A City on Hill - Election day 2012

Tomorrow is November 6, 2012 and my country, the United States of America will be participating in an election to choose the next leader of our country without a bullet fired and without a war declared.

While there is no war, this has been a battle getting to this point and I know without a doubt that Americans are battle scarred.  We have looked back on the last four years and how this country has changed. We look at divisions and start questioning which category we belong in, male, female black, white, asian, latino, the 1 percent, the other 99 percent.  We have focused seemingly on differences without figuring out how to come together as Americans.  Most Americans are now tired of the illness in government of hyper partisanship, along with its symptoms of gridlock, delays, cronyism.

It would be easy tomorrow to treat this as another day and not do you part but even though this is not a revolution but an election please realize the price that has been paid for the opportunity for you to cast your vote for President of the United States.  The blood of this nations defenders has spilled so that you have a choice in this election.  The greatest generation our grandparents and great grandparents fought and sacrificed against forces that would deny our rights to vote and change our way of life from that of freedom to despotism. 

I am reminded of the words of Ronald Reagan tonight that he spoke on the eve of his re-election:

The greatness of America doesn't begin in Washington; it begins with each of you—in the mighty spirit of free people under God, in the bedrock values you live by each day in your families, neighborhoods, and work-places. Each of you is an individual worthy of respect, unique and important to the success of America. And only by trusting you, giving you opportunities to climb high and reach for the stars, can we preserve the golden dream of America as the champion of peace and freedom among the nations of the world."

President Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan: Address to the Nation on the Eve of the Presidential Election

                          

November 5, 1984

 

Tomorrow no matter what you are doing, no matter where you are go and make time to vote.

 

Our future depends on it.

 

Peace through Strength vs Peace through Apology

From an early age we are taught that if we have done something wrong we need to make sure and apologize for it. It is an attempt to right a wrong, restore a friendship or settle things between 2 parties, or just plain good manners.   The apology has many applications for each of us however it is not a strategy to achieve peace. 

If peace truly is the goal for our nation and we accept that freedom and liberty are to be defended then history teaches us that there are forces that rise to challenge the cause of Freedom and Liberty.  There are many parts of the world where freedom is absent and the characteristics of nations in the absence of freedom are often a controlled economy, an oppressed people, and deep in the heart of an individual in that populace an instinct that something is not right. 

I believe we are not only endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights but we are also blessed with a human heart that recognizes when those rights are taken away from us.  Even those born to a life where they are not free and are ruled by a dictator, despot, a party who exercises force over its people know that something has to be better than this. Instinct is not only  given to us by God but America stands as an example to the rest of the world, a city on a hill. 

America and the experience of this country calls to those that are oppressed, that are under rule, and are not free, it is in the very DNA of our nations founders.  We do not force anyone to believe one way or the other but we strive to live peacefully with those that differ from us and each of us have an opinion.

The killing of our nations citizens in Benghazi, Embassy in Libya we are told was provoked by a video - to which I say SO WHAT.  The focus is not someone who made a video it should be that 4 of our citizens died on American soil while representing us in a foreign country.  No matter how heinous the video may be, no matter what was said - and perhaps we need the ACLU to confirm this, that video, its content, and its producer are NO EXCUSE to kill or harm American citizens abroad. 

We have leaders who are worried about damage control in the media, and not bringing damage to the ones who perpetrated this act because they are a school yard bully. America this is not the time we get behind a leader and look those in the eye who murdered someone and say we are sorry, however it is a time we say in our country - we have freedom - and you attack any American for any reason you attack all of us. 

Unfortunately by trying to appease and apologize for the maker of the video we fuel the hearts of those that would attack us on these grounds.  While we can condemn the video at home, and we can say all we want about it, what we can not and SHOULD not do is excuse the murder of Americans because of something on You tube.

In other countries we see the absence of freedom, and unfortunately in this country we currently have an absence of leadership.  In this playground - an apology doesn't cut it. 

We stand up for freedom and bring to justice those that would harm and attack her.  While these past attacks did not see our mortar crumbling to the ground, lives were lost and there is no excuse you can say in the media and if you truly want to deliver apologies - start by talking to the families of those that lost their lives.

The American Dream and American Business - things that Obama does not understand are interconnected.

President Obama shows a complete inability to understand the link to business and the American Dream.  The latest speech in Roanoke, VA has him telling supporters that business owners did not build their business without the help of the government that the government not only played a roll in their enterprise but without this government you would not be where you are today. 

With all due respect Mr. President more and more the story is becoming in our business community that businessess are where they are today in spite of your efforts.  You see President Obama, see's the American dream as a bunch of workers not business owners or anyone taking risks, workers working for the government, or employees - don't dream of running your own enterprise, that would make you part of the problem, the enemy, the 1% or whatever devisive name this administration decides to label a business owner next. 

Business owners are American People who have risked more than anyone to pursue a dream. Behind every business is a person or persons or family who have risked and are providing services, and they do it more efficiently than our government could ever dream of. 

Our current president says where would you be without the roads and infrastructure your driving on, we got that for you?  Yes - and business owners pay taxes Mr. President - on the income they make, and we even paid for or thought we were paying for shovel ready jobs to help those roads the first go around of tarp money that was authorized by the people elected Congress.

Mr. President you forget who the American government is, that it is made up not of just the people of Washington DC that hold power - but it is the American People you work for, we don't work for you. 

In November I truly believe that you will be reminded of this fact when the people of this nation fire you, but don't worry the taxes paid by Americans and business owners of the past have built a great infrastructure to send you on the road back to where you came from.