In my much younger days, there was an expression that simply stated “It’s a man’s world”  and in many ways it was. There were better job opportunities for men. The family bread winner was traditionally a man. You could usually assume that when a man and woman performed the same work, the man earned more money than his female counterpart. In those days even the military enforced this dichotomy,  men on one side of the line, women on the other.

The “Man’s World” concept was further reinforced by statues we carved to honor great men who had led and served our Republic. Today we look back on those quaint old days when indeed it was a man’s world. Thankfully that phrase is no longer in use, due primarily to the fact that it is no longer a reality. Most of our statues and memorials still honor men but that too will change in time.

I’ll let you in on  a secret only a few know: My two favorite statues are of women. Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty with her torch of freedom held aloft, stands in a harbor beckoning to the worthy in far off  lands, welcoming  the best the world has to offer to the shores of America. In all the years this magnificent Lady has greeted the weary she has never guaranteed wealth, happiness, fame nor success to anyone. These rewards must be earned through individual effort, courage and determination. Any person who would migrate to this land must find these things for himself or simply not have them because this is the nation where happiness can be pursued, but not necessarily captured.

What the Lady with the torch does offer to the inbound traveler was not to be found in the country he left behind. She bequeaths to each and all new arrivals the opportunity to find success and the right to live as a free person in a free land. Many are the immigrants who, upon arrival, have stooped low to kiss the ground of their new found home never looking back on what they have left behind.

The other lady I admire from afar is Lady Justice. She will in silence stand with quiet dignity by our halls of justice forever holding high the scale balancing right and wrong. She sees not the beautiful nor the ugly, not the rich nor the poor, nor the color of skin on any man or woman. Justice has always been illusive but justice for all is the cause she must forever pursue. Perhaps in her quest for equality we can follow in her footsteps and maybe find the courage to leave mistrust, fear, prejudice and our suspicious minds along the way and follow a symbol of morality into a better tomorrow.

Time worn figures of marble and granite are a living testimony to the awe and appreciation every generation bestows  upon such people. They stand proudly before us as each in his own way demonstrated the courage, determination and loyalty we demand of  heroes. It is not the brave deeds of men, but the noble spirit of mankind that will forever be glorified by the presence of these two Ladies. Their statues stand as symbols of the highest ideals of humanity. In honoring the concept of what they represent we reach for heights in the human spirit and find the better part of what makes us Americans.

This country was born in the fury of battle as men struggled and died to break the bonds of tyranny. Through the centuries our young men have not been strangers to battlefields in far off lands as our they laid down their lives freeing their fellow men. We have known sacrifice and endured many hardships but over the years these two Ladies have stood there, inspiring us all and asking only that we give our best effort.

Time and misfortune have placed many obstacles in the path of America but the danger we face today is the result of a self inflicted wound. In a time of weakness and doubt we elected a new president. This man feels no loyalty to the people who elected him, nor to the nation he took an oath to serve and protect. Instead of Obama meeting our expectations and keeping his promises, he has seized so much power in so little time that many have come to fear him and his plans. The goals he has set for our nation will curtail or totally end the America we love and the freedom so many have died for.

Over the centuries fate has seen fit to lay many challenges before us, but  through it all, Americans have always proven equal to any hardship. Today we face yet another obstruction and this one is far more dangerous than anything we have yet encountered. I fear the situation is so precarious that, should we fail, all that we hold dear will  perish in the dark realm of collectivism. This world has admired our country for so long but now the admiration has turned to confusion. The very fabric that has held this great nation together has been weakened. Socialism and freedom cannot coexist! One or the other must give way and which one will be determined by the strength or weakness of our people.

Although many are the times when America has gone into harm’s way, we as a people have remained steadfast in our beliefs, but today we face a danger from within that threatens to divide our people. This weakness of spirit, this divisiveness that grows, this corruption in high places is what Abraham Lincoln warned us about and we must come together as fellow Americans or the world our grandchildren inherit will be nothing like what we grew up in. We have yet time to change the outcome of our mistake and change it we must or sad will be the legacy we leave for posterity.

The problem has reached such a fervor pitch that some states are now talking secession. Lincoln died a martyr, confident that he had put an end to such a notion. But now, in the few short months that Obama has reigned we have become afraid of our own currency and are  buying gold and silver out of fear, but not as fast as we are buying guns and bullets. Even our news media has split into different camps. A scant few have the courage to broadcast the truth but most have already sold their souls for thirty pieces of silver and are eager to turn a profit by selling ours.

