In post WWII America, before “progressives” changed immigration laws to reduce immigration from Europe and accelerate immigration from third world countries, people were able to leave their home’s doors unlocked at night.  Keys could be left in the ignition with the doors unlocked and nobody would steal the car parked in front of the house. Getting divorced, having children out of wedlock, being dependent on welfare or food stamps, committing crimes, all brought shame to the individual and to the family.  The nation shared values based on a common heritage of European Christian beliefs.

At school, following a morning prayer children began each day by saying the pledge of allegiance.  Nobody was offended by saying either the prayer or the pledge.  Since their ancestors came to America because they loved America and wanted to be Americans, the children saw themselves as Americans, not Irish-Americans, or Polish-Americans or Belgian-Americans.

Kids knew that if they didn’t study they might fail, and if they failed they wouldn’t graduate.  When they played sports they kept score.  The better team won and only the best team earned the trophy.  They were familiar with concepts like good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lies, honor and dishonor, fairness and cheating, winners and losers.  They were expected to meet societal standards of performance and behavior.  They learned the difference between achievement and failure.  If they failed, they were encouraged to pick themselves up and try again.  Failure was not a disgrace.  It was simply a part of life people faced when they took risks and dared to achieve.

When they got home from school, Mom was waiting for them.  Her job was to run the home and play a big role in raising the kids.  She didn’t need to work outside the home.  Dad made enough money to support the family financially.  Both parents contributed to raising the kids and passing along the family values they once learned.  Latch key kids were the exception, not the rule.

Piece by piece, “progressives” began chipping away at this foundation of American society.

They eroded family values through Women’s Lib.  According to the “progressive” doctrine, if you were a stay at home Mom you were not “good enough”.  In order to be “equal” to a man, a woman must behave like a man and compete with men outside the home.  Once Mom left to compete for Dad’s job, when the kids got home from school nobody was there.

Great Society “progressive” programs further eroded the family and family values.  The more out of wedlock children they had, the more welfare paid unmarried mothers.  Instead of being a source of shame, having children out of wedlock became a source of money.  Failure to perpetuate the traditional two parent family and family values was rewarded by big government “progressive” spending.  Eventually, with help from Hollywood “progressive” propaganda, single motherhood became a cause for celebration, a badge of honor.  Fathers became unknown commodities to their own children.  Many kids were left to grow up instead of being raised.  The single mothers who did work hard to raise their kids were outnumbered and incapable of teaching their children the male perspective.  A mother cannot teach a boy how to be a man any more than a father can teach a girl how to be a woman.  The value of raising children in a two parent home is incalculable.

Thanks to “progressive” social engineering, flash mobs now feel entitled to invade a Wal-Mart in Jacksonville FL and take what they want:

http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2012-07-17/story/saturday-night-flash-mob-takes-over-jacksonville-wal-mart

Or in Troutdale OR:

http://www.kgw.com/news/Flash-mob-targets-Troutdale-Albertsons-store-159463245.html

What happened to the concepts of right and wrong, good and evil?  They are lost when there is no family to teach those values.  Yet “progressives” continue to cling to the idea that “it takes a village” to raise a child.  It looks like the village is doing a poor job.  Much as when a friend’s cold is brought home from school and introduced into the family, the “progressive” infection has spread through the family into society.

Now, “progressivism” has reached the highest levels of American government and threatens to destroy America’s exceptional ability to safeguard the individual’s God given Rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Abortion runs rampant; big brother government flies spy drones over private property and frisks innocent airline passengers while “progressive” taxation and draconian regulations impede the pursuit of happiness.

It has reached the point where the current Oval Office occupant is telling business owners they owe their business success to government built infrastructure.  If two individuals start competing businesses across the street from each another and one succeeds while one fails, it is impossible for the government built infrastructure to have been a contributing variable, much less the deciding factor.  The business that fails doesn’t pay higher tax rates, but the one that succeeds does.  To Americans taught common sense family values, that is what’s known as punishing success.

