One of my favorite songs of all time is "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood.
The song is also sometimes referred to as "Proud to Be an American".
It's lyrics begin like this.
If tomorrow all the things were gone
I worked for all my life
And I had to start again
With just my children and my wife
I thank my lucky stars
To be living here today
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom
And they can't take that away
And I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you
And defend Her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt
I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.
Greenwood collaborated with the United States Air Force Band, the Singing Sergeants and vocal group Home Free during the pandemic on a terrific version of the song that is worth watching on July 4th.
This is another version of the song that was done by Home Free with Mount Rushmore as the backdrop.
Of course, my personal favorite is still Lee Greenwood's original version which was released in 1984.
Unfortunately, it seems that fewer and fewer people these days are "proud to be an American".
A recent Gallup poll shows that a record low 38% now say that they are extremely proud to be American.
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| Source: https://news.gallup.com/poll/394202/record-low-extremely-proud-american.aspx |
20 years ago that number was 70%.
Among Democrats that number is only 26%. That is up from 22% when Trump was President in 2019.
However, Republicans who say they are extremely proud to be an American has dropped from 76% in 2019 to only 58% today.
I wonder what the reason for that is?
Among those who are 18-34, only 25% say they are extremely proud and 23% say they are very proud to be an American. That is not even a majority.
Among those age 55+, 80% are extremely or very proud to be an American.
How do Democrats in Tucson, Arizona plan to celebrate July 4th?
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| Source: https://twitter.com/Rasmussen_Poll/status/1543247413464416256 |
That tweet has bow been deleted....but really?
Democrats control the White House, House of Representatives and the United States Senate. There are two Democrats representing Arizona in the U.S. Senate. Democrats control four of the five seats on the Pima County Board of Supervisors.
Bring your anger?
I would say the system is working pretty well for them.
It is hard to understand anything I have cited above while at the same time millions of people are trying to cross our borders right now to be in the United States of America. A lot of them are trying to get to Tucson, Arizona which is just 70 miles north of the Mexican border.
Why do we see the scorn we do about the United States of America from Democrats in particular?
It seems apparent that a big reason the young have negative views about America is due to our liberal education system that spends more time maligning the United States and its Founders than extolling its virtues.
They love to push the narrative to their students that everything about the United States is illegitimate in that it was founded by a bunch of rich, white men who created a system based on slavery and were primarily concerned with protecting their own self interests.
Of course, this narrative fails to mention that our Founders were generally the elite in the American colonies. The British system had worked out well for their self interests. They were "the 1%" in that day and age.
By declaring independence from the British, they put all that they had at risk--their lives, their livelihoods, and their riches..
As Benjamin Franklin put it so aptly to the other Founders right after they put their names on the Declaration of Independence.
Why did they do it?
They valued freedom and independence for themselves and their fellow Americans more than their own self-interests.
How many would do the same today?
The United States founding is also maligned and students are taught that the country is evil because it was established on a foundation of slavery.
The narrative that many Leftists believe today is that the United States of America is inherently flawed and evil because slavery was not explicitly forbidden in its founding documents. The argument follows that all of the Founders, at a minimum, were complicit in supporting the institution of slavery and that everything that follows is forever tainted and illegitimate.
I find it amusing that the primary thing that progressives seem to have that supports their view that the country is inherently flawed is to cite things from 250 years ago. I guess none of the good that the country did over the next 250 years counts? Being the first country in the world to provide power to the people to govern themselves. Providing the highest standard of living to people in the history of the world. Confronting and defeating the axis of evil (Germany and Japan) in WWII. Rebuilding those countries and returning those countries to the citizens after they had been defeated. When has that ever been done in the history of mankind?
It should also be remembered that our Founders inherited the slave system from the British. It was not an invention by our Founders. In fact, a little known fact is that in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson included a provision that attacked slavery and the King's actions in "suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce."
This passage was deleted in the final Declaration that was approved but I think it pretty clearly shows that Jefferson was not aiding in "the construction of institutionalized racism and subjugation of racism" as has been alleged by Leftists. He was actually attempting to deconstruct it.
Yes, some of the Founders owned slaves but most of those were inherited. Most of our Founders wanted to curtail and find a way out of slavery. That is one of the main reasons that slaves were only counted as 3/5 in census calculations for the number of reps each state got in Congress. It was done to limit the influence of the slave states so they could not expand the practice. It was to put pressure on those states to end the practice. Notice it did not apply to free black citizens. They were fully counted. It only applied to slaves. It was a penalty.
Why did Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers accede to removing this language in the Declaration of Independence? Quite simply, if they were to be successful in breaking away from Great Britain, and gaining independence, all 13 colonies had to be totally united. If not, as Franklin said, they all might hang separately.
The larger goal of independence from Great Britain took precedence as it was not possible to move forward without all colonies being united on the issue of slavery. Several southern colonies simply would not sign on to the Declaration of Independence with that passage in it. The Founders wanted freedom from Great Britain. They were not going to achieve that goal by dividing the colonies at the outset.
Tough compromises are necessary on tough issues. Moving forward allows for a fight for another day. Retaining the status quo accomplished nothing for the cause of freedom in the 1770's---for anyone---colonists or slaves.
Jefferson was later instrumental in making sure there was a ban on slavery in the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 and it was Jefferson who as President initiated the legislation that banned the importation of any more slaves.
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