An Open Letter to AMERICA (The BEAUTIFUL)
“Friends and Citizens:
The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed…” George Washington — Farewell Address of 1796
With the annual arrival of a new year one often has a certain degree of OPTIMISM and HOPE for better things to come — an OPPORTUNITY for renewal if WE may say. However, so far in 2016, many American’s like myself, are left wondering if OUR best days are still ahead, or forever lying behind US in the dustbins of history?? In his 2008 book, A Time To Fight, Jim Webb offered an honest but rather sobering critique of American politics:
“The Jar needs to be shaken. The people who have elected us
expect it. And they are right to demand it. The issues that face
our country vary from day to day from one political season to
the next. But there is at least one political constant in today’s
America. When asked about where the country is heading, in
almost every survey more than two-thirds of those polled agree
that the United States is on the wrong track, and that [OUR
LEADERS] are not providing us with solutions that will again
point us in the right direction.” James H. Webb
In examining what has transpired thus far in 2016, perhaps Mr. Webb would agree that not only has the Jar been shaken, but indeed it has been SHATTERED!!
And with Super Tuesdays now laying behind US by like desolate mile markers in our rear view mirror, it seems as if we really are on a Highway to Hell — with no stops signs or speed limits!! In short, the political landscape remaining before us in 2016 offers some stark realities that give Mr. Webb’s observations above a chilling characteristic akin to an episode of the Walking Dead. Consider the following: the FBI has recently completed their year-long investigation into the prospective Democratic nominees highly unorthodox email practices during her tenure as the nation’s top diplomat and while no criminal indictment was forthcoming the FBI Director termed her handling of sensitive and classified materials as “extremely careless.”
Moreover, not since the days of the Nixon administration and WATERGATE has a cloud of ethical malfeasance overshadowed an entire political career with too many scandals to accurately recount. Likewise, the presumptive Republican nominee has obsessively demonstrated time and again, a display of demagoguery not seen since the days of Joseph McCarthy’s Second Red Scare in the late 40’s and 50’s whereby ANYTHING — ethnic bias, racial bigotry, misogynistic sexism, and yes even religious intolerance — goes!! He boldly promises to make America Great Again, without offering any substantive proposals, and instead plays upon the fears of everyday Americans. Sadly, what appears to be playing out before OUR very eyes is nothing more than a HYPER-PARTISAN episode of “he said, she said.” Or in other words, Wedge Politics. But is there something more than meets the eye here?
If we use history as our guidepost, maybe this is the vision of despotism that George Washington so sternly warned US about in his Farewell Address of 1796?? Speaking on the rank state of factions he asserted:
“The alternate domination of one faction over another,
sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension,
which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most
horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads
at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.
The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline
the minds of men to seek security and repose in the
absolute power of an individual, and sooner or later the
chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more
fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to
the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public
liberty.” George Washington
Perhaps our first Commander-in-Chief has indeed provided US with a timeless navigational map of Opportunity to change the path we are on if only WE might heed his sage admonitions. And then again, maybe an atherosclerosis of anti-intellectualism has slowly and silently perpetuated such a profound state of damage among our general populace that things are simply beyond repair??
Deep in OUR heart of hearts, I as so many other Americans want to BELIEVE that WE THE PEOPLE of the UNITED States of America are indeed better than this, and we DO in fact have JUST CAUSE for holding these special beliefs — The American Revolution where the path to our Independence began. Mr. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation which shattered the bonds of slavery in America. Seeing Old Glory fluttering from a lunar landscape after the Eagle had landed — “one small step for man, and a giant leap for mankind.”
And perhaps the still yet unrealized DREAM of Dr. Martin Luther King “that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of it’s creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
Ms. Liberty came to OUR shores some one hundred and thirty years ago as a very special gift of awe-inspiring magnificence for US from the French. In her right hand she bears a torch of Liberty that symbolizes Enlightenment — lighting the path to freedom from all walks of life. In her left she clutches a tablet inscribed with the date of Our Independence July 4, 1776, and which is also symbolic of our unwavering adherence to the Rule of Law. And at her feet lies a broken chain which signifies our break away from the horrendous bonds of oppression!!
Perhaps with that being said, in a country such as this, there is still time for a presidential candidate [and an elder Statesman] with a sense of honor to step forward and LEAD Our nation back from the throws of despotism that Washington so sternly warned US against. Moreover, maybe this leader should also possess a firm grasp of exactly what the fields of fire entail, so that if — God forbid — there is a time to fight…it is truly something to die for.
As the parties nominating conventions of the summer are just wrapping up, it appears as if OUR Nation is indeed at a crossroads of reckoning and is searching for an independent minded LEADER. One who is not only PRINCIPLED and JUST, but one who truly understands the necessary elements of STEWARDSHIP that must be utilized to guide Our Republic forward. One who has a deep and abiding understanding of the rich but sometimes harsh lessons of the past, and how they in turn inform the present, and likewise, how the present will shape Our collective future in the days, months, and years ahead.
One who through UNITY will help refurbish the shining splendor in the once truly transcendent American thought of E PLURIBUS UNUM !
America the Beautiful is indeed a sight to behold, but it is only We The People who can ensure that the torch of liberty she bears continues to shine forth for yet another two hundred and forty years — One Nation under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all !!
STORY UPDATES: The FBI has recently re-opened it’s INVESTIGATION into the Clinton E-mail scandal after finding an estimated 650K emails on Huma Abedin’s estranged husbands laptop.