SHARI GOODMAN: WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO LOVE OF COUNTRY?
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/what-has-happened-to-love-of-country
Just last week a school principal in Coney Island, New York, banned a song to be played during graduation because she objected to the phrase “G-d bless the USA.” Although the song was banned, students gathered outside in protest and sang the song in front of the school while parents yelled “Burn in Hell” at the students. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X3Hkx-Liwk&feature=player_embedded#!)
To the students’ credit, they began to drown out the protesting parents with shouts of “USA, USA!” For those of us who grew up in the 50’s where love of country was taught and encouraged by parents, schools, and the greater community, today’s acts of trashing the values we held dear are as alien as being transported to another planet.
What has happened to the America we love? The America that held to the belief of American exceptionalism through hard work and a free market. An America where anything was possible as long as you had a good idea, persevered, and made something of yourself because America was the land of the free. We were expected to become self-sufficient and to stand on our own two feet.
Welfare was something to be ashamed of and most able-bodied men and women preferred a low wage to a handout. Shame was a motivator as well as an instrument to keep young people in line. Yes, conformity was encouraged. There were boundaries and standards that we were expected to live by and live up to as a means of becoming productive, decent citizens. We would not have dared to disrespect an elder, and our manners were a sign of civility.
Civics was taught in junior and senior high schools, and in those classes we learned not only about the Constitution and our rights, but we also learned that with those rights came responsibilities. Civics is no longer taught and hasn’t been taught for years.
While in school, the curriculum, as well as art and music, transmitted pride in country. As we respected ourselves, the rest of the world respected us. As a teenager, I remember a road trip to Canada with my family and the admiration we encountered from others when they learned we were Americans. That is no longer the case. It appears that the best generation – the generation that lived through the Depression, and fought World War II, the generation that sacrificed to put their baby boomers through Ivy League schools produced the worst generation…..my generation.
For the last few decades these same baby boomers who were coddled by the greatest generation while wallowing in their arrogance began to tear down all of our institutions, and in the process we are now left with a country adrift. Unfortunately the greatest generation failed to transmit the values, principles, rights and responsibilities of the greatest Republic ever to grace this earth to their darling offspring.
The 60’s cultural revolution led by the baby boomers began to tear down all that was once held dear. The breakdown of the family, sexual promiscuity, recreational drug use, illegitimacy, anti-Americanism on college campuses and the lowering of standards had a direct correlation to our failure to transmit the values set before us. Today we find ourselves under attack from within and without.
The Left seeks to replace our economic and governing system with, at best, socialism and, at worst Marxism. Islamists seek through their civil code, Sharia, to transform our Constitutional Republic to an Islamic Caliphate. Most Americans do not have a clue as to what is at stake because they have no frame of reference to decipher between our form of government and the alternatives creeping at our shore. Our universities are bastions of liberal indoctrination where Conservative professors are few and far between. Anti-Americanism is learned at these institutions. Millions of dollars in Saudi oil money has bought departments in Middle East Studies at our finest universities and the result has been an increase in anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism for American Jewish students as well as an increase in Jewish hate crimes throughout the land. American middle school textbooks contain a whitewash of Islam and Mohammad, while portraying Jews and Christians as conquerers.
The influence of Islamic oil money here on our shores cannot be underrated or underestimated. The Muslim Brotherhood, through their various front groups, has infiltrated all of our institutions and, if we are to survive as the Republic we once were, we must not only identify the enemy, we must transmit to our young the values that we cherish and why they are worth preserving.
Our Constitution was inspired by a Judeo-Christian doctrine and the liberties we enjoy – such as freedom of speech, equal opportunity, freedom of religion, equality before a court of law, etc. – are not a given to people in many parts of the Islamic world. It is a misconception driven by the Left that all men seek freedom. All men do not seek freedom. Islam demands of Muslims not freedom, but submission. The very definition of Islam is submission and while honesty is encouraged and valued within our Judeo-Christian framework, within Islam there is a practice referred to as Taquiyya (deception), which grants permission for Muslims to deceive non-Muslims in the advancement of Islam. It is a concept that is so foreign to us that most Americans cannot grasp it.
Unless we can regain our identity as Americans and maintain the values that defined us, we will be in danger of being overcome by a stealth civilizational jihad that is taking place here on our shores. A country without an identity is easy prey for those who have one.
The Islamists and the Leftists have an agenda that seeks to subvert our way of life and it is incumbent upon all of us to see that they are defeated. Already we are witnessing honor killings and Sharia courts here on our soil. While shopping in Los Angeles, it is now customary to see many women in hijabs and, at times, women covered from head to toe with only their eyes visible. Is this our future landscape and is this what we want our America to look like?
In today’s America, American women are not second class citizens and if they want to maintain that status it would behoove them to protest such degradation. While it may be customary for Muslim women to be covered from head to toe, the practice is not an American custom and while here they must be required to conform to our standards. We should not be required to tolerate customs that are in conflict with American values under the guise of tolerance. All cultures are not equal and tolerance in the face of evil is a crime. Values that define our culture will unite us while those that are alien to Judeo-Christian doctrine will divide us.
There are many fronts in this battle, but we can begin with education. Civics must be restored within all school curriculums and it will not be restored until parents demand it. Dennis Prager refers to the three pillars of American exceptionalism as the American Trinity…..”In God We Trust (our rights are derived from G-d), Liberty, and E Pluribus Unum (from many one). Those three pillars inspired us to greatness and it is our duty to transmit those values to future generations so America can once again regain its identity and be what President Ronald Reagan described as “that shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom loving people everywhere.”
Shari Goodman is an educator and a chapter leader for ACT! For America. Her views are her own and are not necessarily representative of ACT! For America. Her columns have appeared in Family Security Matters, Israel Today, and the Los Angeles Times.
Read more: Family Security Matters http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/what-has-happened-to-love-of-country#ixzz1z55fJ3DP
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Comments are closed.