Sometimes, I cannot help but feel that when the sun goes down and city lights twinkle through the night, Americans forsake the streets and as they return to their homes something solemn happens. There in the twilight where none may bear witness, Lady Liberty and Lady Justice from their lofty perches look down upon the country they have for so long served. Then there in the gathering darkness, a darkness such as America has never seen, they stand alone in their isolation and weep.

Anyone who knows anything about history will recall what happens to a country and its people when leaders grow corrupt and put their own welfare ahead of their duty. The lust for undeserved power and unearned money has brought ruin to many countries and their people. For over two hundred years we have remained aloof from such petty politics and served the better part of man’s spirit.

History records us policing and saving the world when things got out of hand and then rebuilding nations destroyed by men willing to forsake morality in the name of tyranny. Many are the times I’ve heard it said “It can’t happen here.” How I wish that were true. The founding fathers knew well it could happen here. That is why they wrote the Constitution as they did. Those wise men of old designed a system of government where if one branch of government was gaining too much power it could be offset by the intervention of the other two. The system is imperfect but it has worked reasonably well until now.

Today we have a  President, a Congress and a Senate, all of which are of the same  radical philosophy. That is where the waters get murky and treacherous. When overwhelming numbers can bypass checks and balances the republic is in grave danger. When morality is supplanted by expediency, when laws are disregarded to gain a bigger voting block, when noble sounding words are but a smoke screen for conspiracy then I have news for you my friends. It will happen here if we don’t soon stop it!

“Study history or you will be forever doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.” How I wish I had coined that phrase. All of the wisdom attributed to Solomon would just about equal the wisdom found in that one simple statement. Take a look at your friends. How many would be able to tell you the significance of the following numbers? 1776, 1812, 1861, 1917, 1941. Do you know what makes them so unique? If you don’t you should learn their importance before you vote again.

If more of our citizens looked to the past and heeded lessons learned we would most assuredly have a brighter tomorrow. This country is on the verge of becoming not the benefactor of history but the victim. Take a look at Washington. Nothing makes any sense, at least not from the perspective of  maintaining our freedom. We have a president who loves to make speeches and he is good at it, but put his speeches up against an American history book and I can disprove everything he says.

A prime example is the apology tour. We are in the middle of a financial crisis and Air Force One does not fly cheap. Around the world the man went, apologizing for all of the evil that we have perpetrated on the people of other nations. I welcome him to open a history book and point out all of that evil. The Axis Powers, Germany, Japan, and Italy tried to force their will on countries they plundered. We set about on yet another freedom crusade. Along the way many good American men lost life and limb. Wars are won by destroying the enemy. We did that. Then after crushing the evil that their leaders had spawned, we rebuilt their countries. That is the American way but Obama feels we owe them an apology. What he should have done was say “Hey guys. Look at all we’ve done for you. Don’t you think that after all these years, you could apologize for what your countries did? And it really wouldn’t hurt to say Thank you.”

He and I must have read different history books. He, having done nothing to earn it, was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. It may sound odd but I think that he was right to accept it but not to add to his arrogant posture. He should have accepted the award with all humility and announced to the world that this peace prize would forever stand as a monument to all of the Americans who have fallen in battle maintaining peace in the world.

Presidents do not bow to a foreign dignitary. Obama has and in doing so belittles every soldier that died in the Revolutionary War. Over two hundred years ago they shed their blood in battle so we would never bow again. I could be wrong about one thing. I do believe the man we elected to lead us hates this country and I hope I’m mistaken. One issue about which I am quite certain: Our president is an utter disgrace to everything Americans hold dear.

A closing thought: Generations of a free people have drawn inspiration from the image of Lady Justice. If Americans rally and stand up for what is right, one day, she will judge those who have harmed the Great Republic and her scales will once again be brought into balance.

As the saying goes…Those were the days. These days are not. Recent years have brought an attack on the basic rights of America and therefore on the rights of free men everywhere. Our current President shames this great nation as he tours the world issuing apology after apology to those who deserve none. He and his progressive following are, on a daily basis, attacking our rights but the most important right of all is now under the ax. That is the right to free speech and if we lose it there remains but two choices, kneel before the masters or rise up as a single people.

