, when in fact, it’s the right of all nations to put their own interests ahead of other countries or groups. We let in thousands of illegals and refugees while our own citizens struggle. We ignore the dangers of rising crime rates and backwards values that actually ARE racist and sexist brought over by many who want to take advantage of our bounty yet don’t appreciate our country in return. I don’t blame people who are only here for a better life, and I welcome those who come with an open mind and grateful attitude to share the American Dream like many of our own ancestors. However, along with the good ones, come criminals trafficking drugs or fellow human beings, gangs, and those who resent us and want to undermine Western values. Sounds paranoid and extreme, but those so called sanctuary cities have skyrocketing crime rates, and an overflowing welfare state. Even if only productive families came who would help the country, we can only take so many and must look after those already here as legal citizens. No one has the right to just enter any country and demand its resources. There are ways to officially become citizens and many immigrants honor this and it’s unfair to them to just jump the line! Imagine if I randomly decided to go to Canada and demand they give me all their resources without becoming a Canadian citizen! If that sounds ridiculous then why isn’t it for America? Don’t even get me started on how we’re treated internationally by other countries and how we let them step all over us…

Most appalling of all though, is the trend of utterly dividing the country along identity lines. Conservative vs. Liberal. White vs. Black. Men vs. women. Gay vs. straight. EVERYONE vs. white men! In a nation whose motto is “out of many, one”, the surest way to utterly destroy America is to divide us against each other! We did that once, and the results ended in 600,000 Americans dead, more than WWI and WWII combined! While there haven’t been calls of a literal second civil war yet, the violence this division is stoking is an all too real threat. With racial tension at an all time high, and BLM and Antifa around there has been an increase in violent protests, looting and overall lawlessness. Even more frightening, they get a free pass to do all of the above as it’s politically undesirable to hold them accountable to the law. Looting hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise is now okay in the name of reparations! If that doesn’t sound like insanity I don’t know what is… Now, the latest attempt at utterly dividing America comes from Critical Race Theory. This is the worldview that everything can be seen through the lens of racial injustice and oppression at the hands of white people, and that our country is inherently racist at its core. White people must renounce their “privilege” and people of color are inherently oppressed. This is being taught in schools across the country to our children as well as in higher learning to brainwash the next generation and divide them. Is this healthy for anyone? To tell white children they’re oppressors? To tell children of color they’re inherently oppressed and cant go as far as their white peers? If you ask me, it’s a fertile field for resentment to grow on both sides! Instead of being one nation, we now have two separate national anthems and “activist athletes” who instead of thanking America for the opportunity to have achieved so much and come so far and represent America at the Olympics of all places, decide to protest it in defiance of what we stand for. Segregation may have ended physically, but it seems to be very much alive psychologically in the form of two separate Americas! Families are divided over politics, children estranged from parents, siblings on opposite sides, tensions in relationships, friends “unfriending” over a political debate, this division is tearing us apart at the most personal levels. Politics is no longer about ideals, but identity, and every little thing you do now puts you on one side or the other regardless of your own complex opinions! It’s a surprise we aren’t in another civil war!

In light of all this, what can we do? Our history, our values, our identity, our unity, it’s all being “deconstructed”! Reasonable Americans everywhere regardless of politics want a more unified country and less of the increasing polarization going on. I think it’s going to be unpopular with the woke crowd, but the solution is worth it: We need to take more of a hardline stance on standing up for our country. It means putting our collective foot down and saying NO to open borders, (Un)Critical Race Theory, defunding our police, sanctuary cities, welfare cradle to grave, the deconstruction of our values and culture, being pushed around internationally, seeing our country as a cesspit of racism and discrimination, presenting our history in a biased and partisan way, being afraid to fly our flag, stand for our anthem, celebrate our freedom and do all things American! Luckily some states are starting to do that, such as several banning Critical Race Theory from the school curriculum and “sanctuary” cities for 2nd amendment rights. We as citizens can do our part too; voting for candidates who are pro-America, passing laws that put America first, building communities with values that lift up, not keep us down, treating others with true equality, not being afraid to express our patriotism among countless ways to support our country. There is a growing backlash against the anti-American lunacy and we can all take a stand!

Instead of “kneeling” to the Left’s pressure to deconstruct and undermine America, let’s stand up for America, not just during the Anthem, but always!