In defense of our history

I wrote this in 2006;

This problem that I have with the PC types is that they assert that the US is an evil country, guilty of countless crimes against humanity. It is true there are low points in our history, but that does not mean that you discount the rest. Our history is rich in events, heroism, and achievement. It is also full of tragedy.

If America is so bad:Why would a group of shopkeepers, fishermen, farmers, and artisans band together to take on the finest army in the world at the time with antiquated weapons? (The British army had the best musketmen in the world.)

Why would a group of men (Yes, men. Remember this was the 1700s, although I heard that Abigail Adams gave her husband John a few ideas.) sit in a room in Philadelphia and risk a hangman’s noose to promote a radical idea? (Note to Liberals, it’s called Liberty.)

Why would some of those same men a decade later hammer out the finest Constitution in human history? (Thank you James Madison, and others.)

Why would some take up the cause of abolishing African slavery, over the objections of others? (Benjamin Franklin helped found one of the first anti-slavery groups in the nation.)

Why would another group of shopkeepers, fishermen, farmers, artisans, mechanics, and industrial workers form an army to keep the nation together? (That was called the Union army.)

Why would innovators unite the nation by both telegraph wire and the railroad? (The Transcontinental Railroad with the wire strung up beside it.)

Why would millions of people from around the world risk everything to come here? (Immigrants)

Why would men from all walks of life go to foreign shores and give their lives to help liberate whole peoples? (Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Grenada, Gulf War I, Afghanistan, and Gulf War II.)

Why would African-Americans attempt to overcome difficulties imposed by society to achieve heroism on the battlefield? (Ever heard of the 99th Fighter Squadron, known as the “Red Tails?” They never lost a single bomber that they escorted. And what about Dorrie Miller, the cook’s assistant who manned a machine gun and shot down two enemy bombers at Pearl Harbor?)

Why would a preacher named Martin Luther King decide to fight for his people? (From Montgomery, Alabama to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.)

Or Cesar Chavez fight for his? (He helped Hispanic farm workers and as a result helped all.)

Why would a President inspire us to go to the moon? (John F. Kennedy)

Why would our Armed Forces fight a war despite its unpopularity? (Vietnam)

Why would a nation commit to stop one of its greatest threats? (Communism and the Soviet Union.)

Why would a nation commit to free a people once again? (Kuwait)

Why would we respond after 9-11? (The War on Terror)

Why would we still support the nation while some of our own people are trying to rip it apart? (Let the Liberals crow, we will go forward.)The answer: we believe in an idea called freedom.

But are we angelic? No.Our dealings with the native tribes should have been better. The “Trail of Tears,” the warfare out west, and the reservations should never have taken place.

We should have never been involved in the slave trade. (Started by the Portuguese, then handled by the Spanish, then the Dutch, then by the British and French, then finally by us, who ended our involvement in the trade in 1808.)

We should have never allowed “Black Codes” and “Jim Crow” and “separate but equal” to exist. (Everybody deserves a shot at life; the skin color does not matter.)

We should never have invaded Central American countries just to preserve the fruit and sugar market. (Invade Nicaragua for bananas, that’s nuts.)

We should have never allowed Japanese-Americans to be placed in internment camps. (They were not the enemy.)

We should have been quicker to integrate the races. (Should have started in 1866.)

We should have never gone into Vietnam without giving the troops a freer hand. (Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara himself said that we had the chance to avoid it all together.)

We should not have allowed hate groups to exist. (Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nation, Nazis, etc.)

We should have never allowed the killing of nearly 30,000,000 babies to become legal.

Maybe we should have not supported authoritarian regimes just because they were anti-Communist. (Iran under the Shah, which is why they are still ticked off with us. Another example is the Philippines under Marcos and his wife, the shoe lady.)

There are others. We are not perfect.This is what we don’t do:We don’t rule the world. We maybe the only superpower (of course the Chinese may have an issue with that), but we are not interested in bending the rest of the world to our will. We do not seek a Pax Americana. On the other hand, we will not seek the world’s permission to protect ourselves or come to the aid of an oppressed people.

Let me spell it out for you:America is not an evil nation

If you really believe that America is evil, don’t come here. We can do without you just fine.

Despite all of the things that happened, this country is still the last, best, hope for freedom. If this nation ends, the implications for the rest of the world are too staggering to think about.