The Loss of America’s National Identity Rant

     Most of us know who we are.  Most normal adults have a fairly well defined sense of self.  Most mature individuals have a clear idea of where we came from, how we got where we are, and within broad limits where we are heading.  We have a pretty clear notion of the forces, both internal and external, that shaped and molded us as individuals and members of our own particular communities.  We have taken on an individual identity that serves to inform us and those with whom we interact as to the kinds of people we are and what can and cannot be expected of us.  We have developed over time our own persona, characteristics, and world view.  This sense of individual or personal identity helps to define our own societal niche and gives us a sense of place, time, and direction.  Because most of us have that fairly well defined sense of individual identity, we are able to cope with and fit into the world around us and successfully navigate the inevitable obstacles and pitfalls with which all of us are confronted at every stage of our development.

     Have you ever, for example, said about someone you know something like, “He’s just not himself today,” or, “she’s behaving completely out of character,”?  Of course you have and others have certainly made the same observations about you.  When that individual whom you recognize as a mean, nasty, morose son of a bitch who wouldn’t normally give you the right time of day comes on all friendly, smiling, and eager to please you know something’s not right.  When that person whom you usually identify as someone who is happy, friendly, and carefree sits soundlessly alone in a corner staring into space you realize that something is off, out of place, and abnormal.  It simply isn’t who they are and those around them instantly recognize it.  Their behavior is out of sync with the personal or individual identities which have come to define them and their relationships and interactions with those around them.

     That’s not to say, however, that we are necessarily happy or satisfied with who we are.  That’s not to say that we wouldn’t like to change or improve or that if given the opportunity we wouldn’t have done things a little differently in the hopes of a better outcome.  All of us have looked back and asked, “What if?”  Regardless of any misgivings or self-doubt, however, by the time we reach adulthood, we know pretty much who we are.  We have a well-defined individual identity and sense of self-worth.  That’s what gives life a sense of normalcy, well-being, and even a certain level of predictability.  Suppose, however, you woke up one morning and all of that was gone – just gone.  I’ve heard of this phenomenon in cases of total amnesia which, I understand, is exceedingly rare.  Let’s just suppose that this is the case.  You went to bed one night in a well-defined and ordered world and the next day you had absolutely no memory of anything or anybody.  You don’t recognize your surroundings and you have no memory of family, friends, or acquaintances.  It’s all gone.  You can’t remember where you came from, where you’ve been, and have absolutely no clue as to who you are or where you’re going.  I really can’t think of too many scenarios more frightening or devastating than that.  You’ve lost who you are and what has defined you and there’s just no way of getting it back.

     Without a past, there can be no future that makes any kind of sense at all.  Without a past, nothing is familiar, safe, or reliable.  Without the past, that sense of individual identity, the future must be a truly  frightening and horrific prospect and one to be dreaded rather than welcomed.  Confusion and uncertainty reign supreme and all semblance of self-confidence and optimism vanish into the ether.  I’ve heard of similar phenomenon experienced by those poor bastards who have lived through year after year of unrelenting warfare or perhaps horrific natural disasters.  Their memories may be intact but everything they have known has been utterly destroyed and everyone who defined their lives is dead or has disappeared never to be seen or heard from again.  They are like ships at sea adrift in unfamiliar and dangerous waters with no anchor or rudder.  They are without direction or purpose and cannot set a course that will take them anyplace they want to be for they don’t know where that is or what they might find upon reaching some unknown and distant shore.

     The concept of an individual loss of self is relatively easy to grasp and comprehend because the phenomenon is confined to individuals and those with whom they associate.  It is limited in scope and time and while it may be truly tragic, it does not normally have an impact on the larger or collective society.  Is it, however, possible for an entire country to suffer from a loss of national identity?  Can such a thing actually happen?  Can we as a country forget where we came from, who we are as a people, and where it is that we are going?  Ponder that possibility for a moment or two and see where it takes you.  Is the loss of our collective identity as a distinct and unique national entity something that can possibly occur?  Can an entire nation suffer from some form of group or collective amnesia in which the past is forgotten, the present undefinable, and the future is at best unclear, unknowable, and completely unpredictable?  Can an entire country somehow receive a huge, overwhelming, and devastating whack to the head that renders it incapable of remembering its past, recognizing its present, or looking optimistically to the future?

