Tag Archives: patriotism

Failure to Assimilate: Creating Patriots

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.  

 We have a serious problem in this country which should no longer be ignored. That problem is the number of people in this country that not only do not love what America stands for, but, are hell-bent and determined to undo what we have built over the past and soon to be 250 years.

A recent poll reported that 49% of Democrats believe in the American way compared to 92% of Republicans. Quite a disparity. The two political parties could hardly be further apart on their love of this country. This was not always the case. In his inaugural address, Democrat President John F. Kennedy specifically called upon Americans to do what they could to support the American way of life. What does Barack Hussein Obama do? He goes on a world tour apologizing for America. In the 1980s, Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill met regularly and was friends with Republican Ronald Reagan deliberating on ways to move America forward on key issues. I cannot imagine Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer or Democrat Congressman Hakeem Jeffries working with President Trump in  a similar manner.

The question that needs answering is why so many members of the Democrat Party are moving so dramatically to the Left. In my opinion, there are at least two major reasons.

Number One is the influx of so many immigrants into this country over the past sixty years or so. Any country can only absorb a limited number of immigrants and still hope to maintain its political and cultural traditions, values, and beliefs. Not only does the number of immigrants matter, but also their country of origin. This country was built primarily on immigrants from Europe, most of whom shared Judeo/Christian values, and were more easily assimilated than immigrants from other countries with dramatically different values and traditions. The immigrants from countries that do not share our values increasingly make up a large portion of immigrants, especially illegals. Concern over the high number of immigrants resulted in Congress passing a law limiting the number of immigrants and actually establishing a series of quotas for each country. That law was in effect until Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy sponsored a bill that was passed and signed by Democrat President Lyndon Johnson that essentially removed immigration restrictions. The result has been a flood of immigrants, many illegals, that do not share our values and traditions. Sadly, President Reagan, who wanted to deport all illegal immigrants as President Eisenhower did in the 1950s, allowed himself to be talked out of deportation. We must not allow that to happen again. All persons here illegally should be removed.

The consequence of the no restriction immigration has been the move away from traditional America as we have known it and the election of people like Barack Obama, Kamela Harris, Illian Omar, and Alexandra Ocasio Cortez who bring leftist ideas with them. The recent nomination of Marxist Zohran Mandani for Democrat candidate for mayor of New York is another scary example.

Number Two is the failure of our public schools to teach the basic values and principles that made America great. We are no longer producing reliable patriots that love and respect this country. This is especially true in Democrat controlled cities and areas. Patriots are not born, they are made. The failure in this regard is most obvious in many universities where left leaning administrators and professors predominate. Polls consistently show that over 90% of college professors vote Democrat and conservative Republicans can scarcely be found on university campuses. President Trump’s efforts to remove federal funding of National Public Radio, a major leftist controlled media source, is long overdue.

So, what is to be done? First we need to return to restricted immigration with quotas. It worked before, and can work again. President Trump has shown what strong leadership can do to stop illegal immigration, but we must stop the rogue federal judges who continue to try to block him at every turn. Second, we must insist that universities receiving federal funds demonstrate that their administrative and teaching staff include equivalent numbers of conservatives. Allowing the Left to control our universities must be stopped. Now, these measures will require courage on the part of our elected officials, let’s hope they take this problem seriously and do something about it.

Essential Patriotism

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.

A patriot according to my Webster’s dictionary, is a person “… who loves his country and zealously supports its authority and interests”.  History shows repeatedly that no country can continue to exist without the majority of its citizens being true patriots.  Things have changed, and not for the better.  For example, President John Kennedy stated in his inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” By contrast, President Obama stated after his election that “…we are days away from fundamentally transforming this country.”  Doesn’t sound like love of country to me.  The question becomes, “how do citizens become patriots?”  Let’s take a look at how well America is succeeding in developing patriotism in the year 2025.

As with most important characteristics, patriotism must be learned. In the past, the family has traditionally been the bedrock of American society, and love and respect for country was learned around the dining room table listening to parents and grandparents.  With fewer intact families and the hectic fast paced modern life style, many children do not have the opportunity to learn patriotism and other positive values from their elders as they once did.  Similarly, there was a time when public schools could be relied upon to teach the positive aspects of America and to respect and value our country.  With the continued infusion of leftist instruction in all levels of education, that is no longer the case.  Since. the introduction of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), social equity learning, and the 1619 Project, instruction and curricula increasingly focus on what is wrong with this country and not what is right and unique.  We need to correct this.  No country is or has always been perfect.  But historically, America has been on the right side of critical issues, supporting freedom and fighting tyranny worldwide, as well as correcting mistakes that were made including slavery.

Local Boards of Education, and other elected officials need to focus on ensuring that instruction and learning materials in schools are pro-American and focus on the positive things we have achieved  A system needs to be put in place that is capable of monitoring what teachers say to their students, and anti-American instruction and attitudes eliminated.  A school classroom is not the place for teachers to exercise their free speech rights, when they area espousing anti-American propaganda.  Parents should be able to monitor what goes on in the classroom.

It is crucial, however, that we do not just rely on schools to teach patriotism.  It is our responsibility also; we must do our part.  Children learn from what they are told and what they observe.  As far as the family is concerned, parents and grandparents need to take it upon themselves to relate the history of America as they know it and have lived it.  When is the last time you spoke to your family about the founding of America, the wars we have fought to protect other countries, your military service if appropriate, etc.?  When doing this, it is critical that you use the term “we” when referring to America so that the children see how your identity is connected to this country.  Also, it is important that they observe your involvement in politics so they learn that you are committed (and they eventually will also be), to taking actions necessary to preserve this country for future generations.

