HELLO?? THIS IS AMERICA!

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma School officials remove “God Bless America” signs from schools in fear that someone might be offended.

Channel 12 News in Long Island, New York, orders flags removed from the newsroom and red, white, and blue ribbons removed from the lapels of reporters.

Why?

Management did not want to appear biased and felt that our nations flag might give the appearance that “they lean one way or another”.

Berkeley, California bans US Flags from being displayed on city fire trucks because they didn’t want to offend anyone in the community.

In an “act of tolerance” the head of the public library at Florida Gulf Coast University ordered all “Proud to be an American” signs removed so as to not offend international students.

I, for one, am quite disturbed by these actions of so-called American citizens; and I am tired of this nation worrying about whether or not we are offending some individual or their culture.

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Americans. However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled in New York and Washington DC when the “politically correct” crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.

I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America.

In fact, our country’s population is almost entirely comprised of descendants of immigrants;

However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some native Americans, need to understand.

First of all, it is not our responsibility to continually try not to offend you in any way. This idea of America being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity.

As Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language, and our own lifestyle.

This culture, called the “American Way” has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.

Our forefathers fought, bled, and died at places such as Bunker Hill, Antietam, San Juan, Iwo Jima, Normandy, Korea, Vietnam,

We speak English, not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society - learn our language!

“In God We Trust” is our national motto.

This is not some off-the-wall, Christian, Right Wing, political slogan; it is our national motto.

It is engraved in stone in the House of Representatives in our Capitol and it is printed on our currency.

We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation; and this is clearly documented throughout our history.

If it is appropriate for our motto to be inscribed in the halls of our highest level of Government, then it is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools.

God is in our pledge, our National Anthem, nearly every patriotic song, and in our founding documents. We honor His birth, death, and resurrection as holidays, and we turn to Him in prayer in times of crisis.

If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture and we are proud to have Him.

We are proud of our heritage and those who have so honorably defended our freedoms. We celebrate Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Flag Day.

We have parades, picnics, and barbecues where we proudly wave our flag.

As an American, I have the right to wave my flag, sing my national anthem, quote my national motto, and cite my pledge whenever and wherever I choose.

If the Stars and Stripes offend you, or you don’t like Uncle Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet.

The American culture is our way of life, our heritage, and we are proud of it. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don’t care how you did things where you came from, if it was so superior, go home.

We are Americans, like it or not, this is our country, our land, and our lifestyle.

Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion about our government, culture, or society, and we will allow you every opportunity to do so.

But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, or our way of life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great American freedom, the right to leave.

If you agree, pass this onto other Americans!! It is time to take a stand!!

MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA LAND THAT WE LOVE!!!
–Email foreward

I was intending to kindly ask if you could stop sending me these forwards after I read the last one because they disturb me, but this one goes beyond the pale.

Do you realize you just sent me an email suggesting that I am not a real American and that I should shut up and leave the country?

Just yesterday I proudly sent letters to my representative expressing my displeasure over them passing a resolution encouraging schools to post ‘God Bless America.’ I send those letters because of my own sense of exclusion and because of the divisive nature of the statement.

The founding fathers were a heck of a lot more deists than Christians. This country was not founded on religious principles. Every attempt was made to form a completely secular government. All those things pointing to us being being a Christian nation (Pledge of allegiance, National Motto, ‘In God We Trust’) are artifacts of a previous war not the founding of our nation. They are the propaganda equivalent of airplane graveyards. All of those things were done in the 1950’s during our fight with the godless commies. They are not real American culture, they are reactions allowing our enemies define us. They are from the same mindset as McCarthyism.

The Author of that hateful manifesto lacks the vision to see the real strength of America. The strength of America is being allowed to question and speak not blindly following a symbol. What does the flag represent? People are out there waving and putting it up as a religious exercise without taking the time to consider what they are saying.

You can not wave a flag around and at the same time say if you question America (who ever that might be) you should leave. You are denying the diversity of thought, culture and perception that is part of the symbol of the flag. You are denying the meaning of freedom from the symbol. When you take away diversity and freedom what is left that is lofty and good that is represented by the flag?

I am an American. Born and bred here. I consider myself a patriot yet many of the actions taken since Sept 11 offend me. Because I am a patriot I will speak up as loudly as I can. I should be able to do that without having to worry about my patriotism being questioned, but because people seem to believe America is only embodied in their own narrow views I have to worry about my safety when saying reasonable things that I passionately believe.

Our national identity is diversity not conformity. America doesn’t speak with one voice… ever. We speak with many voices and all are accorded respect.

The motto that served us well for over 150 years was ‘e pluribus unum’, ‘From many comes one’ A truly uniting motto. Propagandists who thought like the author changed it into a divisive statement. This country is not served by a national motto that can’t be posted in schools without violating the 1st amendment. Reasonable people can come to the conclusion that the motto itself is a violation of the separation of church and state.

As for turning to God in times of crisis 1 in 5 of your countrymen did not choose to pray after Sept 11. 1 in 2 did not choose to show up at a house of worship. We do not live in a homogeneous country as much as the author would like us to. We live in a world of diversity, and in such a world if you want your opinions respected you must respect others. I’m sorry if the author is upset that people all don’t agree with him. But that is the price of freedom. And it is a price I gladly pay because I am a patriot.

I am also extremely proud that the whenever the author uses the words ‘we’ or ‘our’ he is not including me. He doesn’t speak for America any more than I do. He speaks for himself in the way that gives America strength through diversity of mind and spirit.