Alexander: So Is Anything Good and Right About America?

View online at: http://patriotpost.us/alexander/21161 Alexander's Column What's Good and Right About America? Gratitude Above the Political Rancor By Mark Alexander · October 24, 2013    "The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations." --George Washington (1778) We have just endured six weeks of contentious debate between Republicans and Democrats and, worse yet, four weeks of fratricidal infighting between conservatives and moderates within the Republican Party. Given the chronically rancorous tone in Washington since Barack Hussein Obama took office -- a tone often punctuated by periods of acute acrimony as in recent weeks -- inevitably the din can temporarily obscure all the good that is America, both historically and today. Consequently, some grassroots folks either resort to reckless box-canyon politics or retreat in surrender. Fortunately the vast majority of American Patriots who will read these words are not among them. But if you know others who have become so frustrated that they have lost sight of the prize, please share these words of encouragement with them. Greet every sunrise as "morning again in America," every dawn as affirmation that, in the words of Ronald Reagan, "America's best days are yet to come. Our proudest moments are yet to be. Our most glorious achievements are just ahead." (Indeed, the Reagan model for restoration was based on the sum total of our nation's history, and it is as applicable today as ever.) Approach every sunset in the spirit of a Patriot from Reagan's generation, John Wayne: "There's a lot of things great about life. But I think tomorrow is the most important thing. Comes in to us at midnight very clean, ya know. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." Each day, my team of editors provides countless legions of grassroots Americans with the right information to combat the politicos and policies that threaten the future of our Heritage of Liberty. But it is entirely unacceptable to assume that the nation is irrevocably lost to those threats -- and we never do. By way of encouragement, join me for a moment, above the policy battles, for some enduring insights on what was and remains good and right about our great nation. There are volumes of fitting insights on that goodness, but I offer just these few quotes from past presidents on the character of our nation. Comment | Share "The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations." --George Washington "Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives." --John Adams "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." --Thomas Jefferson "Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." --John Quincy Adams "National honor is national property of the highest value." --James Monroe "Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood -- the virtues that made America. ... We can have no 50-50 allegiances in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all." --Teddy Roosevelt "We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on earth, peace, security, liberty, our family, our friends, our home. But when we look at our flag and behold it emblazoned with all our rights we must remember that it is equally a symbol of our duties. Every glory that we associate with it is the result of duty done." --Calvin Coolidge "He serves his party best who serves the country best." --Rutherford Hayes "America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." --Harry Truman "There is nothing wrong with America that the faith, love of freedom, intelligence and energy of her citizens cannot cure." --Dwight Eisenhower "And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country." --John F. Kennedy "In the words of Thomas Paine: 'These are times that try men's souls.' We need more than summer soldiers and sunshine patriots. ... We must draw anew on the individual strength, ingenuity, and vision that built America. But our gaze is not set on the past; it's firmly fixed on tomorrow. ... You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children (America), the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done." --Ronald Reagan Let me bookend these quotes with another from George Washington: "No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass." Comment | Share To that end, I am reminded of these words from John Wayne: "Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be." Fellow Patriots, let us thank God for our great nation every day. And if this day was our last, may our final words be as those of Continental Army volunteer Nathan Hale prior to being hanged by the Red Coats in 1776: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." 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