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