THE YING AND YANG OF BEING A PATRIOT

I am a patriot. You know, the kind of patriot that has red, white, and blue in my veins, who stands up for the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance with tears in my eyes, sees our flag as an eternal symbol of our people, who votes, is a community volunteer, has served as a soldier in our nation’s defense, believes in the rights, freedoms, liberties, and responsibilities for all Americans, and is an American Firster. So, what does that make me? Simply put, a patriot.

Before some readers get confused and start fires in their hair, I will explain what I believe a patriot is not. For me, I have a higher calling than being a patriot as I am a Christian. My supreme loyalty is to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And the Bible, both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, as the Word of God, transcends both the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. No, that does not make me a “Christian Patriot”, rather that makes me a Christian first who is patriot because my faith tells me to obey the laws of our country and to respect the leaders of our country at the very least. As such, I possess dual citizenship- my primary citizenship is in the New Jerusalem and my secondary is in the United States.

Being a patriot does not mean that I am xenophobic. I respect folks from cultures other than mine and love the diversity they bring to our nation. [By the way, my culture is WWC- white working class. This is not to be confused with my economic class, which is Middle Class. See my essay entitled “Class, not Race” on this blog.] Steady, but regulated, immigration is vital to our nation. Also, a patriotic America Firster is not hostile to other nations, I have lived in Germany and have visited Finland and Russia.

Being a patriot does not make me a believer in democracy. Many of my fellow Americans claim our nation is a democracy. Wrong, The United States is a constitutional republic. When our Founders examined the ancient Greek city of Athens, which many moderns consider the prime example of democracy, they saw chaos and mob rule. So, they added features into our Constitution such as separation of powers, electoral college, and mixed powers of the national and state governments to both regulate change and protect the rights of the minority political opinions.

Being a patriot does not necessarily mean that I am a conservative. I am a conservative, albeit a social conservative in the manner of Edmund Burke, an eighteenth-century Anglo-Irish politician and political philosopher who cherished tradition and history as guides to change, rational and agreeable discussions and debates, and the “little platoons” of society (which I interpret as faith, family, and friends). I am also a limited-government libertarian who believes the Tenth Amendment is perhaps the most violated section of our Constitution.

Since I am a social conservative, some readers may be surprised that I advocate examining the feasibility and desirability of establishing universal basic income basic for all Americans, that I believe climate change is ever-present on our planet, and that I advocate for police reform.

Finally, being a patriot does not mean that I believe that our nation is without fault. Of course, Americans have made mistakes, are currently making mistakes, and will continue to make mistakes. Only a fool would say otherwise! Yet the strength of Western Civilization, with the United States as the current prime example, is to overcome those mistakes and become even stronger.  So, forget the 1619 Project, systemic racism, the Black Lives Matter organization, packing the Supreme Court, abolishing the Electoral College, and all the other foolishness and nonsense. Indeed, the United States is the last best hope for freedom in our world.

Oh yes, one more thing. Being a patriot does NOT make me a fan of the New England Patriots. The Cowboys are America’s Team!

HORSE SOLDIERS: KNOWING WHEN YOU HAVE WON & THEN GOING HOME

 

[Above is a dramatic scene from the movie 12 Strong depicting US Special Forces and their more recently Alliance allies on horseback attacking Taliban forces in October 2001.]

Recently I was searching through YouTube and came across the opening theme music to the 1959 Civil War movie “The Horse Soldiers” starring John Wayne and William Holden. The music- “The Love I Left Behind” is very catchy and was paired with pictures of famous cavalry units in the US Army, the 1^st Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (The Rough Riders) and the 9^th and 10^th Cavalry Regiments (The Buffalo Soldiers).

My continued searching revealed recordings of another group of horse soldiers set more recently. In the days following the infamous 9/11 attacks on the United States, our intelligence agencies pinpointed that the attacks were masterminded by Osama ben Laden (OBL) and his Al Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan where they were protected by the Taliban government. Knowing that the Taliban government were fighting a civil war with the Northern Alliance for control of Afghanistan and that we needed a quick response to 9/11 President Bush authorized about 90 personnel- Army Special Forces (the famed Green Berets), other special operators, and CIA paramilitary personnel- to be inserted into Afghanistan to link up with the Northern Alliance to topple the Taliban government. (In reality, their orders were vaguer than that.)

One of the units sent to battle was a Special Forces detachment of 12 soldiers. They quickly found that horses were the best mode of movement in the mountainous terrain. So, riding horses for maneuver per 19^th century and using 21^st century weaponry like laser-guided bombs, our modern horse soldiers were able to assist in the removal of the Taliban from power in a matter of weeks. Heir exploits were so incredulous that a book and movie featured what these soldiers what these soldiers accomplished. (The book was originally entitled Horse Soldiers but in later editions the titled was changed to12 Strong with the movie having the same title.)

