By Rusty Humphries
TRN Nationally Syndicated Radio Host
TPNN Contributor
I have spoken with many World War II veterans. I’ve asked them about their patriotism and almost universally, these brave men from what many have called “The Greatest Generation,” give a brief glance of confusion as to the question. “My country called,” they often start. “Fighting for your country is just what you did.”
That was patriotism. And certainly, there have been many patriots before and since that generation, but I am afraid to say that we are seeing a disturbing trend of a declining reverence for the quality of patriotism.
Sure, America isn’t perfect, and we have things we need to work on. But I’m getting pretty tired of the “Anti-America” crowd spewing out their messages and insisting that patriotism is a value of the ignorant or dogmatic.
The Anti-America crowd call themselves “progressives.” They speak down to flag-wavers, like to call soccer “football” and regard things they find favorable as “European.”
Alright, maybe not every progressive fits that mold exactly, but we all know someone like that.
We’re not even safe from Anti-Americanism in the Lone Star State. Recently, a 15-year-old girl named Brenda Brinsdon, who is the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, has filed suit against her school district after they punished her for refusing to swear allegiance to Mexico and sing the Mexican national anthem.
The project was part of a Spanish class project where students needed to recite the Mexican pledge of allegiance and the Mexican national anthem. Brinsdon refused, claiming that it as unpatriotic to pledge allegiance to another nation. She offered to recite the American Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish, but the alternative was refused. She was given an alternative assignment and a failing grade.
While that was bad enough, it is the comparison of treatment that makes it infinitely worse. It should be noted that the McAllen Independent School District has a policy that allows students to opt out of reciting the American Pledge of Allegiance. Also, a student may opt out of reciting text from the Declaration of Independence if they have, “a conscientious objection to the recitation.”
So, let’s get this straightened out- an American girl who loves this country has been punished because she refuses to swear allegiance to Mexico; but if she had wanted to opt out of swearing allegiance to America, or if she had wanted to escape the oh-so-dreadful task of repeating lines from a document that outlined mankind’s basic human rights to freedom, that would have been okay?
You see, that’s the problem I’m talking about…
But it’s not just this one instance. Chuck Hagel, the incoming Secretary of Defense, is eager to bring a softer, sensitive side to the Defense Department by lecturing the Pentagon employees shortly after his confirmation about how America “can’t dictate to the world.”
Why not? We are the powerhouse that invented the first legitimate Republic with a foundation of enlightenment ideals. We are the country that has, from early in our history, fought and died to save much of the world at one point or another. We give billions in aid to countries that hate us so that we don’t see their people starve. We are kicked around in the United Nations, despite the concept of an international alliance of nations being our idea and design. We fought the Germans. Then we fought them again. Then we fought the Communists and did so without firing a shot.
We’ve earned the right to sit at the head of the table, Chuck.
Our new Secretary of State John Kerry told Germany this week that it is the right of every American to “be stupid.” He also told London this week that we are “citizens of the world.”
No wonder this school district in Texas is behaving as such- our own Secretary of State is spreading the word that Americans are not Americans, but that we’re citizens of some global community.
How is it that Lurch doesn’t get it but 15-year-old Brenda Brinsdon does?
I’m not saying that we should all be blind to the problems of America. We should always strive to make this a better country. But first and foremost, we need to all agree that America is an idea worth celebrating and a place worth making better.
Rusty Humphries is a nationally syndicated radio host heard across the USA on over 300 radio stations and is listed as the 6th largest radio audience by Talkers Magazine. He is also a regular contributor to TPNN.com
