From Back of the Bus to Under the Bus

The reward for overcoming your personal racism?

     Breitbart posted a video yesterday that has ended up costing USDA official Shirley Sherrod her job, and based on the what the video shows, rightly so. The problem is the video shows just a little too much, and reveals Breitbart's agenda. One that I find to be despicable and completely intolerable. I shared in much of the outrage yesterday when I first saw this video, but I couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be alluding to a greater lesson, that was abruptly edited out. Subsequently, I spent the following four hours searching for the complete video so that I might judge for myself just how racist this woman was. Normally when I search for a more complete version of something, I will at least find differing versions if not the complete on. Not this time, which I found to be very bizarre. Every search and every site came back with the exact same copy of this video. The lesson that was edited out referred to how Shirley had grown beyond her racist thinking to recognize the greater social injustice of poverty.

     I have problems with this on so many levels. First off, I am a conservative, and a Tea Party member. A great deal of what we are currently fighting for is the return of the liberties that have been usurped by our government, and a return to the founding principles of this country. The greater question I pose in this issue is this: Why are we fighting for liberty if we are content to re-subjugate ourselves to the same master of hate draped in a different flag? I have many "conservative" friends online that have jumped all over this story, celebrating the downfall of the racist. This mentality is the basis of my question, and the point to this writing. We do not deserve the Liberty for which we fight if we have been unable to learn the basic lessons which caused us to lose it in the first place. Primary among those being to think for yourselves instead of jumping on agenda driven bandwagons! Nothing in this issue disturbs me more than seeing soo many people jumping so quickly to hate and demonize this woman with such obviously incomplete information.

     Our movement is consistently under attack for being racist without much good cause. If we abandon our intellectual integrity to fly with the latest group of race baiters, we will give our opposition all the ammunition they need to effectively shut us down. We must be harsh on true racism, such as instances with the panthers, but we must be equally passionate about praising those who have overcome their own. It is too early to determine if  Mrs.Sherrod has truly overcome her early thoughts and actions in this matter, but we owe it to our own integrity to call for a deeper non biased investigation into the matter. Should she prove to have overcome, then we should be her most fervent supporters in getting her reinstated should that be her desire.

     As I have been writing, she spoke on CNN. Sherrod's comments on CNN

      Here is a much more in depth interview with Shirley, with her on camera, and with the farmers wife commenting over the phone. Better Sherrod interview with CNN

snopes.com: An Open Letter to President Obama - Lou Pritchett

snopes.com: An Open Letter to President Obama - Lou Pritchett

Where are our Great Leaders?

  The America I learned about while growing up was one of unified solidarity. From the very beginning of this nation, Americans have known without question that this is the greatest country on the face of the planet. Everyone from the top down worked hard and bled  for nearly two-hundred-and-sixteen years, to see this country grow and further our national destiny.  Everything I was taught lead me to believe that this was a destiny of greatness, to be nothing short of a beacon to the world, a shining example of what man kind can become. Luckily, youth can afford a degree of naivete and idealism. That grain of salt taken, however, I find myself fully unable to wrap my head around what I see happening today. Americans... from the top down... working hard to tear this great nation asunder. An attitude that somehow the ideals that made and sustained this nation are shameful. An attitude that somehow... our destiny should lie in the hands of our former enemies... the communists, the socialists, the corrupt.  How is this possible?  How has it come to be that the leader of a foreign country... a leader that allows and promotes heinous civil rights violations on his soil... can stand on the steps of my capitol and lecture my people on civil rights?  How is it that my president not only failed to knock him flat on his ass... but accepted and encouraged him?  These attitudes have been seeded by those in positions of power and encouraged to flourish by American complacency over the last seventeen years. It would seem, at least from my perspective, that the leadership of the United States has not simply abandoned the spirit of America... but openly turned against it. 

    

     So where are our great leaders? Where are the people we rely on to take care of America with patriotic enthusiasm, and fierce loyalty to the principles that made the American system of government the envy of the world? WE THE PEOPLE are right here. We the people have never left. The quality of leadership in a democratic nation is a direct reflection of the soul of it's people. A reflection of what lies in their hearts, their strength of will, and their priorities. We the people have failed. We have abandoned our nation to greed and self interest, and replaced our values of patriotism and community with self important entitlement and complacency. As a result our leaders have embarked down a path to socialism. With each new election year bringing them more power and more control over our individual lives. And why shouldn't they? When left to it's own device, without a force of temperance, power has but one duty; to solidify it's hold and propagate itself by any means. We the people are the force of temperance in America and have become derelict in our duties, and slaves to our appetites. We have lost sight of what it means to be American and why ours has been the greatest system of government in the world.

