Happy 4th. Let’s think like Patriots.
Matt Pearl
The Fourth of July wasn’t really Independence Day to me for the first few years of my life. It was a fireworks-based holiday, a midsummer occasion for me to enjoy homemade ice cream, sparklers and not having to go to school the following day.
It still means all of those things to me, really. But along the way, I also learned that the price of freedom has been high for our American predecessors, and in truth, as long as oppression and tyranny still exist in this world, our freedom continues to be paid for by those who defend our nation.
That’s not to say that the Stars and Stripes should travel to every site of world conflict to aid in every fight, but we must value the fact that ideals that directly conflict with human freedom are always out there.
Some believe the only reason to stay strong is to pick a fight. Others understand that a show of strength will prevent more conflicts than it will ever begin.
When I see our nation decrease the size of its military, which happens every few years, I just shake my head. All we do is save the money now, which will force us to spend twice as much later.
Why? Because someone else in the international community is always increasing their military. Even more frightening is the fact that national armies are not the only threat to our security. We saw nearly 14 years ago that bands of militant radicals can do devastating harm to a world superpower.
Military combat is never a popular topic of social discussion, and the very mention of military support will cause some to label others warmongers. So it must be at times, folks. If you believe in protecting our American way of life, there will always be a few around you who resent your doing so.
There will always be those who are vocally opposed to Americanism, or, as they often label it, American Exceptionalism. I will never say that just because a policy is American that being so necessarily makes it right. But there’s another harsh truth at work that we cannot deny:
Somebody always gets his or her way. In the arena of the world and its nations, there is always an upstart fighting for dominance and power. If the choice is either to be forced to live in a way that is pleasing to the rest of the world or to take the good and the bad of American Exceptionalism, I choose the latter.
Europe may make its choice, Asia its own and Africa whatever it sees fit. I don’t live there. I don’t want to live there. I don’t appreciate the economic and military advice we receive from the eastern hemisphere, and I’m not offering them any from the western.
I believe in Americanism. What way of life has been more frequently mimicked, sought after and immigrated toward in the past 200 years? Independence Day is our reminder that blood-brought ideologies should be dear to us, valued as much as we value our own lives. When history-ignorant politicians try to cast Americanism aside, I wonder if they even understand the time and place in which we are living.
Unless we prefer Russian Putin-ism, Chinese communism, European bankrupt socialism or another foreign system of redistributing American wealth, you and I are better off believing in the way of life that our nation has established as freedom’s standard. Happy Fourth, everyone. Let’s think like Patriots.
