The question is on the lips of many.  Some  decry our failings and insist they are endemic, and show the decline of our Country's greatness. 

They point to our prosperity as evidence of our selfishness. 

They point at our innovation and insist that we are lazy and weak.

They insist that in their lives we have never done anything worthy of pride.

Some point to the White House and our president, and decry his failings and decide the America has suffered under his leadership.  They accuse him of crimes and demand his oust.

They demonstrate against our Military, and defame them.  They falsely accuse them of crimes and atrocities.

They protest in the streets against the war we fight, against our foreign policy, against our leaders, against our culture and against religion.

The take the symbols of our country and deface them in protest.

They write articles and blogs and columns pointing our in glorious prose and detail the sins of our country, past present ad future.

So I ask myself:  In the face of so much hatred, disappointment and vile rhetoric, is America Still Great?

You bet your ass it is.  The proof is in the protest to start with.

We are virtually unique in the world where so much protest and anti government sentiment can be openly displayed, and not just tolerated, but downright celebrated.

Our Constitution, which continues to thrive despite the naysayers best arguments, protects those who speak against America the loudest.

For every person who speaks about how America has declined in greatness, their very words continue to prove we are still great.  All the Journalists that write diatribes against America do so because America values the freedom of dissent.

For those who protest our Military, and slander them, the fact they can do such acts is a testimony to how well our Military has preserved those freedoms.

Obama first:  In response to Rene Marie surprise substitution of Lift Ev'ry  Voice and Sing:

 Obama: Only one national anthem

Barack Obama picked some low-hanging fruit and scored some points in Denver today, after a local jazz singer substituted what some called the “black national anthem” for the Star Spangled Banner at a municipal event.  Saying that Rene Marie should have sung what she promised, Obama made clear that he only recognizes one national anthem for Americans:

Sen. Barack Obama said today a jazz singer’s decision to sing the ‘Black National Anthem’ at Denver’s State of the City speech this week was wrong.

“Well, ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ is a beautiful song that has been sung in African-American churches and other events for a very long time,” Obama told the Rocky in phone interview. “We only have one National Anthem. And so, if she was asked to sing the National Anthem, she should have sung that. ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ is a beautiful song, but we only have one National Anthem.”

Hot Air is right, it was an easy score.  But I admit, I would have expected a much more nuanced response from him.   He stuck to a simple truth.

And McCain posted this powerful 4th of July message:

Putting The Country First

Two of our greatest statesmen, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, took their last breaths on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after they presented America with our Declaration of Independence. They had been fellow revolutionaries, the closest of comrades, who went on to become bitter political rivals. Then, as the new era of the 1800s dawned, they reconciled, reminded of their old friendship and the momentous history they had made together. "Who shall write the history of the American revolution?" Adams asked Jefferson in one of the 158 letters they exchanged after they'd rediscovered their bonds. "Nobody," responded Jefferson, suggesting that while writers could understand the facts, they might never grasp the sacrifices.

First the wrong way.  This kind of thinking honestly flabbergasts me.

Chris Satullo: A not-so-glorious Fourth: 

U.S.  atrocities are unworthy of our heritage

Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time.

This year, America doesn't deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.

For we have sinned.

We have failed to pay attention. We've settled for lame excuses. We've spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago.

The America those men founded should never torture a prisoner.

The America they founded should never imprison people for years without charge or hearing.

The America they founded should never ship prisoners to foreign lands, knowing their new jailers might torture them.

Such abuses once were committed by the arrogant crowns of Europe, spawning rebellion.

Today, our nation does such things in the name of our safety. Petrified, unwilling to take the risks that love of liberty demands, we close our eyes.

We have done such things, on orders from the Oval Office. We have done them, without general outrage or shame.

...

Our silence is complicit. In our name, innocents were jailed, humans tortured, our Constitution mangled. And we said so little.

...

The world sees this, even if we are too dim to grasp it. We've lost respect. We've shamed the memory of Jefferson, Adams and Franklin.

...

So put out no flags.

Sing no patriotic hymns.

We deserve no Fourth this year.

Let us atone, in quiet and humility. Let us spend the day truly studying the example of our Founders. May we earn a new birth of courage before our nation's birthday next rolls around.

