Globalization is the term we hear describing the world we live in today. Everyone coming together, setting aside personal differences, and working as a team to solve problems is the dream of this movement. It’s not a bad idea, except for the fact the cultures of many societies are simply swept under the rug.

            Nations from around the world have their differences. These differences include language, culture, and in many cases, religion. Finding common ground is often difficult. However, the one issue many of these countries have in common is criticizing America.

            Our nation has become the world’s punching bag on many issues. These nations see us as the ultimate evil in the world; it’s amazing at how many people from those countries enjoy coming to our spot of ground to live and to get an education. 

Once these individuals return home they begin using what we give them against us. We give millions of dollars in aid to various countries, but as we were attacked on 9-11, citizens of those countries were dancing in the streets in celebration.

Many European countries often tell us we need to simply mind our own business and not get involved with other nations activities. This is all well and good, but if it wasn’t for America getting involved –on two separate occasions I might add- those European nations would today be speaking German. Other nations criticize us, but when they get into trouble, America is the first call they make.

I don’t apologize for being an American because of this and many other issues. If it wasn’t for America sending food and medicine to other countries around the word, people would starve to death or die of curable diseases. 

Our nation faces criticism from within as well. Years ago, when immigrants came to this country, they wanted to have a better life. They left behind the oppression of their native countries and adopted the language and the culture of America. 

Unfortunately, many of the immigrants today want to keep their native language and culture while enjoying the benefits of America. We give them their freedoms – rights not returned in their native countries by the way- and they use those freedoms to criticize us and our way of life.

 We welcome those who want to join us in this great land and become part of who we are as Americans. However, I would like to say to those who would rather use their freedom of speech, which we give to all, simply to criticize us; this is our land, our flag and our way of life.

Most of us work hard to make a better living for our families. We salute the flag and many of us still bow our heads in thanks at the dinner table. Our culture may be upsetting to others, but it is just that, our culture, and we shouldn’t apologize for it.

            Recently, there was a story on ABC News that discussed the growing political polarization facing our nation. One statement in the story reads, “Like minded people are pushed to more and more extreme positions when they group together.” Are we growing apart as a nation? And if so, what is causing this division?

            Imagine for a moment a family has their home just how they want it. They have pictures of close relatives and friends hanging on the wall as well as monuments such as The Ten Commandments placed around their property. Each day, time is spent reading from the Bible as well as keeping many other time-honored traditions handed down from generations past.

            These homeowners are always looking to bring in others to enjoy their good fortune with them, welcoming them with open arms. After many years and many individuals added to the household, there come in a few who want to change everything. These individuals want to take down the pictures and monuments in order to set up their own.

            Changing those time-honored traditions are something else these individuals are working for as well, and when someone says something to them about what they are doing, they reply, “YOUR CAUSING DIVISION!”

            The home I’m speaking of is our great homeland with all of its traditions and heritage. Those who scream the most about tolerance are often the most intolerant if someone disagrees with them. Pushing the envelope to the extreme to rewrite our history and way of life is often accompanied by degrading those who may disagree with the policies used.  

Political correctness has gone to the extreme by pushing out what once was common place. In our area, school children aren’t allowed to have prayer at their graduation ceremonies because of this so called inclusiveness of today. “Prayer may offend someone,” they say. This kind of rhetoric has now gotten to the point of offending me. The one right that isn’t found in the Constitution is the right not to be offended.

The definition of marriage, public display of the Ten Commandments, and many other issues are heavily debated today. Those who want to keep to the traditions of this country are the ones blamed for offending others. Should we cast off who we are as Americans simply because it may offend someone? I think not.

                “A man can hold land if he can just eat and pay taxes; he can do that.  Yes, he can do that until his crops fail one day and he has to borrow money from the bank.  But – you see, a bank or a company can’t do that, because those creatures don’t breathe air, don’t eat side meat.  They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money.  If they don’t get it, they die the way you die without air, without side meat.  It is a sad thing but it is so.  It is just so,” John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath.