The destructive flood of illegal aliens during the Biden administration makes the issue of teaching patriotism even more critical.  European countries are on a path to lose their identity by a combination of out-of-control immigration and the declining birthrate of their traditional citizens.  The immigrants are having large numbers of children while traditional citizens are way below replacement levels.  We cannot allow this to happen in our country.  It should be remembered, that in the mid-1920’s the Republican Congress and President, placed severe restrictions on immigration due to growing concern that our cultural values and heritage could not survive with mass immigration.  This effort worked until the 1960s when Senator Ted Kennedy sponsored legislation approved by a Democrat Congress and President, to remove most immigration restrictions.

President Trump is doing his part to try to go back to a sensible immigration policy, now we must do our part to ensure that our children learn to love this country and act to protect it.

Making Good Citizens

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Author: R. Alan Harrop,Ph.D

In a prior article, I wrote about the importance of maintaining the rights, privileges, and duties of citizenship in our republic. The valued status of American citizen must not be taken lightly and given away as the Left would do by granting amnesty to illegals.

The Founding Fathers believed that it is critical for our country to teach our children about their obligations as citizens, to understand the principles of a free country, and to understand their duty to defend those principles and freedoms. It is obvious that many of the schools in this country are failing in this responsibility. Teaching critical race theory, diversity/equity/inclusion, and transgenderism are antithetical to the founding principles of America. Students frequently hear that America was founded on slavery and is an essentially flawed country that is inherently racist. Consequently, America must be “fundamentally transformed” as Barack Obama said. None of these things are true, but truth is never a Left wing value. In one generation, we have gone a long way from Ronald Reagan’s vision of America as a shining light on a hill.

The Republican controlled General Assembly, to their credit, passed HB588 that requires the teaching of the founding documents (2011) and more recently, HB 96-NC Reach Act,(2024) which would require all students attending state universities to take a course on the Constitution and founding documents prior to graduation. Not yet a law, it is being resisted by the usual suspects at UNC Chapel Hill and some other state universities and has not been approved by the Senate. A petition from several hundred Chapel Hill professors is being considered by the University Board of Directors, which is likely to advocate for a weakened version to substitute other less accountable teaching methods. Let’s hope the General Assembly will stick to its guns and get this passed as originally designed. Only leftist leaning professors, of which there are too many, would object to teaching the founding principles of this country.

What all this boils down to is that parents and concerned taxpayers need to insist that students receive a sound background in patriotism and love for and respect for this country. In other words, what most of us learned when we went to school needs to be passed on to our children and grandchildren. Parents also need to discuss American values and principles with their children and not rely on the school systems. There are many sources of material to assist parents. Prager University, an online source of free information, is excellent, as is Hillsdale College. Local school boards need to do more to ensure that students are receiving the instruction they need to be good citizens and appreciate the things that make this country great. If we do not fight the leftist indoctrination our children, how can we expect them to become good citizens as the Founding Fathers’ intended? The future of our Republic is at stake.

Supporting Patriotism

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The Washington Times is reporting today that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey will be cancelling be the incentives offered in a deal with Nike in response to the athletic company scrapping plans for a Betsy Ross-inspired sneaker. Just as Nike is free to scrap its plans for the sneaker, Governor Ducey is free to withdraw his offer of incentives to the company.

The article reports:

The sneakers, featuring a U.S. flag with 13 stars on each heel, reportedly was canned after former football player and political activist Colin Kaepernick said the design could be seen as an offensive symbol of slavery.

…Mr. Ducey said the state was supposed to announce a deal with Nike but then “this news broke yesterday afternoon.”

“Nike is an iconic American brand and American company. This country, our system of government and free enterprise have allowed them to prosper and flourish. Instead of celebrating American history the week of our nation’s independence, Nike has apparently decided that Betsy Ross is unworthy, and has bowed to the current onslaught of political correctness and historical revisionism,” the Arizona Republican tweeted.

“It is a shameful retreat for the company. American businesses should be proud of our country’s history, not abandoning it. Nike has made its decision, and now we’re making ours. I’ve ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to withdraw all financial incentive dollars under their discretion that the State was providing for the company to locate here,” he said.

Would someone please explain to Mr. Kaepernick that history needs to be viewed in the context of its time–not the context of today. In the time of Betsy Ross, slavery was practiced all over the world. There was nothing noteworthy about it. Indentured servitude was also practiced. Mr. Kaepernick might want to take notice of the fact that there are countries today where slavery is still an acceptable practice. If he is so concerned about slavery and its ills, he might want to see what he can do to help the countries that practice slavery end the practice.

Kudos to Governor Ducey for taking a stand against misguided selective outrage.

 

Thoughts For The New Year

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The following is from In God We Still Trust by Dr. Richard G. Lee:

“Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” from President George Washington’s Farewell Address 1796

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams, U.S. President 1797-1801

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” James Madison, U. S. President 1809-1817

Dr. Lee also points out how a change in definition of a word reflects a concerning change in our society:

Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828, defines patriotism as follows:

n. Love of one’s country; the passion which aims to serve one’s country, either in defending it from invasion, or protecting its rights and maintaining its laws and institution in vigor and purity. Patriotism is the characteristic of a good citizen, the noblest passion that animates a man in the character of a citizen.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, copyright @ 2004 defines patriotism as follows:

n. Love for or devotion to one’s country.

Noah Webster’s definition includes service; Merriam-Webster’s definition is simply an emotion. Noah Webster’s definition includes action, not just acceptance of an idea.

It is time to return to Noah Webster’s definition of patriotism.