A Better America

Some people might call me nostalgic. To some degree, I suppose they're right. I miss a lot of things about America that I never lived to experience. Sure, there were challenges of wars and economic depression and civil inequalities that had to be dealt with, but those were but a few frayed threads in a larger and otherwise pristine patchwork of American life. Things were simpler. Families mattered. The general population had a moral sense of right and wrong. People immigrated to our country to assimilate and become part of it, to make it stronger; not to terrorize or take over from within. There was pride in hard work and an honest dollar. We were one people and we stood behind our military as a collective whole in times of distress with more than lip service for political gain. We bought bonds, our women assembled our heavy armor, and we sacrificed our own food at home so that the boys on the front lines could be fed. We flew our flag in the morning and respectfully took it down at dusk. We were admired by other nations for being the kind of people that we were.

So what happened?

Too much to sum up here, for sure. Somewhere along the line though, we lost our guiding light. "Anything Goes" up and went and it took us right down the tubes with it.

Marriage became a contract rather than a commitment. Children were downgraded from people to possessions. If there was a buck to be made, we made it any way that we could. Even if making it meant lowering our standards or slighting someone. We became a sue-happy society filled with frivolous lawsuits. We allowed our civil liberties to be used against us to the point that we have become legally encaged in a world of political correctness. We lost our trust in one another and in our government. We worshipped our criminals as heroes and allowed our policemen to become villains. We traded true patriotism and national pride for a bumper sticker and a burning flag. Instead of taking advantage our our greatest right and voting, we became disengaged from our political process. And we wonder why other nations think we're laughable?

We are a great people. I know that in my heart and I can see it in your eyes when we pass in the street. We're not strangers. Somewhere down deep, we still have that conscience and that pride that makes us Americans. I can sense it in our children - they want to know that great America - and I can see the ever-dimming twinkle in the eyes of our elders. We're all right here and we all want the same thing. But we're polarized. We need a leader who can unite us.

Mike Huckabee has my vote because he gives me hope that a better America is still out there.

It is up to you and me to find it.