He told me that on the way home from his last tour, that he was told by SUPERIOR OFFICERS not to wear the uniform on the plane or out in public, to keep his head down and to himself in transit, and not to look anyone in the eye. Which translates: “We’re ashamed of you and you should be ashamed, too.”

Having done numerous outreaches in Nashville, San Francisco, LA, and in other metropolitan cities, I know what it looks like to have a broken spirit. I can’t tell you how many homeless Vietnam Vets I’ve met who can’t find their way back up. I go out of my way to honor each and every one. Although he’s into his 70s and not in the best health, Dad and I still go to the Union Mission here in town with his church every couple of months and work with the homeless. He’s got his honor back and does what he can to restore it to others who were in the same place (or in some other place lacking in honor).

The Republican spirit has been stepped on, bruised, and kicked out of joint. Most of the people working to restore it are responsible, family-loving, hard-working types who aren’t out for headlines or credit. We’re working to overcome the national inferiority complex the liberals in this country keep trying to tell us we should have. Can they really not stand a winner? Is that what this is about? Every time some liberal meets with our enemies (i.e., Chavez) it undermines our credibility and unity. This nation can do great things when we pull together, but no matter how much we conservatives try to lean toward the left to make a bridge, they go out of their way to lean even further left. They keep singing songs about can’t we just all have peace and get along, but they only want to get along if THEY don’t have to compromise.

 I DO NOT believe the vitriol spewed by the left:

1)      our military is a bunch of dimwit civilian-killers

2)      The US is about INVADING, rather than FREEING Iraq

3)      Bush has destroyed freedom in our nation (he’s just not big enough, people)

4)      Christianity is a negative force in this country, and God should damn us

5)      Our economy will benefit by government bailout of corrupt industries with NO ACCOUNTABILITY or reform first

6)      We can talk to enemies who vow to see us ruined and they’ll come to want peace with us

7)      Racism (as it was in the 1950s) is still a major issue in this country

8)      We can throw money at national problems such as health care, education, unemployment, etc.

9)      And so on, and so on

And I will fight these lies in any way I can. Care to join me?

n “If you take a baby kitten from its mother too young it will die.”

n “Don’t help a butterfly out of a cocoon or it won’t have the strength to survive on its own.”

And so forth. As I grew up I found that some of these things were true and others weren’t.

When I was in about the fourth grade I remember seeing “Bambi” and starting a petition in my area to protect baby deer. Women answered the door at the first couple of houses I visited with my hand-written proposal and they probably didn’t want to discourage me so they signed on the line. Then I went to a house where a man answered the door. He took time out of his day to point out that if we stopped hunting deer we would be overrun with them in no time. He showed me his garden and spoke about how he wouldn’t have near as many vegetables to feed his family and share with his friends if deer were allowed to proliferate. I remember telling him I wanted to help these “defenseless” creatures and he said that not only were they made to be in the wild and are hardly defenseless, but they can also carry diseases and can hurt us. (The front fender of my car can attest to that after being struck by a deer -- which lived to run on back to the woods after causing nearly $3,000 in damage to the vehicle. Defenseless my foot.) 

After getting "schooled", I left his house and didn’t go anywhere else. I was done with trying to propagandize my misguided ideas. I learned to look at things from another perspective -- a lesson that has served me well all throughout my life. As I watch the liberals (which, as a former journalist, I used to be a card-carrying member of), it’s like they’re believing the wives’ tales and no teacher ever sat them down and told them the downside to protesting, calling for bailouts and rescues, and taking away qualification requirements for loans and credit with only one-sided information. They’re like that little kid who’s going door to door trying to convince people that things need taking care of when they really don’t. We don’t need to help undocumented citizens get credit cards, we don’t need to make special allowances for certain UNQUALIFIED minority groups to get house loans with no down payment that they could not afford on their credit scores alone; and we certainly didn’t need to throw billions of dollars to bailout a finance industry problem with NO ACCOUNTABILITY provisions whatsoever. This scenario just sets us up for a “nanny state” where the government tells us what to think and bails us out of trouble when it’s created. How’d that work out for most of Europe? What are the tax rates there, again? Oh, and how’s the UK coping with their flood of foreign nationals, again? Which one is demanding new standards rather than accept long-standing British rule and tradition?  

As a person who is obsessed with politics, I’ve decided to quit the victim mentality that so many conservatives seem to have toward government. I hear educated people from the right say there’s nothing we can do about the situation and it is what it is. That is not an attitude that forged this nation from wilderness, and I refuse to buy into it. This is MY country and I get to have a say in how it runs. So do you. Never forget that.

It's atounding that someone who would FAIL to meet qualifications to be his own bodyguard is now an actual contender for President of the United States. Why do we have more stringent regulations for Secret Service than we do for POTUS? If ties to homegrown terrorists would disqualify someone from Secret Service, why wouldn't they also disqualify someone from holding the HIGHEST OFFICE IN OUR NATION? Can somebody give me an answer here?

In this world we must have allies and we must be true to those allies when they call for help. What are your afraid of? Our country running out of money? Out of lives to lay down for our friends? It's a volunteer military and no one has come for you, pal, so calm down.
 
Remember, first the Nazis came for the Jews, then they came for the Poles, then for the French and English. Can you imagine being oppressed, imprisoned and tortured while your very soul is crying out for someone to save you? Can you imagine if no one heard or responded? I refuse to live that way. The one thing that has set our nation apart since its inception is that it is based on Christian principles. (NOT that only Christianity is tolerated, mind you.)

Man has a fallen nature, but there is redemption. We can overcome the nature we're born into, but not alone.

You are wrong: Conservatives don’t hate government power because that power is wielded by “evil” men, but because it’s NOT NECESSARY in a free society. Less government is more for us as people. Why shouldn't we be responsible as INDIVIDUALS for ourselves? The larger government we have the less men work out their own differences, the more governmental laws are mandated, and the more lawsuits are set forth to mediate. That’s why our society is so litigious today, and it needs to stop.

As for whose side God is on in the midst of an eternal battle, REASON would have it that the group NOT kidnapping and publicly beheading military personnel and who is NOT terrorizing countries with the intent of murdering as many innocents as possible would be the one to stand beside. You’re arguing there are no moral absolutes, and that’s just not the case. You’re comparing a book that calls for the death of all infidels (that means everyone NOT Muslim, for the atheists ignoring that fact) and chaos to bring about the coming of their messiah; to books that say lay down your life for your brother and love your enemy (though not necessarily at the expense of your family or nation). Rational people know which side to choose there, J.

Even if you don’t believe in a Judeo-Christian God, there is wisdom to be found in the books the faiths are based upon. Said books don’t direct policy, but guide and shape the judgment of the person reading them. Personally, I like the people I’ve met who are led by those tenants. Seems to be keeping Israel strong despite all opposition over the thousands of years, and it’s gotten this country where it is today.