Many do not appreciate D-Day or Israel’s fight for survival

June 11, 2024

Last week we observed the 80th anniversary of D-Day, which occurred on June 6, 1944. At that time the forces of eight allied countries, including the British Commonwealth and the United States, began an action that would over the next year defeat the horrible forces of Nazi Germany.

At the time it was the largest amphibious invasion in military history, and in restoring democracy and peace to much of the world, and the United States played a very significant role in that action. And thousands of U.S. and allied military personnel gave their lives to save the world from Nazi Germany.

The importance of this action is observed and celebrated annually, attended by remaining veterans of that action who are in their 90s and over 100 years-old, the President of the United States, and leaders of other countries.

The ceremony in France is observed by the French citizens whose nation benefitted greatly from it. They solemnly and thankfully observe D-Day at the official ceremony, and many or perhaps most of them display American flags at their homes and businesses.

It has been reported that more French people display our flag to celebrate D-Day than Americans do at any time.

How things have changed in America. One red flag is that D-Day celebrations are valued more by the French than by Americans. Another is how many Americans do not understand that the current war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in the fault of the Hamas terrorist organization, not Israel. 

Hamas’ savage, unprovoked attack in Israel on October 7 of last year at a peaceful music concert left more than a thousand innocent people dead. Among the dead were some 40 American citizens. Others were taken hostage, and many of them have been killed or have died as a result of their imprisonment. Some Americans are among those hostages, as well.

And yet, protests at college campuses condemn the Jews, not only those in Israel, but from wherever they reside, even here in America. Not only are the Jews blamed for responding to the terrorists in order to defend their very existence, the terrorists of Hamas and other Iranian proxies are regarded as heroes by some, and given the sympathy that is only deserved by true victims.

The Hamas worshipers chant “Death to Israel,” “Death to the Jews,” and even — believe it or not — “Death to America.”

How can so many of us know so little about what actually happened, or know a version that didn’t occur? Or perhaps worse, know what happened and not care that Israel was savagely attacked, and more than a thousand were killed in often the most disgusting and horrific ways? 

What is currently happening in Gaza is totally justified. It is essential to Israel’s continued existence, and was caused by the savage Hamas terrorists. Hamas, the terrorist proxy of Iran, was elected to rule the Palestinians of Gaza by the Palestinians of Gaza.

The failure to appreciate D-Day for its world-changing result, and the huge role America’s military played in that event, and the other traditions of our country that are not appreciated or are despised, is more than a little unnerving.  

And history tells us that this has happened before. Other great nations existed for centuries, and then collapsed because of weakening attitudes from within. That is where we are today in America.

We have failed so badly to teach our young about the great things of America. So many do not really know about their country, and do not appreciate it. And indeed, some even hate it. 

And it is not just our failure to educate younger generations about the wonders of their country that is a problem, we have a large faction actively working to subvert that education process further by deceitfully changing what should be being taught.

Other troubling things are happening, too. We have China buying up farm land and land near military bases, and buying interest in or ownership of food producers. There have been several suspicious fires at food processing plants.

While other countries are focused on developing a military that can conquer other nations, we have military leadership focused on diversity, equity and inclusion instead of merit, competence and being the deadliest force on Earth.

We have borders that are essentially wide open, allowing anyone who wants to enter the country for any reason to enter, and thousands of others being flown into the country by the government. Rampant inflation harms everyone in the country. Attorneys general and district attorneys in many places value criminals over victim, and that has led to a serious increase in crimes.

We have a man in the Oval Office who is a beloved leftist, but a disaster as President of the United States of America!  The leftist faction is determined to destroy the USA as designed, and replace our limited government structure that gave us a world-leading level of personal freedom and innovation with another one-party government that seeks to control everything.

Is it possible to undo all the subversion, mis-direction and false knowledge? Can the country our Founders created be saved? Or will America slowly decompose into Venezuela II?

A teacher’s view of how America’s history is being taught

February 13, 2024

A major problem in America is that so many of us do not have a correct understanding of the origins of our country, and the ideals put forth in the founding documents.

The political left is working very hard to transform the country from what it is and was to something that suits the left’s ideals, the primary one of which is perpetual control of the government and the people residing here.

