America: To Be, or Not to Be?

My little footprint on the Internet is not much of a platform, but it’s my platform, and I intend to use it to make my voice heard. My mom and dad were members of “The Greatest Generation”. They encouraged me to use my own voice and my own head. I owe this to Mom and Dad.

Back in the 1950s, when I was a kid, with the exception of the country’s Native Americans, who it seems have been here forever, it was fresh in the minds of most people that their families weren’t originally from here. They’d arrived here from foreign shores. In order to do so, they’d made sacrifices, unimaginable sacrifices, and they’d faced hardships. They counted their blessings. They considered their citizenship to be one of those blessings. They appreciated their freedom. They appreciated the opportunities those freedoms provided, and they appreciated the veterans whose efforts had made those freedoms possible. They were patriotic.

Their families had arrived in this country with little or nothing, and they felt entitled to nothing beyond the promise that America and democracy provided, that if they worked hard and participated in the preservation of our fragile Republic, great things were possible. They knew it was so; they’d seen others prosper. They were prepared and entirely willing to defend their freedoms and their democracy against all threats, both foreign and domestic. The United States of America and all the benefits inherent in the amalgamation of our states are only possible as long as we remain united, and the welfare of all our citizens is entirely reliant on the preservation of our Union. When that is gone, America is gone.

Throughout my life, the veterans and those who Tom Brokaw referred to as “The Greatest Generation,” comprised a large part of our citizenry. As their generation has faded away, America’s diverse cross-section of humanity has been transformed. The fabric of our great nation has coarsened, and our edges have frayed. Our appreciation and comprehension of Freedom, what it means, and what it requires, has been largely lost. For many, the patriotism of our forefathers is a foreign and incomprehensible concept.

Not until recent years has it occurred to most of us that, minus America’s time-honored institutions and those who continue to support them, it’s entirely possible that the America of our country’s founders and generations of veterans and patriots may cease to exist.

Call me a fearmonger. Call me what you will. As we prepare to vote in the 2024 election, it’s not about partisanship. It's about citizenship. It's about preserving democracy and a government of, by, and for the people. Vote for Republicans. Vote for Democrats. Vote for Independents. For now, at least, it’s a free country. Vote as your heart and conscience dictate, but for God’s sake, vote! Vote for those who support law and order. Vote for those who support truth, justice, and the American way.

Don’t be deceived. Those who today threaten insurgency and violence in our streets are not patriots. They are insurrectionists. Those who today decorate their yards and trucks with confederate flags and Nazi swastikas are not organizing to strengthen America and its principles of liberty and justice for all. They’re organizing to end it.

Shannon Thomas Casebeer