America: the greatest country in the world. At least, that is what we are indoctrinated with from the time we are born. “The land of the free, the home of the brave.” We are a land of Davy Crockets, Louis and Clarks, Paul Henrys, Stonewall Jacksons and Generals Grant and Lee. We are a prideful people; proud of our heritage, proud of our accomplishments and proud of our freedoms.
I do not argue any of these things. Self-indoctrinated or not, I firmly believe, based on all evidence I have seen, that America is the shining beacon upon a hill to which the rest of the world looks up to (even if done so begrudgingly). I do worry, however, that we are growing complacent; as a result, facts suggest we are slipping.
Our national debt will soon overshadow our gross national product; our education system is underpreparing our citizenry for the interconnected world economy; our borders are so weak it is – in some instances – harder to leave the country than to enter; and our beacon of democracy is still powered by an antiquated electoral college. Due to an undereducated populous (we are an intelligent civilization, but we are oft to fall for the sublimation handed to us from a biased media, rather than to fully research a topic), our politicians pander aimlessly only at those issues which incite voters, in hopes of gaining election.
I have been a member of the Republican Party since I became interested in the political processes that govern our nation. There is much, however, I disagree with my party over. The Democratic Party, however, also provides much for me to disagree with. Like so many Americans, I am stuck in the middle; but because us “middlers” are too difficult for candidates to incite, we are almost always overlooked.
I am a fiscal conservative, but I am a social indifferent. When the Puritans moved to the Americas, the cornerstone of this land was that government would not interfere with social concepts (at the time, namely religion).
Today, however, the American populous and its governing officials are all too ready to tell citizens how to live their lives. Torn over issues such as civil unions (gay marriage), the legalization of marijuana, welfare, social security and immigration, much of America remains the “land of the free” only to the extent that you fit in with the ideals of the populous “brave” already here. That is, you marry the opposite sex, you stick to alcohol and tobacco, you pay into social security and you emigrate here from the correct country.
Presidential candidate Herman Cain would feel uneasy appointing a Muslim-American to his administration. Michele Bachman supports state’s rights for marriage equality, but only until a constitutional amendment is passed banning it. Tim Pawlenty claims he balanced Minnesota’s budget, but in doing so, he leveraged millions of dollars of future debt on his state’s education system. Mitt Romney was for certain equality rights, but only until they made him unpopular.
Where are the Republicans who hold true to conservative values? What happened to government staying out of people’s lives? What happened to the definition of an American, and who the hell changed it?
One of the most powerful sentences in all of history was written in 1776 by a man named Thomas Jefferson. He had this remarkable idea that, regardless if any man or government said otherwise, each human being on this earth was born with certain “unalienable rights.”
Think about those words in the Declaration of Independence. Each soul born unto this earth is granted – by heavenly mandate – the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
In Egypt, the populous just overthrew its government because it did not represent them or their ideals. There is civil unrest in Libya because a dictator is repressing his people from their unalienable rights. There is a large, silent rebellion occurring in Saudi Arabia because women are told they do not have the right to drive.
In 1775, colonists in America started a civil war with England for their independence because the government violated its agreement with them. In 1861, a civil war broke out in America because the government no longer represented its entire people. In 1965, 600 civil rights activists marched from Selma to Montgomery to protest the inhibition of their equality.
Americans, by heritage, have a history of standing up to tyrannical governments who step between them and their unalienable rights; why do we keep allowing our current government to trend against us? Peoples all around the globe are refusing to be repressed by their leaders; why do we not do the same? Have we become so pacifist a nation that the American government and those aspiring to lead it no longer fear disparaging the very freedoms our country was founded on?
The greatest rewards are rarely the easiest obtained. If Americans continue waiting for problems to solve themselves or for the right candidate to be elected, our predicament will only worsen.
West Honeycutt is a senior majoring in political science and economics. He also serves as the State Deputy Chairman for the College Republicans Federation of Alabama.
