By Tony Ciarlante
I am an American Patriot. Let me define what I mean by this. Technically, anyone born in the USA is an American, just like anyone born in Russia is a Russian; those born in Mexico are Mexicans, etc. HOWEVER, being an American or calling yourself an American means so much more than just being born elsewhere and calling oneself an Italian, or a German, or a Cambodian – saying that you are an American says a bit more to those others, and to ourselves.
Now, defining myself as an American Patriot I am highlighting that “other” meaning. A person doesn’t have to be born in the USA to be an American – they can emigrate here and adopt the American values of freedom and individuality, entrepreneurship, the Judeo-Christian morals of honesty, hard work, fairness, compassion, and genuine goodness.
That’s what makes an American different, that’s what sets us apart from the rest of the world. Our belief with the founders of this nation that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
There are no caste systems here; no one is born into a situation that they don’t have the freedom to change, and ample opportunity to make those changes. No lords and masters, no peasants, no serfs, no untouchables – here we have opportunity for all. Anyone can come to America and leave all of that stuff behind and find the freedom to express their own individuality in the pursuit of whatever makes them happy. Believing in these ideals is what makes me an American Patriot.
As an American Patriot I believe with the Founders that these unalienable rights – Rights that no man can put a lien against – come to people from the Creator, from God. God Himself has endowed human beings with the Right to Life, the Right to Liberty, the Right to pursue their own Happiness. Here in America no one can force you to be a farmer, or a machine operator, a truck driver, an electrician, a janitor – or force you to live in a city, or on a farm, or tear you away from family and relocate you to live and work thousands of miles from home, family and friends as soviet style communism did and as many governments still do today.
In America today we don’t even have military conscription; even our soldiers who defend us are all volunteers, when practically every other nation on earth has a military draft, forcing their youth into involuntary military service averaging two years. Why don’t we force people in America to serve their country this way? Because to the best of our ability it is our duty to live up to these ideals, to secure these individual God-given Rights that this nation was founded upon, and we only draft when absolutely necessary.
As an American Patriot I believe that the greatest words ever penned by man to describe the foundations of human government were written by Thomas Jefferson. Molded by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin they are found at the start of the second paragraph in the American Declaration of Independence and they are the very foundation upon which this country stands, and I quote,
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”
After a terrible, bloody nine year long war of independence, in which 1 out of every 3 men in the colonies fought, and 1 in every 8 men died; during which time the people suffered economic collapse, hyper inflation, shortages, rampant disease and epidemics, famines, and in some cases civilians were made military targets so that there were as many civilian deaths from the war as military deaths; after nine bloody years of this the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence prevailed, and as Abraham Lincoln so eloquently put it, “Brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
Was it perfect? No – it was run by imperfect human beings, it couldn’t be perfect – but it was by far the best, founded on the Divinely inspired ideals to which America struggled to attain. This nation tore itself apart in a horrible conflict – the American Civil War – brother against brother, father against son, battling over the ideals set forth in our Constitution as President Lincoln attempted to right the injustices of his day and form a more perfect union.
Abraham Lincoln summed up that conflict eloquently when dedicating the graveyard of the soldiers who had died at the costliest battle in the Civil War, not far from here in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Lincoln’s opening remarks on that bloody field were, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”
Looking out over the graves of the fallen, President Lincoln finished with this, “That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
As an American Patriot I revere what those who sacrificed so much over our history to establish and maintain through struggle and hardship and wars; testing our resolve and our dedication to these ideals, as the War for Independence; again when the British invaded in the War of 1812 and burned Washington, DC; and the great test of the American Civil War.
Wars for our very survival fought by us, our fathers, and grandfathers during the last century: World War One, World War Two, and the 50 year struggle known as The Cold War.
All of this struggle and sacrifice birthed a country and bequeathed to us a new nation, a republic, founded upon a Constitution based on the ideals of the Declaration of Independence for which so many died. A Constitution of the people, by the people, and for the people with three central themes:
Federalism, which is the dividing up of governmental powers and authorities so that there is no one central power, no king, no tyrant, or dictator, or despot. No one group or ruling class in control.
Republicanism, which is governing a nation as a republic, emphasizing liberty, popular sovereignty and civic virtue practiced by citizens, it is the rule of law. It is individual rights under a Bill of Rights which it is the duty of government to protect. As Founding Father John Adams defined a republic, “A government of laws, and not of men.”
And the third principal was limited government. That the federal government would only have those powers that were expressly given to it by the Constitution, to do those things that the state and local governments can’t, like national defense, and foreign policy.
As a 17 year old American Patriot I swore an oath to uphold and defend that precious Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic, as I voluntarily became a citizen-soldier and a guardian of the people and I went off to war, as my father had done before me, to defend our Republic, our Constitution, and the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. That was 35 years ago now.
Maintaining and strengthening these ideals and beliefs throughout all of my adult life, of liberty, equality, republicanism, God-given Rights under rule of law upon which nothing and no one can infringe – my political alignment is now defined as “Conservative”, and for the past two decades it would be further defined as “Christian Conservative.”
We are at a critical crossroads in our country, a turning point which shall decide our destinies as Americans and the future of our next generation. The next several months will be vitally important to shaping these future destinies.
When next I write, I shall expand upon and define what a conservative is, because without an understanding of whom and what we are, we’ve already lost the struggle for the identity of America.
Think upon my words and reflect upon what patriotism and conservatism mean to you, and next time I will show you why they are worth fighting for.