     Unfortunately, the answer to these questions is an undeniable and resounding YES!  All one has to do is remove one’s head from the sand or perhaps pry it loose from your ass, look around, and the answer becomes more than just a little obvious to those who are willing to honestly assess the current state of the nation.  America is indeed losing its national identity and character or rather I should more accurately posit that it has been stolen from us while we blissfully slept the sleep of the apathetic, the ignorant, and the unwary.  The thieves who have purloined our identity are members of what I have dubbed the LFE (Liberal Fucking Elite) and the weapon they have relentlessly used against us is Far Left Liberalism which they wield as expertly as does the woodsman hefting his double-bladed axe!  For the most part, these Liberals are fellow Americans born, bred, and raised here whose defining trait is a deep and never ending loathing for this country as historically founded and presently constituted.

     They have been waging a vicious and ceaseless war on the United States, its traditions, and institutions since at least FDR’s New Deal which was further exacerbated by the whole 1960’s phenomenon – easily the most destructive decade in our history.  That war rages on to the present day and I believe that they are winning hands down.  By the time the smoke clears and the dust settles they will have succeeded in transforming the greatest nation God ever gave mankind into something it was never intended to be.  If our Founding Fathers could but see the horrific damage they have wrought, they’d be spinning in their graves at warp speed and demanding a second American Revolution against an over-reaching, intrusive government which makes that of old King George seem like a utopian paradise!

     What exactly do these Liberal saboteurs object to about the nation that nurtured them and gave them the freedom to set about destroying it?  In a word, everything!  All those traits that have historically defined us as a nation and formed our unique national identity-character are anathema to them.  First and foremost, it seems to me this country was founded with a tremendous and unbounded sense of optimism.  To even think and dream that thirteen upstart colonies could actually militarily defeat the greatest, most formidable war machine on the planet demanded an absolutely unbridled sense of optimism.  Optimism, of course, does not and cannot exist without a concomitant sense of hope and even in the darkest days of our Revolution when all seemed lost, that resounding emotion of hope kept the dream of freedom alive.  With our eventual victory over the British monarchy, optimism and hope were conjoined with a tremendous and overwhelming sense of confidence in and for the future.  Having defeated Imperial England, there was simply nothing the new nation couldn’t accomplish.  No obstacle was deemed too great and no problem couldn’t be solved.  This was, after all, the United States of America where no dream was too small and no aspiration relegated to insignificance.  Optimism, hope, and confidence.  Cornerstones – building blocks – of America’s national identity and character.

     Look around you, sport.  Tell me what you see.  How much optimism, hope, and confidence do you detect out there?  Yeah, that’s what I thought too.  Liberalism has waged an unrelenting and merciless attack on those uniquely American traits for as long as I can remember – and I go back a ways.  The last thing these Bastards want to see is an America that is optimistic, hopeful, and confident and they’ve been doing their damndest to destroy any vestige of them as quickly and as permanently as they can especially under the reign of President Barry Boy!  Take a gander at any of the relevant indices normally employed to gauge the health and vitality of the country.  Let’s see, how about the state of employment or more specifically the lack thereof.  The administration claims – falsely and knowingly – that unemployment stands at around 6.3% which, by the way, is just a load of happy horseshit!  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics U-6 number, the unemployment level stands at closer to 13% and I’ve seen credible studies that put that figure at over 30%!  There are now approaching one hundred million able-bodied Americans who are no longer in the work force but would certainly like to be.  The vast majority of new jobs created since Obamacare kicked in have been part time as in less than thirty hours per week because hiring full-timers means the employer must absorb the prohibitive costs of health care.  The Labor Force Participation Rate is at its lowest level since the 1970’s and something like half of the last five or six years of college graduates either can’t find employment at all or those jobs they do manage to secure have nothing whatsoever to do with their primary areas of study or training.  These folks are quickly running out of hope and optimism and their confidence levels are completely in the crapper.  They no longer believe in these defining elements of the American national identity or character.  They have become overwhelmingly pessimistic about their futures and very doubtful about realizing what used to be called the Promise of America or the vaunted American Dream.

