Keeping America

Over this last week we saw both Martin Luther King Day, and the birthday of Benjamin Franklin. These two important figures helped shape America as we know it today, and I think it’s good to remember them and what they did for us. I’m sure many read reminded themselves of the famous “I have a dream” speech as part of that.

It’s sad to me that the things they helped create, are being squandered by later generations. More and more we find speech that distorts the truth. We find speech that, while is reported to celebrate our “diversity,” only serves to deepen the divide between people in our culture. There are various groups within American that seem more concerned with being celebrated for where they, or their ancestors, came from than they do about where they are now. (I will not give links to such sites that might support them.) They seem to forget why they, or their ancestors, came to America in the first place. Many want us to forget that, whether our ancestors came from Europe, South America, Africa, or the Middle East, we are all still Americans.

Benjamin Franklyn valued personal liberty. He valued it so much that he once said, “Those who give up liberty for the sake of safety deserve neither.” And yet since the tragedy of 9/11, we find our government taking away our liberties and telling us it’s all in the name of creating a safer America.

Civil liberty isn’t and addendum that we’ll “get around too when we can.” It’s a fundamental part of our constitution. If we aren’t vigilant about keeping them, we will cease to have an America at all.