That concept is 180 degrees from what our Founders created. Their idea was a limited government with the maximum degree of personal freedom: a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

The concept of government of, by and for the people was part of a speech by then-president Abraham Lincoln several decades after the Constitution was ratified in the Gettysburg Address in 1863 as the nation fought the Civil War.

Lincoln’s now-well-known phrase is an apt description of the way our government was perceived and designed, and has operated for over 200 years..

In every nation, regardless of its ruling ideology, there are some who have different ideas about how things should be. In many of those nations, you can die or be severely punished for expressing ideas contrary to the ruling philosophy. But not in America, where we have the Bill of Rights as part of our Constitution that guarantees us the right to free speech, among other valuable freedoms.

Today, we see free speech and other guaranteed rights being restricted by some. We see efforts to challenge our history and aspects of that history under attack, both in plain sight and under the table.

Education is one of those places where un-American ideas are being pushed on our children at every level of schooling. These efforts are being strongly denied by the indoctrinators, who blame critics of their efforts by those with conservative, traditional views of America as exaggerations or lies.

“American history must be taught fully, fairly and honestly or else we have a limited understanding of the past, with no way to explain the present, and no hope of building a better future.”

That truth was written by Michael R. Burgess, in The Island Packet on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Burgess is and has been for many years a history teacher, and now teaches in Lexington County, SC. He was selected as the state’s 2023 History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and is recognized by the S.C. Department of Education.

Of what is currently happening, he wrote, “We are at a crossroads in South Carolina with how American history is to be taught in our classrooms. We are trapped between those who want to whitewash and sanitize our state and national story to omit those truths we find uncomfortable and those who want to erase any part of our past that does not meet our 21st century social and cultural norms.”

He described a false perception that “the dedication to learn, embrace and understand American history is lost among our youth.” It is the education system that is to blame for the failure to present true history to children, not a lack of interest.

“We do not devote enough time to teaching it at the elementary, middle or high school levels. Our standards do not require a thorough teaching of key figures and events in American history. We are losing our best U.S. History teachers as a consequence of large class sizes, long hours, low pay, and bureaucratic overreach. And, U.S. History teachers are the focus of a war being waged against them by groups who wish to whitewash or erase our history.”

“Many U.S. History teachers believe it is safer to create neutral, vanilla, plain -rice-cake learning experiences which fall short of needed instruction, but avoid the onslaught of those who tear teachers down.

If we want American history to be told and taught fully, fairly and honestly, and if we want our children to be prepared to lead this nation forward, we must make significant changes to the way we approach teaching American history.”

Burgess goes on to say that those teachers presenting U.S. History in the proper way need the strong support of the public, and not attacking the devoted and honest ones with “innuendo and false accusations for the wrong-doings of a few rogue actors.”

The problems he sees in his state are not restricted to South Carolina. This same mentality exists in many states, perhaps every state in the country. There is an active faction determined to subvert the strong traditional education that has been the rule for many decades.

Burgess closes with a quote from George Orwell: “The most effective way to destroy a people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

And the actions cited by Orwell can be easily seen in education in many, many classrooms, schools, and districts across the country. If they are not reversed and our education system returned to its previous structure of honesty and integrity of mission, our nation will continue its slide toward the misery of socialism.

July 4th, and the reason true Americans celebrate that historic day

Two days ago, as most everyone knows, the United States celebrated Independence Day, the day in 1776 that the Continental Congress declared that the thirteen American colonies were united, free, and independent states, and no longer under the thumb and subordinate to the British monarch, King George III.

For most of my many years the Fourth of July has been something nearly all Americans understood and observed with respect and gratitude. Sure, there were some who didn’t share that respect, and there were periods where some even protested what the country was doing.

Times like the 1960s and 70s when those who proudly served their country in the military were roundly scorned and subjected to disrespect and hate from the anti-war crowd. But those people were not a majority, and their negative feelings ran their course, and normality was eventually restored.

Today, the number of people who do not really know America and think it is a systemically racist country is staggering. This failure of families and schools to teach young people about America has resulted in millions of misinformed younger people who do not understand or appreciate their country.

That negative storyline is getting far more play than the traditional one that sees America as “a shining city on a hill,” to quote former President Ronald Reagan.

