What is America About?

What a rollercoaster ride this week after the convention. Liars attempted to resurrect new focus on Bush's National Guard histories. As my favorite Brit said:

"George W. Bush ought to wake up every morning and thank the Lord the media aren't on his side"

The USS Kerry is stern up and the middecks groan under the strain. It heads for its Titanic moment of truth, which word its captain had so blithely dodged until the iceberg density went supercritical. I was having unbelievable amounts of fun making wise-acre posts at Kerry's expense and patting my self on the back for being so clever and funny (my opinion, yours is yours). Kerry as a supply of comic material, is a very deep well you have to admit. BUT, the other night I was listening to Praeger talk about a debate he had on the Dennis Miller show with some comedian who was vocally blushing about American as a "Superhero of liberty with cape flowing behind us" for the cheap laughs that got her, while Praeger was arguing Bush's Century of Liberty doctrine.

I've been cogitating ever since about that debate and re-evaluating my own approach, hence no postings since Bush started the engine. Why do Americans get so embarrassed about their role in the world? Why do we tear ourselves down so willingly and wave our dirty laundry to anyone who cares to sniff it? This nation has been INCREDIBLY blessed by the Almighty. We are the most fortunate and smiled upon people in human history. Are we ashamed of those blessings? Well, God isn't or else He would not have bestowed them on us. Who are we to question what God has provided? George W. Bush doesn't question those blessings. He understands perfectly why we have received them when he proclaimed this to be the "Century of Liberty."

Now some talking heads - even some conservative talking heads that I've greatly admired - have dismissed that as another Bush naive-ism, presuming Americans are much too self-centered to worry whether Iraqis, or Iranians, or Afghanis, or any of those other people out there can enjoy the same blessings we enjoy and why should we care. "What's in it for me?" goes the apparent theory. "Those people have been killing each other for centuries." Words I'm ashamed to admit have exited my own mouth. How about a free world is a peaceful, prosperous world? A world swimming in Liberty will be a Joyful world. Notice I said Joyful versus happy. A Joyful person is one who knows they've been blessed by the Creator. A Joyful person is one who knows they've been granted certain inalienable rights and live in a place where those rights can be used. A happy person has lotsa stuff, or has an easy job, or has an comfortable life, or has the most awesome sexlife imaginable, or has just heard a really good joke, or is just plain clueless.

I'm figuring the latter for really happy people. They're happy and have no freaking idea why. Therefore they have no idea how they can stay that way. If we presume the Lord has bestowed upon us many Joyful things, we can also presume He will take it away if we squander it in self-indulgent nonsense. The world groans under the weight of evil that Liberty can wipe away. <Gasp!>, there's that "E" word!!! Liberals have mouth frothing fits over that word because of its religious nature. Acknowledging evil acknowledges its opposite. If the Opposite exists, then Man is not the master of his destiny, and all the postmodern rubbish out there is exactly that - rubbish. Some people are just plain wrong when weighed against Truth in its capital form. We can take that blessing known as Liberty and gleefully share it in the Love in which it was given to us, or we can be "turned over" to those self indulgent things that eventually bring ruin.

Here we are 3 full years later after that awful day when;

Two testaments to America's blessings came toppling down,

One testament to its strength took it square on the chin, wobbled a bit, sharpened its claws and then took the fight to evil's home base.

and a plane load of every day people hearing what was happening on the ground sucked up their faith and gave Pennsylvannia another plot of hallowed ground.

And yet we still get ashamed over our power and our gifts. Not that pride is the better position to take, but shamefully given to us those gifts were not. With honor and infinite gratitude we should accept them, and then ask, "How should we use them, O Lord?" Are we using those gifts properly as the Giver intended we do? Am I using mine properly? Are you using yours? What about America?

Which brings me full, convoluted, tortured path circle. Why are we here? Why does America matter? Our President appears to know. His opponent does not. How many of us do?

Bush Starts the Engine!

Alot of favorite lines come to mind from last night, but this strikes to the heart of who's the better world statesman:

"... he (Kerry) has called America's allies, quote, a "coalition of the coerced and the bribed." That would be nations like Great Britain, Poland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, El Salvador, Australia, and others -- allies that deserve the respect of all Americans, not the scorn of a politician. I respect every soldier, from every country, who serves beside us in the hard work of history. America is grateful, and America will not forget."

YES! That's what I would have said.

Preach it Brother Zell!

I've been away for a bit, but heard this conclusion last night from my man Zell:

"I first got to know George Bush when we served as governors together. I admire this man.
I am moved by the respect he shows the First Lady, his unabashed love for his parents and his daughters, and the fact that he is unashamed of his belief that God is not indifferent to America.
I can identify with someone who has lived that line in "Amazing Grace," "Was blind, but now I see," and I like the fact that he's the same man on Saturday night that he is on Sunday morning.
He is not a slick talker but he is a straight shooter and, where I come from, deeds mean a lot more than words.
I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home, a God-fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel.
The man I trust to protect my most precious possession: my family."

Amen, brother, AMEN! I first heard of Zell Miller a few years ago when he was appointed to fill a vacant Senate seat for Georgia. I read his "Deficit of Decency" speech on the Senate floor after Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" (yea, right) at the Super Bowl, and was very impressed. Bought his book, read it all, and became a diehard fan. If there were more Zell Miller's in the Democrat Party, and less Kennedys, Kerrys, Deans, McAuliffes, Daschles, Jacksons (as in Jesse), and of course, less Clintons - well I might still vote Democrat as I had since my college days.

I hear Zell's frustration with where this party is headed, and I hear echoes of myself bouncing about inside my skull. My only regret is the guy's 72-years old and will be hanging it up after this appointed Senate term is over.