     This is exactly what the Liberals amongst us want, desire, need, and demand.  They must have a population devoid of hope, optimism, and confidence.  They absolutely require a pathetically disillusioned and disappointed populace that has essentially given up and surrendered and are willing to accept their lot as the oft spoken of, “New Normal.”  A reality of low expectations, lower outcomes, and even lower dreams.  These kinds of folks are easily led, swayed, and persuaded by demagogic promises, empty though they may be.  These are the types of folks who either eagerly or reluctantly turn to government – Big Brother – for solutions and panaceas.  As government dependence grows, it becomes accepted as normal and so does the loss of freedom that must by definition accompany that phenomenon.  Current examples of this dependence are easily identifiable and are growing exponentially.  More than fifty million of us are now on Food Stamps and that number continues to increase.  More and more of our fellow citizens are opting for almost two years of unemployment insurance and if that well should ever run dry, they’ll move right into SSDI.  More and more Americans are looking for hand-outs while fewer and fewer of us seem to want to stand up and make it on our own.  These phenomenon are a slap in the face to America’s traditional national identity and character and many of us look around at what’s become of our country and simply don’t know where the fuck we are!

     Another defining element of America’s national identity has been an unwavering belief in the very real concept of American Exceptionalism that has done so much to define who we are as a nation and a people.  This sense of exceptionalism has made the United States unique in the annals of human history for until we came along nothing like us had ever graced the world stage.  Yet today, virtually no one including the vast number of our fellow citizens have even clue number one as to its meaning and significance.  It is a completely misunderstood concept and ideal especially by our very own Loser – in – Chief and his allies among the LFE.  Fairly recently, he claimed to recognize the ideal of American Exceptionalism but went on to state that he was quite certain Greeks felt that their nation was exceptional as did the Brits and any other national entity with its own borders, language, and culture.  In that sense, he seemed to be saying, that all nations are exceptional in their own way and therefore American Exceptionalism was in no way particularly exceptional.  Yeah, I know.  That’s kind of tough to follow.  If you doubt this, just review any of Obama’s Apologize For America Tours in which he consistently and unashamedly takes great pride in bowing and scraping to the leaders of other nations many of whom are some of the most brutal dictators on the planet.  He apologizes to the world for our very existence at every turn and extols the virtues and attributes of anything that is non or un-American like the United Nations.  Our Blowhard – in – Chief has no concept or clue as to what American Exceptionalism refers to nor does he understand what it is to be an American.

     American Exceptionalism has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with us being better people than anyone else on the planet.  Our genetic makeup, our DNA, or the structure of our chromosomes and molecules are biologically no better than any other example of Homo Sapien presently occupying the globe.  It has nothing to do with being inherently superior human beings.  It has, however, everything to do with our system of self-governance and self-rule which has indeed made us exceptional and unique among all the world’s nations.  Take a look at our Declaration of Independence.  Read our Constitution and Bill of Rights and most importantly remember WHEN they were written and the context under which they were born.  They are undisputed testimony to the unalterable, immutable fact that America was indeed the lone exception to the way the world had been governed and ruled since the very beginning of recorded history.  Indeed, the world had never seen anything like us before because up until that time nothing like us had ever existed.