Since the failure of his policies preclude showcasing them as a reason to choose him for a second term, the “progressive” Democratic candidate for president of the United States has pinned his re-election chances to defining his GOP opponent as an out of touch with the middle class rich guy.   His campaign blames former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for the 2001 closure of GST Steel.   The truth is, Romney left Bain Capital in 1999 to save the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games and Jonathan Lavine was in charge of Bain during those GST layoffs.  Jonathan Lavine is bundling between $100,000 and $200,000 in contributions for the 2012 Obama Victory Fund.

It seems that the latch key kid from Hawaii by way of Chicago is unfamiliar with the concepts of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lies, honor and dishonor, fairness and cheating.  It is obvious that the concept of winners and losers is not lost on someone willing to lie, cheat, steal and kill someone’s good reputation for the sake of winning.

This sort of winning through character assassination is more important than doing the job for which he obviously lusts.  Despite spending $878 billion to “stimulate” the economy, and unemployment remaining stuck at over 8% since he took office, his jobs council has not met in six months.

Not only has his Energy Department squandered billions of taxpayer dollars on failed “green” energy companies run by his political cronies, they are now unable to locate $500,000 in equipment that was paid for by some of that “stimulus” money.

While bludgeoning Romney with unproven allegations of “outsourcing” jobs overseas and championing his own “insourcing” by “saving GM” (note: George W. Bush loaned the money to GM in 2008), it somehow never gets mentioned that the heralded Chevy Volt makes no money, and that manufacturing it costs American taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars per car.

And what of the once great city of Detroit, home of GM and onetime center of the automotive world?  Plans to raze empty homes in Detroit are in their final stage.  After decades of “progressive” Democratic rule, Detroit, once a booming crown jewel of American industrial might is bulldozing itself to the ground.

This is how “progressives” roll.  Following their path leads to decay and destruction.  It matters not whether the damage inflicted is on decrepit homes or the cornerstone of civilization, the nuclear family.  It is still a dead end.

http://mjfellright.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/how-progressives-roll/

Without a doubt this is familiar to everyone of us, young and old alike:

I pledge Allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,
with Liberty and Justice for all.
I pledge of Allegiance to the flag of
the United States of America and to the Republic
for which it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and Justice for all.

On any given day, these days, it is nothing to read about yet another school that is “banning” the Pledge of Allegiance; a Home Owners Association (HOA) prohibiting the American Flag to be flown; or someone, somewhere, offended by our beautiful Stars and Stripes.

Although I am sure we are all very familiar with the pledge, I wonder how many people actually know what they are saying when they recite it.

This article will outline exactly what our Founding Fathers planned for the future of this great nation and exactly what the Pledge of Allegiance means to each of us.

Let’s break this down, so we can better understand what our government actually is. We will go line by line- often, word by word.

“I”- This infers ownership.  A person speaking is “inferring to himself or herself” when they say “I”. It is personal.

“Pledge”- “A solemn promise or agreement to do or refrain from doing something.” The person speaking is promising or agreeing to what they are saying.

“Allegiance”- Loyalty, dedication, devotion, fidelity, honor, obedience, homage

“to”- A preposition used to express motion or direction toward a noun (person, place or thing), rather than motion or direction away from a noun (person, place or thing.)

“the flag”- A piece of cloth that can be an shape, size combination of colors and design that is customarily attached on one edge to a pole or cord. Common uses of a flag is to represent a nation, state, or organization.

“the United States of America”- An area of land which is governed as a federal republic that is mainly in North America. Fifty (50) individual states and the District of Columbia have come together as one. The nation was colonized primarily by the English and French in the 17th century. During this time, the native Indians were gradually defeated and displaced. Under the British rule there were 13 colonies that declared their independence from Britain in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the colonies. After the War of Independence the nation officially became The United States of America. During the Civil War (1861-1865) the northern states defeated the South. The United States of America is the world’s most productive industrial nation, and exports agricultural products as well. The land consists of the Rocky Mountains in the west, the Great Plains in the center, the Appalachian Mountains in the east, deserts in the southwest, and coastal lowlands and swamps in the southeast. English is the predominant language spoken; Christianity is the largest religion base; the dollar is the currency. The Capital of the nation is Washington, D.C.

