The Bet You Can’t Win
Here is where are, friends. It is a very deadly, and very wicked, situation. Sin has found a ripe infant for the plucking here in America, which is why I give Libertarianism such a bad time, knowing, at the same time, that I waste my breath. Those moral adolescents who gleefully identify with libertarianism are facing a stern appointment with Dr. Satan but, like cattle in the road, cannot discern the significance of the Big Truck bearing down on them. I cannot convince them otherwise, so I content myself to taunt them. The day will come when the words of “Irish Cicero” ring in their chastened ears but, for the moment, it is no concern of mine. They will grow up.
In Part I of this series, I made the following claim:
If you have an American heart you can read the words of the Roman Emperor Aurelius side-by-side with a photo of a Crow warrior and not sense any contradiction whatever. If Marcus Aurelius and the Crow warrior and Andrew Jackson and Henry Thoreau could meet for lunch at Jack in the Box, they’d see the same things, feel the same things, probably say the same things. Only an American can do that. Englishman might long for the feeling (and we all know they do), but never quite have it. They can only get it from books, and even then it’s sketchy. I’ve spent many an hour trying to explain America to my English friends. You have to have been born American to know what I’m talking about.
Here is the how and why of that claim:
An American is a special mixture of Celtic-Germanic-Native American-English blood shaped by the Frontier into a New Man - the Aquarian Age man. Why didn’t Canada get precisely the same result? Australia? We are all closely related, that’s a fact, but the American hit a kind of plateau that the others didn’t know. Frederic Jackson Turner describes the process of transforming a European burgher into a frontiersman in The Frontier in American History. For example, long before political correctness, folks like Teddy Roosevelt thought the American Indian ought to be honored on a coin. Teddy didn’t feel sorry for the Indian. He expressed admiration for his courage and honor. The warrior spirit is at the heartbeat of America more than any other place on earth. Ever think about that?
Most definitely, Indians are conservative by nature. (Sherman Alexis tells me he thinks Indians are basically rednecks!) Indian country is like a living metaphor of all that challenges America. Preservation of culture, tradition, and identity, these are the foundations of any people.
Liberals scooped up the Indian image early on, beginning in the ’60′s really. No one had more right to protest the existence of America than Indians, so the liberals taught. They developed a crew of professional Indian protesters, and ever since, the mantra has been, “You wronged me. You owe me. You’re bad.” The Indian hate message is louder than any other. But this is only the “university” Indian message.
And it is the wrong message. It is harmful to Indians. It is alienating, and it is based on fear. It defensive. I rather take the warrior’s stance. I prefer an offensive position. America is our adopted son. We raised him. Yes, he outgrew us, but we’re still the adoptive father. It is our responsibility to look after our grand and great son. Indians need to take an attitude of ownership of America, not alienation. I don’t believe we can survive in a state of alienation. I think we should contribute our influence to helping preserve America, this great nation that grew up on our land. David Yeagley
Therein, my friends, lies the key ingredients:
COURAGE AND HONOR
The Crow Warrior, Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan . . . . all knew Honor. That is to say, they honored Honor. They were men.
No dope-smokin’. No skirt-chasin’. No effeminate excuses.
HONOR
And what is Honor, if not the Law of the Heart? I don’t mean masturbation, dope-smokin’ or gamin’, boyo. I mean something a lot more real, a lot more visceral than playing Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. Got me?
Page 4 of 5 | Previous page | Next page