But to provide a picture of how and why America has been so highly respected for so long, we have the testimony of some who came to America the right way, and became true Americans. 

Quang Nguyen came here as a 13-year-old boy who left South Viet Nam seeking political asylum 46 years ago. He spoke to a Freedom Rally in Prescott Valley, AZ in 2010. Here are seven excerpts from his address. His views are far more representative of reality than what is getting so much attention today.

“Man, every morning I wake up thanking God for putting me and my family in the greatest country on Earth. I just want you all to know that the American dream does exist and I am living the American dream. I was asked to speak to you about my experience as a first-generation Vietnamese-American, but I’d rather speak to you as an American.”

“I am a proud US citizen and here is my proof. It took me 8 years to get it, waiting in endless lines, but I got it, and I am very proud of it.”

“Thirty-five years ago, I left South Vietnam for political asylum. The war had ended. At the age of 13, I left with the understanding that I may or may not ever get to see my siblings or parents again. I was one of the first lucky 100,000 Vietnamese allowed to come to the U.S. Somehow, my family and I were reunited 5 months later, amazingly, in California. It was a miracle from God.”

“If you haven’t heard lately that this is the greatest country on Earth, I am telling you that right now. It was the freedom and the opportunities presented to me that put me here with all of you tonight.”

“I also remember the barriers that I had to overcome every step of the way. My high school counselor told me that I cannot make it to college due to my poor communication skills. I proved him wrong. I finished college. You see, all you have to do is to give this little boy an opportunity and encourage him to take and run with it. Well, I took the opportunity and here I am.”

“In 1982, I stood with a thousand new immigrants, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and listening to the National Anthem for the first time as an American. To this day, I can’t remember anything sweeter and more patriotic than that moment in my life.”

“You see, America is not just a place on the map, it isn’t just a physical location. It is an ideal, a concept. And if you are an American, you must understand the concept, you must accept this concept, and most importantly, you have to fight and defend this concept. This is about Freedom and not free stuff. And that is why I am standing up here.”

What a contrast to U.S. hammer thrower Gwen Berry, who recently placed third at the Olympic trials. She turned away from the American flag and displayed an “Activist Athlete” tee shirt as the National Anthem played while she and the two other female U.S. athletes stood on the podium. The other two appropriately honored the Anthem. Berry later said, “The Anthem doesn’t speak for me. It never has.”

Being born here, perhaps Berry didn’t notice the good things about America as she grew up, as opposed to Nguyen. Having grown up in and fled from a poor, war-torn nation to America, he saw the difference between America and South Viet Nam and so many other countries. He worked hard to become a citizen, and proudly tells the story to others of how much America means to him.

Berry, on the other hand, worked hard to earn the privilege of representing America, and then publicly disrespected it.

The United States of America: how things used to be, and are now

Last Friday, the nation recalled the events of that day 19 years ago: September 11, 2001.

It was on that beautiful morning that out of nowhere, an airliner crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in downtown New York at 8:45. What the heck had happened?

Eighteen minutes later, another airliner hit the south tower, and it became clear what was going on: America was under attack. The attack continued, with a third airliner crashing into the
Pentagon in Washington, DC. And a fourth airliner, with an unknown target, had passengers who had become aware of the other attacks, organized and stopped the hijackers, resulting in the plane crashing into an empty field in Pennsylvania, instead of, perhaps, the U.S. Capitol Building or the White House, or some other important target.

That night, then-President George W. Bush addressed the nation. “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America,” he said. “These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.” 

In all, these attacks killed 2,996 people in the crashes and their aftermath. It was and is the deadliest day in the nation’s history. And the terrorist attacks triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism. In that regard, Bush said, “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”

The 19 militant Islamic al Qaeda members who hijacked the four airliners had destroyed property and killed nearly 3,000 people, but they also rekindled the American national spirit. 

Thus, the attitude of the American people toward the terrorist attacks was voiced, and the will of the people and their ideas of national pride and determination were strengthened.

In annual observances of that fateful day, the names of those lost in the attacks are read, and honor given to all those who died. Many of them died bravely trying to save others trapped in the buildings. Many more died years later from effects of the pollutants from the fires and the collapsed buildings they encountered.

What a difference in spirit we see today, compared to the strong pro-America attitude in the years following 9/11. 