“and”- in addition

“to”- A preposition used to express motion or direction toward a noun (person, place or thing), rather than motion or direction away from a noun (person, place or thing.)

“the Republic”- A form of government in which the powers of sovereignty are authorized and entrusted in the people and are executed by the people, either directly, or through representatives chosen by the people, to whom those powers are specially appointed.

“for which it stands”- the position or opinion of someone

“One”- Single, alone, only, solitary

“Nation”- A country with its own government

“Under”- Covered by

“God”- King of kings, Lord of lords, Adonai, Divine Creator, Holy Father

“Indivisible”- Impenetrable, inseparable, joined, permanent,unbreakable, unified indissoluble

“with”- Accompanying, including

“liberty”- Freedom, independence,

“and”- In addition to

“justice”- Lawfulness, fairness, honesty, integrity

“for”- As long as [it's]

“all”- Entire, total, complete

In breaking things down as we have, it makes perfect sense why there are many who refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. To these people I say- find another country!

Our Founding Fathers knew exactly what they were doing! They knew that it would be all too easy to become complacent with the nation we have.

Abraham Lincoln said it best:

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

Sadly, we are seeing this very thing come true. If you do not PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE to this great nation, and do everything in your power to fight to protect and keep the freedoms we have been so blessed with, you are part of the destruction.

____________________________

Sources:

Dictionary.com

Thesaurus.com

Did NBC do this purposely? You decide.

What would prompt the network to eliminate that phrase? The editing seems purposeful and Dan Hick’s failed attempt at an apology does nothing to alleviate disdain from viewers.

“Earlier we began our coverage of this final round just about three hours ago, and when we did it was our intent to begin the coverage of this U.S. Open championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship being held in our nation’s capital for the third time. Regrettably a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone and we’d like to apologize to those of you that were offended by it.”

Hick’s statement doesn’t assert that the omission was an accident or mis-step. In fact, he seems to be saying that the edit was intentional, they just didn’t do it with the purpose of upsetting anyone.

The PGA has received hundreds of calls asking about the intent of the edit to which they released this statement on their PGA tour facebook page:

A note to those of you who have posted on our page regarding yeterday’s broadcast of the US Open and the way the Pledge of Allegiance was handled. We were unaware of the decision to edit the piece in that way prior to its airing. We have passed along your concerns and are addressing the decision with our partners at NBC Sports. Thanks for tuning in and letting us know you care.

While in a discussion this morning on Twitter, some very deep, real and haunting realizations hit me. Many people may disagree, but I honestly believe the generation of today has it much worse off than we had it as kids. The strange thing is that, being not even 38 years old, I am not what I would consider old.

I chuckle to myself when I think back to the age-old stories of parents telling their kids, “You think you have it bad? When I was your age I had to walk five miles to school- uphill both ways!” And for added kicks and giggles, there was the occasional, “…. and in the snow!”.  Now, I am sure there are people out there that this was indeed true for, but for the majority of people who have told similar stories this is a drastic exaggeration.

I’m sure it was a stern, yet loving reminder to us that we should be grateful for the blessings of the life we have had.

Yes indeed, I was truly blessed beyond measure in my childhood! While I experienced many adversities – many more, the older I got- I still knew that I was indeed very blessed! Oh, this does not mean that I did not complain about my life! But I am sure most children have!

Oh, what I would give for my children to know the America I grew up in! It was not perfect by any means, but I never doubted that I was safe. Yes, as adults, we realize that the definition of “safe” is very subjective. We can walk outside tomorrow and be hit by a car. But in the overall realm of things, as a child, I had the strongest of confidences that I was safe.