The Disclosure Act could sound the death knell for the First Amendment and the House of Representatives  has passed it! If the badly outnumbered conservatives in the Senate can’t block it then our freedom of speech is history. Nancy Pelosi and her Crime Lords have passed HR5175 and managed to once again to twist the meaning of words and side step a gullible American public.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

It must have been with a heavy heart that President Lincoln left this warning to posterity. He knew this nation would survive the civil war through the shear force of his unbending will and the blood of patriots. Thanks to oceans on both sides, he knew we would never suffer humiliating invasion by a foreign power. Only weakness and corruption of our own people can change the destiny of this great nation.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea

With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me

Juliet W. Howe Author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic

As he died to make men holy let us die to make men free

As God goes marching on.

And die they did. Thousands upon thousands of men marched into the unyielding horror of battle and gave their lives for a cause. In doing so they kept the union intact and loosed the shackles that kept other men, women and children in bondage. The Revolutionary War had given us freedom. The Civil War defined what it meant to be an American and gave us a new direction.

That one line “Let us die to make men free” has been taken to heart by the citizens of this country. It did not end with the Civil War. The men and women of our armed forces have bravely sacrificed themselves on many foreign shores, freeing the oppressed of the world. If we are not helping free other people then we are providing financial aid to those less fortunate than us. Now that is American and nothing we should apologize for.

The people of the United States are the most caring and the most giving of all the peoples of the world. Herein lies the problem! We have done so much, for so many, for so long, that Americans, one generation after another, are raised and taught that it is our DUTY to provide for others. It most certainly is not! I love America and I love it even more when we are helping the downtrodden but give us the choice. I resent being the sacrificial lamb in Obama’s self destructive race toward socialism.

We did not lose that awful was in Viet Nam. We abandoned it and in doing so left the American spirit floundering in the rice paddies of a foreign land. It was years before we stood proud again and for that we can thank president Ronald Reagan. Once again it became fashionable to take pride in America. A new Song soared on the charts, “Proud To Be An American”  celebrating the pride that a great President restored. Obama’s action may inspire a song as yet unwritten called “I’m Sorry And Ashamed.”

On 911 we were viciously attacked and again thousands of Americans died. So many Americans had laid down their lives freeing Europe from the Nazi but when, in the War on Terror, we needed help from the countries we had saved, little was offered. We couldn’t even get permission to fly through the air space of  some nations. That is why I’m proud to be an American!.Thank God I am not like them!

Now, sadly, we have elected a president who travels not-stop, makes speeches non-stop, bows to foreign dignitaries and apologizes to nations we have saved from oppression. No apology is due! He wants us to be more like the Europeans. We don’t want to be like them. Had we not behaved like Americans in 1944 there would be no Europeans. They would be no more than hungry masses under the heavy boot of a Nazi regime.

Confusion, Complete, total, utter confusion! How could any American president betray us like that? Obama is trying to destroy American dignity! He well fail! This country has elected a dangerous man! Our president may be ashamed to be an American but I am not! Call me “Astro turf” It doesn’t bother me a bit. Add “Right wing fanatic” to the mix! I’ll laugh at the insult! We certainly don’t want to forget “Teabagger!” Let all the liberal and progressive know that this teabagger is still singing “Proud To Be An American.”

I look back on Abraham Lincoln with an ever growing awe and admiration and shall heed the warning he left us. I am ashamed of the man who sits in the oval office working on his plan to totally transform this country. He said that he would do this and he certainly is trying. At least, for the moment, we still have the freedom of speech and I will exercise that freedom. I will talk to any who will listen and write to any who would read and ask them to join us as we take back our country. After all it is OUR country…Not his…We simply gave him temporary employment.

Write a blog! Sign petitions! Attend city hall meetings…If your elected officials have the courage to face you. March on Washington if you can. For far too long we have been meek and Politically Correct. Political correctness is an infringement  on our freedom of speech! We must.now do to political correctness what Obama is trying to do to our country. Crush it under foot! Put an end to it! Stand up as Americans and speak your mind. Do not let this man live his dream of power while he destroys the greatest nation this world has ever seen. He must be stopped!

Our forefathers built this nation with pride. Many died in numerous wars to make the world a better place. That man in the White House dishonors them and spits on the sacrifices they made every time he apologizes for American behavior. He is unworthy to even talk about such noble men and women. What they did has made them heroes in the hearts of those who love America. I do not think the term “Hero” will ever be applied to Barrack Obama unless it’s by petty dictators like Castro and Hugo Chavez.

Surely this generation can unite in an effort to oppose the evil that now festers in Washington. Lincoln warned us. We must heed that warning and oppose Obama! If we do not then he will surely trample our flag, destroy our constitution, terminate our freedoms and bring slavery back to America.

And the greatest irony of all…..He likes comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln.