An Essay by the Rev. Nancy Cahalan
In 1976, I graduated high school. Because that year was our nation's bicentennial year, NBC ran an essay contest for graduating seniors. The title of the essay was "What Is An American?" I entered that contest and became one of the finalists.
I have been thinking about that essay lately and how things have changed in this country in the 30 some years since I graduated high school. The America that I see today is nothing like the America I saw then. The America that I saw then was an America whose government was actually by the people and for the people. Today our government is voted for by the people, but it does not represent the people. It represents a select few special interests and the egos of those who are supposed to have the good of the people first and foremost in their hearts and minds, not what kind of deal they can make for themselves. Back room, locked door deals are NOT the way that governing is to happen here in America. Corruption running rampantly and blatantly, for the whole world to see, is NOT how things should be.
Well, they will say, you are just being naive. You just don't understand how politics work, they will say. OK. Maybe I am naive and don't understand how THEIR politics work. But I do know much about being honest, about following the law, about listening to others--even when what they have to say may not be pleasing to my ears, about leading a group of people and having to put my own ego and wants on the back burner in deference to what those whom I am leading say they want. I am a pastor. As such, I do have to walk a very fine line where my words and my actions are concerned. So, too should our elected officials.
Most of the American people do not want the present form of health care take over that is being crafted to be foisted upon them--whether they want it or not. They do not want it because they can see the disaster that awaits them and future generations if it becomes law. They can see the increased costs and the decreased access to care. They can see that their ability to choose will be taken from them.
The present president, Barack Obama, was elected without anyone finding out very much about who he was or what he really believed. Obama himself told us that we were to judge him based on those with whom he kept company. He keeps company with socialists, communists, people who blow up government buildings and wish they could blow up more government buildings. Obama follows the writings of a man, Saul Alinsky, who was once mentored by Al Capone's enforcer, Frank Nitti, whom Alinsky called "the Professor" and of whom Alinsky became a student.
We are told that Mr. Obama is brilliant and yet we are not given access to his school transcripts. I hear over and over again about what a great speaker he is. I don't see it. When he does not have a teleprompter in front of him, he hems and haws. His speaking is full of "ums" and "uhs". To me, that is NOT a good speaker. A good speaker is one who can speak without all those little annoying non-words, whose words flow freely and who actually shows that he or she has a good grasp of the facts. Mr. Obama has shown, time and again, that he does not even have that (i.e., Obama's gaffe: 57 states and two more to go).
We are, once again, a people under tyranny, only, sadly, this time it is a tyranny of our own making
I believe that if the America that was birthed in 1776, that hundreds of thousands of people have fought and died to defend, of which millions have sacrificed to become a part, the country to which Ronald Reagan referred to as the "shining city on a hill" is to survive, if America is to remain a bastion of freedom, then "We the People" are going to have to continue to fight back with everything that we have.
We are, once again, a people under tyranny, only, sadly, this time it is a tyranny of our own making. We have allowed these corrupt officials to take over with barely a whimper on our part. I am as guilty as anyone else in thinking that there was not much I could do to stop what was happening. But there is plenty that we can all do. We just have to 'not grow weary in doing good' as the Bible urges us. Whether you believe in the Bible or not, if you believe in this country, on the principles on which it was founded, in the Constitution as it was written--not as some would like to rewrite it, you must not grow weary in this fight. It is a fight and it is one we must win.
We must defeat those who believe that sharing the wealth is the way of the future for everyone, except themselves. (Note that the Obamas, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and company have yet to share any of their wealth with us.) We must defeat those who think that freedom is an outdated concept that doesn't work. We must defeat those who think that some government bureaucrat knows how we should live our lives better than we do. We must defeat those who will change America from the land of the free and the home of the brave to the land of the cowed and the home of the oppressed. WE MUST!
Another article by NANCY CAHALAN:
Obama With The Sound Off: The Face Of An Angry Man?
The Rev. Nancy Cahalan is a contributor to RFFM.org. Cahalan is a Pastor who resides in southern Illinois.
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