Throughout the history of this nation there have been wars and the threat of war. During the “Cold War” specifically, the fear of a nuclear bomb compelled “Duck and Cover” drills. What I find odd is if a nuclear bomb goes off, what in the world is that flimsy little desk going to protect the children from? There we go again with the meanderings of my mind!

Strangely enough, I do not ever recall saying to my children, “You think you have it bad?! When I was growing up……”

What I have said, instead, is, “Oh how I wish you knew the America I knew and love from when I was growing up!”

There is a distinct difference in my tone and meaning from the other statement that we chuckle about.

When I was a child, The Pledge of Allegiance was part of our everyday life. Just last week I saw this news article:
Pledge of Allegiance Returns To NYC School After Parents Complain Daughter Has No Idea What It Is

Now, thankfully, I know for certain that my children do say The Pledge of Allegiance every morning at their school. However, to know that it has become common and acceptable to not say The Pledge of Allegiance every day saddens me greatly! To know that there are children today who have no clue what The Pledge of Allegiance is not only saddens me, but angers me as well!

As I sit here reminiscing about my childhood, I remember going outside to play, riding my bike around the neighborhood, going over to my friend’s house to play or them coming to my house to play. Things are just not the same in today’s society. The America we live in today is so drastically different! In today’s America, though my family lives in a gated community, there is absolutely no way I would allow my children to be out in the front playing without my supervision as we did when we were kids. I do see kids out playing with no adults around, but there is no way I would allow my children to freely roam the neighborhood- even in our gated community- where the crime rate is relatively low compared to many other areas. This is not the America I knew and love. Times are just too different from when I grew up!

Some will say that because of modern conveniences, our children have no idea how good they have it. In one sense, maybe this is the case. However, for me, I see it the opposite way. I believe that because of the modern conveniences our children have no idea how good it used to be!

When I was a child people could actually escape the “rat race” of life. Since there were no cell phones, if you were having a relaxing day with the family away from home, you could not be reached. Now, family outings are regularly interrupted by the chirping of a cell phone- or in many cases- several cell phones! We wonder how we ever made it without these “luxuries”, yet I look back fondly on these times. This is the America I knew and love!  Yes, it does make life “easier” to be able to contact someone at the touch of a button no matter where you are at. But what have we have sacrificed to have that convenience?

This generation has the sum of human knowledge at their fingertips with the internet. They have access to anything their hearts desire. But at what expense do they have these things? The accepted definition of a “family” has been so distorted that it really means nothing to so many these days. Or, if it does mean something it is a negative definition rather than a positive, loving definition in their life.

Because this generation has life “so much easier” with modern technology, the very sad thing is that in reality their lives have become so much harder because they do not know the true meaning of sacrifice. They do not know the true meaning of saving up for something that they want. The majority of today’s kids see something they want and it is theirs. We have sacrificed our children in the process of trying to make life easier for them.

Life is not easy. We learn life’s lessons through the rough times. If all of life was a breeze and beautiful and happy how are we to ever grow?

Our children’s generation- the kids of today- are overwhelming spoiled and rude. Does this mean there is no hope for us or that I do not see many kids with positive things going for them in their lives? No, not at all!  What I do find sad, however, is how often my children are complimented on how very well behaved they are. I am sure you are wondering why this would make me sad. Most parents would be extremely happy that the good behavior of their children is noticed. Yes… I am very proud of my children! While they are by no means perfectly behaved, they do know that they have expectations of how they should act- both in public, and at home. If they do not abide by the boundaries set for them, there are consequences.  But what makes me sad about the fact that my children are so often complimented on their good behavior is that this is no longer considered “normal”. For me, this is just what was expected of me as a child. Did I always obey my rules and boundaries? Absolutely not! But when I disobeyed I knew there would be consequences! This was the way it was for almost everyone I knew.  This is the America I knew and love. Too often in today’s society children have no consequences for their bad behavior. We are teaching them that bad behavior is rewarded. And we wonder why this nation is in the condition it is in? Teaching starts in the home. Unlike what Hillary Clinton’s book touts, it does not take a village to raise a child! It takes loving, involved, disciplined parents! Yes, many other people are involved, but it does not take an entire village to raise that child. That is the responsibility of the parents alone. Now, so many people expect that the government is going to take care of their children. So they do see that it takes the village to raise their children. The government is their village.

