By J.D. Longstreet ——Bio and Archives--April 3, 2014
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Why is the government using the war on terror as an excuse to sidestep the Constitution? Why are Americans not challenging and questioning the government as it continues to limit more and more of our freedoms? What part of "Congress shall make no law..." does the government not understand when it criminalizes speech? Whatever happened to our inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that are proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, guaranteed by the Constitution, yet ignored by the governments elected to protect them? Why does every public office holder swear allegiance to the Constitution, yet very few follow it? Don't we have rights that are guaranteed and cannot be taken from us?"A Nation of Sheep by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is available at Amazon: My broadcasting idol, Edward R. Murrow, once said: “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” How right he was! Today America is overrun with sheep and wolves with very few lions in evidence. I hold my breath day to day to see if our Sheep-in-Charge will make the single fatal mistake that will collapse the greatest country ever known to man. America's lions have been either muzzled or caged. The wolves, inside and outside the walls, have gathered and wait with salivating jaws for America to stumble. I hail from a long line of hard scrabble farmers. My father once told me that as a lad he had cared for sheep... fed them, watered them, fleeced them, and butchered them. He once volunteered: "Son, there is no dumber animal on God's green earth than a sheep." Sheep are so skittish that often the shepherd will have to dam-up a small flowing stream to create those "still waters" spoken of in the 23rd psalm just to entice the sheep to drink because -- they fear the sound of running water! Is that where we are as Americans today? Are we so skittish that the sound of freedom frightens us? Look. Maintaining freedom is an ongoing struggle. We can't just win our freedom and then relax. There are always those waiting to strip us of our freedom and return us to chains. Remaining free requires eternal vigilance and the courage to rise to any challenge and defend that precious liberty. And yet, today, elements of our government are violating our constitutional rights every single day -- and we do nothing! Like sheep, we cringe when someone utters the word "IMPEACH!" And each day we lose a little more of that precious freedom. As brutal as it at first sounds (and it really IS brutal) tarring and feathering worked pretty well for our ancestors. Toss in a rail for the miscreant to ride upon and that completes the set. The fact is, they made their point. The malefactor never dared inciting the wrath of the citizenry again. Our forefathers were anything but sheep. We are not descended from sheepish Americans. So, our behavior today is of an aberrant kind. I contend it is learned behavior. We placed our trust in our government to educate our children and instead they indoctrinated them in socialism and communism. Our young graduate from college are dumb as posts. One is led to believe that without Google, Wikipedia, and cut and paste, there would be few graduating classes at our colleges and universities this Spring. Pitifully, our young have never known real freedom as some of us old fuddy-duddies have, therefore they have no idea what they have lost. They believe this is normal! Another generation lost. "Have we held power to account? Do our elected officials fear the populace, which Thomas Jefferson said indicated liberty, or is it otherwise – where the people fear the government, a situation Jefferson postulated would lead to tyranny?" Today, in America, there is no doubt that the people fear the government. The nation that rebuked a tyrant at its founding now accepts, and feels comfortable with, tyrannical rule. How utterly sad! J. D. Longstreet
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(Editor’s note: J.D. Longstreet passed away in 2014. He will be greatly missed.)
Longstreet is a conservative Southern American (A native sandlapper and an adopted Tar Heel) with a deep passion for the history, heritage, and culture of the southern states of America. At the same time he is a deeply loyal American believing strongly in “America First”.
He is a thirty-year veteran of the broadcasting business, as an “in the field” and “on-air” news reporter (contributing to radio, TV, and newspapers) and a conservative broadcast commentator.
Longstreet is a veteran of the US Army and US Army Reserve. He is a member of the American Legion and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A lifelong Christian, Longstreet subscribes to “old Lutheranism” to express and exercise his faith.