     Our founding fathers secured independence, and established America as a direct rejection of the governmental systems of their time. It is much the same now as it was then. A change in leadership or government was simply an exchange of one dictator, tyrant, or despotic monarch for another. Power begetting power for it's own sake with no real benefit to the people. I quote now Alexander Hamilton from the first of the federalist papers attempting to gain public support for the constitution. 

"It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind."

  It's chilling to me how relevant this question is in our current situation. As Americans, we are at a crossroads in our country's evolution. The choice before us... to determine if we shall remain, as we have in recent history, concerned for nothing more than that which immediately surrounds us. Or do we engage the more difficult journey of re-establishing the integrity of American purpose. The familiar path is certainly easier, and the federal government would, with great enthusiasm I'm sure, free us of the burden of responsibility. Upon considering the consequences, however, I choose the path of liberty. 

     I believe preserving America is going to be the greatest challenge of our time. It will require us to overcome the fear and prejudice imposed on us through the politically correct movement, and engage our countrymen directly in passionate, informed, respectful debate. Given the administration's current campaign to promote racial divide through misinformation, this will be no easy task. Obama's planned redistribution of wealth has taught the people that they can vote themselves money. We will need to teach them that choosing integrity over convenience has a far greater reward; the freedom from economic slavery of their grandchildren. This act requires us to aggressively engage our state and federal representatives through letters and electronic media. We need to tell them, weekly if necessary, that we will have our country back in OUR hands. We will have the federal government cease it's intrusion on states rights, as well as our own individual rights. We shall tell them..." Thanks so much for the holiday, but we... the people.. will take it from here."  Because we.. the people.. are our great leaders... and we the people will have our greatness reflected for all to see.

                                                                                           Brad Beloat,

                                                                                           An American Hostage  

                                                                                           www.theamericanhostage.com

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I'm creating this blog both for myself and for anyone who has ever wondered just exactly what's going on within our society. It would be difficult to argue with the observation that America is rapidly changing into a nation unfamiliar to most of us. Between our busy work and family schedules, and the increased flow of information (and disinformation), the majority of people have little time or remaining energy to devote to gleaning accurate information. What we usually accept is the information handed down through the various media outlets. Our society being what it is today, this usually translates to biased and incomplete reporting for the purpose of either promoting an agenda or sensationalizing for the sake of ratings and sales.

My goal here is to do what I can to correct this problem and offer a more historically accurate perspective on America, and hopefully enlighten a few minds as to the true nature of what is currently going on in this country. You should know that I am a cynic. I view human nature at its base components as a self sustaining trinity of greed, power, and ego. We are all subject to these forces to one extent or another and I am mentioning this so that you will keep it in mind while reading my blog. This one principle explains a great deal of the control being exerted over the American people. As a cynic I am disinclined to believe anything that the media tells us, and as a result I have become quite adept at researching a topic on my own. I no longer watch television, and I do not listen to political pundits or talking heads nor do I claim any political party as my own. Unfortunately, however, I do need to get news from somewhere. This means I have to get it online. It is still biased, inaccurate, and sensationalized, but I don't have to sit through brainless corporate bombardments in addition to all of that nonsense.

I have an agenda of my own. I want my country back! I have had the opportunity to work with and get to know many individuals from foreign countries and gain their perspective on our nation as a whole. Where we were once revered we are now mocked, the American people as a whole are viewed as an irrelevant punch line. It is my hope that with this blog I can continue to educate myself and others as to why this is, how it has come about, and how we can correct the complacent mentality that has lead us to this point.

I will post links for verification where I am able. If these links cease to function please let me know so I can remove them and hopefully replace them with similar information. Understand that as we go along I am answering these issues and questions for myself as well. So should you find my information in error, please tell me so I may either correct my information or you.

I welcome differing opinions. Healthy, respectful debate was once a staple in this great land and I would dearly love to see it return. I will not, however, tolerate hateful or abusive comments. We can passionately disagree all day long, but in the end our commentary needs to be constructive and respectful. At the end of the day we are all brothers and sisters in this country, and it's well past time for us to remember that and put it to practice.

So once again, welcome. Hopefully we can all learn from each other and begin to collectively return this country to a more honorable and purposeful path.

P.S. If you are easily offended or have an otherwise strong sense of social justice, please be sure to visit my page on political correctness first. It will explain my views on the p.c. movement and why I use some terms (that maybe deemed offensive by some) the way I do.