Sounds odd, doesn't it? But tell me, honestly, can you argue the validity of this statement? I thought not.
At the base of the Statue of Liberty... on Ellis Island, where the first Immigrants were brought to the United States there is this poem:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Obviously every nation on every continent took these words literally. They came, these huddled masses. They came, these wretched refuse of the teeming shores. They came, these homeless and tempest tossed. They came, these tired and these poor. They came to escape tyranny, they came to embrace everything that was America, because America was a land of the free and a land of honor. They wanted to be Americans.
We welcomed them with open arms because when that great Lady Liberty was first erected, the United States was a fantastic, wealthy, economically stable and growing country full of people who had great visions of making a better life for their families and for their communities. They studied and learned our language, they adapted to the lifestyle that was the "norm" in America. They proudly learned the history of the United States and tested it, and passed, and then took the oath to honor this great country and became citizens.
But... slowly, almost indistinguishable nuances began to surface...Some new laws were made out of respect these new citizens. They had rights. We wanted them to have these certain inalienable rights, so to speak...
We opened a door. We opened Pandora's box.
Along with our new citizens came certain facets of the lives they left behind. They wore different clothing, some of them. They spoke different languages. They had different religions.They were brought up differently. They had a different set of values. They had a goal and that was to become American. Somewhere along the way, something changed, and changed drastically. We made allowances for certain things, and then we made more allowances that became laws for these different people. We continued to make exceptions for this one, and that one, and this group of people and this ethnicity, and that religion, and those values, and suddenly we look around and we don't have "One Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all..." We have a conglomeration of hundreds of nationalities who each in turn demand that we allow them their rights as pertains to their specific race and religion and demographics. We are indeed 'divisible' because our own government is suing one of our states because our leaders are unwilling to say "The border is closed unless you come through legally".
On September 11, 2001, the Twin Towers in New York were destroyed by Islamic Terrorists who sought to tear out the heart of America. 3000 plus people, women, children, and men of different nationalities and races, died. Our Government now, for some unfathomable reason, seems to think putting up a 13 story Mosque there might be a good idea. I have to agree that the ground there should be sacred. Why we would put up a Mosque for the Islamic religion, on the soil where Islamic terrorists killed so many, is beyond anything I can understand. Maybe I suffer from Islamaphobia...
Maybe I think it's just a flat insult to American's who toiled and worked hard to build those incredible buildings that housed headquarters for businesses worldwide.
Yes, I know. Not all Islamic people are Muslim terrorists. Not all terrorists are Muslim. It's the principle and the fact that Islamic peoples are insistent that they too deserve a place of worship - right there mere blocks from Ground Zero. Some guy is saying that it's a religious right to be able to build the mosque there. He said it isn't just about fighting a war on terror there, but about fighting an idealism about Islam. The mosque, by the way, will be funded by 'outside sources' and no one is willing to say where the money will come from... We're fighting a war that was based on terrorists who worship in mosques. Why is this even being discussed.
If you insist on having a Mosque, perhaps you would be better off not in America.
Mexican students, here illegally most likely, can take our flag and turn it upside down, and fly it below theirs on the same flag pole, IN THE UNITED STATES. So we talk about Immigration Reform and Amnesty... We don't want to make them feel unwelcome...
On Cinco De Mayo American boys were sent home in California because they were wearing tee shirts depicting the American Flag. The school administrators thought that the boys were simply trying to instigate trouble by wearing the flag on a day that is considered a Mexican holiday.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/23470391/detail.html
MORGAN HILL, Calif. -- Tensions mounted at a Bay Area high school Thursday, a day after five students whipped up emotions by wearing t-shirts depicting red, white and blue American flags on Cinco de Mayo.
A group of 50-60 Latino students walked out of classes at Morgan Hill's Live Oak High early Thursday, marching to city hall and rallying to show their support for a school official.
That unidentified assistant principal had ordered the students who wore t-shirts with American flags on Cinco de Mayo to either go home or turn the shirts inside out.
Among the demonstrators was sophomore Justina Piedra.
“We could have ignored it, but the fact that they did it to us last year -- see that is disrespect toward us,” she said of the students. “And they want to do it again and plan it out, they plan it out. They think it’s funny. It hurts us. We are just as equal as they are.”
Am I missing something here? Aren't we in America? Why is this an issue? You're equal to be American... but Cinco De Mayo is not an American Holiday.
But this is where we've gotten ourselves now. If we arrest a terrorist who admittedly tries to kill thousands of people here on American soil, we tiptoe cautiously around them, carefully obeying laws that were created by them, with our help, to protect THEM!!!!
To be politcally correct, each nationality has it's own set of rules and we, the welcoming safe harbor, the very ones who welcomed these trod upon wretched and homeless, and the down trodden, and the huddled masses, are now at last, at a total loss as to how we got here and we're left to wonder just where we, Americans, fit in...
I would like to add a small note to the bottom of Lady Liberty's poem - Closed for Repairs... Please be patient while we remodel our Constitution of the United States of America as we are now the United States of Generica... and maybe this is not a place you want to be since we are not what we were.
I couldn't agree with you more on this subject. Have a good week.
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