The vanishing America
Patriotism either lives in your heart, or it doesn't.
On June 26, TV station Fox 9 reported the St Louis Park, Minnesota City Council would "revisit" its earlier vote to discontinue opening meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance. In a statement, an unnamed council member explained that body had heard "many comments from the community."
Rightly, much attention is paid national and international-level events and figures that illustrate American exceptionalism. Think of the signing of the Constitution, WWII's successful vanquishing of Nazism, the Cold War defeat of Communism, and the historic elections of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.
But no less important are small-town signs of patriotic faith, of average folks standing up for freedom in daily life. The neighborhood grocer, the local school, boy scouts, country fair racetracks, Main Street parades -- the list goes on. Regular people living out incredible testimonies to the wonders liberty made possible.
Classic plays like Our Town and movies like Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life attested to the vitality of small-town folks and our dreams. So did Mark Twain stories, Norman Rockwell paintings, and military-veteran family members' photos; they occupy places of honor in the humble homes of millions of hardworking, tax-paying, average citizens.
But it cannot be ignored that danger to the legitimate American patriotism that raised up our great country also lurks in out-of-the-way environs.
On June 17, and reportedly without prior notice to citizens, five City Council members in St. Louis Park, of Hennepin County, Minnesota, voted to kick the Pledge of Allegiance out of future meetings.
"I hope it's not too controversial," Councilman Tim Brausen told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Our community tends to be a very welcoming and increasingly diverse community, and we believe our citizens will understand. I don't think we're going to be any less welcoming by not starting our meeting out with the standard ritual."
That Councilman Brausen would flippantly dismiss our Pledge as merely a "standard ritual" hints at the shallowness of his understanding of the involved sacred matter.
And his invocation of progressive buzz phrase "diverse" bears examination. In light of his action against America's Pledge, he clearly means diversity of national loyalty.
Just think about that: An American city council encouraging disloyalty to our country. If anyone doesn't want to be an American citizen, and support our nation over others, why are they here? And why are Brausen and his council comrades abetting their traitorousness?
Brausen was also reported by the Minnesota Sun to have lamented:
"[S]ome of us feel like patriotism has been so politicized that it's almost used as a weapon against people, and we're worried about that."
Brausen couldn't be more wrong. Proclaiming rightly prideful national loyalty is not a negative. It is a joyful assertion of who we are, and that America is a unique nation. No one should ever be ashamed to be an American.
Council member Anne Mavity tried to have it both ways. She voted to banish the Pledge of Allegiance from meetings of the council, a part of the American government, but also told the Star Tribune "We all love our country dearly, and we demonstrate that by our service as elected officials all the time."
But by their votes ye shall know them, Can there be anything more cruelly cynical than exploiting a country's opportunities to feather one's own nest, then claiming nobility while stabbing it in the heart?
(Remember, too, that unprincipled bureaucratic functionaries like Mavity enjoy employ in oppressive governments around the world. Municipal position alone hardly bespeaks goodness.)
Mavity's is a peculiar and maloderous case. She has littered her Twitter page with paeans to vile anti-Semitic Rep. Ilhan Omar, giving evidence of hostility toward America prior to her attack on the Pledge.
Several Twitter denunciations of Mavity and the anti-Pledge council merit inclusion, here:
"Anne Mavity is a disgrace to this country. What kind of council member does not support the Pledge in a meeting? What an embarrassment! #America #PledgeOfAllegiance."
"DISGUSTING. I went to the Naturalization Ceremony at Xcel on Monday, and those new citizens said the pledge. Your PC crap is a disgrace. Resign your position. Along with this cupcake Tim Brausen."
"I'm 4th generation MN and my family faced enormous hardships to get here and build their farms. If u can't say pledge and support US than go find a country you can support, but for God's sake stop denigrating the place my father, uncles fought to protect."
"What a sad state of the Left in this country. Your agenda is to kill patriotic values through 'death by a thousand paper cuts,' History will judge you for the traitor you are."
"Anne Mavity' remarks about the pledge of allegiance demonstrates that she is not supportive of American values. She should resign or be removed and never hold an office of public trust."
Echoing Tim Brausen's "standard ritual" slight of the Pledge, Mavity told the press the Pledge was a mere "unnecessary component."
The Pledge of Allegiance symbolizes loyalty to a nation unprecedented in world history. A country in which opportunity and upward mobility are every man's treasure. One that gave countless lives around the world in defense of freedom; not just our own, but countries near and far that relied on our instinctive sense of decency.
Ours is an exceptional land of invention and industry. An economic superpower that provides healthy sustenance to families from coast to coast. A beacon to all around the globe that oppressed men can stand up. A country whose brilliant Constitution was forged by men far superior to any today who effectively spit on our forbears' sacrifices.
The Star Tribune offered a racial breakdown of the area, as if that were at all relevant. 'American' is a nationality, not a racial designation. A person can and should be proud to be an American, and feel that more than any other trait unites them with fellow citizens.
America is inclusive of all its people. But it's got a history, Constitution, national sovereignty, and particular character. Everyone in the world isn't an American. Nor should this nation be expected to abandon legitimate definitional properties and lose its singular identity to assuage the sensibilities of vote-clutching opportunists and newly arrived subversives.
Patriotism is necessarily exclusive. It celebrates and honors a particular country, not every world nation. That exclusivity must be maintained for the faith to have substance. Nationalism and globalism are at cross purposes.
Legal American citizens should, and have every right, to feel that our country is our home. Its interests are our interests. When it is strong and successful, we are, too.