There are tens of thousands or millions of younger Americans whose lack of knowledge of their country and its founding principles is astonishing. America’s ideals are unique in the degree of personal freedom and personal opportunity they provide, but many of these people have little or no idea about that.

Cultural decay has been brought on by the breakdown of the two-parent family, the movement away from attending church and Sunday school where we learned the rules for good living, and schools that ceased teaching about our country’s formation and system of government.

Single-parent households have replaced two-parent families in shocking numbers. “For decades, the share of U.S. children living with a single parent has been rising, accompanied by a decline in marriage rates and a rise in births outside of marriage,” according to the Pew Research Center. Its study of 130 countries and territories “shows that the U.S. has the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households.”

Children generally do better when they have both a responsible father and a responsible mother to help them grow up to be productive, responsible adults. Children who grow up with an engaged father are less likely to drop out of school or wind up in jail. They are more likely to have high-paying jobs and healthy, stable relationships when they grow up, and tend to have fewer psychological problems throughout their lives.

Lacking a more stable home life and the critical background about their country, many people, children and young adults, are not adequately prepared to fully appreciate our country and carry on the American spirit that was revived following 9/11. Since millions were not yet born, or old enough to appreciate what had happened that day, they were unable to grasp and appreciate the spirit of America that was so strong.

As traditional values are being abandoned — including the idea of marriage and family, the sanctity of life of the unborn, self-reliance and personal responsibility, tolerance for ideas different from their own — many Americans, and not just the younger generations, see the nation’s shortcomings to the exclusion of its positive aspects.

Many see America as an evil nation, and are determined to bring it down. Some indulge in riots, destroying property, assaulting people, and chanting “death to America.” 

These riots are not happenstance; there is significant organization and financing behind them. Evidence exists that the funding comes from factions both inside and outside the country that are seeking to weaken it, and turn America into one more failed socialist state.

America definitely faces a serious crisis. And while the nation has seen and dealt with serious crises before and emerged better for the experience, we must ask whether this one will be just one more time of trouble that we survive?  Or will it be the end of America as we know it? 

Let’s not change what makes us uncomfortable. Let’s learn from it!

Change this! Get rid of that! America has a new mania where people try to remove statues and monuments they don’t like, that make them uncomfortable, or that they believe are bad. If a statue or a monument upsets people, it must be erased from the American landscape where it has existed for years or decades. 

In the process of soothing these feelings of discomfort, features of American history, some of them very important, will forever be removed to the trash pile, painted over, or stored in a warehouse somewhere, and lost to the generations that follow. 

These things can help future Americans learn about their country so that they will be able to understand its full history and evolution, both the best and the worst.

Instead of the full story of what built America, what will be left to future generations to learn from is whatever the existing culture deems important at the time. 

Some important elements in the history of the United States of America will be removed through this politically correct cleansing of America’s history, for no better reason than to soothe the discontented.

Included in the list of things from America’s past that have been targeted for removal from public view are: The Jefferson Memorial; Mount Rushmore; Stone Mountain; two Chicago Parks; and monuments and statues across the nation.

While the subject of some monuments may be a person or persons who may now be unpopular, the monument or statue itself may be a special achievement. 

Likewise, the people who are remembered and honored by prominent statues were not universally bad. The recent dislike of Thomas Jefferson, for example, is because he owned slaves. In fact, slavery is the reason for so much of today’s efforts to remove many statues and monuments.

Slavery is now universally condemned in the U.S., as it should be. And it is a dark period in the nation’s history. But for decades during slavery in the south, no one living at that time was alive when slavery did not exist in the southern states. Slavery wasn’t right, but it was the way things were; it was a regular part of life in the southern U.S.

The Jefferson Memorial honors America’s third president, and a Founder of our republic. Although Jefferson inherited slaves from his father and kept them throughout his lifetime, he also publicly denounced slavery. The totality of his life and work was not just being a slave owner. His work was critical to the formation of the country in which so many now are able to condemn him for owning slaves.

Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, which began the struggle for freedom from the binds of British dominance, he was a critical part of America’s formation, and he had served as the nation’s second vice president before being elected president.

Surely this man’s great contributions to the formation of the United States of America are enough to warrant his remaining a part of the story, and not being removed from our history.

It took some 400 workers from 1927 to 1941 to produce the majestic figures on the rock face in the Black Hills of South Dakota known as Mount Rushmore. Those four were Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. 

Rushmore is an amazing tribute to workmanship as well as a unique work of art. It depicts four of our most notable presidents, all of whom had their faults, as do we all. But they are forever a part of our history. 

The carving on Stone Mountain in Georgia has similar assets. It is the largest high relief sculpture in the world. The Confederate Memorial Carving depicts three figures of the Civil War, President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The carving is 400 feet above the ground, measures 90 by 190 feet, and is recessed 42 feet into the mountain.

Like Mount Rushmore it is a tribute to workmanship, is a work of art, and features people prominent in our history who are now being condemned. 

Chicago has parks named for George Washington and Andrew Jackson that are also targeted for change. Someone has suggested changing Jackson Park to honor either modern civil rights figure Jesse Jackson or singer Michael Jackson, and also renaming Washington Park. However, both Washington and Jackson contributed much to our Country, and deserve their rightful place in history.

And there are numerous monuments and statues in North Carolina, Virginia and in towns and cities all across the nation that also are targeted. Each of them represents some contribution to the rich history of what was and still is the greatest nation yet conceived.

People mostly aren’t looking at the big picture. Our country has made mistakes, as all countries do. Each of us can think of things we would prefer weren’t part of our history. But erasing history is foolish.

Future generations can only learn from our successes and our failures if they know what they are. The good and the bad together form our history, and nothing less than the whole story is acceptable to tell America’s story.

Yet another misguided effort to destroy our country’s history

It’s been more than a year since the movement to cleanse America’s past began, as the idea of erasing unpleasant, unpopular aspects of our history is now the way some try to make things better, and includes removing statues and memorials of America’s Founders and notable personalities of the War Between the States.

The reaction to America’s period of slavery is the prime impetus for this mania to destroy history. But as manias often are, this one is ill advised and will do great harm to future generations.

One of the most important of the Founders, Thomas Jefferson, is a target of the movement to cleanse the past by removing statues and other reminders of those days. Jefferson is recognized by the crowd bearing the cleansing equipment for one thing only: he was a slave owner, and therefore unqualified for any attention or actual appreciation.

But like nearly all of them, Jefferson had many positive things to his credit, among them intelligence and wisdom. And his ideas of the value of history are right on the mark and deserve consideration.

Regarding history, Jefferson wrote in “Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 14,” in 1781, "History by apprising [citizens] of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views."

Calling it “one of the most racist, pro-slavery, anti-black songs in the American lexicon,” The California NAACP now backs a movement to have Francis Scott Key’s anthem “The Star Spangled Banner” removed as America’s National Anthem. 

This furor arose from three lines in the third verse of Key’s 1814 poem that he wrote about the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. How many could recite any of the other verses, or even knew the song has more than one verse? And if you are looking for “the most racist, pro-slavery, anti-black” song in the country, would three short lines in the third of four verses that hardly anyone knew existed really be the worst, or be worth all this hoo-hah?

At first glance, however, one might believe those three lines in the verse are racist. But, as with many controversies, a first glance is far less than is required.

Here is the text of the third verse, with those lines forming the basis of the objection highlighted in italics:

“And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

However, american-historama.org informs what those lines really meant to the author at the time they were written.

● Francis Scott Key describes the British as arrogant and boastful in the lyrics “that band who so vauntingly swore.”
● He is venting his anger at the British with the "foul footsteps' pollution" lyrics inferring that the British poisoned the ground on which they walked.
● But the poison and corruption had been washed away by the blood of the British.
● The lyrics "the hireling" refers to the British use of Mercenaries (German Hessians) in the American War of Independence.
● The lyrics "...and slave" is a direct reference to the British practice of Impressment (kidnapping American seamen and forcing them into service on British man-of-war ships). This was an important cause of the War of 1812.
● Francis Scott Key then describes the Star Spangled Banner as a symbol of triumph over all adversity.

This is why context is important. Things do not always mean what someone thinks they mean, and by doing just a little research, the true meaning could have been discovered, and this particular tempest in a teapot could have been avoided.

The NAACP misinterpreted these lyrics, and assigned a completely false meaning to them. And therefore, its reaction is not appropriate, and there is no reason to seriously consider removing The Star Spangled Banner as the National Anthem on that basis.

