Patriotism is a "Learned" Ideal

Patriotism is a "Learned" Ideal

By Leon Howard

At church, Sunday, our pastor spoke of being a Revolutionary Citizen. He wasn’t speaking of an armed citizen but a citizen who served others beyond themselves; somebody who loved their nation and was a “radical” by the original meaning from the Latin “rādīcālis” – meaning ‘foundational’, original intent. He was speaking of our foundation and why we were founded; being an example of independence in this ‘entitlement driven culture’! Of course, this he tied in to our serving the Lord and honoring Him.

He used a story from Tony Blair’s book “A Journey – My Political Life” to demonstrate a point. I won’t tell the story because it would take too long but the gist of the story was this Jewish lady, who escaped from Hitler’s Germany with her husband, emigrated to the United States, became a “naturalized citizen”, and would never return to Europe. After her death, her son, a friend of Tony Blair, went through her home and belongings. The family knew she kept a safe in her closet and they knew it would have her expensive jewelry, gold and silver in it; when they opened the safe, they found what they expected and a locked box with no key – They had to drill the lock out to open it and inside was something so precious to her, she had double wrapped it in paper and tied it closed!

Inside the wrapped paper was her Citizenship Certificate from her naturalization process! More precious to her than her jewelry, gold and silver was the fact that she so loved this nation who accepted her as one of her own, that she afforded extra protection to that document! My pastor’s question was, “How do I compare my love and respect for being born in the freest nation on earth to this lady?” My pastor had the privilege of being born here, a ‘natural-born citizen’. His United States citizenship given by right of birth; hers sought after and granted after a six-step process: 1) Declare you want to be a citizen; 2)  Be a Legal Permanent Resident for 5 years; 3) Apply for Citizenship with documentation showing residence, and ability to read and speak English; 4) Interviewed by INS to assure good moral character; 5) Take an exam testing your knowledge and understanding of the U.S. Constitution, and why the republic was founded; 6) Take the Oath of Citizenship: "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

How many ‘natural-born citizens’ could or would go through the things a ‘naturalized citizen’ goes through? I don’t think I need to discuss that much because very few would or could pass the test! Tragic! How did we come to this? Simply put: Education; actually, the lack thereof. Our “public schools” have become warehouses for our youth and indoctrination centers for the ‘progressives’! The ‘progressives’ have so polluted our colleges and universities with the ‘progressive agenda’, they can now ‘produce’ ‘compliant citizens’ instead of Revolutionary Citizens! Our schools produce the next generation of followers, who are much easier to enslave than the revolutionary citizen!

Where were the American People when this usurpation of our education system took place? Present in body; apathetic in mind! We were right here, taking for granted our unique rights and privileges! The freest nation on earth; the freest nation ever and we sat here and squandered it away! We squander more of it every day when we allow the Marxists to legislate it away and we do nothing but wring our hands and moan, “Woe is me!”

Now the big question: Can we get it back? We can and we will but it may take another fighting revolution if we are not successful in electing Constitutionally-minded legislators and President – We certainly do not have many legislators we can describe that way right now! Whenever you hear somebody say they are a ‘progressive’, translate that to be what he/she is: a Marxist, communist, fascist, or socialist, because that is exactly what they are and they want to ‘fundamentally transform the United States’!

Next – If you have school-aged children and have to use the “public school” system because of finances or lack of time to educate them yourselves, become actively involved in the PTA and/or school board! Serve your children by demanding a real education in reading, writing, and arithmetic; do not allow the schools to indoctrinate your children in ‘alternate lifestyles’ – That is your job! When you find a teacher, counselor, or principal not following your wishes, fire them! If the teachers union comes to a bad teacher’s defense, fire the union! You must take back control of your childrens’ schools so our founding documents are truly taught so the next generation of American children graduate “Revolutionary Citizens” and not ‘compliant citizens’!

Several members of our church went to brunch after Sunday’s service and after we ate and were leaving, Will and I spoke of the sermon; both of us feel that our Constitution was “Divinely inspired” and the only ones who really seemed to appreciate that were ‘naturalized citizens’ and ‘natural-born citizens’ took for granted (squandered) their rights under the Constitution! I agreed and said, “What we need to do is convert ‘natural-born citizens’ into ‘naturalized citizens’ so they can take the Oath of Citizenship and understand it!”

When I joined the U.S. Navy in 1960, I took an oath that I honor today because there is no ‘sunset clause’ on the oath: “I, Radphord-Leon Howard, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

I am an Oath Keeper and what we must do to save our nation is be certain that our ‘natural-born citizens’, ‘naturalized citizens’, and present and former military citizens all become Oath Keepers! They don’t have to join the group, Oath Keepers, but they must avow to themselves that they are Oath Keepers!

There is a quote of Ronald Reagan: “If not us, who? And if not now, when?” He said that in pursuit of a balanced budget; it is more appropriate with the subject here because of how far we’ve allowed our nation to drift! The time is now and it must be us because we are here now!

Ronald Reagan also said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

In his Farewell Address, Reagan’s hope is one we should aspire to: “Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.”

Are you a Revolutionary Citizen or a compliant citizen? I hope you accept your responsibility as a Revolutionary Citizen – A Patriot and Oath Keeper!