And we damn sure do say the Pledge of Allegiance.
Patriotism either lives in your heart, or it doesn't.
Council members Anne Mavity and Tim Brausen are second and third, from the left.
Rightly, much attention is paid national and international-level events and figures that illustrate American exceptionalism. Think of the signing of the Constitution, WWII's successful vanquishing of Nazism, the Cold War defeat of Communism, and the historic elections of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.
But no less important are small-town signs of patriotic faith, of average folks standing up for freedom in daily life. The neighborhood grocer, the local school, boy scouts, country fair racetracks, Main Street parades -- the list goes on. Regular people living out incredible testimonies to the wonders liberty made possible.
Classic plays like Our Town and movies like Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life attested to the vitality of small-town folks and our dreams. So did Mark Twain stories, Norman Rockwell paintings, and military-veteran family members' photos; they occupy places of honor in the humble homes of millions of hardworking, tax-paying, average citizens.
But it cannot be ignored that danger to the legitimate American patriotism that raised up our great country also lurks in out-of-the-way environs.
On June 17, and reportedly without prior notice to citizens, five City Council members in St. Louis Park, of Hennepin County, Minnesota, voted to kick the Pledge of Allegiance out of future meetings.
"I hope it's not too controversial," Councilman Tim Brausen told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Our community tends to be a very welcoming and increasingly diverse community, and we believe our citizens will understand. I don't think we're going to be any less welcoming by not starting our meeting out with the standard ritual."
That Councilman Brausen would flippantly dismiss our Pledge as merely a "standard ritual" hints at the shallowness of his understanding of the involved sacred matter.
And his invocation of progressive buzz phrase "diverse" bears examination. In light of his action against America's Pledge, he clearly means diversity of national loyalty.
Just think about that: An American city council encouraging disloyalty to our country. If anyone doesn't want to be an American citizen, and support our nation over others, why are they here? And why are Brausen and his council comrades abetting their traitorousness?
Brausen was also reported by the Minnesota Sun to have lamented:
"[S]ome of us feel like patriotism has been so politicized that it's almost used as a weapon against people, and we're worried about that."
Brausen couldn't be more wrong. Proclaiming rightly prideful national loyalty is not a negative. It is a joyful assertion of who we are, and that America is a unique nation. No one should ever be ashamed to be an American.
Council member Anne Mavity tried to have it both ways. She voted to banish the Pledge of Allegiance from meetings of the council, a part of the American government, but also told the Star Tribune "We all love our country dearly, and we demonstrate that by our service as elected officials all the time."
But by their votes ye shall know them, Can there be anything more cruelly cynical than exploiting a country's opportunities to feather one's own nest, then claiming nobility while stabbing it in the heart?
(Remember, too, that unprincipled bureaucratic functionaries like Mavity enjoy employ in oppressive governments around the world. Municipal position alone hardly bespeaks goodness.)
Mavity's is a peculiar and maloderous case. She has littered her Twitter page with paeans to vile anti-Semitic Rep. Ilhan Omar, giving evidence of hostility toward America prior to her attack on the Pledge.
Several Twitter denunciations of Mavity and the anti-Pledge council merit inclusion, here:
"Anne Mavity is a disgrace to this country. What kind of council member does not support the Pledge in a meeting? What an embarrassment! #America #PledgeOfAllegiance."
"DISGUSTING. I went to the Naturalization Ceremony at Xcel on Monday, and those new citizens said the pledge. Your PC crap is a disgrace. Resign your position. Along with this cupcake Tim Brausen."
"I'm 4th generation MN and my family faced enormous hardships to get here and build their farms. If u can't say pledge and support US than go find a country you can support, but for God's sake stop denigrating the place my father, uncles fought to protect."
"What a sad state of the Left in this country. Your agenda is to kill patriotic values through 'death by a thousand paper cuts,' History will judge you for the traitor you are."
"Anne Mavity' remarks about the pledge of allegiance demonstrates that she is not supportive of American values. She should resign or be removed and never hold an office of public trust."
Echoing Tim Brausen's "standard ritual" slight of the Pledge, Mavity told the press the Pledge was a mere "unnecessary component."
The Pledge of Allegiance symbolizes loyalty to a nation unprecedented in world history. A country in which opportunity and upward mobility are every man's treasure. One that gave countless lives around the world in defense of freedom; not just our own, but countries near and far that relied on our instinctive sense of decency.
Ours is an exceptional land of invention and industry. An economic superpower that provides healthy sustenance to families from coast to coast. A beacon to all around the globe that oppressed men can stand up. A country whose brilliant Constitution was forged by men far superior to any today who effectively spit on our forbears' sacrifices.
The Star Tribune offered a racial breakdown of the area, as if that were at all relevant. 'American' is a nationality, not a racial designation. A person can and should be proud to be an American, and feel that more than any other trait unites them with fellow citizens.
America is inclusive of all its people. But it's got a history, Constitution, national sovereignty, and particular character. Everyone in the world isn't an American. Nor should this nation be expected to abandon legitimate definitional properties and lose its singular identity to assuage the sensibilities of vote-clutching opportunists and newly arrived subversives.
Patriotism is necessarily exclusive. It celebrates and honors a particular country, not every world nation. That exclusivity must be maintained for the faith to have substance. Nationalism and globalism are at cross purposes.
Legal American citizens should, and have every right, to feel that our country is our home. Its interests are our interests. When it is strong and successful, we are, too.
And we damn sure do say the Pledge of Allegiance.
posted by DC Larson at
July 02, 2019
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home