The American Way

by

This U.S. Citizen

A problem lies in that there will always exist an inability
or unwillingness of many citizens and immigrants to
understand, practice, and pass on the ideals and values
which make America great while at the same time
expecting to benefit forever from these ideals. If the
values and ideals are not continued, the greatness they
expect to enjoy is dead. To use a car engine metaphor
again, if you ride in a car but do not believe or
understand the concept a car needs an engine in order to
move, you will not go anywhere no matter how much
you hope. By not continuing the ideals inherent in the
founding of the United States of America, we are
allowing sugar to be poured in our gas tank of ideals and
then wondering why there is no movement!

What sense does it make to incorporate the cultures,
customs, and beliefs of the rest of the world into our
nation and expect it to continue to prosper? People came
to America because it was different from the rest of the
world. These differences are the American Way! These
differences are what make the United States great and
what has created the most free and successful society to
have ever existed in the history of human beings. The
United States of America is not great despite these
ideals, but because of them and today these American
ideals are considered second rate values when compared
to those of the rest of the world. The American Way is
the culture of the United States and is a more important
culture to preserve than any other to have existed in the
past. Many people just do not realize it because they
have always benefited and have been immersed in it.
They simply cannot conceive or imagine it disappearing.
This belief allows them to ignore signs of decline or
reversion to ways not conducive to success in America.
They have never tasted personally real hardship as is
known in other parts of the world or in the past. People
leave other terrible parts of the world and come here for
a reason. They come here for the freedom to do what
they want and to be left alone. Why then do we allow the
politically correct accommodation of un-American
cultures and beliefs to permeate and place The American
Way on the back burner?

In order for the United States of America to survive
with its original ideals we must all face one fact: Just
showing up is not enough! We as citizens must make a
focused and deliberate effort to take care of this country
and not hope someone else will do it. We are that
someone. If we all rely on someone else to pull our
weight because we have other things to do, we will
continue on the path to the inevitable decay of the fabric
of The American Way. Doesn’t anyone remember nor
have respect for Truth, Justice, and The American Way?
In the last Superman movie which came out a few years
ago The American Way was conveniently left out of
what Superman fights for. I took this as a direct insult
from Hollywood and cannot consider forgiveness for
this attempt to damage an image of American culture.
We citizens must stop putting our nation at the
bottom of our to-do list to get to later but instead make it
a conscious and daily cause of preserving The American
Way. If American exceptionalism decays we will not
have to worry much about those other things on our list
because none of it will matter. All will have been
destroyed or confiscated for the greater good or to spread
around so everyone can have a portion even when they
did not earn it. All in the name of fairness when no one
ever asks or answers the question: Fairness according to
whom?

The bottom line is human nature makes us
complacent. We are all guilty in some way shape or
form. What we have to do differently from now on is
realize when we are complacent and put a stop to it. We
must forever instill conscious of complacency and be
more aware when we must take action and cross an
ocean from time to time to renew The American Way
and forever protect it.
I mentioned before some people just do not realize
how good they have it here in the United States. They do
not know or understand just how lucky they are to be in
the freest country in the world. America is not free from
problems or perfect but I would not trade my citizenship
for anything. I hear people asking what is going on in
this country or what is happening to America when they
talk about certain issues. Well I thought about it and the
way I solve problems is first I consciously think whether
the negative issue at hand is simply a symptom or is it
indeed the underlying cause. If it is a symptom, I move
on. Part of the problem today is based on the fact people
or politicians try too hard to merely remedy symptoms
instead of finding the cause behind the symptom. People
focus on symptoms because there usually can be a quick
fix which will make things better long enough to forget
the issue. I also believe this to be one of the major faults
in government today. A quick fix can easily be touted at
election time as a good decision but is only discovered
later, the problem still persists. The politician has to
hope we the people forget by the next election year. Sad
thing is, we usually do. Don’t we?

We allow politicians to fix symptoms because to
address a real cause would be too hard for them and for
us and would most likely require a transition taking us
out of our comfort zone, maybe permanently. How
scary, for any politician! If our politicians do not have
the character and the courage to address and solve big
issues because they fear the fallout, then we need new
politicians. It is that simple. We need people who will
solve problems today before they escalate over time into
issues which can permanently damage our nation,
freedoms, and The American Way. Better to climb a
small hill now than have to conquer a mountain down
the road is a strategy I would gladly follow.

This U.S. Citizen