 

     Until we showed up, the world had been ruled by monarchs, despots, autocrats, dictators and the like.  Those who were ruled had two choices.  Obey or die – that was pretty much it.  Those who were governed had absolutely nothing to say about how they were governed or who did the governing.  If you were not a member of the ruling elite, you had no choices and certainly no options.  Changing the system by definition meant fierce and violent revolution against the existing power structure and were always accompanied by rivers of blood in the streets.  There was no other way.  This was simply the way of the world and nothing would ever change that – no way, no how!  And then came America and boy did we ever change the status quo.  Talk about rocking the proverbial boat – well I guess!!  

      

     For the first time in the history of history, the common people actually counted for something more than just cannon fodder and a source of revenue.  We came up with this really weird concept of unalienable and individual rights, liberty, and freedom.  We developed the strange notion that our rights emanated not from man but from God and, therefore, no mere mortal could take them away.  Mr. Jefferson went so far as to insist that whenever government attempted to destroy the rights and freedoms of the people, the people had a solemn duty and obligation to destroy that government and replace it with another which would protect and preserve our God-given rights.  Can you believe this radical shit?!?  No one spoke that way back then and no one believed that stuff back then.  Except Us!  We became the lone exception to thousands upon thousands of years of world history and we were damned proud of it!  This is the quintessential definition of American Exceptionalism and it has been since our inception a keystone of the American national identity and character.  It has defined us as a people, a nation, and a culture.  At the time, there was no other national entity in the world that held this view and even today most of the globe is governed by brutal and deadly tyrants, thugs, and strong men who recognize no authority but their own and to whom the concepts of freedom and liberty are anathema.

     We were the ones, the only ones, that demanded a limited, small central government whose power was severely restricted and curtailed.  We were the ones who hatched the radical concept that the individual counted for far more than some distant, far off anonymous centralized government.  Only us and nobody else!  We were the guys who valued concepts like rugged individualism as well as individual responsibility.  Just us and nobody else!  America was the place, the only place, where caste and class mattered not a whit and the individual could rise as far as his natural talents and ambition would take him and where the only limits to success were almost always those that were self-imposed.  All things were possible in America while they were literally impossible anywhere else on the planet.  This is the definition of American Exceptionalism and it has never been replicated anywhere else on the globe.  The word exceptional does not come even close to adequately describing the American experience, American history, and the American legacy to humanity.

     Well, folks, look around you.  Tell me what you see and hear.  Do you notice friends, relatives, and acquaintances talking this way about our country?  No, you don’t.  Do our young people evince pride in America and the amazing contributions we have made toward the progress of mankind?  Do our young ‘uns learn the history of this country as it actually unfolded or are they continuously, relentlessly, and incessantly bombarded with a completely negative and false image and depiction of the United States purposely designed to stamp out and destroy pride and patriotism?  You already know the answer if you’re willing to be even a just a little bit honest with yourself.  Things like pride and patriotism must be taught both at home and at school for they are not embedded in our DNA.  If they are not taught, then obviously they can never be learned and then passed on.  Our schools are completely dominated by card-carrying members of the Liberal Fucking Elite whose main mission in life seems to be turning our young people against their own country, de-emphasizing feelings of pride and nationalism in America, and extolling the virtues of all things anti-American.  These home-grown enemies of our country are indeed responsible for the loss of our nation’s traditional national identity and character.  They must be fought against and defeated if America is to continue to progress and prosper.

     Yet another defining element of America’s national identity is our magnificent, unrivalled socio-economic system of Free Market Capitalism.  There are not enough superlatives in the English language to adequately describe it and the amazing benefits it has bestowed upon the United States and its citizens.  Capitalism has allowed the United States to become the wealthiest nation in the history of the planet in an amazingly short period of time.  It has also made us the most powerful and most generous country that the world has ever known.  The world has never experienced anything like it nor will it ever be replicated.  Not surprisingly, this system could only have grown up and flourished in the United States of America – here and nowhere else.

