By Ron Culbreth

     Last week we honored our veterans for their service to our country. There were speeches by politicians, parades in different towns, and eateries across the country offered free meals to honor veterans.  At cemeteries across the land wreaths were laid on the graves of veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice.

     At the local Applebee’s, there were veterans from several eras,  but mostly Korea and Vietnam.  Some who were of the Vietnam era had a telling look in their eyes.  The lights were on, but nobody was home.  Being a veteran runs deep in my family.  My father served in the Navy during WW II, and my uncle was a tail gunner in the same war. I have four cousins  who served:  one in the Navy, another who was in the Air Force for 30 years,  and two others who were in the Army.   I, too, served in the Army during the Vietnam era.  I began to think of the current political, economic, and social condition the country is in, and feel it begs the question, “What did we fight for?”

     When the first shots rang out at Concord it launched a nation into the fight for freedom and the pursuit of happiness.  When the cannons thundered at Fort Sumter to begin a war that would pit cousin against cousin, brother against brother, and father against son it would culminate in the death of a great  President.  The battle  was about keeping the Union together so that there could be freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

     When the bombs were dropped on Pearl Harbor on Dec,7th 1941, this nation was plunged into a war that we were not prepared to fight, but by the grace of Almighty God, the resolve and fighting spirit of a nation, and the sacrifice of many who were determined that we would have freedom and the pursuit of happiness, we were victorious.

     From the time the message was sent that one of our ships had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin,  it launched a senseless war  much like the one we are in now, but yet our brave men and women answered the call in hopes that freedom and the pursuit of happiness would continue.

     When  I look at what this nation has become, I see how our freedoms have slowly been  taken from us, and how the greater majority of the politicians (on both sides of the aisle) in Washington are more interested in their own agendas than they are in what the people want.  When I ponder these things I draw the conclusion that it’s time for a massive replacement of those who hold these offices.  As I look at how Christianity is now being viewed by some in high offices, and how separation of church and state is used by anyone who doesn’t like what is being displayed, stated, or thought, can appeal to the judicial system and have banned things that represent God, Christianity, and Christ, I have to think of what these judges have forgotten.  To quote former president Harry S Truman, “ That the fundamental basis for this nation’s law was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teaching we get from Exodus and Saint Matthew, from Isaiah, and from Saint Paul. I don’t think we emphasize that enough these days.”

     I wonder what the reaction would be if the founding fathers of this nation could return and witness what has taken place in this country, a country that was meant to be governed by the people of the people and for the people.

     The American’s creed states, “ I believe in the United States of America as a Government of the people, by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of  many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe if is my duty of my country to love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”
William Tyler Page.

     It’s  apparent that this once great nation is a far cry from what it was intended to be. We live in a nation where judges legislate from the bench and where, after the people vote  for or against a bill, that if there is a special interest group who did not like the way the vote went can file an appeal, and the vote is usually overturned. We live in a nation where the government can take over corporations  and decide how much the executives can be paid. That goes against a free democracy of which this nation was founded upon.

     I wonder if Patrick Henry would today say as he did so many years ago when this nation was struggling for it’s freedom : “We shall not fight our battles alone….God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not in the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave…..I know not of what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.” or would he say, “What did We Fight For?”

     Ron