On the shoulders of giants...

... is a term I'd use to describe America today. We haven't seen enough of the greatness that seemed so prevalent in Philadelphia back in 1776 here in the US in far too long.

The liberal agenda rules the foreseeable future here in the US... not because it is the RIGHT answer to what ails the country, but because it has had no publicly seen counter point in nearly a decade.

Franken is seated as a US Senator from Minnesota. Palin resigns her office of Governor of Alaska with more than a year to go on her term. Other Governors and GOP members are embroiled in the media circus that always follows extra-marital affairs.

From '94 to '06, Congress saw a GOP majority (even if it wasn't always a "conservative" majority), and the Left spent every minute making the point that the "right" was killing Americans... at home and abroad. That same label was slapped on two terms of a GOP President, as well. Across the country, states are seeing the GOP removed from office in favor of more liberal politicians. Liberal attitudes and points-of-view rule the mainstream media and the country's largest news outlets. What was once "traditional values" are now called "intolerance and hatred" by children in our very schools.

I was off work last night (my only night off this week, by the way) and we attended our local fireworks display here in our quiet little northeastern Pennsylvania "burrough". Sometime during the event, I heard one of the seemingly hundreds of children that were associated with our little clique make the comment that our fireworks looked great and that it was "patriotism through superior firepower". Other kids picked up the comment and it was very close to becoming a topic of discussion amongst them. I did not participate, nor did I stop it. It did make me ponder, though...

I don't care for the comment. It strikes me as sarcastic and implies that what we were reminded of last night through the display of fireworks is all pomp and show, with no actual substance outside of the "oohs and ahhs" associated with the display. While I admit that the displays were breath-taking, the "patriotism" associated with the 4th of July celebrations is SUPPOSED to remind us of the price our freedoms carry. The very men that penned the words we associate so much with the 4th of July did so under the penalty of a very painful and ignominious death as traitors. Since that day, tens of millions of men and women have donned the uniform of our Armed Forces, ready to (and in many cases, ACTUALLY DOING SO) place themselves "between their loved home and war's desolation."

Ryan sent me a text about a man named Frank Buckles... the last living WWI combat veteran in the US. The man is of particular interest to the Bund because I have had the distinct honor and privilege to meet the man at my workplace. While speaking with him, he gave me a small anecdote about his experiences at the Battle of Belleau Woods. He told me that he could see the flash of German rifles from the treeline as his unit advanced from their trenches, and that he could actually see bullets passing beside him as he marched forward. Something in my face must have betrayed my thoughts that, since a bullet fired from a Mauser-type rifle is moving at thousands of feet per second, I thought this was patently impossible (although I said nothing), and he explained that what he was seeing were bullets that had passed through Marines advancing in front of him, slowing the projectile enough for him to both see and hear them pass by him.

When I see the fireworks that are set off each July 4th, I hope I ALWAYS think of these kinds of sacrifices and effort made by men and women over the last 233 years to ensure my continued freedom and liberty, as well as the freedom and liberty of millions upon millions of people across the globe. I hope I am never glib or facetious in my comments about America's role in the defense of human freedom, in the past, now or in the future. I hope MY children always know the difference between arguing the merits of political agendas voiced by conservatives and liberals... and the selfless sacrifice made by soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines to fulfill their duty to protect this nation from "war's desolation".

I also pray that our "liberal" leadership also sees this fact for what it actually is... a founding and inherent principle in our national make-up.