     Capitalism, you see, depends on freedom both unfettered and unblemished.  It is a system in which individuals are free to enter into any legal financial and social arrangement they choose.  It is completely voluntary in nature and there is absolutely no coercion involved.  It is built upon the association of free men freely engaged in their own economic pursuits.  These individuals – entrepreneurs – are free to take risks and free to prosper beyond their wildest dreams.  They are also completely free to fail.  In this system, the individual is free to pursue any field of endeavor regardless of class, gender, race, or ethnicity without interference from some all-powerful, centralized government.  Capitalism is based upon the wants, needs, and desires of the consumer and those best able and willing to provide them.

     Capitalism has nothing to do with the all too familiar and oppressive top-down systems normally associated with command and control economies.  In these, all economic considerations emanate from those who control society and dictate to the individual what he or she can and cannot have or can and cannot do.  Command and control economies are found only in authoritarian or state-controlled societies where the individual counts for less than nothing but must be sacrificed on the altar of some nebulous and nefarious thing called the, “Greater Good.”  Systems like these make slaves, not free men.  Systems like these destroy freedom, initiative, and opportunity.  They destroy the human spirit and subjugate it to the whims, demands, and proclivities of an elite few who have a literal death grip on the throats of their countrymen.  Conversely, Capitalism unleashes man’s competitive spirit and leads toward tremendous progress, improvement, and invention like nowhere else in the world.  Under Capitalism, the creative juices do not merely flow but rather they gush!  Capitalism leaves the individual to his own devices.  It allows people the freedom to pursue their own goals and aspirations with a very minimum of government interference, obstruction, and malfeasance.  Capitalism creates an environment that allows and encourages the individual to dream and create and has caused the United States to become the most successful nation the world has ever seen or will see again.  

 

     Well, once again, look around you.  How is our Free Market Capitalist System faring under or anti-American Socialist – in -  Chief?  It is being systematically and rapidly destroyed and decimated in favor of a system that has failed miserably everywhere and every time it’s been tried.  El Destructo, for example, has purposely removed literally trillions of dollars from the private sector and transferred that wealth to the public sector.  This absolutely destroys the ability of business in our country to expand, grow, and hire additional employees.  This by definition increases unemployment, increases dependence on government, and leads to a tremendous loss of productivity, initiative, and creativity which have been bedrocks of our national identity and character since our inception.  The Sonofabitch – in – Chief constantly declares that he is fighting mightily and even heroically to reduce unemployment levels in America while, in fact, every damn policy he champions has the exact opposite effect.  He is bound and determined to reduce our nation to the level of many Third World Shitholes where the population is characterized by idleness, hopelessness, and poverty.  This inevitably leads to a tremendous dependence on government rather than self-reliance, freedom, and opportunity.  These are utterly destructive to our system of Free Market Capitalism and thus to American prosperity.  It is as inevitable as night following day and is precisely the end desired by the LFE in our midst.

     These Rat Bastards are succeeding, for example, in completely destroying the finest health and health care system in the history of the world.  Our health care system, by the way, could only have developed in a Free Market Capitalist economy and society which allowed for unfettered creativity, innovation, and progress that made the Medical Arts in the United States the absolute envy of the world.  Obama and the Boys are busy nationalizing our health care system (read that destroying) which has, of course, nothing to do with the state of the nation’s health.  The Socialists among us have succeeded in taking control of at least one-sixth of our economy through the Affordable Care Act and once the government controls your health and access to health care, it effectively controls your entire life and existence.  Think about it.  Is there any activity or endeavor you can think of that in some manner, shape, or form cannot be related to your health and health care?  Nope.

     That’s all Obamacare has ever been about:  power, control, and a loss of freedom, choice, and opportunity.  It vastly increases the level of government involvement and interference in the lives of the citizenry and forever changes the relationship of the government to the governed.  It is a complete slap in the face to America’s traditional sense of national identity and character.  This is but one more attempt to erase and deny our past, our heritage, our traditions, and all those things that made America great.  You disagree with this assessment?  Repeat after me:  Death Panels.  They exist and are not just an hysterical reaction to the socialization of our medical and health care systems.  The government will decide who will and who will not receive life-saving procedures and care.  Does this phenomenon sound like America to you?  Does this jibe with the traditional elements of our national identity and character?  Does this sound like the same country that we love and cherish?

