When I first boarded the USS Horne, DLG 30, and headed west out of San Diego during the Vietnam war, I was idealistic.
My father's ship was hit by a Kamikaze off Okinawa; my grandfather and his machine gun crew held a crucial Rhine River bridge stopping a German counter attack. My grandmother's uncles fought in the Civil War at Gettysburg and many other battles. Our family fought in the Revolution and the French and Indian War.
My wife has an uncle that never came home from Guadalcanal and her father carried shrapnel from his service there.
During my service, I boarded Russian and Chinese merchant ships, was an electronics warfare specialist on ships shadowing Russian submarines and service "intel" ships. In the 1990's, I saw service in Korea (the end of the armistice) and Kuwait (Operation Northern Watch). Since the nineties, I have seen service in Kuwait, and was disabled in the months after September 11.
In each of these deployments, people died serving their countries, to contain oppressive governments and to protect their liberties and freedoms. Service men and women were told they were sent to protect South Korea's border from North Korea; South Vietnam's border from North Vietnam; Kuwait's borders from Iraq; Kenya and Afghanistan's borders from terrorists organizations without borders. The problem in Afghanistan is drugs - opium, etc. That part of the world which has adopted an economy based on drugs and the violence of trafficking.
The idealism is still there. The ideal of protecting Liberty and Freedom are the only reason citizens should go to war, to send our men and women into harms way.
It is time to protect our border with Mexico - not from legal immigrants and Latino citizens, but from that part of the Mexico which has adopted an economy related to drugs and the violence of trafficking.
Twenty one people are murdered in the United States every day by illegal aliens from Mexico; Phoenix is the kidnap capital of the nation, but you don't care; the Kansas State Legislature does not care; the Kansas City City Council and Mayor does not care; Obama and Congress does not care. Over 3,200 US citizens have been killed in the United States this year alone by illegal alien murders bent on invading our homes, filling our streets with violent gangs, and our schools with illicit drugs from Mexico, South America, and Afghanistan.
Arizona cares - those protesting the Arizona law have not read it -for a reason. It tells law enforcement it must have probable cause, that they cannot profile. The protesters object to the parts of the law that holds the attorney general and employers accountable for hiring illegal aliens. The rancher shot and killed a few weeks ago, just miles from where I was born and spent a great deal of my childhood, was killed by a drug cartel murderer bent on revenge. The rancher had turned in an abandoned vehicle filled with drugs meant for US buyers. Eighteen other states care. Not you; not Kansas; not Kansas City.
Obama, H. Clinton, Pelosi, Feinstein, and others claim the drug cartels are armed with guns that came from the US. They are right! The State Department sold the guns to Mexico, and they sold/gave them to the drug cartels!!
You are to blame for three reasons - First, you lost your idealism. Careers, kids, grandchildren, leisure, and the "lake" replaced ideals and commitment to beliefs. Everyday in my classroom, I see kiddos who have no ideals. They see the drugs and the unrestrained gangs as the source of power and money. Idealism, is dead. Put up an American flag and your neighbors and co-workers will ridicule and torment you as naive and worse, a bigot or homophobe.
-Second, you stood by and did not walk your neighborhood and spread the word and message of liberty. "Never talk about politics or religion," we are told by those who will give up liberty and freedom for the sake of "getting along." My neighbors and family know exactly where I have served, why I have served, and my commitment to keep my oaths as a peace officer and sailor to defend and protect the Constitution. You would be surprised how many agree. I say what I mean and mean what I say. I keep my word and have little time for the Charletons that sugar-coat or say one thing and do another. Recently, I ticked off one person running for Senate, another for Congress and a perceived TParty leader. Each say one thing and do another.
-Third, we did something the Founders warned us against, we trusted those we elected and have given them too many rights and liberties, and power. They have used these non-Constitutional rights, liberties, and power to take ours.
I am guilty of all the above, until the Statist decided to take what little else I had.
We made a great income prior to September 11, then the bottom fell out when I was recalled and the company my wife worked for closed. It was two years after my injuries suffered after 9-11 allowed me to work and I returned to teaching after the financial services company eliminated my position upon my return from the Navy.
I have the honor of paying the Navy back $26,000 for injuries suffered at a check point, in order to get DAV benefits. With 22 years service, I was denied retirement benefits. Moore, Brownback, McCaskill, and Roberts each agreed on one thing - fixing this oversight was "not their area." Still it was not until Cap&Trade and Obamacare that we got involved.
We do not want sympathy or help - we are responsible for ourselves. Now we are resolved to throw out every rino and hypocrite who is not dedicated to individual liberty and the Constitution. We need to protect and defend every US citizen as an individual with individual rights - Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, and those from all of the other cultures in the world. If we protect individual rights guaranteed in the Constitution, we protect everyone.
We need to follow Arizona and protect our borders. We need to protect Kansas jobs and our citizens through low taxes and limited government. We need to give our money, time, and talents to the hand full of candidates that pass the smell test and devour those who do not. There is only one rule now - the rule of Constitutional law.
We start by remembering those who are serving, those who have served, and those who have died in the service of saving, defending, and protecting the Constitution of the United States.