                I recently sat down with this book and reread a few lines.  It is one of my favorite works of literature with a message of the working poor who lost virtually everything during the Great Depression. 

                I’ve been thinking more about this book recently, being reminded of it by following the current economic struggles faced by our nation.  I use the word nation rather loosely since a nation consists of people, but not just any people.  Each of us has our own circle of acquaintances and family that we care greatly for. We are surrounded by others who have their own circle.  All of these circles put together are what makes up our nation, and our nation is personal because our circle of family and friends is personal.

                I write this column with a heavy heart, wondering about the direction of our nation, which is currently experiencing a serious economic downturn.  Stories of families losing their jobs and homes are a tragic reality across this country.

                Like most Americans, I don’t believe our government truly hears our pleas for action to be taken.  Washington has become a virtual foreign land when compared to the average person.  I say these things, because I don’t believe many in our government understand what it is to live from paycheck to paycheck.  Neither do I believe they have sat at a table with a stack of bills and a checkbook wondering what bill could be mailed late to leave money for groceries or medicine. 

                Energy costs are at the highest rates ever, virtually crippling the budgets of the working class.  These costs are also reflected in the increased cost of food and other items of necessity, further emptying the bank accounts of common folk.

                It is the common folk who have suffered the most from a trade agreement known as NAFTA.  While it helped increase corporate profits and line the pockets of the rich, it put many workers on the streets.

                Today in Washington, many politicians also complain about what NAFTA has done to this nation, but none of them have taken any action to withdraw from the agreement or do anything to correct that mistake.  And while they delay, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. 

                Our tax dollars are taken and given to large corporations as subsides as they move our jobs off shore.  Just as some of the land companies in Steinbeck’s book, jobs that remain are fewer than the workers to fill them which have driven down the wages paid.

                I believe that change will come, not with the election of a new president or members of congress, but when average Americans decide they’ve had enough.  There is a great need for the people of this nation to remind the government who they work for.  Through phone calls, letters, emails, protests or even a messenger pigeon, we desperately need to tell politicians just how disappointed we are in their performance. 

                Throughout history, it is the average individuals who must pull together to clean up the mess left by their governments failures.  And I do not believe it will be any different within our own time.

                The recent decision by the Supreme Court overthrowing the handgun ban in Washington DC should be a wakeup call to the nation. By only one vote, the Supreme Court held that individual citizens had the right to bear arms. While many are applauding the decisions, others such as me are concerned over the division of the court on this issue.

                Writings and speeches given by the founders of our nation leave no doubt as to the fact that the Second Amendment applies to individuals. Thomas Jefferson is known as the author of the Constitution, and he made his views very clear: "No Free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." (Thomas Jefferson, T. Jefferson Papers, 334,[C.J.Boyd, Ed., 1950])

                The fear of the founders of this nation was that the government would become to invasive in peoples’ lives. That is one reason they put the right to bear arms within the pages of the founding documents.  "[T]o disarm the people - that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them,” George Mason.

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States" (Noah Webster in `An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution', 1787.

"The Constitution shall never be construed....to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms" (Samuel Adams, Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 86-87)

                "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike especially when young, how to use them." (Richard Henry Lee, 1788, Initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights, Walter Bennett, ed., Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican, at 21,22,124 (Univ. of Alabama Press,1975)..)

                These are only a few of the thousands of quotes made on the right of the people to keep and bear arms, but even with all of this, the Supreme Court came within just one vote of throwing the Constitution in the garbage. 

                I believe that our rights are taken from us a little more each day. Recent legislation frees communication companies from liability when they assist the government conduct warrantless wiretaps of our phones, and it isn’t just foreign terrorists who are being spied on. 

                I would like to ask the readers of this column to do something that they haven’t done since school, read the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I stand convinced that the main reason that our rights are being taken away from us is that most of us don’t even know what those rights are. When you’ve finished reading the founding documents, let us know your opinion.