It makes me wonder how, with all of the modern medical knowledge and psychological knowledge and advances that have been made, why are we so backwards in our thinking? Why have we not corrected this wrong way of viewing things? But rather than correcting things we tend to be going to the more extreme as a nation. We do not want to hurt the little feelings of a child, so we give everyone who signs up for an activity a trophy whether they participated or not. If you notice I did not say anything about the winners and losers getting a trophy. We have now moved past that. If the kids name is on the list they have to be included in awards so they feel good about themselves!

We are not supposed to tell our children no when they want something because that will also hurt their feelings! And what in the world would we ever do with children who are not happy about something? I mean, come on! They might throw a temper tantrum or something!

So our children now grow up thinking that anything they want they can have and everyone is rewarded no matter how hard they try.

That makes me so very sad. I can’t complain about how hard life was for me, because in the hands of God, those hard times helped to make me the woman I am today. I can only pray that my husband and I are able to raise our children with enough of the view of the America we knew and love rather than what America is becoming.

Too often we do not realize the truth in the cliché, “What does not kill me makes me stronger.” While this is a cliché it is so very true. Our adversities are what teach us. Our hard times teach us to be thankful for the good times in our life. Doing without and sacrificing makes us appreciate the many blessings we have in our life. And even for those who have fallen on hard times, we all have blessings we can be thankful for! There is always someone out there who has it harder than we do.

My kids have no idea of the America I grew up in. They have no idea of the America I knew and love. Though I teach them to have pride in their country, that we, as a nation are exceptionally blessed, the attitude of the America they grow up in today is vastly different than the America I grew up in. So many people take for granted the freedoms we are afforded here every day. Yes, it is very true that our freedoms are being eroded away. However, we are still offered opportunities in this country that are not offered anywhere else in the world. My heart aches, not only for the complacency of our nation today, but also for the disdain that so many people have for this beautifully blessed nation. My question for these people who have such disdain for America is this: If you despise her so much, why are you still here? There are many other countries around the world where you can live under socialism or any other form of government you choose.

The reality is those who despise her have no idea what they are doing. They have the freedom to disagree with the government of this nation or people with opposing views. In many other countries you would be killed for much less!

I truly miss the America I grew up in! Until my dying breath I will cling bitterly to my sweet memories of days gone by. I will teach my children to love this country, imperfect as she is! Maybe one day the America I remember and love will be restored once again! I can assure you… I will do ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING IN MY POWER to make that happen-so help me God!

Show Time: Monday May 30th 9pm Eastern, 8pm Central, 7pm Mountain, 6pm Pacific

To Listen to the show click this link:  Plain, Hard Truth Tribute to America and Our Troops

To Call in to the show: (424) 220-1807

Reference Links from the Show (work-in-progress)

“If I Die Before You Wake” – Dustin Evans
Dustin got involved in music at a very young age, influenced mainly by his father. Dustin learned most of his dad’s songs and was singing them with true pitch at the age of three. As a teen, Dustin taught himself to play guitar, drums, bass, and piano, and began writing his own songs.

John Wayne’s collection of patriotic messages are still valid today. We’ll be listening to “Face the Flag Son”.

Please click on the CD image to purchase the entire CD if you find The Duke’s true American messages as inspiring as we do.
The CD contains these tracks:

1	Why I Love Her 2:58
2	The Hyphen 2:30
3	Mis Raices Estan Aqui (My Roots Are Buried Here) 2:42
4	The People 3:46
5	An American Boy Grows Up 4:31
6	Face the Flag 3:55
7	The Good Things 2:43
8	The Pledge of Allegiance 4:21
9	Why Are You Marching, Son? 3:44
10	Taps 3:05