| In the past, and still today, the citizens of our great nation have risen to the fight and accomplished what many may have failed. We survived the Great Depression of the late 1920's. We as a nation fought two World Wars without losing sight of our basic foundations. We survived the Korean conflict and the Vietnam War bloodied but unbowed. We will survive once again.
Others have observed the basic substance of the United States. Paul Tillich The typical American, after he has lost the foundations of his existence, works for new foundations. This is true of the individual and it is true of the nation. Victor VindeThe greatest asset of the Americans, so often ridiculed by Europeans, is his belief in progress and his profession of democracy.
Today we find our nation on a downhill slope. For the time being all we are managing is to slow the fall. We need more. We need to find ways to reach deep inside ourselves and to reach to touch others to move the nation to new heights. Our history is replete with instances of great leaders finding ways to stir the populous to action. Today we need one more such person to inspire and to show us the way.
We must continue to believe in our nation and in our founding principles. Our nation was born in ideals of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The foundations remain in place to this day. We need not search for a new scenario upon which to build. We need only return to our roots and continue the idealism our Founding Fathers held. Those men may not have been perfect by any means but their ideas have held this nation together for more than 200 years. The last thing we should consider today is any great modification of our Constitution or any of those great ideas of so long ago.
We must regain our thoughts of progress and of true democracy. Too much has been sacrificed to the fear card. We have lost privacy and individual rights. Too often those who sacrifice privacy for security end with neither. We must take back our government. We must insist upon our rights as they were set in the Constitution. We have a fine basis for our existence if we are able to regain our hold on those ideals.
Action is required. Every person in the nation today must reach out to every person in their corner of the world. We are all first and foremost human beings. We are a population of men, women, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, children, and adults. If we see our humanness as the most important part of life all the other characteristics lend strength to the collection. Our differences must not be allowed to be used as divisive pieces. Our nation is like a fine salad in which the collection of individual pieces makes a whole so much better and yet each piece retains its own individuality. As an entire nation of people we stand together or we fall apart.
We must not lose faith in the basic strengths of our nation. We can hold on to our founding principles as an anchor or a life preserver. If we keep our belief in the nation intact and work hard enough to bring about the renewal necessary, we will leave a heritage for future generations of which we may be proud.
The work will not always be easy. The way will be blocked at times by those who wish to disagree or to impede progress. Yet we must prevail. We will win by moving off our sofas and out of our safe and warm onto the streets. Outside we meet people and we tell them what must be done. We can demonstrate. We can hold the vigils that keep the flame of protest alive. Whatever each of is able to do is a contribution to the overall effort. The only unacceptable action is no action at all. |
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