Every afternoon, an eleven-year-old boy named Vincent raises the American flag in front of his school. He does it to honor the memory of his uncle, an Army officer who was killed at war. Vincent was comfortable explaining his purpose to his classmates when they questioned him, and now some of the sixth graders join him. Vincent says he raises the flag because it is a symbol of our country. Vincent doesn’t have to be convinced to love his country. He doesn’t feel the need to apologize for it. He doesn’t want to change it. He is willing to fight for it. And, at eleven, he’s smart enough to understand why it’s worth fighting for.
Most Americans love America. Most Americans never conceived that there would be people in this country who would want to change her, to see her fail, or who would be willing to ransom her for personal power and wealth. These people don’t understand what America stands for, and they don’t appreciate her freedoms. Those of us who value our freedom and the principles upon which this country was founded, should be angry. Our government leaders are selling us out and throwing our freedom away. Why? In the name of some misguided ideal that America would be better if it were more like the rest of the world? That we Americans have too much, so we need to suffer now? What about those Americans who died for this country or so that other countries could be free? Would they agree? Do any of us agree?
This government will make us slaves to its spending and its misguided socialist ideas. It will ruin the American dream of achieving that for which we are willing to strive. It will make us a third-world nation in the name of the failed notion of “social justice” where hard work and sacrifice accomplish nothing. Look around you: America is already failing under this notion, proving that socialism does not make anything better for anyone. America as we know it will be lost. Ronald Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” If the government came and took our children, would we stand up? If they took our houses, would we stand up? What if they took our entire way of life?
Government leaders, America’s freedoms are not yours to take. Government leaders, you work for us. We Americans don’t agree that we should be more like the rest of the world. We don’t agree that we need to apologize for our actions. We are proud of the principles of liberty and equality that America espouses. We sacrificed our sons and daughters so that weaker nations could be free. We will not apologize for the countless dollars in aid we continue to send to poorer nations. We will not apologize for sharing our food, our technology, and the lives of our young men and women. And, we will not apologize for being free.
Will we raise the flag every day like Vincent? Will we tell our friends our purpose and get them to help us? The time is now. We cannot hope for someone to come along and save us. America is its people. We must save our country for ourselves. It’s time to go outside and raise the flag and then tell our neighbors why we did.
Julianne Palumbo is a Chapter Leader of FreedomWorks RI.