For all practical purposes we won and avenged the 9/11 attacks. Granted, the combined US/UK commando force of about 90 personnel led by Delta Force Major Thomas Greer (aka Dalton Fury) was not able to kill or capture OBL and his party before escaping to Pakistan through the Tora Bora region. Yet, we won but refused to believe that we had won. So, we stayed for another two decades losing thousands of dead and wounded and billions of dollars in a lost cause after we had won.

Knowing when one has won a contest and going home is as much a part of wisdom as knowing when one has lost and facing the consequences. In 2001 and again 2021 our national political and military leaders did neither well. Our lack of wisdom came from a lack of historical imagination about Afghanistan. This land-locked country is not a nation-state but is a tribal society with medieval governance and religion which now has consumed the efforts of three mighty empires- Russian, British, and American. They are tough people who play the long game.

So, while it is good to thank our veterans for their service, and in many cases their courage under fire and emotional and physical. Yet, it is also good to be wary of politicians who lack wisdom about wars and unintended consequences as revealed by history,

 

 

 

CIA- 1, FOX NEWS- 0

 I confess that I watch Fox News. But I am a veteran consumer of the news as I do not agree 100% with Fox. For example, I’ve have disagreed with both Bill O’Reilly and Tucker Carlson in their analysis of the news. The key is knowing which of the news personalities at Fox are straight news or commentators.

 Laura Ingraham is a Fox News commentator. In her show, The Ingraham Angle, she attacks and challenges any or everything she perceives as liberal. She is usually on target but last week she blew it. Ingraham criticized the Central Intelligence Agency on its interest in climate change and even mocked its director, Ambassador William Burns, on his presentation on why climate change would be important to his agency. Ingraham labeled the CIA’s interest as part of the “woke” agenda the Biden Administration is pursuing. I believe she is wrong for doing so,

 First of all, Ingraham’s researchers did her a disservice. From my initial research, I discovered that the CIA has been interested in climate change and its implications for national security at least since 2009. So, Ingraham’s analysis is not news per se.

 I also confess that I believe in climate change. But not in the Socialist Green New Deal version of climate change. Our planet has had multiple cycles of cooling and warming throughout our existence. In the middle centuries of the last millilumen the North Atlantic region of earth, including Europe and North America, experienced what has termed a ”Little Ice Age” which had followed the Medieval Warm Period. Severe winters, extreme frost, cool summers, shortened growing seasons, and food shortages were characteristics of this cooling period. So, for example, when the Pilgrims arrived in North America in 1620, they felt the extreme effects of cooling on a new continent.

 Therefore, there is climate change regardless of human activity. Granted the changes may be modified or enhanced by humans. The Green New Deal attempts to alter climate change to artificial means through government intervention. Consider the damages the Federal government has done to housing and higher education during the past seven decades. Do we really believe it will be any different with climate change? To answer my rhetorical question, the answer is No.

 One national security implication of climate change is water, or more specifically, access to clean water supplies and the potential for conflict. This issue is not “news” either. The Pacific Institute in 2012 reported, “There is a long history of conflicts over water resources, extending back thousands of years…But even now, in the modern world, disputes over access to water, the use of water as a weapon, and the targeting of water systems during conflicts remain all too common. (There are) complex and real relationships between water and security..”

The CIA certainly can be criticized and has been criticized for failures of imagination and possibilities that affect our national security in the past. Yet the reality of climate change, water issues resulting from climate change, and other scenarios are within the purview of the CIA as this agency attempts to brief the president and other national leaders on what realities our nation may face in the coming future as they impact our national security

 In closing, Fox News with Laura Ingraham‘s negative commentary on this issue has scored a big zero with me. As long as the CIA analyses climate change and resultant water supplies with integrity without political interference it is definitely doing its job.

 

 

 

GRADITUDE POEMS

 

[I submitted these poems for publication in the Bostonia,

Boston University’s alumni magazine after its call for

poetry dealing with gratitude. I graduated from BU

in 1978 with a master’s degree in education.]

 

With Gratitude

Thanksgiving Day comes once yearly

But I also can be thankful daily

With gratitude for my wife and children

Grateful for my parents and siblings

And grandparents, too

Along with teachers, mentors, friends, and strangers throughout the years

And ultimately to my God, who created me and loves me eternally

Every day is an opportunity for thanksgiving

To whom who has invested in me and with whom I am currently investing

For gratitude brings an abundant harvest of joyful living

 

A Haiku

Gratitude wanting

Power for joyful living

Seek to do daily