     There is no question that the United States is in fact losing its national identity and is morphing into something that those of us who have reached a certain age no longer recognize as the nation we grew up in.  There are others out there, by the way, who agree.  A piece entitled, “America’s Identity Crisis(http://www.washingtontimes.com),” explains that, “America’s national identity is being weakened by the spread of multiculturalism and globalization,” and there is growing concern that, “American society is increasingly polarized and divided and that knowledge of the nation’s common heritage and ideals is eroding.”  The article notes that according to a study called the Bradley Project, something like 84% of Americans believe that there is indeed a unique American national identity.  The piece notes that our nation’s identity is defined as a commitment to freedom which includes such long recognized American traits as:  free speech; freedom of religion; freedom of opportunity; political freedom; competition; individualism; optimism; self-reliance; religious faith; and patriotism.

     All well and good so far, but the study continues that of those surveyed, “63% maintain that America’s national identity is growing weaker.  24 percent state that Americans are already so divided that we can no longer sustain a common identity.”  The article continues that most alarming, “is the result among younger respondents:  those below age 35 are more likely to declare that there is no national identity.  This points to a failure of the current generation of adults to transmit the nation’s heritage to the youth.”  This, folks, is Liberalism at work and this is the LFE and our educational system working to purposely to destroy our country’s traditional national identity and to guarantee that the young ‘uns are never taught to be an American or the greatness that America symbolizes and represents.  These are being purposely erased from our collective memory to be replaced with Liberalism’s assessment and characterization of the evil that is the United States.  The piece concludes that, “America’s national identity is being systematically and deliberately eroded by internationalists and multiculturalists who occupy positions of influence.  They seek to replace American nationalism with a globalist agenda.”  Indeed, the author correctly asserts that, “Reclaiming America’s heritage will require the sustained and determined action of Americans in each community for years to come.”  This is the war between those who truly love and revere America and the Liberal enemy among us who would destroy it and tear it down.

     An article entitled, “Who Lost America?: Losing Our National Identity(http://beforeitsnews.com),” explains that a nation is not defined merely by its borders or the boundaries of its land mass.  Rather, “a nation is defined by adverse people who have been unified by a cause and a value system and who are committed to a vision for the type of society that they wish to live in and give to the future generations.”  The piece goes on to insist that the United States has been transformed, “into a society that no longer resembles its origins.”  Read that last one more time slowly and remember it.  We are quickly losing the basic underpinnings – the building blocks – that America was founded upon and made it a great country.  Our national identity, our national character, has been sacrificed on the Liberal altar of anti-Americanism, multiculturalism, globalism, and one-worldism.  It’s gotten to the point where such things as the Pledge of Allegiance are no longer recited in our classrooms and that atheists have gotten their shorts all in a twist over the use of the word God.

     Our national anthem has come under attack for fear of “offending” those among us who come from other countries and cultures.  We are abandoning our own traditions and heritage in the name of diversity and are well on the way to forgetting where we came from and who we are as a nation and a people.  This, of course, is exactly and precisely what the Liberals in our midst so desperately desire.  Once they have succeeded in completely decimating America’s identity and character, they will forge a new one and you can be sure it will have nothing to do with pride in country, a belief in our future, and the certainty that the United States is a unique and special place.  It’s happening right before our eyes but the vast majority of us don’t recognize it or refuse to believe it.  The article concludes that as, “this country slips out from under us with incoming incompatible citizens, accepted lawlessness and a multiplication of other people’s cultural ideas abrogating our American way of life, we must consider what our children face.”

     Unless we wake up pretty damned quick and start fighting back against Liberalism’s attack on our country, our children will never know the America we grew up in.  We are losing our country, folks, and we’re going out with a whimper rather than a bang.  It’s heart breaking.

Much Luv Y’all and Have a Great Day!

The Fifth Horseman

(Dr. David M. Rich, Ph.D.)