Ah, liberal self loathing.  I have never understood it. 

Sister Toldjah weighs in:

I thought this was pretty appropriate.  Today while many people watch the Pennsylvania primaries, it is also a holiday:

Patriots Day.  While it is a little known holiday that is only observed in Massachusetts and Maine, the roots of the holiday seem more important today than ever before.

Jules Crittenden starts this off with a long but fascinating series of accounts about Patriot's Day:

April Morning

Patriots Day may be  the least knowwn American holiday, and the day  mostt deserving of our recognition. Observed in Massachusetts and Maine only. Don’t know it? It marks the day, April 19, 1775, on which Americans took up arms agaiinst their kiing, and bled, at the crack of teerrible dawn.

Orders from Gen. Thomas Gage to Lieut. Col. Smith, 10th Regt. Foot, 18 April 1775:  

...

 Paul Revere’s account: 

The post contiues with many more accounts and I urge you to read it thoroughly.

Over at The House is a very thoughtful post:

FOUNDING BROTHER

It has been a tradition at The House to republish my Paul Revere post to honor Revere, Longfellow, and Patriot’s Day which, as Jules Crittenden points out, is celebrated only in Massachussets and Maine. According to my site stats, it is the most linked post on this site next to my Katrina Timeline.

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,—One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.”

This is a video of the Cactus Cuties, http://thecactuscuties.com, very talented young ladies ranging in age from 8 to 13 singing The Star Spangled Banner. The performance was at the Texas Tech vs Texas basketball game January 20, 2008.

If this does not give you chills, well, why not?

Don't mess with Texas.

There is a certain amount of caution I approach stories like this with.

I understand quite well that politicians (or their wives) make speeches and utilize many literary devices, one of which is Hyperbole.  Hyperbole is essentially intentional exaggeration which is used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, and is not meant to be taken literally.

So when Michelle Obama made her comment below I am willing to look at it in fair evaluation and determine if they were meant to be taken literally, or as hyperbole (source: Sister Toldjah):

“What we have learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. And let me tell you something — for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I’ve seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues, and it’s made me proud.”

Bryan at Hot Air responds thus:

Nothing America has done in Michelle Obama’s adult life, which at 44 goes back 26 years to 119822, has made her proud of her country? Nothing? Not winning the Cold War? Not our regular and orderly  transitions of power based on the rule of Law? Not the fact that we feed and defend the world, not that we lead in science and technology research, not that we elected the first black president in 1992…nothing? Not the fact that she and her husband were able to go to Ivy  League schools before embarking on extremely lucrative careers? Not the fact that we help out in disasters wherever they strike in the world? Nothing has made  Michelle Obama proud of her country in her entire adult life?

John Podhoretz continues:

One persistent argument that surfaces frequently revolves around the people who are openly anti war but who claim to support the troops.

So are clearly phony and easily caught by their anti Military prejudices, but others I have long maintained are sincere.

The problem is that most of their support revolves around ending the war.  By bringing them home they figure they have shown the ultimate support.  By impeaching Bush and Cheney, those they claim lied us into war they feel they are supporting the troops.

I don't particularly want to devolve into semantics here, but I tend to disagree.  The overwhelming majority of the troops volunteered to serve and most have at least reenlisted if not outright enlisted since the war began, so they have effectively voted for the war with their oaths.

Supporting them is a matter of encouragement, faith, allegiance and love.  The anti war nuts too often degrade to discouragement, disrespect and derision.  Not always.  But often enough to be the norm. 

One side thought is that we tend to lump all Bush critics with the Anti War Nutroots and that isn't really fair.  True, many liberals like to use the Military as a tool to further their Bush Derangement and some Democrats have too often carried an anti war person on their shoulders as proof of Bush's crimes.  But in being fair, not all are really anti war.

In fact, some that dislike Bush are strongly patriotic and supportive and put their belief in supporting our Military where the money meets the road.

Such is Scarlett Johansson, a young woman who is an open critic of the Bush Admin and Obama supporter, who ignores politics in showing her support in person.  Not one mention of any political aspect to the war or too Obama or anything else in her visit, that I can find.  She came in an honest effort to show her love of the men and women who sacrifice to make us all free.