However, even if the premise had been correct and the Anthem did contain racist language, America’s era of slavery, which began in the Colonies, ended a century and a half ago. Further, its lyrics represent a valid and beneficial historical record of a battle in an important event in America’s history.

“But history does matter. It has been said that he who controls the past controls the future,” as David Crabtree wrote in the article “The Importance of History” on the Gutenberg College Website. “Our view of history shapes the way we view the present, and therefore it dictates what answers we offer for existing problems.”

This is why we must preserve history, and learn from it, rather than destroy it.

Should we sanitize America’s history, or not? That is the question

Reacting to the fairly new and growing trend to remove monuments and other reminders of certain famous Americans from the time of the American Revolution when our nation was born, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice appeared on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” one morning last May to take issue with that movement. Newsmax.com reported that she said it is a “bad thing.”

She was asked about her recent book, "Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom," and about how she sees herself as a black woman in today’s United States.

Co-host Brian Kilmeade asked: "When we look at nine of our first 12 presidents as slave owners, should we start taking their statues down, saying we're embarrassed by you?" She answered that, no, we shouldn’t. "I'm a firm believer in keeping your history before you."

"I don't actually want to rename things that were named for slave owners," Rice continued. "I want us to look at the names and recognize what they did and be able to tell our kids what they did and for them to have a sense of their own history. When you start wiping out history, sanitizing history to make you feel better, it's a bad thing." History, properly told, presents the good, the bad and the ugly.

Providing an illuminating lesson about our history she noted that the Constitution originally counted black slaves as "three-fifths of a man," and then gave examples of how America has evolved since. "In 1952, my father had trouble registering to vote in Birmingham, Alabama," she said. "In 2005, I stood in the Ben Franklin room, [named after] one of our founders, and I took an oath of office to that same Constitution and it was administered by a Jewish woman Supreme Court justice. That is the story of America."

"They were the people of their times," Rice said, alluding to the fact that few if any alive at our country’s birth had ever lived at a time, or in a place that slavery was not reality. As bad as that was, it was the way things were.

In fact, Anthony Johnson, a black Angolan who achieved freedom in the early 17th-century Colony of Virginia after serving his term of indenture, became a property owner, and was one of the first slave owners in Virginia.

"I wish [all the Founders] had been like John Adams, who did not believe in slavery,” Rice continued. Another Founder who was not a slavery supporter was Benjamin Franklin, who in 1787 began serving as President of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.

“I wish they had been like Alexander Hamilton, who was an immigrant by the way, a child of questionable parentage from the Caribbean. I wish all of them had been like that, Jefferson in particular. There were a lot of contradictions in Jefferson ... we should celebrate the Jeffersons, Washingtons, slave owners. Look where we are now."

America’s path from slavery, to freeing the slaves, to today’s circumstances has been long and often troubled. But today, we see people like Condi Rice who have risen to the heights of our country. America’s history of slavery and the long, difficult struggle to finally end it 150 years ago is also her history, and the history of most black Americans. The list of black Americans who have achieved great things is long, indeed, and includes people in government, such as Barack Obama, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Ben Carson, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, and more than 30 current members of Congress elected by their constituents to represent them.

In addition, there are also hundreds of black professional athletes – including those who feel led to take a knee in protest – as well as musicians, actors, entertainers, television personalities, and those in the professions.

Rice also noted that owning slaves was only one part of the lives of the Founders. So many things that these former slave owners did that were positive and contributed so much to our country are overlooked by their critics. Perhaps it’s because they are not aware of these beneficial acts, or maybe they simply believe no positive aspect of their lives is sufficient to overcome their involvement in slavery.

Today, people want to remove monuments recognizing our Founders, and sometimes take illegal, destructive actions against them, all because they owned slaves more than 200 years ago. Nothing else about them matters.

What needs to be done is to not tear down reminders of America’s history of slavery – which at the time existed not just in America, but all over the globe – but instead to learn about and celebrate America’s progress since that time.

Slavery is thousands of years old. Athenians had slaves as long ago as the sixth century BC. And it exists still. According to an article on BBC.com, “there are, shockingly, more people in slavery today than at any time in human history - but campaigners think the world is close to a tipping point and that slavery may be eradicated in the next 30 years.”

