Dismantling the United States

So many writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants.

Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer.

In 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States. People had to get off a ship in New York and stand in a long line be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children into one culture. No one handed them anything. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought alongside men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France, and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini, and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages was looking for the French-American, the German American, or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans and we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here.

These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white, and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2008 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges, only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules; one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country.

I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work, and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled to see people waving foreign flags as examples.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill.

Rosemary LaBonte wrote this letter in response to a series of letters to the editor of the Orange County Register. The Orange County Register never published her letter. The letter came to me from “Molly” whose Ghost of Freedom Past poem I had posted.

Mrs. LaBonte’s husband felt that distributing the letter widely had merit and I agree with Mr. LaBonte’s position. To that end, I received permission to share it with the folks who visit Free Republic.

The United States is under active attack to divide and separate us. United there is no nation or group of nations in the world that is our equal. Consequently, we must be defeated by other means. Separate us, divide us over various questions, create dissension, in other words take a look at Sun Tze’s “The Art of War”. Consider for a minute the art of fighting without fighting. We are losing every round because we do not recognize that we are under siege. We need leaders that recognize this.

Thank you for this post. This letter is a beautiful explanation of what it should mean to be an American....even a first generation one.

My father was the son of immigrants from Italy. After Pearl Harbor he joined the Marines and could not imagine being anything else but an American. But they also had something else going for them that the present crop of immigrants do not.

Their parents were not only proud to be Americans but where thankful for the chance to be allowed to come here.

I remember as a kid hanging out with other Irish and Italian kids and getting into fights with the other kids we called "wasps". When my grandfather heard that term he asked what it meant. When I told him, he told me I should stop fighting with these "wasps" and thank them for the kindness of their parents who let us in to "their "country".

More than Pride, these people felt GRATITUDE in being able to come here. I never forget that when these new immigrant bad mouth this country. They should get down on their knees and thank God for the chance to be here. But they don't.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages was looking for the French-American, the German American, or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans and we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country’s flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here.

These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white, and blue bowl.
___________________________________________

Yes, indeed..

And most of those before 1900, also...

The active attack to divide the “Untied States of America” may even yet succeed. The doctrine of secession of any State from the Union has never been legally challenged, despite the successful military suppression of this activity during a short insurgency 1861-1865, in which there was a Confederacy carved out of the original Union. Following somewhat along the lines of the “Missouri Compromise”, a patched-together politically expedient “solution” was attempted which eventually generated far more problems than it solved.

There are clearly two different mindsets of what constitutes “America” in the minds of those who claim to be citizens. In one, there are the tested verities of the words of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution ratified in 1787, and subject to various amendments since. In the other, these documents are but suggestions, to be dispensed with whenever they seem inconvenient or contrary to their objectives, never mind that the objectives may be hostile in every way to freedom and genuine application of justice.

We DO have leaders, now, who recognize the latter mindset. The trouble is, there are no alternative sets of leaders who will support and endorse the original mindset at the national level, though there may be many at the state level. Responsive and responsible leadership, willing to place their faith in the people who chose them and the inspiration of a supreme Diety to guide their actions and their very words, seems to have fled Washington, DC, for good, leaving a vacuum filled by the less reputable who no longer take even their sworn oaths seriously. Those men and women are without shame and without any internal moral compass, twisting the words to mean that which was NEVER the intent, and carrying on full-bore to drive in their conclusions and objectives so forcibly that none dare to contradict or even resist before they have declared their victory.

That is no country I wish to live in, or leave for future generations.

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