What if I asked you, “Do you feel patriotic paying taxes to fund the central government’s nationalization of the banks, the insurance industry, the automobile industry, the health care industry, and now local police forces or the use of the American military for unconstitutional and immoral, wasteful wars for empire?”
I am assuming that if you are a patriot–a genuine American of good will– you would answer, “No.”
What if I told you government’s only purpose is to secure your rights. That’s correct: our government’s purpose and mandate that God has ordained is so limited that all they are to do is protect the rights He has given you. That’s it! The Declaration of Independence presupposes that all men are created with unalienable rights, and that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. When the American government executes its God-given purpose of limited powers and maximum protection of our God-given rights, this will produce Patriotism!
And this Patriotism depends on the strength of our morality as a country.
It was none other than American Patriot and General Douglas MacArthur who informed the world, “History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”
Perhaps one of the only examples left of government following their “moral” or “divine” directive is found in the young men and women in our Armed Forces. As a general rule, they are willing to not just work for the protection of our liberties, but they are willing to die securing them.
We are reminded every year during Memorial Day to honor these men and women, and I do. It is a holy act for any individual to lay down his life in sacrifice for his neighbor. It is what Christ Himself did for you and me. Our children should be taught to honor and have respect for those individuals who practice this sacrifice as a way of life.
In light of our recent Memorial Day observance, we must reflect on the reality that Americans have been robbed of their loved ones who have answered the call to serve and protect America. The tragedy is that while we sleep at the proverbial wheel of entertainment and immorality in America, we allow our own veterans to be used to aggrandize the very bureaucratic institutions we consistently complain about. This is not patriotic.
Wouldn’t it be far better for us to reverence our soldiers’ personal sacrifice by keeping them safe and reeling in big, unconstitutional government actions every day in America? This is true Patriotism…
God Bless every American soldier, veteran, and citizen who exercises this Patriotism—our hats are off in memorial to you not just today, but every day.
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