Wouldn’t a more productive use of these anti-slavery sentiments be to focus on ending slavery around the world?

America’s summer of discontent proceeds, and violence increases

Back in 1961 when Willie Nelson composed and released a soon-to-be famous ballad, its title described a situation our country would see a few years later. The title of that song is perfectly applicable today: “Crazy.”

There are always at least a few crazy things going on in America. Today, the list is long, and growing. For example, there’s the manic movement to remove statues of some of the South’s and the Civil War’s better-known personalities, or rename things honoring them that adorn the American south.

Elected officials, who ought to know better, are surrendering to the small, but very loud, group that shrieks to remove them for no better reason than that they do not like them. They say that these memorials conjure up visions – not memories – of slavery, which was wiped from our land 150 years ago.

Cities and colleges are caving in with increasing frequency to the shrieking, and the movement’s criminal element is taking matters into its own hands by destroying these pieces of our history, sometimes in the dark of night, with no regard for anything beyond their own limited impulses.

Interestingly, as recently as this time last year, no one was complaining about these memorials. What has happened since to excuse these often illegal acts and exercises in bad judgment?

A somewhat older crazy thing is the protest against the “Star Spangled Banner,” most notably by athletes who remain sitting, or take a knee when the national anthem is performed prior to an athletic contest. This is a long-standing tradition only recently seen as problematic.

It is interesting how many Americans whose talents earned them fame and fortune somehow believe the country that provided the opportunity for success is now their enemy. They now protest against the country that has rewarded them. Biting the hand that feeds you is generally not a good plan.

A group organizing a “Unite the Right” rally at the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Va. was treated fairly in its permit request, although city officials did later try to interfere with the plan. After a judge upheld the original permit, the group, described as “white nationalists” and “KKK,” went forward with its rally supporting protection of the Lee statue.

Another group appeared at the rally site, one that apparently did not have a permit. This Leftist group was there to protest against the pro-Lee rally. Sometimes referred to as “Antifa,” for “anti-fascist,” the group is known for its fascist methods in fighting what it calls fascism. Crazy?

Violence ensued. Who started it is unknown. Both sides were violent and had implements/weapons to assist them. The police did almost nothing to stop the violence, and one police officer, whose name was not given, said Charlottesville police received a “stand down” order.

Rumor has it that the Antifas have set their sights on likenesses of Col. Harlan Sanders. Good fascists must not allow a statue that represents southern fried chicken to remain a fixture in the white supremacist south.

In line with their fever over the existence of statues of Thomas Jefferson and Stonewall Jackson, Democrats have already altered their Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, renaming it the Unity Dinner. Will they now demand renaming the copious things honoring the late W. Va. Democrat Sen. Robert C. Byrd, who once was a member in good standing of the KKK?

Last weekend in Boston a group organized a rally in support of free speech, which, of course, was opposed by the same group that opposed defending Gen. Lee’s statue. Even the idea of free speech has opponents on the political Left. Crazy?

These organized political protests have reached the level of pure obsession, demanding the removal of long-standing monuments and memorials of America’s past that do actual harm to no one. Overcome by raw emotion, these opponents gather at locations of the subjects of their discontent, and often abandon the perfectly legitimate American act of peaceful protest in favor of illegal violence.

America is now more politically divided than it has been for decades. Some say as divided as it was in 1861, when disagreement drove southern states to secede from the Union, beginning the Civil War.

Are we headed for another civil war? The first one saw the states that seceded from the Union receive a brutal defeat. The disaffected are following the same path of those whose statues and monuments they now condemn. They have a poor grasp of history, and seem determined to repeat it.

The first civil war arose from serious and honest policy disagreement. What we see today is primarily emotional discontent, compounded by forces bent on fundamentally transforming the United States of America.

These protests are not spontaneous. America is under attack from within, but much influence, including funding, comes from outside. Paid protesters arrive from across the country to protest and conduct violence and destruction. People with the Workers World Party Durham, a hard-Left organization, were involved in bringing down a statue in Durham, NC, according to the Durham newspaper, the Herald-Sun.

We had better be prepared for more violence and destruction, unless authorities wise up and stop these violent protests.