During the 2004 presidential election, I predicted the Democrats would lose for one fairly simple, yet critically important reason:  While he was full of sound and fury about Bush's faults John Kerry offered no alternative, no leadership.

He had no vision.  It is not enough to say how bad the other side is, you need to show you are better.

The Democrats learned.  In 2006 they stormed congress on a platform rich with vision and promise.  That so much of it has been false and empty is irrelevant.  At the time, they presented a vision of promise to the voters, and the peopley bought it.

Now as the 2008 elections are finally creeping up on us, the same situation is facing us:  Who will have the vision of leadership, and who will be full of sound and fury and no substance.

Don Surber ponders this in a well written blog, reposted here with his kind permission. 

Note very closely the irony of who has the greatest vision of America.

Lead America, Republicans

We need our Tony Blair, our Nicolas Sarkozy.

While Democrats select a presidential candidate, Republicans seek a president. There are a bunch of Jimmy Carters on the other side who are willing to apologize for America’s greatness. Forget about finding the next Reagan. America can settle for another Tony Blair or Nicolas Sarkozy.

Wouldn’t it be delightful to hear Mitt Romney say: “Sept. 11 was not an isolated event, but a tragic prologue, Iraq another act, and many further struggles will be set upon this stage before it’s over. There never has been a time when the power of America was so necessary …”

Wouldn’t it be great to hear Rudy Giuliani say: “There is a myth that though we love freedom, others don’t; that our attachment to freedom is a product of our culture; that freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law are American values, or Western values; that Afghan women were content under the lash of the Taliban; that Saddam was somehow beloved by his people; that Milosevic was Serbia’s savior. … ours are not Western values, they are the universal values of the human spirit. ”

First up is a story about a flag memorial for the fallen in Iraq. 

The memorial was placed by an person who does not support the war, but wants to memorialize the troops fallen.   To those who preach that you cannot oppose the war and stillsupport the troops, these people may be the exception to the rule. As I listened to the story of how their memorial was vandalized by other anti war protesters and I felt nothing but their hurt and sincerity.

There is a right and a wrong way to do things.  Destroying someone elese hard work is stupid.

And the other story is related to my Veterans day post.  In it, I noted that the WW2 veterans are dwindling.  But I neglected the real dwinding class of veterans: WWI vets.

And then there were one...

Frank Buckles is the last surviving American veteran of World War One.  Two others who joined the military during the war but had not yet completed basic training when the war ended also survive.  This past weekend might have seen the last Veterans Day with a living veteran of the Great War that Veterans Day was originally meant to honor.

It’s hard for anyone, I imagine, to say for certain what it is that we will loose when Frank Buckles dies. It’s not that World War I will then become history; it’s been history for a long time now. But it will become a different kind of history, the kind we can’t quite touch anymore, the kind that will, from that point on, always be just beyond our grasp somehow. We can’t stop that from happening. But we should, at least, take notice of it.

God help us.

The story continues:

Over There — and Gone Forever

The first thought I had out the gate on this was "who cares?".

Honestly, I am not getting wrapped up in whether he wears a flag lapel pin or not.  I believe these candidates need to be measured by their ideas, not by their wardrobe, and a shiny lapel pin is not an indicator of a truly capable leader. So I don't watch debates and interviews and such keyed to critique their choice of jewelry.

But when asked, Obama turned what was really a dumb question on it's head and may have done himself more damage then good.

Here is what happened:

Obama Dropped Flag Pin in War Statement:  Obama Stops Wearing Flag Pin, Says He'll Show Patriotism Through Ideas

An eagle-eyed reporter for the ABC affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, noticed something missing from Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama's, D-Ill., lapels.

"You don't have the American flag pin on. Is that a fashion statement?" the reporter asked, at the end of a brief interview with Obama on Wednesday. "Those have been on politicians since Sept. 12, 2001."

The standard political reply to that question might well have been, "My patriotism speaks for itself."

But Obama didn't say that. (video)

Instead the Illinois senator answered the question at length, explaining that he no longer wears such a pin, at least in part, because of the Iraq War.

"You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest.

"Instead," he said, "I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism."