American Greatness Defined | thenationalpatriot.com

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By Craig Andresen – Right Side Patriots on American Political Radio

Recently, some anti-Trump agitator posted a question on Facebook asking those who support President Trump…”when was America great anyway?”

Obviously, this was a person who doesn’t think America has ever been great, nor should America be great and therefore, the campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” is a non-starter. This person was also sucking around for an argument, hoping to irritate Conservatives and draw them into some mindless altercation where the poser of the question could then start in with their anti-American nonsense.

With that clearly in mind, and knowing full well that commenting on Facebook simply didn’t provide the necessary space to properly answer that idiot’s question…I decided to dedicate a bit of time to the answer here, in The National Patriot.

To be sure…

America has always been great…well…nearly always anyway.

America was great from the very start, as people looking for a better way, a way to live free and follow their own ideals started making their way here from England. Those pilgrims were the first to recognize the potential of America, and while they knew a new start would be anything but easy, they endeavored to take the risk, and make the move.

America was great when colonists decided enough was enough, and executed the original Brexit, taking on the world’s most formidable army and navy in a war of revolution.

America was great when Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence which was, after all, a formal indictment of King George III, and which made those who spearheaded the revolution enemies of Britain with a price on their heads.

America was great when the resolve of those average men who fought that war of revolution prevailed against all odds…and America was great when we won the sequel to that war…the War of 1812 again defeating the British to maintain our freedom.

America was great when slavery was abolished in the War Between the States…thus eliminating a scourge upon humanity in this country that not only cost the lives of innocent people who had been held as property, but also cost America the life of the President who oversaw the end of slavery.

America was great as we expanded westward, settling new territories, and turning those territories into states, bringing law and order to the untamed west. Was it great to displace the American Indians? Was it great to wipe out their hunting grounds and eventually put those Indians on reservations and break treaties with them?

It could have been handled better, but the Indians fought for their ideals and the United States fought for theirs…somebody had to win, and where there are winners, there are losers…and ultimately, America allowed for Indian Nations to be sovereign within the borders of America, and that shows an element of American greatness that you just don’t see in other countries.

America has always been great when it comes to legal immigration, accepting those who make the choice to become Americans, follow the laws of our land to make a better life for themselves through hard work and assimilating into our American culture. That is where the term “melting pot” comes from, and those who are willing to come here legally are always welcome.

America was great when we built things…great things…big things.

America was great when, even when reluctantly, we entered two World Wars and won those wars against the world’s tyrants and mass murderers. America was great when the decision was made to use the most powerful weapon ever created to end the second World War…a decision that potentially saved more than a million American lives, and quite possibly at least that many Japanese lives.

America was great when we invented things…great things…big things.

America has always been great on the big issues, but that’s not to say we always got it right from the jump…sometimes it was the early errors that led to the greatness, as only a great nation can admit to, and own up to, and repair it’s mistakes.

America has always been, and will always be a work in progress, but the fact that America is always trying to be better than it once was, is also a clear sign of greatness.

For the most part, America has also been great on the little things too…

America was great when scores were kept in Little League games so as to inspire a young generation to work harder to know the elation of victory.

America was great when everybody saw this as the land of opportunity, rather than the land of handouts.

America was great when the overwhelming vast majority of the American people took pride in what they earned, rather than showing envy for what others had earned and demanding they get for free what others toiled to achieve.

America was great when our Presidents challenged all Americans to be even greater, and inspired other nations to be greater than they were…Lincoln challenged Americans to find a path toward greatness without slavery…Presidents FDR and Truman challenged Americans to put an end to the Nazis and Imperialist Japan…President Kennedy challenged Americans to go to the moon before the end of the decade, not because it was easy, but because it was hard. President Nixon challenged Americans to know that no American was above the law, not even the President.

America was great when the world watched in wonder as we sent men to the moon and returned them safely to earth. America was great when the world came together as, against the odds we failed to land on the moon and yet returned three men to earth alive, and America was great when the world mourned as seven of our astronauts “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”

President Reagan challenged Americans to stand strong against the ideologies of the world that suppressed their own people, and posed a threat to our people, which inspired Soviet Russia to tear down the wall meant to keep their people in, and isolated.

America was great when we led from the front, not from behind. Leading from behind is, in fact, following.

America was great when the rest of the world wanted to be more like us, not when we wanted to fundamentally transform to be more like them.

America was great when the dream was to be better, more prosperous, and freer from government intervention in our daily lives, not when the dream was to be worse, invite more and more government intervention into our daily lives and feel entitled to live off of other people’s money.

America was great when we aspired to greatness, not when we aspired to mere mediocrity.

America was great when success was the goal, not when success was deemed undesirable, or culturally offensive.

America was great when at times of war the objective was to defeat the enemy, not when the directive was to win the hearts and minds of the enemy.

America has always been great when we, as Americans, have taken pride in being exceptional, not when being exceptional has been deemed immoral.

To be certain, America has had its share of unexceptional times, and some of those unexceptional times persisted, but they did not prevail…greatness and exceptionalism prevailed. Striving to become unexceptional is the same thing as striving for failure. Why would any American want our nation to be like other unexceptional nations? Why would any American want to emulate the failures of other nations?

The American Dream has always been to strive for something better, to achieve success through hard work, diligence, innovation, leadership, self-reliance, and beating the odds which defines American culture and leads to American exceptionalism. That is something of which to be proud.

For 8 years, from 2008-2016, we were told that the American Dream was something else entirely…entitlement…mediocrity…and appeasement of our enemies. We were told that America should emulate nations whose ideologies led to their demise. We were told that having pride in our nation, in our culture was immoral…undesirable…and unwanted on the world stage.

During those 8 years, we were told that if we were patriotic we were to be looked down upon. We were told that if we had achieved success we couldn’t have done it without the involvement of government and/or that we should be ashamed because our success came at someone else’s expense…and if we stood for the rule of law, stood for a sovereign nation with borders, stood for defeating our nation’s enemies or stood for the National Anthem we were abject racists.

For 8 years, we were led to believe we couldn’t, or shouldn’t be proud to be an American unless what we were proud of included a hyphen…black-American, Hispanic-American, gay-American or any number of other such hyphenations.

America was great when Americans weren’t walking on eggshells, when Americans spoke their mind even if some were offended, and America was great when Americans didn’t apologize for America being great. America was great when we told other countries what they needed to hear, not just what they wanted to hear.

America was great when we stood tall…not when some took a knee.

There will always be things about America that need to change…incrementally, not fundamentally as the fundamental principles of America are greater than any that came before, or have come after. Those fundamental principles were spelled out by our Founders and Framers and serve to this day as the guiding principles to greatness.

During the times America has strayed from the path, a course correction based on our founding principles have always been all that is necessary to get America back on track, and make America great again.

That brings me back to that question…”When was America great anyway?,” and with a very few momentary exceptions on the American history timeline, we have always been great…one of those moments being that 8 year hiatus from greatness between 2008 and 2016…which now thanks to President Trump is being incrementally corrected by steering America back to the fundamental principles that have made America great for the past 242 years.

“Make America Great Again” is more than a campaign slogan…it’s a course correction.

Now then…”second star to the RIGHT…and straight on ‘til morning.”

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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Diane Sori’s blog The Patriot Factor to read her latest article Silence Is Not Always Golden

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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS…LIVE!

Today, Tuesday, July 10th from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political Radio, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss ‘Silence Is Not Always Golden’; ‘American Greatness Defined’; and important news of the day.

Hope you can tune in at: http://listen.samcloud.com/w/73891/American-Political-Radio#history